👋 Hey Fastlane Insiders,
Ever notice how the brands making real moves this year aren't just tweaking what's already broken—they're rewriting the rules entirely?
If you're feeling like your old playbook is running out of steam, you're not alone. The gap between those who adapt and those who wait is growing fast.
This week, I'm sharing the latest strategies and tools that are quietly fueling the next wave of Shopify growth. Here's what's inside:
🎙️ New Podcast Episode — Get an inside look at how a lean team turned 25,000 customers into a support moat (and why your inbox might be holding you back more than you think).
💡 Knowledge Drops — We're breaking down the playbooks behind billion-dollar community brands and the AI moves your competitors hope you keep ignoring. Expect actionable insights you can swipe and deploy.
🔥 Tool of the Week — If you thought last week's tool was a game-changer, wait until you see how this one turns invisible shoppers into your most valuable audience—no pop-ups required.
If you're ready to step off the hamster wheel and start building real leverage, you're in the right place.
Let's get into it,
—Steve
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🎧 New Podcast Episode!
How 25,000 Customers Get World-Class Support From Just 2 Agents (The Secret Most Brands Miss)
Your inbox is sabotaging your growth—and you might not even realize it.
While you're drowning in support tickets and your team is playing email ping-pong, Philippe Lehoux at Missive cracked the code.
25,000 customers. 2 support agents.
That's not a misprint—it's a masterclass in efficiency that's quietly separating the winners from the overwhelmed.
Here's what caught my attention: most Shopify brands treat support like a necessary evil. Philippe turned it into a competitive weapon. And the strategies he shared? They're not just clever—they're game-changing for any brand serious about scaling without chaos.
What you'll discover:
The "unified inbox" approach that eliminates 90% of support friction
How Missive's AI handles the grunt work while humans focus on what matters
Why seeing Shopify order data inside every conversation changes everything
The exact workflow that turns support from cost center to growth driver
Here's the thing: Your competitors are still stuck in the old support playbook—scattered tools, overwhelmed agents, frustrated customers. While they're fighting fires, you could be building the system that scales.
The brands figuring this out now are the ones that'll dominate 2025. The question is: will you be one of them, or will you keep playing whack-a-mole with your inbox?
Don't let everyone else get there first. This episode drops the exact blueprint Philippe used to turn support into Missive's secret weapon.
P.S. Philippe reveals the specific AI + Shopify integration stack that's helping brands break through support bottlenecks without breaking budgets. If you're serious about scaling support, this is your roadmap.
💡 Knowledge Drops of the Week
Why Your Competitors Hope You Ignore the Pop Mart Playbook
Here's the uncomfortable truth: while you're grinding through another discount cycle or chasing the next viral product, a handful of brands are quietly rewriting the rules. They're not just selling products—they're building empires around IP they own, communities they nurture, and scarcity they engineer.
Pop Mart cracked the code. Seven years. $22 million to $1.8 billion. And the playbook they used? It's sitting right here, waiting for you to steal it—before your competitors do.
The Six Moves That Separate Winners from Wannabes:
Own Your Story, Own Your Margins: Pop Mart didn't license Mickey Mouse or chase trending characters. They built Molly, Skullpanda, and Labubu from scratch. The result? Complete control over pricing, storytelling, and customer data—plus margins that make licensing deals look like charity work.
Turn Psychology Into Profit: Every blind box is a dopamine hit. Every rare figure is a story worth sharing. Pop Mart doesn't just sell toys—they sell the thrill of discovery. That's why fans keep coming back, wallets open, without a single discount code.
Make Every Channel a Community Hub: Their stores aren't just retail space—they're collector meetups. Their vending machines aren't just convenience—they're 24/7 excitement dispensers. Every touchpoint feeds the community, and the community feeds the growth.
Let Fans Run the Show: Here's what most brands get wrong—they try to control everything. Pop Mart lets 90% of their fan groups organize themselves. The result? Authentic advocacy that no marketing budget can buy.
Turn Authenticity Into Advantage: When knockoffs flood the market, most brands panic. Pop Mart turned verification into a selling point and rapid response into brand storytelling. Their fans don't just buy authentic—they hunt down fakes.
Build an Empire, Not Just a Product Line: Theme parks. Animation studios. Digital collectibles. Apparel. Pop Mart took their IP and stretched it across every revenue stream they could imagine. One story, infinite ways to monetize.
The Reality Check: Your competitors are studying this playbook right now. They're auditing their IP strategy, planning scarcity-driven launches, and mapping their channels for community potential.
The question isn't whether this approach works—Pop Mart's $1.8B valuation settled that debate. The question is whether you'll implement it before everyone else figures it out.
Don't let them get there first. The brands that master IP ownership, engineered scarcity, and community-driven growth aren't just growing—they're becoming impossible to copy.
P.S. This isn't theory—it's the exact framework helping 7- and 8-figure brands break through growth plateaus right now. The full breakdown includes the step-by-step IP development process, scarcity engineering tactics, and community activation playbooks that are moving real KPIs.
