https://directtoconsumer.typeform.com/DTC-Brand?utm_source=podcast-642&utm_medium=podcast
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Ashley Kick runs ecommerce at DÔEN (shopdoen.com), the Los Angeles apparel brand founded by sisters Margaret and Katherine Kleveland. Eric met her at the Whalies giving hot takes on stage, so this episode is a new format built for exactly that: World Cup themed, 15 ecommerce topics, kick it or keep it.
If you run a premium brand and you are tired of advice written for a $30 AOV, Ashley draws lines most operators are still arguing about internally.
What's inside:
- AI generated ad creative, kicked as hard as anything gets kicked on this show: "they didn't fall in love with the clanker generated things"
- Her pendulum argument: everything used to be human made, the swing to AI has been fast, and the vacuum it left is the differentiation opportunity for brands willing to keep humans on the work. DÔEN has hired novelists to write copy
- Why she will not trade a discount or free shipping for an email address, with the list math behind it: a million names sending at 20%, or 300,000 sending at 60 to 70%
- Hand Me DÔEN, the resale program that runs on Treet: trade in for store credit, quarterly resale events, and an answer to the dupe sellers, because buying from the program is how a customer knows the piece is real
- The AOV line where she thinks TikTok Shop stops making sense, and why discovery on TikTok still matters for the brand through user generated content
- Losing money on the first order to win it back on LTV, kicked. Her hero products are chosen as the best first experience of the brand, and they are not loss leaders
- Where she is happy to let algorithms work: media buying, placements, and Klaviyo send-time optimization
- AI for customer service, kicked. If someone wants to talk about the fit of a dress, that is a person
- Retail as an experience play, including a roughly 20% brand awareness lift in a market when a store opens, plus wholesale through boutiques with an aligned aesthetic
- Amazon, extended sizing, and buy now pay later, each with a verdict
Who this is for: operators at premium and considered-purchase brands, retention and email leads, and anyone building the argument for keeping humans on creative.
What to steal: the email capture stance. Stop buying addresses with 15% off and measure your list on deliverability and send rate rather than raw size.
Timestamps:
00:03:00 AI Shopping Agents
00:05:00 TikTok Shop for Premium Brands
00:10:00 Branded Resale and the Circular Economy
00:14:00 AI-Generated Creative and Brand Identity
00:24:00 Wholesale, Amazon and Discount Strategy
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