Platter

The last month has been arguably the most action-packed month of my life. → Haymakers for Hope boxing fight → 10-day silent Vipassana meditation retreat → Forbes 30 Under 30 → Platter hitting profitability After weeks of nonstop motion, I finally had a moment this weekend to slow down and actually internalize everything. And this is the message that kept coming up for me: Thank you. Thank you to each and every single person who has showed up for me. Following my journey, texting me before/during/after these milestone events with messages of support and gratitude, showing love on social media, reminding me what life is all about. None of this matters if you have nobody to celebrate your wins with. I’ve genuinely never felt so much love and support in my life. From the bottom of my heart - thank you. Remember: relationships aren’t calculated based on time. You can see people once a year, only be internet friends, or spend every day together… but that doesn’t minimize the impact of showing up for each other. If there’s one lesson from all of this, it’s not to underestimate the power of sharing a simple message of positivity if you feel inclined. You never know what someone is going through so don’t be afraid to just say it. I hope to return the favor to all of you. If I can help in any way, give me a shout. More to come soon.

Misconception: the more “custom” your ecom store is, the better it performs. Here’s what people don’t realize… The more custom your store is, the higher your cost of ownership becomes. Not just the cost to build the store — the cost to operate it. Timelines get a lot longer and costs to go up. And once the store finally goes live, every tiny update needs a developer. Adding new sections, offers, or even things like swapping colors. All of it comes with a time and dollar cost attached. I’ve talked to brands spending hundreds of thousands per year just to maintain their “custom” store. 🤯 And on the other end of the spectrum, using a template is fast and cheap. But it can feel generic and off-brand. Plus, they are usually pretty basic, so it's a matter of time before teams get frustrated and need more functionality. Most teams think those are the only two choices: 1. Pay for a fully custom store 2. Settle for a cookie-cutter theme But there’s a middle ground that almost always delivers a higher ROI. A setup where your store is tailored to your brand, but you aren’t paying someone to build everything from scratch. Platter sits in that sweet spot. We use a theme/codebase we’ve improved over 200+ stores, making each new store more flexible, more conversion-focused, and easier to manage. You get the benefits of custom without the custom price tag. Here's a simple example: Lambs & Ivy, Inc. wanted a shoppable lifestyle image. So we built it. Now every new brand gets to use it and benefit from the R&D we've already completed. It’s like ordering from a menu of Shopify features, shaped by what hundreds of other operators proved actually works — then tailoring it to your brand. You still get custom. You just don’t pay the custom tax. So here's my tldr; Most brands don’t need “more custom.” They need the right amount of custom.

SIDIO published a brand new storefront on Shopify. And three months later… They scrapped the entire thing. They had a great product, really strong returning customer rate, and solid AOV. But as Trevor Carlson put it, the new store was costing them “hundreds of thousands of dollars”. So the Platter team got to work rebuilt it from the ground up. If you want the full story, check out today’s newsletter.

The normal return rate for swimwear brands is 30%. onewith cut that in half. 🤯 Not by changing their product, but by changing how customers choose their size. Most apparel brands stick to the basics when it comes to sizing. They add sizing charts or include the model's height in the media gallery. Hayley and the onewith team took a different approach. They made it nearly impossible to pick the wrong size. Here's how they did it: 1️⃣ Representation in the gallery Instead of one model, one body type, they show their product in all sizes. Customers can see someone who actually looks like them wearing the product. 2️⃣ Dynamic "See your size" section You can click on different sizes and the images update to show real customers wearing that specific size. 3️⃣ AI-powered size quiz (w/ Vestico) For people who are still unsure, an quiz recommends a size. With one-click , customers can add the product to their from the recommendation. 4️⃣ Fit education Because onewith fits differently than standard swimwear ("like underwear"), they added detailed info on how the product fits. So even after the product arrives, customers know what to expect. These 4 things helped remove any doubt customers have about their size. And if all else fails, and the product still doesn't fit right? They have a great return policy to put peoples mind at ease. Onewith maintains a 16-20% return rate and they're driving that number even lower. Every prevented return saves a ton of costs. Plus they get to keep the revenue. The ROI is immediate. (Andie does a killer job with this too. They use eko to show sizing with interactive video. It's worth checking out their store.) Swimwear is a niche example. But this logic applies to almost any apparel brand. Any product where fit, compatibility, or sizing selection is tricky for customers. Any other brands doing a great job with sizing?

Shopify merchants absolutely went off this BFCM. → $14.6B in sales (up 27% from last year) → 81 million shoppers bought from Shopify brands → $5.1M per minute at the peak Despite reports saying consumer spending was set to decrease, U.S shoppers spent a record-setting $44.2 billion over the Thanksgiving weekend. In today’s newsletter, I break down: → BFCM spending numbers → Why prices are up but order volume is down → The increase in BNPL spending → OpenAI’s new shopping assistant → And ChatGPT ads Plus, this Thursday’s we're doing a deep dive on SIDIO’s awesome new Shopify store. The full story drops later this week. Give the newsletter a read. It’s a good one.

I spent a week in Italy with my girlfriend’s family and for the first time in 4 years of building Platter, we hit a remarkable milestone. Of course you'll have to watch the video to find out what it was. 😉 Jokes aside, this last year of building Platter has been a full-on sprint. When you’re obsessed with what you’re building, it can consume every corner of your life. Every thought, every conversation, every hour of your day begins and ends with the business. But here’s what I’ve learned the hard way: Creating time and space to disconnect isn’t a liability, it’s a superpower. Most founders think time off is the “anti-founder” move. I actually think it makes you a better operator. You come back clearer. Sharper. More intentional. Less reactive. More strategic. Being able to disconnect for a few days was one of the most meaningful moments I’ve had as a founder. Not because I took time off, but because the system, the people, and the foundation we’ve built finally proved itself. I documented the whole trip - not as a “vacation vlog,” but as an honest look at what it feels like to try to create space for yourself when you’ve been sprinting for years. My new video is live on YouTube: A Week in My Life as an Entrepreneur in Italy. Hope it gives a bit of perspective to anyone building at full speed. 🇮🇹 (Link to video is in the comments.)