It’s not the money you make.
Sound cliché? Of course.
That doesn’t mean it isn’t true.
💰 Mehtab Bhogal shows you 10 ways to generate more profit
🤐 Cody Plofker reveals a “hidden opportunity” to lift margin
📺 Connor MacDonald shares how to scale your brand on TV
🏠 Sean Frank invites you to hang out with him in a mansion
📈 Top five headlines from this week in consumer (DTC) news
But First
After 75 responses from you wonderful people …
My fancy Sheet randomizer formula has picked the recipient of Rainer Watch’s everything bundle!
Congratulations to Candice McNeeley from Pinterest, who bought Happy Tooth’s holiday family set.
By the way, it’s still available.
As are lots of the Black Friday products we featured in our 40+ Unsung Hero Brands Gift Guide.
Please keep showing your support.
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Cody Plofker
CEO, Jones Road Beauty
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The Easiest Way to Add Margin During Peak Traffic
The holiday season is when every operator finds out which part of their stack actually makes money.
At Jones Road, one of the most underrated levers we’ve leaned on isn’t a new ad channel.
It’s what happens after the purchase.
We’ve been using Rokt Thanks for over a year. In 2025, that’s already added $142K+ in incremental profit.
Without campaigns, extra creative, or additional dev work. And we’re now beta testing Rokt Pay+ at checkout.
Together, they’ve become a quiet profit engine on our backend.
These tools are designed to feel native.
- Keeps the UX clean
- Preserves your brand
- Conversions stay stable
And the revenue is pure margin.
If you’re thinking strategically about unlocking new profit channels, Aftersell makes it a zero-risk way to turn backend traffic into real margin.
Especially when volume peaks.
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Mehtab Bhogal
Karta Ventures
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10 Ways to Make Your Business More Profitable
2026 is almost here. It’s time to take stock. By that, I mean …
Cut costs. Increase your + your team’s output. And keep more of the money your ecommerce business makes.
Here are 10 tactics across your P&L we use in our portfolio of brands.
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Supply Chain
- Price Increases
- Sense of Urgency
- Wasteful Marketing
- Send More Emails
- Shipping Options
- Fees and Premiums
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Minimum Quantities
- Strategic Shrinkflation
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Cancel Subscriptions
1. Supply Chain
Excellent terms or pricing with a vendor can transform your business overnight.
- Get on a plane
I’m always surprised by how many companies haven’t visited their suppliers. Meeting face-to-face makes you an actual person and surfaces opportunities that would otherwise be invisible or impossible.
- Find redundant vendors
Existing suppliers will rarely negotiate in good faith until you turn them off. For sourcing, you should be speaking with 30–40+ vendors per product.
- Understand their cost structure
Exporters have access to government-subsidized, cheap financing. And they hold products at their cost, not yours. So, ask them to hold more finished goods on hand.
- Reduce costs without asking
Instead, make a “new” product together or reengineer existing products to remove waste and reach a lower price point — this is due to “big-man” culture in other countries.
Quick Wins
Get better net terms. Use contracts to generate a sense of fairness. Provide suppliers with an updated demand forecast.
2. Price Increases
Makes the business easier to run; higher prices fire your worst customers and attract higher-quality shoppers.
- Raise prices (or test)
Some businesses can outright increase prices. Others require testing. Keep in mind, there are usually “cliffs” — as in, I can raise prices 15% without losing a lot of volume, but at 20%, I might lose a lot.
- Unbundle “freebies”
At one company, we found removing a lot of the free services and add-ons that used to come with kit products, then displaying them as upsells, resulted in what amounted to a ~20% price increase on that product line without impacting conversions.
Quick Wins
Change your return policy. “Force” minimum pack sizes, kits, or bundling (e.g., True Classic packs + buy more, save more).
3. Sense of Urgency
This is one of the main jobs of a founder, and immediately gets more out of your employees: 15%–30% jump.
- Set short deadlines
Long deadlines never work. If there is a long deadline, break it into short sprints. Question all dates given and the logic for them when an employee gives you a date.
- Wipe out non-value-add tasks
Employees make a list of what they are doing each week, then look at how much is not adding value. That work can be automated or given to a cheaper employee. Always ask what action items are coming out of meetings.
- Never give out too many resources
Time, money, people. Be precious with these. Creative solutions won’t happen when people think they can just pay for a SaaS instead of learning to do a vlookup.
Quick Wins
Bake a sense of urgency into your core values and fire everyone without it. Use the EOS GWC Tool — it’s free.
4. Wasteful Marketing
The benefits of cutting wasteful marketing are self-evident; most revolve around one form or another of “brand.”
