The Unofficial Shopify Podcast

"These tools rely on automation that only catches 30% of issues. And for blind users with screen readers? The overlays often conflict with their assistive tech—making the site harder to use." Bet Hannon runs AccessiCart, an agency that fixes accessibility problems for e-commerce stores—usually right after they've been sued. We talked about why "quick fix" overlay plugins are making the problem worse, the four accessibility issues you can fix right now, and what the European Accessibility Act's €100K fines mean for US-based stores. SPONSORS Swym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & more getswym.com/kurt Cleverific - Smart order editing for Shopify cleverific.com Zipify - Build high-converting sales funnels zipify.com/KURT LINKS * AccessiCart: https://accessicart.com [https://accessicart.com] * Bet on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/bethannon [https://linkedin.com/in/bethannon] * WAVE Accessibility Tool: https://wave.webaim.org [https://wave.webaim.org] * Overlay Fact Sheet: https://overlayfactsheet.com [https://overlayfactsheet.com] WORK WITH KURT Apply for Shopify Help ethercycle.com/apply See Our Results ethercycle.com/work Free Newsletter kurtelster.com The Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

I spent three days at Smart Marketer Live in Denver, capturing raw conversations with agency owners, brand founders, and Meta reps about what's actually working in 2025. This isn't your typical conference recap. We're talking about Meta's Andromeda update that killed everyone's ad performance over the summer, why TikTok Shop might be a trap, and how a chicken supplement business owner plans to poach employees like she's manifesting herbs. Featuring Beav Brodie (Tactical Baby Gear), Brett Curry (OMG Commerce), Attila from Smart Marketer, and Celia Hatch (Buff Clucks). SPONSORS Swym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & more getswym.com/kurt Cleverific - Smart order editing for Shopify cleverific.com Zipify - Build high-converting sales funnels zipify.com/KURT LINKS * Tactical Baby Gear: https://tacticalbabygear.com [https://tacticalbabygear.com] * Fight Soap: https://fightsoap.us [https://fightsoap.us] * Buff Clucks: https://buffclucks.com [https://buffclucks.com] * OMG Commerce: https://omgcommerce.com [https://omgcommerce.com] * Smart Marketer: https://smartmarketer.com [https://smartmarketer.com] WORK WITH KURT Apply for Shopify Help ethercycle.com/apply See Our Results ethercycle.com/work Free Newsletter kurtelster.com The Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

So there's this baseball media company. They make shirts about guys with nicknames like "The Big Dumper." And they needed three different store experiences, but only wanted to use one store. What our co-host Paul Reda figured out next is either brilliant or insane. Maybe both. Today on the show, we're asking: when does a hack become a feature? When does one store become three? And why would anyone voluntarily remove every frontend app from their Shopify store? Plus, ChatGPT can now sell your products directly. No, really. We'll explain how that works and why Kurt thinks automated fraud prevention might actually matter this time. SPONSORS Swym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & more getswym.com/kurt Cleverific - Smart order editing for Shopify cleverific.com Zipify - Build high-converting sales funnels zipify.com/KURT LINKS * Jomboy Media Shop: https://shop.jomboymedia.com/ [https://shop.jomboymedia.com/] * ChatGPT Shopping Signup: https://shopify.com/chatgpt [https://shopify.com/chatgpt] * Customer Category Segmentation: https://changelog.shopify.com/posts/segment-customers-based-on-the-product-categories-they-ve-browsed-or-bought [https://changelog.shopify.com/posts/segment-customers-based-on-the-product-categories-they-ve-browsed-or-bought] * Automated Fraud Prevention: https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/payments/fraud-prevention/index [https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/payments/fraud-prevention/index] * Unofficial Shopify Podcast Insiders (Facebook Group): https://www.facebook.com/groups/UnofficialShopifyPodcast/ [https://www.facebook.com/groups/UnofficialShopifyPodcast/] WORK WITH KURT Apply for Shopify Help ethercycle.com/apply See Our Results ethercycle.com/work Free Newsletter kurtelster.com The Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

"ChatGPT is not that sophisticated yet. So for marketers, what that means is there are real ways right now for arbitrage in this short period of time before ChatGPT gets good enough to say, no, we're only showing the proper result." Mac King from Domaine breaks down why merchants are seeing ChatGPT and Perplexity show up as referral sources in their analytics—and what to do about it. We talked about the terminology wars (GEO vs AEO vs AI search optimization), why AI engines favor content from Google's 10th page, and the Reddit strategies that actually work without getting banned. SPONSORS Swym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & more getswym.com/kurt Cleverific - Smart order editing for Shopify cleverific.com Zipify - Build high-converting sales funnels zipify.com/KURT LINKS * Domaine AI Commerce Suite: https://www.meetdomaine.com/insights/domaine-news/domaine-launches-ai-commerce-suite [https://www.meetdomaine.com/insights/domaine-news/domaine-launches-ai-commerce-suite] * Mac King on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mackenziepking/ [https://www.linkedin.com/in/mackenziepking/] * Mac King on Twitter: https://x.com/MacKing/ [https://x.com/MacKing/] * Profound (tracking tool): https://www.tryprofound.com/ [https://www.tryprofound.com/] * Shopify Knowledge Base app: https://apps.shopify.com/shopify-knowledge-base [https://apps.shopify.com/shopify-knowledge-base] * SEOFOMO newsletter: https://seofomo.co/ [https://seofomo.co/] * Commerce GPT newsletter: https://www.yotpo.com/commerce-gpt/ [https://www.yotpo.com/commerce-gpt/] WORK WITH KURT Apply for Shopify Help ethercycle.com/apply See Our Results ethercycle.com/work Free Newsletter kurtelster.com The Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.

Jamil Bhuya has scaled businesses across three wildly different industries: restaurants, beauty, and now Shopify agencies. That multi-industry perspective gives him a unique superpower—he can spot the conversion killers that store owners become blind to. We talked about why fresh eyes matter more than fancy tools, the psychology behind purchase objections, and how being too close to your business destroys your ability to see what customers actually need. SPONSORS Swym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & more getswym.com/kurt Cleverific - Smart order editing for Shopify cleverific.com Zipify - Build high-converting sales funnels zipify.com/KURT LINKS * Other Half Studio: https://otherhalf.studio [https://otherhalf.studio] * Jamil on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/jamil-bhuya [https://linkedin.com/in/jamil-bhuya] WORK WITH KURT Apply for Shopify Help ethercycle.com/apply See Our Results ethercycle.com/work Free Newsletter kurtelster.com The Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.