Aleena Hassan

Did 2025’s record-breaking Black Friday/Cyber Monday truly boost profits for direct-to-consumer brands? On the surface, Shopify operators and DTC founders celebrated unprecedented top-line numbers. But as the dust settles, the crucial question remains: how much profit was actually realized? If you're running a brand, you know revenue grabs the headlines, but margins pay the bills. Let's cut through the hype and explore what these historic e-commerce figures mean for operator profit and long-ter

The Cyber Monday Blackout: When Shopify Went Silent On Cyber Monday 2025, a day e-commerce operators mark on their calendars in red, Shopify experienced a significant outage, leaving thousands of DTC brands in a lurch (Reuters). At 9:08 a.m. ET, reports flooded in from the U.S. and UK about inaccessible Shopify admin dashboards and POS systems (TechRadar). Shopify is down – here’s what we know about its Cyber Monday outageNot a great day for Shopify strugglesTechRadarMark Wilson With storefro

Shopify's Black Friday/Cyber Monday (BFCM) 2025 results are in, and they’re impossible to ignore. Independent DTC merchants on Shopify raked in an astounding $14.6 billion over the BFCM weekend—a 27% surge from last year, even after accounting for constant currency adjustments (Newsfile Corp.). This isn't just a record; it’s a clear indicator that, despite economic headwinds, consumers are leaning heavily toward direct purchasing. For founders, the message is clear: the DTC model is not just sur

The Discount Dilemma: Rethinking Black Friday Black Friday and Cyber Monday often feel like a necessary evil for DTC operators—sacrificing margins in the pursuit of record sales. Every year, blanket discounts chip away at profits and erode brand value, training even your most loyal customers to wait for the next big sale (TYB). The “discount treadmill” is real—exhausting, expensive, and unsustainable. Winning Black Friday with Community, Not DiscountsBlack Friday’s future isn’t price wars—it’s

The Hustle Trap: When the Grind Becomes a Liability It's 2:00 AM, and another Shopify founder is juggling order packing, Facebook ad troubleshooting, and a customer's late-night complaint—while emails pile up. Sound familiar? This relentless hustle, while initially fueling growth, often becomes a fast track to burnout for DTC operators. The statistics are telling: 54% of startup founders experienced burnout last year, with nearly half rating their mental health as "bad" or "very bad" (Sifted).

Shopify has unveiled two game-changing updates that every DTC founder should prioritize: a monumental increase in product variant limits and a sophisticated, AI-enhanced POS system designed for seamless omnichannel retail. As we approach peak season, these enhancements are crafted to empower ambitious brands—allowing them to expand product lines and integrate digital and physical retail seamlessly, all within Shopify's ecosystem. Let's dive into what these changes mean for you and how you can le

Navigating the current digital landscape as a Shopify brand founder means ensuring every advertising dollar stretches further than ever. Customer acquisition costs have skyrocketed, climbing approximately 60% since 2020 (Causality Engine). Plus, Apple's privacy updates have obscured up to 75–85% of iOS activity, leaving advertisers grappling with diminished visibility (Causality Engine). As a result, your Facebook or Google dashboard might boast a stellar return on ad spend (ROAS), but the prett

The Black Friday Support Surge: 10× Volume, 10× Pressure For DTC founders, Black Friday/Cyber Monday (BFCM) isn't a holiday—it's a full-blown stress test. Order volumes can climb 10–50× above the norm (garr.io), but what really shakes things up is the avalanche of support tickets that follow. Consider a wellness brand that once marked a milestone with 400 units sold in a month. Come Black Friday, they skyrocketed to 12,000 orders in just 48 hours, amassing 2,400 support tickets in the same tim

Outway, the premium sock brand founded by former cyclist Rob Fraser, experienced the typical DTC roadblock: stagnant sales, shrinking margins, and intense market competition. After bootstrapping his Shopify-based business past $10M and securing a $3.2M investment in 2022 (PR Newswire), Fraser faced a critical challenge by 2023. Yet, instead of opting for quick fixes, he paused and recalibrated. The result? Outway surged back to profitable, eight-figure revenue, proving the power of strategic ch

Shopify is sprinting into the holiday season with unprecedented momentum, reporting its highest-ever quarterly revenue. Q3 2025 saw a staggering 32% year-over-year sales increase (Reuters; Digital Commerce 360). This holiday season, Shopify projects revenue growth in the “mid-to-high” 20% range, comfortably surpassing analyst expectations (Reuters). But as DTC founders know, rapid growth often comes with tightening margins—a thrilling yet perilous balancing act. Shopify grows revenue, GMV more

Black Friday: The High-Stakes Game of Owned Channels Black Friday isn't just another sale—it's the Super Bowl of e-commerce for Shopify-powered DTC brands. In 2023, Shopify merchants hit a staggering $3.36 billion in sales on Black Friday alone, marking a 21% increase from the previous year (Modern Retail). But with that gold rush comes fierce competition: inboxes and lock screens are flooded as brands double down on owned channels. DTC Briefing: Takeaways from this year’s Black Friday results

Black Friday Isn’t a Day—It’s a Season: DTC Tactics for Winning November If you're still planning to launch your Black Friday campaign on Thanksgiving, you're already behind. "Black November" is no longer just a catchy phrase; it's the new reality. Direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands, especially those on Shopify, have shifted strategies, unveiling their top deals well before the turkey is carved. Why? More than half of U.S. holiday shoppers are already buying by early November (Axios). While big-b

Black Friday is like the Super Bowl for e-commerce. In 2024, 197 million Americans took to shopping over Thanksgiving weekend, fueling a massive $10.8 billion in online Black Friday spending—a 10% increase from the previous year (Reuters). Shopify merchants alone saw $11.5 billion over Black Friday/Cyber Monday (Cinco Días, El País). With stakes this high, skipping out seems unthinkable—unless you're Hiut Denim, the Welsh jeans maker that has boldly opted out of the Black Friday frenzy. El Bla

In 2025, direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands find themselves navigating a divided landscape: some sectors are enjoying a boom, while others face significant challenges. As operators on Shopify are acutely aware, the current environment demands agility and insight. So, where is growth flourishing, and where is it stalling? Let's dive into a founder-focused analysis of the DTC sectors riding high and those struggling to keep pace. Thriving: Beauty, Wellness, and Everyday Indulgence Despite economic

As the holiday season kicks into gear, mid-sized DTC brands on Shopify are searching for that elusive double win: boosting average order value (AOV) while trimming excess inventory before year-end. Enter product bundling—a strategy experiencing a major resurgence as brands seek to offset deeper discounts and extract more value per shopper. Adobe Analytics reported Cyber Monday furniture discounts at 21% off compared to 8% last year, exemplifying the intensifying margin pressure (Modern Retail).