- Eliminate branded search
This is particularly true on Amazon, where something like 98% of branded searches result in purchases from that brand. Similar on Google, where you should use brand exclusions and negative keywords.
- Don’t fall for big-brand defaults
The biggest spenders on ad platforms aren’t DTC, direct-response marketers. They’re enterprises, and that’s who the platforms are built for. Unless you’re well into nine-figures, non-conversion objectives are money pits. So are ads that never achieve first-order profitability.
- Distinguish brand from “brag”
That’s Sean’s phrase: “Brand marketing is just BRAG marketing.” A less binary take would be to separate one-year EBITDA growth from five-year goals. If you’re focused on the former, brand marketing won’t help.
Quick Wins
Most marketing experimentation is waste; money should be allocated towards more shots on goal for product + PMF.
5. Send More Emails
This one is really tactical. A lot of small or medium brands — especially those still run by the founders — are guilty of it.
If you’re sending one a week, start sending seven. Even send twice a day sometimes.
It will not hurt you. People won’t unsubscribe en masse; they’re not going to care because they won’t notice.
You’ll see revenue go straight up. And it’s virtually free revenue. You can run a holdout test if you want. But you don’t need to.
It works literally 100% of the time. If it doesn’t, you can complain to me on X, and I’ll send you something.
Quick Wins
Increase frequency immediately — go from 1 email per week to 3, then 5, then daily. Resend winners to non-openers.
6. Shipping Speed Options
You don’t need heavy testing for shipping speeds; existing repurchase or LTV data usually tells you everything.
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Make the slower service your default
If faster delivery in certain areas doesn’t change repurchase rates, switch the slower service to your default and upcharge for anything quicker.
- Test increases to free-shipping thresholds
Raising (or removing) free shipping requires more experimentation, but it’s worth it as long as you measure contribution dollars first, then changes to reorder rate.
Quick Wins
Increase free shipping thresholds. Set slower shipping as the default. Add paid priority options.
7. Fees and Premiums
Consumers already understand upcharges — every major brand does it because it works.
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Charge premiums
Think about configuring a car. You pick a color you like and immediately see an upcharge. Why? Because they can — and so can you.
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Use design and variation
Simple Modern does this constantly. Same tumbler. Same bottle. Different licensed or seasonal colorways. Higher price. Customers accept it because design adds value.
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Add fees that feel optional
Sometimes it’s speed. Sometimes it’s “premium processing.” Sometimes it’s a nicer version of the same thing. Fees + premiums feel different than price hikes, even when you end up paying the same amount.
Quick Wins
Add premium colorways or limited editions. Test small add-on fees tied to speed, customization, or design.
8. Minimum Quantities
Don’t let someone purchase one of something.
Only make it possible to buy two or four or a subscription or whatever lets you maintain margin every time someone buys.
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Stop selling single units
Use Cheeky doesn’t sell one bar of soap because the numbers don’t make sense. They only sell 4, 8, or 12. Same principle as Costco.
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Base minimums on your data
Look at common quantities added to cart, dropoffs, and margin performance — then enforce the profitable version. If conversions drop but total contributions dollars increase, you just won the game.
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Make multipacks or subscriptions mandatory
If one-offs kill margin, don’t offer them.
Quick Wins
Reduce (or remove) single-unit SKUs. Offer only 2-, 4-, or 6-packs. Use subscription as your “minimum quantity.”
9. Strategic Shrinkflation
Customers are terrible at perceiving size — especially online.
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Reduce product size
Shrinking the product also shrinks the packaging, postage, fill cost, and cardboard. These savings stack.
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Drop into lower shipping tiers
On Amazon, smaller box sizes often drop you into cheaper rate categories, saving around a dollar per unit.
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Make small changes that buyers won’t notice
In many cases, shrinkflation goes completely unnoticed and permanently boosts contribution margin.
Quick Wins
Reduce packaging size slightly. Recheck FBA tier thresholds. Shrink fill amounts where appropriate.
10. Cancel Subscriptions
If you’re paying full price for software, you’re doing it wrong.
- Cancel
- Wait
- Get discount
- Repeat
Apologies to our wonderful sponsors. But Daniel is not wrong on that one. When you prove you’re willing to walk away, the cost savings magically appear.
Every business has hidden margin.
These 10 moves expose it.
Review them once a quarter. Your P&L will thank you.
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Connor MacDonald
CMO, Ridge
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Turn Up Your TV Strategy with Control and Quality Over Convenience
Our latest episode of Marketing Operators featuring Turtlebox made one thing clear …
Convenience isn’t how you win on TV.
