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Most brands treat post‑BFCM like the cooldown lap. The operators who pull ahead use this stretch of December to squeeze more profit out of the systems they already have instead of just throwing more money at ads.

Customer acquisition costs are still climbing, channels are noisier than ever, and yet some brands are quietly increasing revenue without scaling spend. The difference? They're tightening conversion, retention, and experimentation, not hoping a single channel bails them out.

Shopify just dropped its Winter '26 Edition with 150+ new features that fundamentally change what's possible. Sidekick now builds custom apps through conversation, edits your theme by just clicking and asking, and researches your store to surface high-impact improvements you can act on today. If you've been watching AI developments and wondering when it will become practical, this is that moment.

This edition is packed with systems plays that compound as we head into 2026. Multi-channel acquisition strategies that feed into each other rather than compete for budget. Subscription models are growing at 12-14% annually, while the rest of the ecommerce cools off. CRO frameworks that turn existing traffic into revenue without spending another dollar on ads.

Here's what's inside this week:

🎧 This Week's Podcast – Russ Macumber from Impressive Digital explains why the brands thriving right now treat SEO and paid media as complementary systems, not separate channels fighting for budget.

💎 Knowledge Drops – The subscription ecommerce market is heading toward $30-50B by 2026, and most brands are leaving money on the table with broken retention systems. Plus, Shopify's Winter '26 Edition just made testing, customization, and optimization radically faster with AI that actually works.

🔥 Tool of the Week – Trustoo transforms visitors into customers with customizable review requests and smart retention tools that keep them coming back.

⚡ Industry Pulse – Top Shopify CRO Agencies for 2026, TikTok Shop's record $500M+ BFCM with 84% livestream growth, and ShipBob's benchmark data showing exactly how your peak season stacked up.

If you're tired of watching CACs climb while margins shrink, this edition breaks down the exact levers the smartest operators are pulling right now to grow without just spending more.

Let's go. 👇

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Your ad costs keep climbing. Your conversion rates? Pretty much stuck. And if you're still waiting for the 2017 Facebook playbook to magically work again, you're not alone—but you are slowly bleeding margin.

This week, I sat down with Russ Macumber, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Impressive Digital. With over 25 years in the trenches and clients ranging from $2M to $500M+ in revenue, Russ has seen the entire evolution of digital marketing—and he's got some strong opinions about what's actually working right now.

Here's what caught my attention: the brands thriving in today's environment aren't fighting internal budget wars between SEO and paid media teams. They're treating these channels as complementary systems that actually feed each other.

What we unpacked in this conversation:

The merchants mastering these strategies aren't just surviving the complexity of 2025—they're building unstoppable momentum while competitors keep waiting for the "good old days" to return.

BFCM was the biggest sales event of the year.

It's also the year's biggest fraud event.

Everyone was chasing record revenue that weekend, but the real damage hits 30–90 days later when disputes land in your lap and gut your January numbers. The refunds, friendly fraud, and “digital shoplifting” that snuck through during BFCM will quietly turn into a chargeback wave just as you’re trying to plan Q1.

Chargeflow’s BFCM bundle is designed to kill that January hangover before it starts. New customers get $10,000 in FREE Chargeback Automation credits plus Chargeflow Prevent FREE until December 31, 2025, so every sale you make now is protected well into the new year. Their AI-powered platform delivers 360° fraud protection with up to 90% fraud reduction, less than 0.1% false positives, and automated dispute handling that works in the background while you scale.

Most tools stop at payment data; Chargeflow covers the full post-transaction lifecycle, protecting you from refund abuse, return scams, friendly fraud, and stolen cards using insights from a network of 15,000+ merchants. Instead of waking up to a nasty January chargeback surprise, you lock in your BFCM gains and keep more of the revenue you already earned.

