Ecommerce Playbook: Numbers, Struggles & Growth

Kyle Yeoman, President of Groove Life, joins Taylor Holiday live at Commerce Roundtable in San Diego to explain why the brand is pulling back on discounts.

With profits tripling, Kyle breaks down the changes behind Groove Life’s turnaround, from cutting operating expenses to rebuilding product pages. He also shares the brand’s Black Friday plan: start the Wednesday before, run the sale for one week, and stop.
In this episode:
What changed when discounted sales grew from 20% to 40% of revenue
Why brands get stuck in “discount prison” and what it takes to get out
Groove Life’s 2026 plan to reserve discounts for Father’s Day and the holiday season
Why fixing operating expenses came first
The product page changes that lifted conversion rates 61% YoY on the updated pages
Why Groove Life is keeping its Black Friday sale to one week
How the brand approaches linear TV and YouTube beyond traditional attribution

One thing worth noting, Kyle reports that site changes cut Meta CPA in half, measured on the same seven-day click attribution window.

Key stat: Kyle reports that site changes cut Meta CPA in half, measured on the same seven-day click attribution window.

This episode is brought to you by:
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Show Notes:
Q4 waits for no one. AppLovin is offering $5K ad credit when you spend $5K. Go to applovin.com/ctc to set up your first campaign
Explore the Prophit Engine: https://commonthreadco.com/pages/prophit-engine
The Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at podcast@commonthreadco.com to ask us any questions you might have

Kyle Yeoman, President of Groove Life, joins Taylor live at Commerce Roundtable in San Diego to break down one of the most counterintuitive pivots in DTC: committing to fewer discounts and watching profits triple. Kyle shares the exact framework Groove Life used to escape "discount prison" — and the site changes alone that cut their Meta CPA in half.
In this episode:
How Groove went from 20% to 40% of revenue through discounts — and what that revealed

The "discount prison" problem: why you can't turn off what you built your funnel on

The 2026 reset: fix OpEx first, then eliminate year-round promotions

Why rebuilding one PDP drove 61% YoY conversion rate improvement

The exact Q4 strategy: no sale until Wednesday before Black Friday, one week only

How linear TV remnant + YouTube operates outside traditional attribution

The mindset shift: constraint as competitive advantage

Key stat: Meta CPA cut in half — seven-day click, apples to apples — from site changes alone. No ad changes required.
Show Notes:
Q4 waits for no one. AppLovin is offering $5K ad credit when you spend $5K. Go to applovin.com/ctc to set up your first campaign

Explore the Prophit Engine: https://commonthreadco.com/pages/prophit-engine

The Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at podcast@commonthreadco.com to ask us any questions you might have

Tyler and Alex from TBAR just joined CTC — and in this episode, Shack sits down with them right after their first-ever stage presentation at Commerce Roundtable to break down everything they know about building winning TikTok Shop programs.
This is the tactical breakdown behind one of the fastest-growing creator commerce agencies in the space: how they built their client roster (Ridge, David Protein, Jones Road and more), why video volume beats virality every time, how they structure creator communities in Discord, and where social commerce is heading next.
In This Episode:
Why TikTok limits views on shoppable videos (and why that actually doesn't matter)

The GMV Max algorithm explained: why it's a slot machine, not a science

How to get 3 videos back for every sample you send

The creator community flywheel: Discord, coaching, competitions, retainers

Halo effect to Amazon, Shopify, and retail — when to expect it and how to measure it

Where social commerce is heading: YouTube Shop, Meta Reels, and live selling

Show Notes:
Go to https://bit.ly/4cbihFx to Claim $25,000 in Lutiq platform credits

Explore Tikok Shops; https://commonthreadco.com/pages/tiktok-shop-agency

Explore the Prophit Engine: https://commonthreadco.com/pages/prophit-engine

The Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at podcast@commonthreadco.com to ask us any questions you might have

8 year CTC veteran Garrett Hord sits down with Randall to break down what separates the brands that crush Q4 from the ones that scramble.
For many ecommerce brands, 50% of annual revenue and contribution margin lands in a single 30-day window, November 13 through December 13. Most brands treat it like any other month. The ones that win treat it like a machine.
In this episode, Garrett walks through the frameworks, patterns, and tactical mistakes he's seen across 8 years and hundreds of brands — including CTC's "four peaks theory," the October cohort principle, and why squeezing the sponge is the most common Q4 killer.
Topics covered:
Why 50% of revenue hits in just 30 days — and how to be ready

"The Machine": submitting your Q4 plan for a back-check before BFCM

Pulling revenue forward: the right way vs. the wrong way

CTC's four peaks theory for Q4 promotional strategy

The October cohort — why it has the highest short-term LTV of the year

The "double dip" strategy: acquire new customers pre-BFCM, convert them on the spike

Squeezing the sponge: the most common Q4 mistake

Why brands that miss July–October targets almost never catch up in November

What season of ecommerce are we in, and who will win the next 5 years
Want to put your Q4 plan through The Machine? https://commonthreadco.com/pages/contact
Show Notes:
Go to http://outersignal.com/thread to get 50% off your first two months

Explore the Prophit Engine: https://commonthreadco.com/pages/prophit-engine

The Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at podcast@commonthreadco.com to ask us any questions you might have

CTC just acquired TBAR Partners — the fastest-growing TikTok Shop agency in the country. In this episode, Luke sits down with co-founders Tyler Brechbiel and Alex Rudolph to walk through the origin story, the playbook behind their results, and what this partnership means for ecommerce brands.
Tyler and Alex built TBAR from a college dorm room in June 2025. Sixteen months later they're managing over $5M in monthly GMV for brands like Ridge, HexClad, and Grüns — and now they're part of Common Thread Collective.
In this episode:
How TBAR went from zero to managing Ridge, HexClad, and Grüns in under 18 months

The creator recruitment and Discord community system that 3x's video output per sample

Why video volume and GMV have a direct correlation — and how to use that

The "blitz launch" strategy that sold Naked Sundays out of inventory overnight

How Ridge's tracker card — their worst D2C seller — became their top TikTok Shop product

The volume-based competition that generated 7,000 videos in a single month for Ridge

Why 90% of TikTok Shop revenue comes from the top 10 affiliates — and how to find them fast

What GMV Max actually is and how to feed it correctly

TikTok LIVE selling and the halo effect into Meta, Amazon, and retail

How Statlas will track the full demand cascade for TBAR's brand roster

Show Notes:
Go to https://bit.ly/4cbihFx to Claim $25,000 in Lutiq platform credits

Explore the Prophit Engine: https://commonthreadco.com/pages/prophit-engine

The Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at podcast@commonthreadco.com to ask us any questions you might have