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In this episode of Add To Cart, we checkout Bianca Romano Smith, Ecommerce and Digital Manager at VRG GRL, which started life as a retail store in the Brisbane Arcade almost 17 years ago and has grown alongside its sibling founders. After moving online, VRG GRL has more recently shifted from a multi-brand online retail model to a dedicated in-house label.  Bianca joined the VRG GRL team earlier this year and comes from a digital marketing and fashion background with previous roles at Universal Store and Black MIlk.  Links from the episode:Bianca Romano-Smith from VRG GRL: The Role of Google, TikTok and Meta for Fashion | #417Questions answered in the podcast:What is the weirdest thing you’ve ever bought online? Which retailer has most inspired you recently? Name a piece of tech that you or your ecommerce business couldn’t live without? Can you recommend a book or podcast that our listeners should immediately get into? What is your biggest challenge today? About your co-host: Bianca Romano Smith from VRG GRLBianca started out in media buying, cutting her teeth at Flight Centre and transitioning to broader digital roles with some of Australia's top retailers. Recently, she was named 'The One To Watch' in the Online Retailer's Top 50 People in Ecommerce, and took on an exciting new role heading up the ecommerce and digital function at iconic Australian label VRG GRL.You can contact Bianca at LinkedInAbout your host: Nathan Bush from Add To CartNathan Bush is a director, strategist and advisor. He has led eCommerce for businesses with revenue $100m+ and has been recognised as one of Australia’s Top 50 People in eCommerce four years in a row. You can contact Nathan on LinkedIn, Twitter or via email.Please contact us if you: Want to come on board as an Add To Cart sponsor Are interested in joining Add To Cart as a co-host Have any feedback or suggestions on how to make Add To Cart betterEmail hello@addtocart.com.au We look forward to hearing from you!

In this episode of Add To Cart, we are joined by Stacey Hollands, CEO and Creative Director of Lust Minerals, a high performance mineral make-up brand.  Stacey was an experienced beauty consultant and used her knowledge to create the clean makeup products she felt were missing in the industry.  Lust Minerals is vegan certified, paraben-free and Australian made - all non negotiables for Stacey.  The brand launched in 2014 and hit $1 million in sales within the first 18 months.  They continue to grow as an ecommerce powerhouse with turnover of more than $20m.  In this chat, Stacey shares the story of how she launched her business just as influencer marketing was getting started (she gifted products to girls on The Bachelor) -  lots of tips from that unique journey.  She shares the learnings from her recent $300,000 rebrand and we find out why, for Lust Minerals, seven is the happy number.Links from the episode:Lust MineralsDeliver In Person (sponsored)Shopify Plus (sponsored)Questions answered:What role do your interactive website features play in the overall customer journey? How does your Ambassador Hub work? What marketing channels excite you at the moment?This episode was brought to you by…  Deliver In PersonShopify PlusAbout your co-host: Stacey Hollands from Lust MineralsStacey  is the founder of Lust Minerals, Australia’s favourite clean mineral makeup and natural skincare brand. Since launching in 2014 from an initial $10,000 investment, Lust Minerals has grown into a clean beauty empire, filling a gap in the market for clean, high performance, mineral makeup & natural skincare products. Stacey has won several business awards including being crowned the Small Business Champion Entrepreneur in the 2023 Australian Small Business Champion Awards and the Beauty Business Of The Year in the 2023 AusMumpreneur Awards.You can contact Stacey  at LinkedInPlease contact us if you: Want to come on board as an Add To Cart sponsor Are interested in joining Add To Cart as a co-host Have any feedback or suggestions on how to make Add To Cart betterEmail hello@addtocart.com.au We look forward to hearing from you!

