DTC Podcast

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Laura Cantor, VP of Marketing & E-commerce at New York & Company, shares the reality of transforming a legacy retail brand in the age of AI - and why nobody can do it alone.

http://zenyt.ai/start

In this episode:
🚀 Leading digital transformation at a legacy retail brand
🤖 Using to find 500+ site issues (and the problems AI creates) zenyt.ai/start
💻 Moving from Shopify Hydrogen to Liquid right before Black Friday
🤝 Why partnerships replaced competition in retail
🧠 AQ (Adaptability Quotient) - the skill that matters most
📱 Building in public and learning together
⚡ The reality of doing more with less in 2025
🎯 Why every problem now has 10 AI solutions (and nobody knows which works)

Key topics:
- The shift from headless back to Liquid (and why simplicity won)
- AI-powered site QA and the translation gap (zenyt.ai/start)
- Why collaboration beats secrecy in the AI era
- Post-COVID conference culture and community building
- Adaptability and unlearning in real-time
- NRF insights and retail trends for 2025
- The calculus class we're all failing together

Timestamps:
0:00 - Intro
1:30 - Laura's retail background (Ralph Lauren, J.Crew)
2:10 - New York & Company's digital transformation journey
4:40 - The biggest challenges: doing more with less
8:15 - AI creates problems AND solutions (the QA challenge)
15:50 - Why we moved from Hydrogen to Liquid
21:10 - The post that resonated across the industry
28:30 - Why partnerships matter more than competition now
33:00 - How agile teams adopt AI tools
36:35 - We're all failing calculus together
39:00 - Adaptability Quotient (AQ) - the new essential skill
44:50 - The power of clarity: translating robot to human
52:30 - Why retail is fundamentally a people business
55:45 - Upcoming events (eTail West, ShopTalk, Commerce Next)

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Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) used to feel “enterprise-only.” Not anymore. Tyler Masur (Head of Amazon at Pilothouse) breaks down what AMC actually does, how to use the no-code templates without being a SQL wizard, and the audience overlays that make broad keywords finally make sense.

Role-based hook: For Amazon operators and DTC teams spending real money on Sponsored Ads who want lower ACOS without sacrificing scale.

In this episode, we get tactical on:
What AMC is (and isn’t): audience building + deeper measurement layered on top of your existing console
How to start with the no-code audience + analytics templates (and when AI-generated SQL helps)
Why you should test AMC audiences in net-new campaigns (so you don’t accidentally choke your winners)
The “broad keyword + qualified audience” play (example: bidding on “cooler” but only for outdoors browsers)
Measuring DSP impact: what happens after someone sees DSP, then hits Sponsored Brands/Products

Who this is for: Amazon managers, DTC founders, and growth teams trying to scale Sponsored Ads past the “set it and forget it” phase.

What to steal:
Build a “generic keyword” campaign, then overlay an in-market audience (nodes/categories) so you can bid higher without paying for junk clicks.
Keep audience tests isolated in new campaigns; don’t jam audiences into legacy structures and hope.
Run the AMC overlap reporting to spot the campaigns that actually increase conversion when paired together (then fund those).

Timestamps:
0:00 Amazon Marketing Cloud is now open to all sellers
2:05 What AMC actually does: audiences and analytics
4:10 No-code templates vs custom SQL queries (and the built-in AI helper)
6:10 Audience targeting strategy to improve ACoS without over-narrowing
8:55 Using prebuilt analytics to see which campaigns lift conversion together
11:10 When AMC becomes worth it based on ad spend and effort required
13:15 How Pilothouse uses AI day-to-day for Amazon work (including Rufus content)
15:20 Measuring DSP incrementality and overlap with sponsored ads using AMC reports
17:30 Platform notes: Amazon layoffs and the OpenAI + Amazon speculation

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Bushbalm co-founder David Gaylord returns for his third appearance on the pod — and he brought receipts.

The brand just pulled off one of the most impressive growth runs in DTC:
70% YoY revenue growth
18,000+ waxing salon accounts (up from 2,000 in 2023)
Expanded shelf space at Ulta Beauty
Focused DTC growth (+25%) while spending less on Meta

We unpack how they’ve built a growth machine that’s lean, durable, and built on word of mouth — not channel sprawl.

