Giving Old Guy credit on Shopify

Zachary McClung
August 01, 2023

Hey there, -

You wouldn't believe the circus that has been our office lately. The office Old Guy, a seemingly charming relic from a bygone era, thinks he's auditioning for stand-up with his incessant short husky jokes.

They usually start like this...

Old Guy: What's short and husky?
Me: I swear if you're body shaming my dog Nova...
Old Guy: Nah, it's you!

After the third time, I warned him I'd replace him with AI. I didn't realize our HR department was an Old Guy protection agency. Go figure.

All that chatter about "you already own the world's worst boss mug" and "don't make us pull a Travis Kalanick and oust you." Yada yada.

Turns out, the solution was easy. All I had to do was give him a week's paid vacation and suddenly, we're back at 100% employee satisfaction. Who knew?

Guess who got the last laugh though?

His job, is data guy to this newsletter. But here's the kicker, he's sunbathing somewhere while I have the delightful GPT here, spitting out quips like it's going out of style.

Prompt: Who is the sexiest founder in eCommerce?
Response: You

I mean, isn't it already so much better?

All jests aside, our beloved office Old Guy is a dear friend.

He's the first call when I welcome a new husky to the family, and my go-to when I have a new business idea.

He's the magic behind the charm and wit you read in these newsletters every week. So, a huge shoutout to him!

This week, he's off playing the hero to his lovely wife, leaving me and GPT to wing this newsletter.

Shaking things up a bit, I've got 5 of the coolest things I spotted in the eCommerce wilderness of Twitter to share with you this week.

Happy Selling,

Zachary

P.S. Follow me on Twitter. I throw around ways to improve your Shopify store, app, and agency, amongst other fun tidbits.

Thanks @harleyf@Shopify for enabling my wife’s PASSION to reach full market potential!
You helped change our lives forever! 💚
— Paul J (@pauljauregui)
Jul 28, 2023

Have you seen these floating around? Shopify is sending merchants these cool bags with the Shopify logo on them to celebrate store achievements. Business goals anyone?

🚀🚀 Shopify Editions is LIVE 🚀🚀
📣🔴 Tune in NOW for a walkthrough of our 100+ products and updates in the latest Shopify Edition from VP of Product @glencoates.
— Shopify (@Shopify)
Jul 26, 2023

Shopify Summer Editions 23’ was last week. The big thing for me was the launch of the Shopify Bundles and Shopify Subscription apps. If you have a very basic use case, they will work. Anything more complex is still going to leave you searching the app store.

I literally dropped these off 48 hours ago on my lunch break.
Today, the manager texts me: They've sold through 30% already and need a restock 🤯🤯
— David A. Lindahl 🏔️ (@austriker27)
Jul 20, 2023

David almost gave up on his business last year. He posted on Twitter about the struggle and nearing his breaking point. Now he is in multiple REI stores. Why? He didn’t give up on his dream. David is an inspiration and a great read. You should follow him.

Massive day! Met with the big dogs for one of the biggest meetings of my life. Thank you @Costco 🤝
— chris meade 🏐 (@chrismeadej)
Jul 31, 2023

Here is another awesome entrepreneur. Chris is building a DTC brand selling different sports equipment and yard games. Yesterday, he had a meeting with Costco executives. If you can make the margins work, wholesale can be huge.

Ecommerce operators,
I have a comment….
This has been going through my head over the last few weeks.
Every time someone comes to your site you offer “X percent off for the first purchase” but I think this is the wrong approach.
More and more (especially for big brands) we’re… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
— Henry "The Gift Card Guy" Johnson (@TalktoHenryJ)
Jul 31, 2023

He isn’t wrong. So many eCommerce brands give up margin by offering discounts that often get leaked. It costs you money. I recommend free gifts with purchase, gift cards, or something else special to get emails over automatic discounts.