Why Your Competitors Hope You Wait Another Year to Embrace AI
Here's the uncomfortable reality: while you're debating whether AI is "ready" for your Shopify store, your smartest competitors are already three moves ahead. They're not just testing AI—they're using it to rewrite the rules of ecommerce operations, customer experience, and profit margins.
The brands dominating 2025 didn't wait for permission. They identified their biggest operational drains, plugged in AI solutions, and are now operating at a speed and scale that manual processes simply can't match.
The Strategic Moves Separating Winners from wannabes:
Start Where It Hurts Most: Stop chasing AI trends and start solving real problems. Are you drowning in product description backlogs? Spending hours on repetitive customer service? Constantly guessing at inventory needs? Smart operators identify their biggest time sinks first, then deploy AI like a surgical strike.
Automate the Mundane, Amplify the Human: The best AI implementations don't replace your team's creativity—they unleash it. Let algorithms handle product copywriting, image generation, and order tracking while your people focus on strategy, relationships, and the brand-building work that actually moves the needle.
Deliver VIP Treatment at Scale: AI-powered personalization engines and chatbots are turning every visitor interaction into a tailored experience. Your customers get instant, relevant help whether it's 2 PM or 2 AM, and you get conversion rates that reflect genuine customer satisfaction.
Global Expansion Without Brand Dilution: Advanced AI translation tools don't just convert words—they preserve your brand voice across languages and cultures. You can enter new markets confidently, knowing your messaging stays authentic and compelling.
Turn Data Into Competitive Intelligence: Predictive analytics and demand forecasting transform your decision-making from reactive to proactive. You spot opportunities before competitors, optimize inventory before stockouts, and catch revenue leaks before they become profit drains.
The Reality Check: Your competitors aren't just implementing these tools—they're compounding the advantages. Every month you wait, the operational gap widens. They're serving customers faster, launching products quicker, and scaling more efficiently.
The brands that master AI integration now aren't just growing—they're building moats that become harder to cross every quarter. They're creating customer experiences and operational efficiencies that manual processes simply cannot replicate.
Don't let them run away with your market share. The AI advantage isn't about replacing human judgment—it's about amplifying it with tools that scale your best decisions across every customer touchpoint.
P.S. The brands winning with AI follow a specific four-question framework to evaluate every tool and avoid shiny object syndrome. This systematic approach is helping 7- and 8-figure stores implement AI strategically, not randomly—and the ROI shows up in weeks, not months.
🔥 Tool of the Week 🔥
The Secret Weapon Your Competitors Don't Know About Yet
You know that sinking feeling when you watch your Google Analytics and see thousands of visitors who just... vanish? They browse, they consider, they leave—and you never hear from them again.
What if I told you 98% of those "lost" visitors are actually recoverable?
Meet Opensend—the tool that's quietly turning anonymous browsers into revenue for smart Shopify brands. While your competitors are still tweaking pop-up colors and discount percentages, Opensend users are capturing high-intent shoppers who never filled out a single form.
Here's why this is a game-changer:
No More Guessing Games: Opensend identifies visitors based on real behavior, not whether they're willing to trade their email for 10% off. You're reaching people who are already interested—not just bargain hunters.
Effortless Integration: Plug into Klaviyo, Postscript, or your existing stack in minutes. No dev work, no privacy headaches, no complicated setup that sits on your to-do list for months.
Results That Speak: Benchmade Knife Company added $85K in 30 days with 55%+ open rates. That's not from blasting their entire list—that's from reaching the right people at the right moment.
Quality Over Quantity: Stop chasing vanity metrics. Opensend builds lists of people who actually want to hear from you, turning your owned channels into a real growth engine instead of a numbers game.
The Early Bird Advantage: Most brands are still stuck optimizing exit-intent pop-ups. Opensend users are quietly building bigger, more engaged audiences and seeing 12X ROI while everyone else plays catch-up.
Here's the thing: Your best customers might be visiting your store right now, but if you can't identify them, they're just expensive traffic that goes nowhere.
Don't let another month of high-intent visitors slip away. The brands figuring this out now are the ones that'll dominate their email revenue in 2025.
Your invisible visitors are worth more than you think—time to find out exactly how much.
⚡ Before You Go
Every week, brands make a choice: save these insights for "someday" or pick one and run with it immediately.
Here's what I've learned: The brands that move fast don't just get a head start—they build momentum that compounds. They're the ones transforming support from cost center to competitive advantage, developing IP that competitors can't touch, and leveraging AI to operate at speeds that make their rivals look slow.
So here's my challenge: Don't let this be another newsletter that sits in your "good ideas" folder. Pick one strategy from today—maybe it's auditing your support workflow, brainstorming your first piece of owned IP, or identifying where AI could eliminate your biggest time drain. Give yourself 48 hours to take the first step.
Your competitors are reading the same insights. The question is who acts first.
Got questions? Stuck on implementation? Hit reply—I read every message, and your challenges often become next week's content. Plus, if you're testing something from today's playbook, I want to hear how it goes.
One more thing: If this sparked ideas for someone in your network, forward it along. The best founders I know are generous with insights that move the needle.
Keep finding your edge,
—Steve
P.S. The gap between knowing and doing is where most opportunities die. Don't let that be you.