DTC854: Malbon Golf Tech Stack, Email List Growth Tools, and Validating Product Ideas

Good morning, 

Here’s what you’ll find in today’s DTC:

⛳ Malbon Golf’s Big Swing
We dive into their tech stack.

🚀 Ways To Grow Your Email List
And capture more revenue. 

🚨 Daily Tariff Update
Tensions escalate with China.

❓ What Q You Shouldn’t Ask When validating a product idea.

You’re reading this newsletter along with new subscribers from: MOKA Coffee, Wildfire Botanicals, and CreatePay. 👋

💸 The Cost of Disconnected Ecommerce is Higher Than You Think. Make Sure You Aren’t Losing Out

Ecommerce has a lot of moving parts. When systems don’t talk to each other, brands lose out. 😓

🚀 Swap’s latest report reveals how leading brands are moving faster by unifying their tech, teams, and customer experiences in one connected ecosystem.

Find out how to boost your growth, while simplifying your operations.

Solutions that are both easier and better? Yes, please.

Inside the report, you'll learn:

• 🚦 How traffic-jammed ops are costing brands time and money
• 🔗 Why top brands are consolidating to cut up to 40% of budget waste
• 📈 Five proven strategies to streamline, scale, and grow smarter

Get the insights powering the next evolution of ecommerce. 

❗ Gmail Reveals New Feature Called Manage Subscriptions 

Google has launched a new Gmail feature called “Manage subscriptions” to help users easily view and unsubscribe from promotional emails, making it simpler to declutter inboxes. 

The tool organizes subscription emails by sender frequency and lets users unsubscribe directly within Gmail, without needing to visit external sites. 

How it works: Gmail will send unsubscribe requests on users’ behalf, removing friction and potentially increasing opt-out rates. 

👉 This rollout could reduce list sizes and email engagement, especially among less active or disengaged customers. 

The feature begins rolling out this week, with Android and iOS launches starting July 14 and July 21.

⛳ How Malbon Captures More Sales With These Apps

This premium golfwear brand is redefining and redesigning sports attire for the younger generation.

Malbon Golf offers a bold and modern take on golfwear, providing a fresh perspective on a traditional category that’s sorely in need of reinvention.

The brainchild of L.A. couple Erica and Stephen Malbon, the brand fuses streetwear with traditional golf attire and has collaborated with high-profile athletes and creators to build a cult-like following.

Here are three Shopify apps Malbon uses to rake in more sales:

1️⃣ BYOB: Raise AOV with this build-your-own bundle feature.

Create a beautiful customized bundle page with no coding required. Easily set up custom and complex bundles.

2️⃣ PreProduct: next gen pre-order: This smart pre-order app allows brands to capture pre-orders for out-of-stock products at any point in the product cycle. Presell and recoup cash fast.

3️⃣ Redo: Enhance the returns process and boost sales with return coverage and an exchange-first experience. 

This app uses AI and self-service flows to deliver personalized customer service. 

‍Who should we spy on next? Reply back to the newsletter and let us know!

📈 The Cost-Cutting Playbook Brands Are Using (With Examples from Nike, Zara, Glossier, and More)

Inefficiency is expensive. 💸

It’s time to streamline operations, cut costs, and scale smarter. ⬆️

🎯 Swap’s Unified Commerce Report gives you the strategies you need to address the critical key issues of ecommerce in 2025.

👀 Inside, discover the 5 C’s of Connected Commerce:

1. Connected customer experiences
2. Centralized data and insights
3. Corrected inventory accuracy
4. Compliance made simple
5. Consolidation to save

Plus, explore real-world examples of these strategies already in action from top brands like Zara, Nike, and Glossier. 🌟

👏 Swap helps you unify your logistics and backend systems under one login, so you can cut the chaos, and put the focus on growth.

📦 Your Daily Tariff Check-In

Whether it’s a minor tweak or a major shift, we’ll keep you posted on the latest tariff changes—so you’re always in the know. 

July 9, 2025 update:

• 50% Tariff on Copper
  
  • The U.S. will impose 50% tariffs on copper imports, with implications for EV, military, and infrastructure industries. Copper futures surged over 12%.

• More Tariff Letters
  
  • President Trump sent out more tariff letters on Wednesday, which includes the Philippines, Brunei, Moldova, Algeria, Libya and Iraq.
    
  • Trump reaffirmed that no extensions will be granted. The new tariff rates take effect on August 1 as scheduled.

• Trade Tensions Escalate with China Again
  
  • Framing U.S. tariffs as “economic coercion”, China warned that unilateral moves targeting its industries or supply chains would not go unanswered.
    
  • Beijing views U.S. efforts to restructure global supply chains as a form of “containment strategy.”

🎧 How to Safely Use Email List Growth Tools Without Killing Your Deliverability

In this episode of TWBERP, Jordan Gordon from Pilothouse talks about the often misunderstood world of email list growth tools that use device fingerprinting and off-site data permissions.

We explain how these growth tools work, what risks they pose, and exactly how to set them up to capture revenue without damaging your sender reputation. 

In this episode, we dive into:

• Unlock list growth: The truth about how list growth tools acquire and email customers.
  
• Manage spam complaints: Where most spam complaints come from and how to minimize them.

“Don’t do a four, five email welcome flow. If they’re not interested in you after the first welcome email, drop it.”

• Protect your deliverability: Learn about segmentation rules that protect your deliverability
  
• Attribution pitfalls: How Jordan suggests you spot-check performance. 

👉 Listen to the full episode with Jordan here.

💸 Your lack of tech connection might be costing you more than you think... Discover how brands are cutting up to 40% of budget waste and scaling faster with Swap’s latest report on unified commerce. Grab your copy here. *

Asking someone if they will purchase your product is not the best way to validate an idea. 

Instead do this: observe and see what people are already spending money on. This data is more reliable. 

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Have you heard our latest podcasts?

• 🚴 Re-acquisition Story: Revel Bikes Founder Buys Back Brand 
• 💡 AKNF 522: How To Strategically Win a 4 Day Prime on Amazon
• 👏 Ad-venturous 9: The Secret Messaging Tool for Creative Strategy
• 💡 TWBERP 40: Scale The Ecosystem, Scale The Brand 
• 💰 How RYSE Used Meta Ads To Raise $10M+ In Equity
• 🚀 AKNF 520: How Pilothouse Tests 30+ Creatives Weekly on Meta 

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DTC Newsletter is written by Rebecca Knight and Frances Du. Edited by Eric Dyck.

Please note that items in this newsletter marked with * contain sponsored content.