In this episode of Checkin to Checkout, we sit down with Justin Rinaldi, Director of Marketing and E-Commerce at Safety Speed Manufacturing, to unpack the trends shaping how customers make purchasing decisions today.

From the decline of trust in search engines to the rise of "brand shepherds" (not influencers), Justin shares why building great user experiences—both on and off your site—is now mission-critical. We cover:

• Why media consumption enablement is a competitive advantage

• How the mobile checkout experience can make or break sales

• The danger of over-automation and what brands lose when they remove human touch

• Lessons from rebuilding a crashed e-commerce site into a high-performing platform

• Experiments that worked, ones that didn’t, and what they taught him

• Why messaging matters more than friction—and how to get it right

If you’re navigating the ever-changing e-commerce landscape, this conversation will give you a fresh perspective on customer behavior, digital strategy, and what’s actually driving conversions in 2025.

Listen now to hear how Justin is staying ahead of the curve and keeping his customers at the center of every decision.

In this conversation, Adam Riback, Director of Digital at PS Seasoning, shares insights into the complexities of e-commerce marketing, the importance of understanding consumer behavior, and the challenges of managing digital strategies. He discusses his career journey, the role of agencies, the significance of consumer feedback, and the necessity of adapting to market changes. Adam emphasizes the importance of unit economics and the need for marketers to be proactive in testing and iterating strategies to drive growth.

Takeaways:

E-commerce marketers experience a range of emotions daily, influenced by consumer behavior and market conditions.
Balancing daily tasks with long-term strategy is crucial for success in e-commerce.
Box breathing and a structured approach to tasks can help manage stress and burnout.
Understanding unit economics is essential for making informed marketing decisions.
Testing and iterating on marketing strategies is key to finding successful growth opportunities.
Consumer feedback is vital for product development and marketing strategies.
Collaboration with agencies can enhance digital marketing efforts, but finding the right partner is essential.
E-commerce leaders must be adaptable and ready to pivot strategies based on market feedback.
The landscape of e-commerce is constantly evolving, requiring marketers to stay informed and agile.
Learning from failures is an integral part of growth and development in the e-commerce space.

In this episode of Checkin to Checkout, we sit down with Brit Tucker, VP of Product and Technology at Society6, to unpack the real-world chaos and clarity behind one of e-commerce’s most daunting projects: replatforming.

Brit leads a team that spans product, technology, UX, analytics, customer service, and operations—and recently spearheaded Society6’s successful 18-month migration to Shopify. She shares how her team balanced redesign with replatform, why “technical debt” is the number one sign it's time to replatform, and what made this her fastest replatform ever.

You'll hear:

• How to spot when technical debt is stalling your growth

• Why conversion rate optimization must start with first principles, not competitor copycats

• What most brands forget to plan for during a replatform (hint: it's not engineering)

• How Society6 saw major gains in add-to-cart and conversion rates post-migration

• The leadership mistake Brit would fix if she did it again

Plus, Brit gets real about career detours, why failure often stems from solving the wrong problem, and how spiritual grounding (and yoga) helps her stay sane leading a 20+ person team across time zones.

Whether you're planning a replatform, in the messy middle, or just want to hear how a seasoned e-commerce leader builds with empathy and rigor—this episode is packed with sharp insights and refreshing honesty.

Listen now to learn how to replatform the right way—and why saying no might be your most valuable product strategy.

• (00:00:04) - Welcome to Checkin to Checkout
• (00:00:42) - How to Manage Stress in the Workplace
• (00:03:33) - Have You Got Enough Teams for Your Job?
• (00:05:38) - How Can E-Commerce Leaders Build a Digital Product?
• (00:07:55) - Sustainable Conversion: First Principles
• (00:09:50) - How Did You Get Started in E-Commerce?
• (00:11:22) - Mentors in E-Commerce
• (00:13:03) - Have You Changed Anything In Your Past?
• (00:14:38) - In the Elevator With Rich People
• (00:21:24) - How Much Engineering Is Necessary for a Digital Initiative?
• (00:22:33) - The Signs That Your Company Needs to Re-platform
• (00:28:59) - Replatforming: The Big Things to Know
• (00:31:37) - Does a Website Decently Need Navigation?
• (00:35:37) - Did you see a conversion rate bump when you guys moved to Shop
• (00:36:22) - E-commerce: The Future of Customer Engagement
• (00:39:52) - The Untethered Soul by Alan Singer

What do you do when your therapist can’t handle your conversion rate anxiety?

You cancel therapy.

At least that’s what Girish Joshi did.

In this episode, Girish (Director of E-Commerce at LG) unloads the real emotional cost of running a P&L, why he checks revenue dashboards the way some people check horoscopes, and how irritation might be his secret superpower.

We get into:

• Why most frameworks kill creativity

• How to chase ideas that feel like “oh f***”

• The surprisingly emotional side of attach rates and checkbox services

• When your team doesn’t need consensus—they need your conviction

• Why every E-Commerce director needs at least one diplomat on speed dial

• And how he’s trying to turn LG into the Apple of appliances, one trusted fridge at a time

This episode is part group therapy, part MBA, and part stand-up set for over-caffeinated Directors of E-Com who are wondering if anyone else thinks like them.

(They do. And he’s on this episode.)

If you’ve ever canceled a vacation appetizer because your AOV dipped, this one’s for you.