Here's a number that should get your attention: traditional ecommerce stores lose 70-75% of customers within a year. Meanwhile, subscription brands with solid retention systems are keeping customers month after month, building predictable recurring revenue that compounds while everyone else is scrambling for the next sale.

The DTC subscription market is sitting between $20-40B right now and heading toward $30-50B by 2026, growing at a healthy 12-14% CAGR while the rest of ecommerce cools off. But here's what most brands miss: subscriptions aren't a product feature—they're a retention system that needs to be built intentionally.

I just published a deep research piece that pulls together everything operators need to know about subscription growth, and one finding really stood out. Price doesn't predict churn at all.

Customers maintain $100 subscriptions at the same rate as $10 ones. What actually matters? Perceived value, experience, and how well you solve their problem.

The retention gaps killing most subscription programs:

The brands that will dominate subscriptions through 2026 aren't the ones launching first. They're the ones building sophisticated retention systems—smart onboarding sequences, flexible customer portals, proactive churn interventions, and continuous testing—while their competitors keep pouring money into acquisition that leaks right back out.

Shopify's Winter '26 Edition arrived with over 150 launches and enhancements, all centered around one idea: AI will amplify human creativity, not replace it. This isn't about chasing AI hype—it's about giving operators tools that predict needs, suggest action, and execute tasks with your oversight.

Sidekick evolved from a reactive assistant to a proactive collaborator that anticipates your next need. It can now build code, make changes directly, customize any store element through natural language commands, and create custom apps for your Shopify admin just by describing what you want. The new Sidekick Pulse feature researches your store and surfaces personalized, high-impact advice you can act on immediately—brilliant insights without the caffeine dependency.

But the real game-changer is how AI shows up across the entire platform. Shopify Agentic Storefronts puts your products directly into AI conversations on platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Microsoft Copilot—one setup in your admin and your products are immediately discoverable by many agents with no complex integrations.

What operators can do right now:

For brands that have been waiting to see if AI is real or just hype, Shopify's Winter '26 Edition just showed that the tools you need to compete in 2026 are already here. The question isn't whether to adopt AI—it's whether you'll use it before your competitors do.

Top Shopify CRO agencies for 2026 — With CACs climbing across every paid channel, the highest-leverage play for 2026 might be optimizing the traffic you already have instead of just spending more to acquire new visitors. This roundup breaks down 10 Shopify-focused CRO agencies that specialize in turning existing traffic into more revenue through structured experimentation, not random one-off tests. If your revenue feels stuck despite steady traffic, this is worth a read.

TikTok Shop Hit $500M+ in Sales Over BFCM 2025 with 84% livestream sales growth year-over-year. The stat that caught my attention: 83% of TikTok Shop buyers discover products through creators' GRWM or before-and-after videos that cause overnight sellouts. Shoppers tuned into 760K+ livestream sessions generating 1.6B views. Live shopping isn't experimental anymore—those growth numbers prove real-time engagement converts at scale.

ShipBob's BFCM Data Across Thousands of Brands shows Black Friday sales jumped 236% compared to average October Fridays, with average order value hitting $69.86. California had as many orders as the bottom 22 states combined, while Utah, Minnesota, and Iowa saw 250%+ increases. Globally, Canada led with 399% growth. These benchmarks give you context for evaluating your own BFCM performance and planning next year's peak season.

The brands crushing it right now aren't the ones with the biggest ad budgets. They're the ones building systems where channels feed each other—SEO strengthening paid, subscriptions compounding quietly in the background, and AI tools actually saving time instead of creating more busywork.

We're past BFCM with solid December traffic still ahead. There's real runway to tighten what's working, fix what's leaking, and build momentum that carries straight into 2026. Not massive overhauls. Just the right levers pulled at the right time.

If something in today's edition sparked an idea—or you're already testing one of these plays—hit reply. I read every response, and your questions and wins shape what we dig into next week.

Thanks for being here. Keep building, keep testing, and keep focusing on what actually moves the needle.

— Steve