I deconstruct world-class brands to help build your brand. ✈️ Chief Brander @ eBrandBuilders | 📘 Amazon Best Seller | 🎙️  Host @ eBrandCast

Here’s why 90% of consumer brands fail in their first two years.

You're grinding non-stop, but your marketing feels like hitting a brick wall. You launch products, optimize funnels, run ads... and then some competitor undercuts your price by 10%. Game over.

This happens when you sell products without building a brand. Period.

Here's the question: Do you know your brand's core identity? Or do you hope people will buy your stuff because it's "better"?

I'm Neil, and I've cracked the code for building consumer brands that last.

After my MBA, I spent a decade managing $100M+ brands for Citibank, BMO, and Desjardins. I was the guy in the Brooks Brothers suit with the Herman Miller chair, climbing that corporate ladder in easy mode.

But I had an itch to build something from scratch.

So I resigned and jumped headfirst into eCommerce. And promptly failed. Twice.

I went from "Real Kobe Beef" to "Ramen" in 12 months. I was that entrepreneur batting at every shiny object - new Facebook ad techniques, conversion-optimized Shopify themes.

My daily mantra? Three simple letters: "W...T...F?"

But I'm no quitter. I dusted off my stretchy-waist tracksuit and went back to basics. From this failure, I distilled the 7Cs of branding, a process that helped me launch 3 DTC brands to a bona fide exit.

My biggest breakthrough came from studying 200+ DTC brands and asking: "What makes customers choose one brand over another when the products are virtually identical?"

The answer? Psychology. Not features. Not benefits. Pure psychological positioning.

In recent years, I've:
* Analyzed 200+ DTC brands
* Created 70+ brand breakdowns
* Developed the 7C Framework
* Published the Amazon bestseller "Checkout"
* Worked with Amazon, Starbucks, and Porsche

Here's what happens when you have a brand that sells itself:
* Your entire brand strategy fits on a single page, guiding all decisions
* Your marketing feels effortless because it speaks to your audience's core desires
* You wake up knowing exactly what to do to grow your brand

Here's how you can start building your distinctive brand today:

* If you have 3 minutes daily: Subscribe to my FREE Newsletter oneliner.io - One line, One visual, One lesson from top consumer brands.
* If you have a weekend: Get the One Pager BrandBuilder and follow my 7C framework to document your brand strategy on a single page.
* If you're ready for transformation: Join BrandBuilder X and let me guide you through building a brand that stands out, scales up, and eventually sells for a premium.

Let's talk: https://call.ebrandbuilders.com/strategy

Neil Verma

Chris C.

I specialize in diagnosing underperforming commerce channels and rebuilding them into profitable revenue streams. 

With 12+ years leading growth for apparel, beverage, and lifestyle brands, I bring a solid track record of guiding complex, cross-functional work with clarity and discretion, partnering across Creative, Marketing, Retail Operations, Product, and Finance to deliver cohesive programming, particularly during periods of change, while protecting brand standards and the customer experience.

𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁:
→ 46% YoY DTC growth on $1M paid media budget
→ 5x+ marketing efficiency ratio (MER) sustained across portfolios
→ $30M+ omnichannel operations with full P&L ownership

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜 𝗗𝗼:
• Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) & funnel architecture
• Lifecycle marketing & customer journey optimization
• P&L management & unit economics
• Cross-functional leadership (creative, ops, finance, product)
• Paid media strategy & marketing attribution
• Amazon 3P optimization & merchandising strategy

𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗰𝗸:
Platforms: Shopify Plus • Amazon Seller Central • TikTok Shop• NetSuite
Marketing: Klaviyo • Attentive • Meta Ads • Google Ads
Analytics: Triple Whale • GA4 

𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗼:
Director of Digital Commerce | Head of eCommerce | VP track roles where I can take ownership, move fast, and turn underperformance into growth.

Director of Ecommerce

Deliver DTC revenue and brand growth metrics according to Annual Operating Plan for two consumer facing websites. 

Identify consumer needs/ opportunities and build features/ solutions that increase engagement and affinity for both brands.

Lead website customer journey optimization and brand communication.

Collaborate to ensure consistent marketing messaging and execution of promotional content calendar across all digital platforms.

Share eCommerce vision with the cross-functional team, business stakeholders, and executive leadership. 

Optimize site content using SEO, UI/UX, CRO, and A/B testing. 

Utilize website analytics tools to maximize key digital KPIs.

takeyausa.com
mythermoflask.com

Chris Carroll

The team was working harder, but revenue wasn't moving.

I took over DTC in 2021. Eighteen months later: 46% YoY growth, 4x+ MER, same budget.

What changed?

We stopped optimizing tactics and started fixing systems:

𝗥𝗲𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗰𝗾𝘂𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹. 
Consolidated spend around proven SKUs, cut underperformers, shifted budget from awareness to conversion where returns were measurable.