In this episode of Add To Cart, we checkout Founder and CEO of Snotty Noses, a brand that pretty much does what it says on the tin…provides a practical solution for dealing with the bucket loads of snot that the babies and toddlers in our lives seem to generate from the moment they come into our lives.  If you are not a parent or have had no experience of this phenomenon…you might want to have a look at Snotty Noses Tik Tok channel to get up to speed.  The Snotty Boss, Laura’s hero product, is a motorised nasal aspirator that niftily sucks the snot from your child’s nose at the touch of a button.  Laura’s journey has taken her from fulfilling orders at her kitchen bench to being stocked in retailers such as Terry White and Baby Bunting.  Links from the episode:Laura Klein from Snotty Noses: The Wholesale Snot Boss | #415Inshot videoPhotoroomQuestions answered in the podcast:What is the weirdest thing you’ve ever bought online? Which retailer has most inspired you recently? Name a piece of tech that you or your ecommerce business couldn’t live without? Can you recommend a book or podcast that our listeners should immediately get into? What is your biggest challenge today? About your co-host: Laura Klein from Snotty NosesLaura began her business in 2013 from the kitchen bench. She was a full-time Mum to three kids under five and on leave from her job as a primary school teacher. Her kids had a runny nose every other week, and she had spent a fortune on snot sucking solutions that just didn’t work. She found a motorised aspirator for sale in a parenting magazine and loved it. After recommending it to all her friends, she decided she could start a business selling this product online. She bought a box of stock and the rest is history. That original model of aspirator has been retired, and Snotty Boss hit the market in March 2020.  Snotty Boss is now stocked in over 1200 stockists around Australia, and is sold all over the world via the international website (snottyboss.com)You can contact Laura at LinkedInWant to come on board as an Add To Cart sponsor Are interested in joining Add To Cart as a co-host Have any feedback or suggestions on how to make Add To Cart betterEmail hello@addtocart.com.au We look forward to hearing from you!

In this episode of Add To Cart, we are joined by Jesse Richardson, Founder and CEO of Kitted Thinking Tools and The School of Thought. Around 14 years ago, armed with a background in design and advertising and a man-crush on Stephen Fry, Jesse began a journey to popularise critical thinking, reason and understanding for the greater good.  It started with a Creative Commons poster and deck of cards, grew into a crowd funded offering and is now a SaaS platform and a framework for businesses to harness the benefits of higher order thinking - backed by some of the internet’s biggest thinkers such as the founder of Duck Duck Go and Harvard psychology professors.  This is one of our longer conversations on Add to Cart, but this topic is so fascinating and Jesse is such a great explainer of concepts, I wanted to make the most of him!  Jesse shares the most common logical fallacies and how they work in our minds, he unpacks how to most effectively brainstorm as a team and why we should all be trying to unleash our inner four year old.  Links from the episode:Kitted Thinking ToolsSchool Of ThoughtSuperintelligence by Nick BostromSuper Thinking by Gabriel WeinbergWait But Why by Tim UrbanThinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel KahnemanThe Scout Mindset by Julia GayleffRationally Speaking podcastHow Minds Change by David McRaneyDaniel DennettDeliver In Person (sponsored)Shopify Plus (sponsored)Questions answered:How do you see bias and fallacies impact decision-making in business?What are your favourite tools to unlock new ideas as a group? How did you get Stephen Fry to do a voice over for free?About your co-host: Jesse Richardson from Kitted Thinking ToolsStarted as a junior designer, some things happened, now the founder of the non-profit schoolofthought.org that has provided free critical thinking resources to over 30 million people, and technology and ecommerce startup Kitted Thinking Tools.You can contact Jesse at LinkedIn