For DTC brands thinking bigger than Meta ads.
Why their pro channel is the ultimate word-of-mouth flywheel
How they invest $200K+ into retail the right way
What goes into planning a product launch 2 years out
Why pulling back on Meta actually helped retention
How exclusivity (not everywhere all at once) became their moat

Who this is for: Brands navigating retail, trade marketing, or B2B scale

What to steal:
How to anchor your retail bet on ONE whale by building deep
Build demand from the pros outward
Treat your best partners like real channels (with loyalty perks + exclusive SKUs)

Timestamps
00:00 Bushbalm’s 70% growth and shift to profitability
02:30 Why retail and the pro channel now drive the business
06:20 Going deep with one key retailer instead of many
09:40 How trade marketing and in-store displays impact sales
12:30 DTC growth, Meta ads, and changing channel priorities
18:00 Launching exclusive products through the pro channel
22:00 Simplifying DTC assortments to improve performance
25:00 Category rewiring in hair removal and skincare
31:40 Expanding shelf space versus adding new retailers
37:00 Building a sustainable, profitable growth engine

Hashtags
#DTCPodcast #Bushbalm #DavidGaylord #DTC #Ecommerce #RetailStrategy #BeautyBrand #FounderJourney #RetailMarketing #ProChannel #UltaBeauty #BrandGrowth #Omnichannel

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Jordan Gordon, VP of Retention and CRO at Pilothouse returns to the pod to break down a concept every retention marketer thinks they understand but rarely applies: Net Present Value (NPV). This isn’t finance class — this is a tactical breakdown on how to treat your email list like an appreciating asset.

For DTC retention leads and founders thinking beyond one-off campaigns.
Why NPV thinking changes your entire email strategy
How to measure email value beyond open/click/purchase
Ways to increase the long-term worth of every subscriber
Where CRO fits in to boost lifecycle value
Email as a compounding channel: what most brands miss

Who this is for: Retention marketers, growth leads, lifecycle teams

What to steal:
A framework to value your email list like a P&L
How to spot (and increase) high NPV customers
Why short-term ROI thinking stunts your retention

Timestamps
00:00 Building engagement-first email habits
02:10 Why email and CRO belong together at the bottom of the funnel
04:05 How flat revenue businesses can increase valuation
06:05 Using content emails to grow list size and engagement
08:20 Pairing engagement email with high-converting site funnels
10:15 Why a larger, more engaged list increases business value
12:00 Finding the right engagement content for any brand
14:05 Authentic vs produced content in engagement emails
16:00 Email grows the audience, the website converts it

Hashtags
#ecommerce #emailmarketing #retentionmarketing #netpresentvalue #dtc #cro #emailstrategy #customerlifetimevalue #digitalmarketing #shopify #ownedmedia #foundermarketing #growthstrategy #bottomfunnel #marketingstrategy

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Mark Rushmore, co-founder of SURI, joins the pod to break down how they built a toothbrush brand people actually love. From selling out 5,000 units in a week to hitting 15,000+ Trustpilot reviews, SURI is proving you can create DTC magic in even the most boring category—if you take the time to get it right.

For DTC founders scaling from $1M to $20M who want to increase retention and earn real customer love.
Why "low expectations" created the perfect wedge for disruption
The anti-agency approach to Meta ads that helped them scale profitably
How they turned 15,000 reviews into a custom GPT to inform product dev
The real reason they’re dominating Trustpilot (and Amazon)
Their upcoming launch into 1,900+ Target stores

Who this is for: Brand builders in crowded or low-interest categories, especially if you're post-product-market fit and scaling retention/subscription.

What to steal:
Reframe a boring utility into a desirable ritual
Use Trustpilot + Slack API to keep every team member close to customer voice
Don’t overthink performance creative—fast iteration beats polished production

Timestamps
00:00 Why toothbrushes are a massive but unloved category
02:55 Building a better toothbrush through design and sustainability
05:00 Finding product-market fit and early traction
07:05 Why customers say they love this toothbrush
09:40 How Suri’s ad strategy evolved over time
12:00 Growth mix across ads, email, creators, and retail
15:00 Competing with Oral-B and Philips on shelf
18:00 Using reviews as a growth and product feedback engine
20:00 Retention, subscriptions, and gifting behavior
22:00 Amazon strategy and retail expansion
25:00 Long-term vision for Suri and redefining success

Hashtags
#dtcpodcast #directtoconsumer #ecommerce #dtcbrands #productmarketfit #brandbuilding #consumerproducts #subscriptionbusiness #growthmarketing #metaads #amazonfba #retentionmarketing #founderstory #startuppodcast #physicalproducts

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