𝗙𝗶𝘅𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗹𝗼𝘄. 
Nearly 20% of traffic was landing on out-of-stock products. We rebuilt navigation, inventory visibility, and product hierarchy so customers could actually buy what we were promoting.

𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴. 
Aligned inventory planning with demand, instead of guesswork. Inventory turns improved and excess stock dropped. Fire drills (mostly) stopped.

The team didn't suddenly work harder. The business just stopped fighting itself.

Growth doesn't always require more budget. Sometimes it just requires better systems.

#eCommerce #DTC #GrowthStrategy

Director of eCommerce | Turning Underperforming DTC Channels Into Profit Engines | Shopify Plus

I crossed 2,500 followers. Thank you. 

Lately my feed’s been heavy on pitches and demos. (No shade, we all have jobs to do.)

I’m just looking for a bit more signal. 

If you’re building brands, selling online, or experimenting without the usual playbook, let’s connect.

The best conversations I’ve had here are with people testing, breaking things, and sharing what they’re learning along the way.

If that sounds like you, send a connection request or drop a comment so I can follow you back.

A brand spent >$50 retargeting me this weekend. I visited their site three times, ready to buy. They still lost the sale.

Quality sleep is non-negotiable for me now, so I needed a new duvet cover. Specific ask: crispy cotton percale.

Did what more folks are doing: asked ChatGPT.

One brand kept surfacing. Didn't matter how I rephrased it. Same brand, over and over. Reviews were mostly glowing. Some bad ones, but bedding is subjective. I clicked through.

Site was clean. UX was fine. But I couldn't figure out what they actually were as a business beyond "sell things."

Newer brand, lots of verticals, no clear specialty. Red flag, but I kept going.

Left to check messages on IG and got absolutely pummeled with their retargeting ads. Like, an unhinged amount. Their CAC math must work at their margin, but it felt desperate.

Went back to the site.

Pop-up offer hit me. Minimum spend was more than double what I wanted to buy.

Cool, I'll try the email signup route. Coupon code didn't work. Fine.

Tried their bundle instead to hit the threshold for a different offer. Out of stock...

So I went back to ChatGPT.

Asked it to pull other top brands. It sent me to Reddit. Spent 30 minutes reading strangers debate thread count and whether hotel-quality bedding is a scam.

Strangely enough, those Reddit threads influenced me more than anything the brand put on their own site.

Tried the original brand one last time.

Single item, full price, no coupon. Now that's sold out too. I gave up.

Went to Amazon and found a bunch of options, read through reviews, spotted quality concerns on most of them. But one brand kept showing up across multiple retailers with consistent feedback. Not the loudest. Not the best-marketed. Just...one that seemed to fit my needs.

Ordered it from another retailer.

Arrives Thursday.
—
ChatGPT is becoming the new top of funnel. If your brand isn't showing up in LLM results, you may be invisible. Hard to believe, but I didn't even touch Google.

Trust doesn't live on your site anymore. It lives in Reddit threads, cross-retailer review patterns, and places you don't control. UGC on your PDP isn't enough. 

People want proof your product works everywhere.

Retargeting is crossing into stalker territory. There's persistent, and then there's whatever that was. It didn't convert me, it was overwhelming.

Inventory visibility is table stakes. If it's out of stock, tell me when it's back. Silence just means I'm moving on.

Operational execution beats growth hacking. The brand I bought from didn't have the fanciest site or the most aggressive ads. They just had their logistics dialed. In stock. Fast shipping. No surprises.

The brand that won my attention lost my purchase three separate times because they optimized for traffic, not conversion. I showed up ready to buy and they couldn't close.

How are you thinking about this?

Fun eCommerce term for your Friday
 🚨 Checkout Abandonment 🚨

Your checkout isn't broken.
It's just doing too much.

Checkout conversion killers:
 → Forced account creation (why tho?)
 → Surprise shipping costs
 → 12 form fields for a 2-item order
 → No guest checkout
 → Mystery fees in the final step

 Recover 30% more sales by:
 ✔ Showing total cost upfront
 ✔ Cutting unnecessary fields
 ✔ Enabling guest checkout
 ✔ Auto-saving progress

Your customer already decided to buy.
Don't make them work for it. 

#eCommerce #ConversionOptimization #DTC #Shopify

Stop blaming ads.
Stop tweaking the funnel.
Stop optimizing checkout.

Conversions aren’t dying there.
They’re dying on the product page.

Specs. Care instructions. Safe, boring copy.
Yawn. 

Customers don’t buy facts.
They buy confidence, clarity, and that special feeling. 

If your page makes them think…they won’t.
They’ll scroll past. 
And forget you.

Which brands actually nail their PDPs and make you stop scrolling? 

Vacation.inc. Bang & Olufsen. Two of my favorites.

What are yours? Drop them below. 👇

#DTC #ecommerce #conversion

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The Battle

Neil Verma

Chris Carroll

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The Battle

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Chris Carroll

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Engagements

Likes

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