In partnership with

The TL;DR:

• Let’s Chat D2C: Quick and Dirty Black Friday Recap + What to Expect with Cyber Monday

• What I’m Thinking about this Week: Being a Great Manager (or at least trying to be one).

• The D2Z Podcast: In this week’s episode, I sat down with Julian Timings, Co-Founder & CTO of Autron.ai, to explore how AI is revolutionizing Amazon advertising and helping brands optimize their strategies for success.

• App Updates & Highlights: Are there any new apps or platforms I should check out? Reply to this email to let me know!

• Upcoming Events: I’ll be home in Miami until 12/12 before heading to Maui for the rest of the year - let me know if you’re in either area and want to connect!

Increase Your Amazon Position Before Oct Prime Day

Send free products to Micro-Influencers using the platform Stack Influence which automates influencer collaborations at scale (get thousands of collabs per month). Brands like Magic Spoon, Unilever, and Farmacy have been able to get to #1 page positioning on Amazon and increase their monthly revenue as high as 13X in as little as 2 months.

• Pay influencers only with products

• Increase external traffic Amazon sales

• Get full rights image/video UGC

Increase your listings search positioning before Oct Prime Day is upon us!

Get 10% OFF signing up before Oct Prime Day.

Let’s Chat D2C - Quick and Dirty Black Friday Recap + What to Expect with Cyber Monday

This year's Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) set new benchmarks, with U.S. retail sales reaching a record $75 billion, up 5% from 2023. Online sales saw a particularly strong performance, hitting $10.8 billion on Black Friday alone, marking a 10.2% increase.

Key Trends

• Mobile Dominance: Over 55% of online sales came from smartphones, reflecting the growing reliance on mobile shopping.

• Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL): BNPL transactions reached $6.9 billion, with nearly 80% conducted via mobile devices.

• Top-Selling Categories: Electronics, toys, apparel, and home goods led the charge, driven by deep discounts - Electronics (31%), toys (28%), and apparel (24%).

In-Store vs. Online Shopping

• In-Store Traffic: Physical store visits declined by 3.2% on Black Friday, with certain regions, such as the Midwest, experiencing sharper drops due to adverse weather conditions.

• Online Traffic: Retail websites experienced a surge in activity, with some reporting traffic increases up to 1,800%, partly attributed to the deployment of AI-powered chatbots enhancing the shopping experience.

Tech's Role in Retail

AI-enhanced shopping experiences increased conversion rates by 9%, while some retailers, like Costco, faced challenges with website crashes due to high traffic.

BFCM 2024 highlights the ongoing shift towards online and mobile shopping, with tech innovations playing a critical role in driving sales and customer engagement.

What to Expect with Cyber Monday

Despite the earlier sales period (some retailers had their BFCM deals live since October), Cyber Monday sales are expected to reach $13.2 billion, marking a 6.1% increase from the $12.4 billion recorded in 2023.

Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) Utilization: BNPL services are expected to see substantial use, with projections of $993 million in spending on Cyber Monday alone, reflecting consumers' preference for flexible payment options.

Extended Sales Periods: Retailers are likely to extend deals beyond Cyber Monday, creating a "Cyber Week" to maximize sales opportunities and cater to consumers seeking prolonged access to discounts.

What I’m Thinking About This Week - Being a Great Manager (or at least trying to be one).

Being a great manager isn’t about micromanaging or monitoring a checklist of completed tasks—it’s about empowering your team to take full ownership of their roles and the outcomes tied to them. The key to building a thriving team lies in shifting from a task-focused mindset to one centered on results and autonomy.

The Problem with Task-Based Management

When team members are measured solely by the number of tasks they complete, it can lead to a culture of dependency and surface-level productivity. Assigning specific tasks might ensure immediate completion, but it can stifle creativity, hinder problem-solving, and create a lack of connection to the broader mission. Task-based management assumes you, as the manager, always know the best way forward—a risky assumption in complex and fast-changing environments.

Why Ownership Matters

Granting ownership of a goal or department does more than just lighten the managerial load; it builds trust and accountability. When you say to a team member, “Your responsibility is to make the newsletter profitable,” you’re signaling confidence in their ability to figure out the how. This approach:

1. Encourages Critical Thinking: Rather than waiting for instructions, team members are driven to strategize, experiment, and innovate.

2. Fosters Engagement: Ownership creates a personal stake in the success of the goal, increasing motivation and commitment.

3. Builds Leadership Skills: By giving them the space to make decisions, you’re developing future leaders who can operate with independence and foresight.

Success in Practice: Lessons from Electriq

This model isn’t just theoretical—it’s one I saw work exceptionally well at Electriq. Team members there were given full control over their departments, allowing them to build strategies, processes, and systems from the ground up. The results were remarkable: autonomy drove creativity and accountability, while the shared mission ensured everyone remained aligned. Each department thrived under its own leadership, contributing to a collective success story.

Adopting the Model at SCALIS

At SCALIS, I’m working to emulate this same approach. By empowering each team member to take ownership of their area, we’re dividing and conquering, all while moving toward a common goal and shared mission. This strategy isn’t about relinquishing oversight—it’s about trusting people to do their best work while ensuring they have the tools and support to succeed. It’s about creating leaders within every department who can innovate and drive results, just like at Electriq.

Supporting Without Micromanaging

Transitioning to an ownership model doesn’t mean leaving your team to fend for themselves. It means striking the right balance between autonomy and support. Here’s how:

1. Define Clear Goals: Clarity is key. Ensure your team understands what success looks like and why it matters. “Get the newsletter to profitability” is a goal that opens the door to strategic thinking while anchoring the work in measurable outcomes.

2. Set Expectations for Communication: Regular check-ins help align efforts without micromanaging. These conversations are opportunities to offer guidance, answer questions, and provide feedback.

3. Be a Resource, Not a Roadblock: Position yourself as a sounding board and problem-solver. Let them lead the process, but be ready to step in with resources or advice if they hit a roadblock.

4. Celebrate Efforts and Learn from Outcomes: Ownership means celebrating successes as a team and treating setbacks as learning experiences. The focus should always be on growth, not blame.

The Long-Term Benefits

Empowering ownership transforms the dynamic between managers and team members. It builds a culture of trust, fosters creativity, and drives better results. Over time, your team becomes a group of confident, self-reliant individuals who understand not just how to complete tasks but how to solve problems, achieve goals, and contribute to the company’s success in meaningful ways.

The best managers don’t just assign tasks—they create leaders. By focusing on the end goal and trusting your team to forge the path forward, you’ll not only achieve results but build a stronger, more capable team for the future. At SCALIS, we’re on this journey together, and I’m excited to see where this shared mission takes us.

This Week’s The D2Z Podcast

#132 – The Evolution of Amazon Advertising with AI

🎧 Listen Now 🎧

In this week’s episode, I sat down with Julian Timings, Co-Founder & CTO of Autron.ai, to explore how AI is revolutionizing Amazon advertising and helping brands optimize their strategies for success. Specifically, we explored the following:

💡 How AI is enhancing ad targeting and campaign efficiency on Amazon

📈 Strategies for leveraging AI tools to improve ad performance and ROI

🧠 Overcoming challenges in adopting AI-driven advertising solutions

🔑 Real-world examples of brands succeeding with AI-powered Amazon ads

🚀 The future of AI in shaping the landscape of ecommerce advertising

App Updates & Highlights - On the Hunt for New Shopify Apps

Are there any new apps or platforms I should check out? Reply to this email to let me know!

Upcoming Events

I’ll be home in Miami until 12/12 before heading to Maui for the rest of the year - let me know if you’re in either area and want to connect!