It’s about controlling where your message shows up and making every spot count. That’s how brands break through and scale with profitable confidence.
Tatari helps growth-minded brands like Ridge, Jones Road Beauty, Turtlebox, Tecovas, and more do exactly that.
- Pair the right creative with the right environments
- Balance linear and streaming for reach and efficiency
- Secure premium tune-in moments that move ROAS
Whether you’re new to TV or aren’t seeing the results you want, you can launch on Tatari to drive performance + brand-building objectives. Tune into the full episode below.
Brand Tracking & How Modern Teams Scale TV With Jonathan McKenzie, Co-Founder of Turtlebox
Hedge Your Ad Spend
Rethinking the Customer Journey: Text-to-Buy, Post-Purchase & Alternative Media
IF YOU ARE IN LA DEC 16th, you can hang out in a mansion with me and other successful people.
When my friend Jared put this out…
It got called the "boy band of dtc." But it is bigger and better now that we have a frontwoman.
Because she is more successful than us.
1 day mastermind
In an LA mansion
We will play tennis
By application only
And it is for charity
LOOK AT WHO WILL BE THERE!
Comfrt is the fastest growing apparel brand of all time. Its CEO Hudson will be there.
Kitsch sold its 10,000,000th order on shopify last weekend. Jeremy will be there.
Mary Ruth Organics is worth over $1b dollars. Both its CEO and two co-founders will be there.
I am the fastest learning tennis player of all time. And I will be there too.
It is in LA on Dec 16. For free. You just need to prove you made a donation to charity. Your choice.
But to get in, you have to apply here!
Curated by the editor of CPG Wire, this week’s five biggest consumer-news headlines.
1. HexClad Collab, Still G.I.N. and Gordon Ramsay: Complex
HexClad just dropped a sleek cocktail shaker that was developed in collaboration with Still G.I.N. by Dre and Snoop. The shaker is crafted from stainless steel and features a unique double-walled, vacuum-insulated body.
The 25-oz shaker retails for $99 and is offered in two colors, Chrome and Gold. HexClad also released a killer commercial featuring Gordon Ramsey, Dr. Dre, and Snoop Dogg to promote the launch of the shaker. Here’s where you can watch it.
2. Anheuser-Busch Expands Beyond Beer Portfolio: Reuters
Anheuser-Busch is expanding its Beyond Beer portfolio by acquiring a majority stake in BeatBox, a fast-growing purveyor of ready-to-drink cocktails.
AB InBev will shell out $490M for its 85% stake with a pathway to 100% ownership after five years. Launched in 2011, BeatBox expects sales to top $250M this year. With beer sales underperforming in recent years, AB InBev is eager to grow its footprint in the RTD cocktail and energy drink categories.
3. REI Backs Dune Suncare: LinkedIn
Path Ahead Ventures, the corporate venture arm of outdoor retailer REI, just announced an investment in Dune Suncare.
Founded in 2020 by Mei Kwok and CEO Emily Doyle, Dune Suncare differentiates by formulating its products with clinically-proven skincare ingredients. The brand retails at Ulta Beauty, Nordstrom, Bluemercury, and Anthropologie.
4. Grüns Unveils New Sub-Brand: Jüced
Friend of the show, Grüns, just unveiled a new sub-brand called Jüced — a premium line of Preworkout Energy Gummies that deliver 95mg of caffeine, L-Carnitine, DuraBeet Betaine, and Rhodiola Rosea. The fast-growing nutrition brand has also launched a number of sub-brands like Jüced, Immün, Nütrops, and Grüns Cubs (for kiddos).
5. Cadence Rebrands Ahead of Retail Push: Instagram
Cadence, a performance supplement & beverage brand, just dropped a full rebrand ahead of its launch at Target in February 2026. Cadence made a few key changes in order to become more retail-ready.
First, they added a colored ring to each can in order to differentiate flavors and pop on the shelf. Second, Cadence simplified its messaging and added key callouts so consumers immediately understand the brand’s value proposition. Cadence expects to grow 500% year-over-year in 2026.
Totally Voluntary Reminder
Sean has started sharing, uncoerced and of his own free will, about our upcoming Operators Assemble event.
Like he said …
“It’s literally free and no one is gonna sell you a course.”
Over 25 ecommerce leaders will join us online Dec 16th, from 1–4pm EST. Keynotes, breakout sessions, lightning panels.
With thanks and anticipation,
Aaron Orendorff 🤓 Executive Editor
PS (Disclaimer): Special thanks to Aftersell and Tatari for sponsoring today’s newsletter.