• (00:00:00) - Interview
• (00:01:48) - In the Elevator With ECommerce's Director of Therapy
• (00:03:58) - Checking the Numbers
• (00:06:43) - Amazon CEO on Creativity and Purpose
• (00:08:17) - Don't Need a Frameworks
• (00:11:17) - Getting Your Welcome Offer to the Right Level
• (00:15:17) - e-commerce: Value vs. Services
• (00:18:46) - Will Willpower: The Need for Trust
• (00:20:57) - What's Your Biggest Strength and Weakest Element?
• (00:22:49) - LG CEO on Stories in Sales
• (00:27:10) - Justin on Leading From the Front
• (00:30:28) - Confidence in the Data vs. Personal Intuition
• (00:36:06) - Have You Ever Failed In Your Ideas?
• (00:37:01) - How LG Is Making the Brand Experience Reliable
• (00:39:22) - Three major areas of innovation at LG
• (00:40:33) - How to Build a Connected Future for Appliances
• (00:43:29) - LG CEO on E-Commerce Growth
• (00:47:46) - E-commerce Insights: What Excites You?

In this episode of Check In to Checkout, Mobile1st’s CPO Justin Aronstein and Director of Optimization Connor Burke sit down with Luis, the dynamic Senior Director of Digital Route to Consumer at Moët Hennessy. What starts as a laugh over shorts at a formal sales convention turns into one of the most insightful deep dives we've had into modern e-commerce strategy.

Luis unpacks how digital is redefining brand-building in a category constrained by the 100-year-old U.S. three-tier system. He challenges the outdated idea that brand and conversion live in separate funnels, making the compelling case that seamless, well-timed ecommerce interactions are branding today. You’ll hear how he’s using platforms like Instacart and Uber Eats not just to sell—but to elevate premium brands like Veuve Clicquot and Hennessy.

He also shares:

• The unexpected lessons from launching direct-to-consumer experiences that didn’t work

• Why focusing only on your business objectives (and not the consumer's actual needs) leads to flops

• His vision for how AI agents will change product discovery, recommendation, and even how brands get found online

• A “digital anthropologist” lens on how consumer behavior has evolved—especially in high-regulation industries

• His “video game” approach to e-commerce burnout and knowing when to put the controller down

Sprinkled throughout are honest reflections on failure, a killer Pokémon metaphor, and some top-tier anime and video game recommendations. Whether you're a director of e-commerce, a digital strategist, or just someone obsessed with where the customer journey is heading, this episode is packed with value.

• (00:00:00) - The Biggest Failure Of The Week
• (00:01:18) - The Future of E-Commerce: Building a Brand
• (00:03:11) - Clara's Kira on
• (00:04:19) - Top Executives: Moet Hennessy's ECommerce
• (00:05:46) - Three-Tier system in the US
• (00:06:51) - The 3-Tier Alcohol Industry
• (00:08:19) - What's your day-to-day
• (00:11:02) - Bar and E-Commerce Director Burnout
• (00:14:33) - Hennessy CEO on the Digital Revolution
• (00:18:08) - On Real Conversations With the Customer
• (00:19:20) - Alcohol Brand Chat Online
• (00:22:10) - How Did I Get Into E-Commerce?
• (00:27:21) - Mo Hennessy's Ash Ketchum
• (00:28:16) - How many languages can you speak fluently
• (00:29:21) - What Are Some Of Your Failures?
• (00:34:07) - How E-Commerce is driving brand equity
• (00:38:56) - Uber Eats: Brand Discovery
• (00:41:26) - E-commerce: The Next Generation of Agents
• (00:43:43) - Will AI Transform the Consumer Shopping Journey?
• (00:45:58) - How Is AI Affecting Consumer Behavior?
• (00:48:03) - Beyond the Book: What's on your Feed?

Most e-commerce stories start with product-market fit.

This one started with Frodo.

On this episode of Check-In to Check-Out, we talk with Kyle Cole, co-founder of The Hero’s Journal—a journaling brand built on the idea that life gets easier when you start seeing yourself as the main character.

What started as a nerdy side project turned into a seven-figure DTC brand powered by story, community, and a refusal to send boring emails.

Kyle opens up about:

• Accidentally going viral during quarantine with a “Quarantine Quest”

• Scaling fulfillment from garage to 3PL—and the painful (but hilarious) budget mistake he made

• What every e-commerce leader gets wrong about community building

• How to forecast without deluding yourself

• Why the best marketing emails sometimes have no CTA

If you’ve ever tried to justify a warehouse lease based on “the traffic you're manifesting” or had your team melt down over a 3PL gone rogue, this one’s for you.

It’s funny, vulnerable, and weirdly practical.

And yes, we talk about iOS 14.

Perfect for: Directors of E-Commerce, DTC operators, brand builders who think “community” isn’t just a Slack channel

Listen in and remember: you are the hero. Just maybe... also the operations oracle.

• (00:00:00) - E-Commerce: The Hero's Journey
• (00:01:40) - Kyle on the Podcast
• (00:02:11) - What's Your Day to Day at Hero's Journey?
• (00:02:42) - Have You Had A Good Week?
• (00:03:32) - What's Your Best Strengths and Weaknesses?
• (00:08:17) - The Story of The Book
• (00:09:09) - Startups as a Way to Get Out of Debt
• (00:12:41) - Do You Wish You Had Done This Lesson?
• (00:17:13) - How To Grow an E-Commerce Business
• (00:21:45) - Being Flexible in an E-commerce Business
• (00:22:56) - Community as a Force multiplier for E-Commerce
• (00:29:06) - Building a Community for Your Product
• (00:31:32) - Send inspirational emails to your fans
• (00:35:58) - E-Commerce Leadership: The Hero's Journal