In this special episode of the Ecommerce Playbook Podcast, Luke Austin takes the reins and brings in two of CTC’s top-performing growth strategists—Lacie Geary and Brian Sakansky—for a deep dive into what it takes to build and execute a forecast with precision. You’ll get a rare look under the hood at CTC’s Profit System, including…
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When should you really be spending more? Which days of the week drive the most revenue—for your brand? In this episode, Richard is joined by Luke Austin (VP of Growth at Common Thread Collective) to walk through real client data and uncover just how different day-of-week and month-over-month effects can be across brands, even within…
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In this episode of The Ecommerce Playbook Podcast, Richard Gaffin and Taylor Holiday dig deeper into the Spending Power Model—breaking down why the next dollar you spend doesn’t always produce the same return. They explore concepts like the marginal frontier (the moment your next dollar becomes unprofitable), spending power, and how to balance short-term profitability…
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In place of this week’s Tuesday ECPP episode, we’re featuring CTC’s newest podcast: The DTC Hotline. In this week’s episode, Richard Gaffin is joined by Tony “The Chopper” Chopp (VP of Paid Media) and Luke “The Weatherman” Austin (VP of eCommerce Strategy) to field real questions from operators and listeners—offering hot takes, cold truths, and…
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In this episode of the Ecommerce Playbook Podcast, Richard Gaffin and Taylor Holiday dive deep into the practical use cases of Spend & aMER forecasting models—powerful tools that help brands set budgets with clarity, not guesswork. Taylor walks through real examples, showing how these models adjust for changing costs (like tariffs) and how gross margin…
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In this episode of the Ecommerce Playbook Podcast, Richard Gaffin and Taylor Holiday unpack the critical connection between forecasting models and creative production. Forecasting isn’t just about predicting numbers … it’s about building a marketing and creative plan that can actually deliver them.Taylor explains why most forecasts fail: brands treat them like predictions instead of…
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In this episode of The Ecommerce Playbook Podcast, Richard Gaffin and Taylor Holiday unpack why forecasting isn’t just about models—it’s about execution. They explore how the best brands combine data, marketing calendars, and disciplined ownership to create forecasts that actually hold up in the real world. Drawing from billions in client data, Taylor explains why…
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In this episode of The Ecommerce Playbook Podcast, Richard Gaffin and Taylor Holiday break down why so many e-commerce leaders rely on guesswork and ambition instead of reality—and how forecasting models like Spend & aMER can change that.Taylor compares these models to a DEXA scan: a clear, data-driven look at your business health. Together, they…
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In this week’s episode of The DTC Hotline, Richard Gaffin is joined once again by Tony “The Chopper” Chopp (VP of Paid Media) and Luke “The Weatherman” Austin (VP of eCommerce Strategy) to take real questions from eComm operators and Admission members—no fluff, just clear, hard-earned answers. They tackle: • What to do when “nothing…
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In this episode of the E-Commerce Playbook Podcast, Richard Gaffin is joined by Luke Austin (VP of E-Commerce Strategy at CTC) and Steve Rekuc (Director of Data) to unpack one of CTC’s most powerful forecasting tools: the Spend & aMER Model. This model reveals whether your brand is overspending past the point of profitability—or underspending…
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