🚚 The Secret Growth Lever 7-Figure Brands Use (While Competitors Burn Cash on Ads)

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Welcome to the +1,305 new operators who joined us this week!

👋 Hey Fastlane Insiders,

You know that feeling when you stumble across something that makes you stop and think, "Wait, why isn't everyone doing this?" That's been my week…

I've been digging into some strategies that are quietly reshaping how the smartest Shopify brands scale, and honestly, I'm a little shocked more founders haven't caught on yet. We're talking about operational moves that can unlock serious growth—the kind of stuff that separates the brands crushing it from those still fighting the same old battles.

Here's what's got my attention this week:

🎙️ On the Podcast — A conversation about the growth lever most brands completely overlook: fulfillment. Sounds boring, I know, but when you hear how brands like Dr. Squatch and Brooklinen turned operations into a competitive advantage, you'll see why this matters more than your next Facebook campaign.

💡 Knowledge Drops — The real scoop on Temu and Shein marketplaces. Skip the hype and rumors—I'm breaking down who's actually winning on these platforms and why it might (or might not) make sense for your brand.

🛠️ Tool of the Week — Back to that revenue recovery system that's helping brands turn anonymous traffic into actual sales. The early results are getting hard to ignore.

While everyone keeps recycling the same playbooks, quieter opportunities are unfolding right under our noses. This week is about those moves that seem obvious once you spot them—but most people simply aren’t looking.

Ready to dig in?

Let's go,
—Steve

P.S. Fair warning—after you hear Aras break down fulfillment strategy, you might never look at shipping the same way again.

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Still wrestling with split shipments, margin-eating mistakes, and customer complaints? Fulfillment—not traffic—is what’s reallyapping your growth.

I sat down with Aras Kolya, CRO at ShipMonk, to unpack how brands like Dr. Squatch and Brooklinen turn operations into a revenue machine instead of a cost sink. His playbook is built for stores shipping 500 to 100,000+ orders a month—and it’s shockingly simple.

Why You Need to Listen Now

Brooklinen slashed costs and boosted on-time delivery after switching to ShipMonk’s virtual carrier network—proof that fulfillment can add margin instead of destroying it.

Ready to break through your invisible ceiling?

Fulfillment is the first impression after the click—nail it, and every metric that matters goes up.

Struggling with slow-moving SKUs or warehouses bursting at the seams? Temu’s-hungry marketplace can clear inventory at warp speed—but only if you play it like a pro.

Temu won’t save a shaky P&L, but for disciplined operators it’s a pressure valve that turns idle inventory into cash and intel.

Are you ready to squeeze every dollar from your dusty shelves—or will a braver competitor claim that volume first?

Ad costs climbing while reach stalls? The savviest Shopify founders are quietly tapping Shein’s 500-million-download marketplace to move product fast—without monthly fees or paid ads.

Luxury margins are non-negotiable, your logistics wobble, or you still haven’t nailed product-market fit. Shein amplifies what’s already working—it won’t fix shaky fundamentals.

Marketplace share of eCommerce is exploding. Every week you’re not testing Shein, a bolder competitor is siphoning off your future customers.

Here's a brutal reality: you're spending thousands driving traffic to your store, but 98% of those visitors are complete ghosts. They browse, they leave, and you have zero way to bring them back. Most brands just shrug and hope lightning strikes twice.

Meanwhile, the smartest DTC teams are quietly using Instant to turn that "lost" traffic into serious revenue—while their competitors wonder where all the sales went.

Instant identifies up to 50% of your anonymous visitors—no pop-ups, no forms, no friction. Just background identification that turns wasted traffic into real, addressable leads you can actually market to.

The numbers are staggering:

Every day you're not identifying anonymous visitors is a day your competitors are building massive email lists from the same traffic you're both getting. They're winning back sales you thought were gone forever while you startThe gap is widening every week.** Instant is trusted by 500+ leading brands and just secured massive funding to scale—early adopters are locking in unfair advantages before this becomes table stakes.

Instant guarantees a 4x ROI or your money back. Plus, Fastlane readers get 50% off their first month exclusively.

Don't let another week of traffic slip away unidentified. The brands implementing visitor identification now are building competitive moats while others burn money on traffic they can't track.

Ready to turn your ghost traffic into revenue?

P.S. Setup takes 15 minutes. You could be recovering lost revenue by this afternoon. The question isn't whether you need better visitor identification—it's whether you'll be ahead of the curve or scrambling to catch up.

Thanks for hanging out with me to the very end. I know the inbox battlefield is real, and the fact you’re still here tells me you’re serious about creating the necessary room for growth.

Whether it’s turning fulfillment into a profit center, testing fresh channels like Temu and Shein, or finally capturing the ghost traffic you’ve been paying for, the ideas we walked through today only work if they leave the page and get into the wild. Pick one tactic—just one—and put it to work before the weekend hits. Small, fast moves compound quicker than perfect plans that never ship.

Got a win to share, or stuck on implementation? Hit reply. I read every note, and your feedback guides where we steer this ship next. And if something sparked an aha! moment, pass it along to another founder or marketer who could use the lift.

Keep pushing, keep iterating, and remember: the brands that turn insights into action today are the ones everyone else studies tomorrow.

Talk soon,
—Steve