E171: What’s Working in Ecommerce in 2026 & What Completely Blew Up

“Whoever can spend the most money is going to win.”

Sean Frank (CEO, Ridge), Matt Bertulli (CEO, Pela Case & Lomi), Jason Panzer (President, HexClad), and Mike Beckham (CEO, Simple Modern) audit the first half of 2026. The focus is a sound ecommerce growth strategy for Q3 and Q4. No guests, no fluff. Just what worked, what blew up, and where they’re placing their bets.

Amazon leads the conversation, with Sean up over 100% year over year on full assortment parity and Mike beating Liquid IV on a $4 blended CAC. Wholesale gets a harder look, with Sean holding a big-three PO and an 18-month runway to shelf. The group then pulls apart margin profile as a competitive weapon, why most consumable brands are quietly heading toward a reckoning, and what it takes to set a spending floor competitors cannot match.

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Postscript
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Chapters
00:00:00 Mike Lost. Now Let’s Talk
00:06:49 Strongest H1 Since 2021
00:08:11 Amazon Up 100% YoY
00:12:46 Channel Mix & Margin
00:18:22 Is Spend Really the Moat?
00:23:39 First Order Profit Bust
00:30:02 Supplement Boom Warning
00:38:41 Wholesale Blew Up on Sean
00:47:22 Throughput Play for H2
00:51:50 Jason’s Amazon Blunder
00:58:37 HexClad Launches Bakeware
01:01:50 Keep Casting the Line