Justin Palmer, Founder & CEO of Home Life Brands, joins Taylor Holiday live at Commerce Roundtable in San Diego to discuss Black Friday customer retention and turning holiday shoppers into customers who stay.After 12 years in pet ecommerce, the company behind iHeartDogs and The Hero Company prioritizes acquiring customers in September and October, when they’re more likely to buy again during the holidays. Justin explains how member discounts, early product access, and daily inventory planning shape the brand’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday strategy.For DTC brands preparing for BFCM 2026, Justin shares an approach to driving repeat purchases and building membership revenue around products customers don’t need every month. Charitable experiences and personal impact updates give members an ongoing reason to engage beyond the initial discount.In this episode:- Why September and October acquisitions tend to return during the holidays, while November and December buyers are more often one-time gift shoppers- Finding the intersection of three customer interests to develop more specific products and ad creative- Building membership revenue around products with limited natural repeat purchase frequency- Giving members early access and discounted pricing before Black Friday- Testing product concepts with existing customers and cold audiences before ordering inventory- Using daily inventory projections to adjust pricing and ad spend ahead of the shipping cutoff- Giving iHeartDogs members a reason to stay through meal donations, monthly rescue flights, and personal impact dashboards- Producing AI ad creative at scale when predicting winners is increasingly difficult- Building toward automated offers, from a discount idea to a landing page and published ad creative- Why Meta remains the primary acquisition channel, and where TikTok Shop, Amazon, and AppLovin fit- Moving media buyer compensation toward contribution margin rather than last-click revenue aloneKey stat: Justin says memberships account for roughly 25% of the business’s revenue, helping provide stability outside the holiday season.Community impact: The Hero Company has also funded more than $2 million in donations to organizations that match veterans with service dogs.This episode is brought to you by:- Trybe: https://bit.ly/4xXvD08– Alia: https://bit.ly/4yuP8ON– Bill: https://bit.ly/4e9JQQmShow Notes: Go to ⁠https://www.universalads.com/middleman ⁠and use code UACTC to get $2,500 in matched ad credits when you spend $2,500.- Learn more: https://commonthreadco.com– Track your brand’s performance: https://statlas.io– Work with us: https://commonthreadco.com/pages/contact– Have a question for the Ecommerce Playbook? Email podcast@commonthreadco.com