In this episode of Add To Cart, we checkout Holly Cardew, founder and CEO of Carted, an app designed to help consumers super charge their shopping game with organisation, comparison, collaboration and sales access.  Holly’s entrepreneurial background saw her selling handbags on Ebay aged 14 and now, several startups and a decade later, Carted is her focus and is drawing the attention of some of Australia’s biggest investors including Blackbird Ventures.  Links from the episode:Holly Cardew from Carted: A Universal API for Shopping Lovers | #413Questions answered in the podcast:What is the weirdest thing you’ve ever bought online? Which retailer has most inspired you recently? Name a piece of tech that you or your ecommerce business couldn’t live without? Can you recommend a book or podcast that our listeners should immediately get into? What is your biggest challenge today? About your co-host: Holly Cardew from CartedHolly is the Founder and CEO of Carted. Carted is building the world’s best shopping experience by collecting, standardising, and connecting all of the world’s products (billions of products from millions of merchants)  into a single source of truth - a product graph. Carted’s Product Graph will forever change the shopping landscape. Also recognising the immediate need for better shopping experiences, Holly and the team at Carted have been working on the Carted App which puts personalised shopping at users' fingertips, all powered by Carted's Product Graph.Holly is passionate about reshaping the future of shopping and already has a track record of success in ecommerce, having built and launched five Shopify apps used by over 30,000 merchants globally.You can contact Holly at LinkedInAbout your host: Nathan Bush from Add To CartNathan Bush is a director, strategist and advisor. He has led eCommerce for businesses with revenue $100m+ and has been recognised as one of Australia’s Top 50 People in eCommerce four years in a row. You can contact Nathan on LinkedIn, Twitter or via email.Please contact us if you: Want to come on board as an Add To Cart sponsor Are interested in joining Add To Cart as a co-host Have any feedback or suggestions on how to make Add To Cart betterEmail hello@addtocart.com.au We look forward to hearing from you!

In this episode of Add To Cart, Danny Chiha and Natalie McDermott join us from Kelly + Partners Accountants, an ASX listed company with branches in Australia and expanding globally.  Danny and Nat are both partners at the Northern Beaches branch in Sydney, working with around 50 ecommerce brands with turnover running from $50,000 to $50m.  In this chat, Danny and Nat share what an ecommerce business baseline gross profit margin should be, the non financial KPI’s you need to be paying attention to and how much you should be spending on marketing. Links from the episode:Kelly+PartnersDeliver In Person (sponsored)Shopify Plus (sponsored)Questions answered:With the ecommerce businesses that you work with, what do the successful ones have in common? What financial metrics are most crucial to track for ecom businesses? What mistakes do you see ecommerce businesses make most often? This episode was brought to you by…  Deliver In PersonShopify PlusAbout your co-hosts: Danny Chiha from Kelly+PartnersDanny has over 10 years business advisory and commercial accounting experience. He commenced his career with four years at Crowe Horwath, started his own successful business, then joined Coca-Cola Amatil as the Financial Accounting Manager where he led a successful team of 17 professionals.  Danny is the founding partner of Kelly+Partners Northern Beaches and also leads Kelly+Partners Startup. He has a real passion for, and specialises in, assisting businesses develop and execute strategies that create business viability.You can contact Danny at LinkedInNatalie McDermott from Kelly+PartnersAs a Chartered Accountant with over a decade of experience in the accounting industry, Natalie is  proudly serving as a Partner at Kelly Partners' Northern Beaches office. Her area of specialisation lies in E-commerce accounting and advisory, where she provides valuable insights and strategies to help businesses optimise their financial performance.You can contact Natalie at LinkedIn

In this episode of Add To Cart, we checkout Chris Clark, Marketing and Ecommerce Director at Milton and King.  Chris built and ran his own successful design agency, but after it took multiple hits,  first through COVID and then the Brisbane floods, he decided to take up an offer from an old friend and joined the luxury wallpaper company.  Launched in Brisbane in 2012, Milton and King has expanded into the UK and the US, recently opening its headquarters in Dallas. Links from the episode:CastleryP&CoDriza-Bone NorthbeamMetorikChris Clark from Milton & King: Reinventing Wallpaper For The Digital Age | #411Questions answered in the podcast:What is the weirdest thing you’ve ever bought online? Which retailer has most inspired you recently? Name a piece of tech that you or your ecommerce business couldn’t live without? Can you recommend a book or podcast that our listeners should immediately get into? What is your biggest challenge today?  About your co-host: Chris Clark from Milton and KingWith over 25 years of experience in graphic and digital design, Chris currently serves as the Marketing & Ecommerce Director at Milton & King, a global leader in wallpaper production spanning Australia, the United States and Europe.You can contact Chris at LinkedInAbout your host: Nathan Bush from Add To CartNathan Bush is a director, strategist and advisor. He has led eCommerce for businesses with revenue $100m+ and has been recognised as one of Australia’s Top 50 People in eCommerce four years in a row. You can contact Nathan on LinkedIn, Twitter or via email.Please contact us if you: Want to come on board as an Add To Cart sponsor Are interested in joining Add To Cart as a co-host Have any feedback or suggestions on how to make Add To Cart betterEmail hello@addtocart.com.au We look forward to hearing from you!

In this episode of Add To Cart, we are joined by Tom Walenkamp, Co founder and CEO of Good Pair Days, a company that have built a custom, personalisation engine to deliver expert wine curation specific to each customer’s taste - in their words, it’s like you’ve got a best mate who’s an award winning sommelier.  A decade after launch, they now have over 65,000 subscribers and were dubbed the ‘Netflix of wine’ by Vogue.  In this chat, Tom shares how they have taken their personalisation recommendation engine to the next level, why their focus prioritises customer satisfaction and value creation and we hear all about their exciting plans to launch a physical space for wine - not a bar and not a bottle shop, but something quite unique. Tom also gives us an inside tip for ordering wine in a restaurant…cheers to that.Links from the episode:Good Pair DaysDeliver in Person (sponsored)Shopify Plus (sponsored)Questions answered:How have your recommendations got smarter over time? How do you reduce churn?How have you seen machine learning and AI change cover the last ten years?This episode was brought to you by…  Shopify PlusDeliver In PersonAbout your host: Nathan Bush from Add to Cart Nathan Bush is a director, strategist and advisor. He has led eCommerce for businesses with revenue $100m+ and has been recognised as one of Australia’s Top 50 People in eCommerce four years in a row. You can contact Nathan on LinkedIn, Twitter or via email.About your co-host: Tom Walenkamp from Good Pair DaysTom is the Co-founder and CEO of Good Pair Days, a monthly wine service that offers personalised wine recommendations and a whole lot more. With a background in finance from Macquarie Group and an MBA from INSEAD, Tom has leveraged his expertise to innovate the wine retail industry.You can contact Tom at LinkedInPlease contact us if you: Want to come on board as an Add To Cart sponsor Are interested in joining Add To Cart as a co-host Have any feedback or suggestions on how to make Add To Cart betterEmail hello@addtocart.com.au We look forward to hearing from you!

In this episode of Add To Cart, we checkout Tom Harris, Chief Revenue Officer at Emarsys.  Tom supports leading global brands to realise their greatest personalisation and omni-channel aspirations and he loves it so much, he’s been doing it at Emarsys for ten years!   He’s based in London and we are very lucky to have caught him on a trip over here in Australia. Links from the episode:Unleashing the Power of Personalisation and AI with Justin Bausch from Ryderwear & Thomas Harris from Emarsys  | #409Questions answered in the podcast: What is the weirdest thing you’ve ever bought online? Which retailer has most inspired you recently?Name a piece of tech that you or your ecommerce business couldn’t live without?Can you recommend a book or podcast that our listeners should immediately get into? What is your biggest challenge today?  This episode was brought to you by…  EmarsysAbout your co host: Thomas Harris from Emarsys  For over a decade, Thomas Harris has scaled high-performing teams from regional to a global level. He has a proven track record of driving triple-digit growth and supported leading global brands to realise their greatest personalisation and omni-channel aspirations. In his current role as CRO of Emarsys, Tom is responsible for over 220 Emartians (an internal term referring to Emarsys employees) globally, which make up the commercially driven GTM teams.You can contact Tom on LinkedIn  About your host: Nathan Bush from Add To CartNathan Bush is a director, strategist and advisor. He has led eCommerce for businesses with revenue $100m+ and has been recognised as one of Australia’s Top 50 People in eCommerce four years in a row. You can contact Nathan on LinkedIn, Twitter or via email.Please contact us if you: Want to come on board as an Add To Cart sponsor Are interested in joining Add To Cart as a co-host Have any feedback or suggestions on how to make Add To Cart betterEmail hello@addtocart.com.au We look forward to hearing from you!