471: Key Takeaways From Sellers Summit 2023: These Trends Are Taking Over Ecommerce!

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In this episode of the My Wife Quit Her Job podcast, my business partner Toni Herrbach and I recap Sellers Summit 2023, which was one of the strongest years we have run since the conference started in 2016. Nineteen sessions spanned Amazon PPC, Google Performance Max, Walmart Marketplace, community-driven brand building, live selling, influencer marketing, direct mail, AI, and how to prepare a business for an exit.

The through-line across almost every talk was the same: Amazon-only sellers need to diversify, and the fastest paths to diversification in 2023 are community and content (Alicia Reynoso’s 6-week challenge, Chris Schaefer’s conversation method, Natalie Mounter’s free-influencer playbook), off-Amazon channels (Walmart Marketplace, Buy with Prime), and operational leverage from AI (Mike Jackness) and dynamic pricing.

Below is the full recap of what worked at Sellers Summit 2023 and the specific tactics from each session you can implement in your own business.

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Key takeaways

• Attendance skewed close to 40% women this year, a big shift from earlier years when female attendance was in the low single digits. Diversifying speakers directly changed who showed up.
• The strongest sales tactics of 2023 are community-led (6-week challenges, free influencer partnerships, conversation-based brand building), not paid-ad-led.
• Walmart Marketplace has flipped from Wild West to actively courting third-party sellers, including a new Shopify app that auto-imports your Shopify catalog to Walmart.
• Amazon’s Buy with Prime now integrates with Klaviyo, so you get the customer email and purchase data on your own site while Amazon handles 2-day fulfillment.
• Direct mail (postcards) is having a moment. Case studies at the event showed ROIs in the mid-teens, with automated abandoned-cart postcards mailed within 24 to 48 hours.

Why Sellers Summit 2023 was the strongest year yet

Sellers Summit 2023 was the strongest year of the conference because it combined the highest session count in the event’s history (19 talks), the most balanced speaker lineup we have ever assembled, and an attendee mix that finally reflected how ecommerce actually looks. Female attendance jumped to roughly 40%, up from a handful of women in the earliest years.

The other reason 2023 clicked: 2022 was a rough transition year post-pandemic, with carried-over tickets from the 2020 virtual event and travel-shy attendees. By 2023 the community was back in the room and the sponsor and speaker rosters were both stronger.

Below is what each session taught and the specific tactic to take back to your own store.

Toni’s email marketing session: what got a Klaviyo list from $1M to $3M-$4M in email revenue

Toni’s talk broke down the exact Klaviyo flows and campaigns she used to grow one ecommerce client’s email revenue from just under $1 million a year to close to $3 million to $4 million a year. The single biggest lever was simple: send more emails to more people.

The talk covered list growth, sales-email cadence, and (most importantly) the automated flows most stores are not running: not just abandoned cart and post-purchase, but browse-abandonment, second-purchase, win-back, VIP, product-launch, and segmented replenishment flows. Each flow is a compounding revenue stream once it is set up correctly.

The takeaway for most Klaviyo users is that a well-instrumented flow library beats a bigger send list. Getting each customer into the right flow at the right time is where the incremental revenue lives.

Tiffany Ivanovsky on live selling and the $1,700 in 8 minutes moment

Tiffany Ivanovsky’s live selling session ended with a live demo where Jen Chou (Steve’s wife, not a professional livestreamer) sold $1,700 of product in about 8 minutes, over a bad convention-center wifi connection. That single demo made the whole case for live selling as a channel more effectively than any slide.

Tiffany’s talk itself was the framework: why live selling works (energy plus urgency plus product demo), the reasons every ecommerce brand should test it, and a reel of her own bloopers so first-timers see that imperfection sells. She uses a live-selling tool that shows revenue-per-minute in real time.

The 8-minute case study also validated her thesis. Shy or reserved sellers can become effective live sellers once the camera turns on, especially with light coaching on product handoff and pacing.

Chris Schaefer’s conversation method for building an ecommerce brand off Amazon

Chris Schaefer’s session taught a three-step “conversation method” for building an ecommerce brand outside of Amazon, using direct customer engagement to create loyalty and repeat purchases that ads alone cannot buy. His three C’s covered the sequence: capture, converse, convert.

The framing matters because most Amazon-only sellers know they need to diversify but do not know how to start. The conversation method gives you a repeatable playbook for that early off-Amazon community that fuels product launches and repeat orders.

Steve’s talk: how to escape Amazon’s grip and build a real DTC channel

Steve’s session was on how to escape Amazon’s grip and build a thriving ecommerce brand without Amazon holding you back. It was awkwardly timed given Amazon was a sponsor, but it is the question we get most from Amazon-first sellers who want a second channel before Amazon’s fees eat their margin.

The framework: keep Amazon for velocity and social proof, launch a DTC store with content-driven traffic (SEO plus email plus community), and treat off-Amazon channels as brand-building rather than pure conversion. Amazon-only exposure is a business-risk problem, not just a channel-mix problem.

Brett Curry on Google Performance Max for ecommerce ads

Brett Curry’s session was on Google Performance Max, Google’s new automated ad type that uses Google’s AI to place ads across Search, Display, YouTube, and Discover based on conversion likelihood. Google borrowed the concept from Meta’s automated campaigns and Performance Max is now the easiest way for most ecommerce brands to run Google ads.

Brett gave three implementation paths depending on how much time you want to spend inside the tool. Even the lowest-effort setup produces meaningful conversions if your product feed and creative are solid.

Andrea Wilson’s ManyChat workshop for messenger marketing

Andrea Wilson ran a workshop-style ManyChat session where attendees actually built messenger flows inside the room, so everyone walked out with something live in their account. That format made it one of the highest-implementation talks of the event.

If you watch the recording, treat it as a build-along and expect to pause and rewatch a few times. It is the kind of session where you get out exactly what you put in.

Brandon Young’s keyword strategy for Amazon listings

Brandon Young’s session covered a keyword-research methodology for Amazon listings that surfaces outlier and long-tail keywords most big-name sellers miss. The method also prioritizes keywords by opportunity so you know where to invest listing real estate first.

Steve has used Brandon’s methodology and his Data Dive tool on his own listings and it has worked. Brandon was also giving private Data Dive demos throughout the event.

Walmart Marketplace: from Wild West to actively courting sellers

Walmart Marketplace has completely changed its posture and now actively courts third-party sellers, including a new Shopify app that auto-imports your Shopify catalog into Walmart. Back in 2017, Walmart required a physical (non-garage, non-storage) warehouse to even qualify.

If you have not looked at Walmart in a few years, the barriers are dramatically lower today. Diversifying to a second marketplace is one of the cleanest hedges against Amazon fee increases.

Mena Al-Kashkish on Amazon PPC (with live account teardowns)

Mena Al-Kashkish’s session on Amazon PPC was paired with live account teardowns at his Trivium.co booth. Mena offered to review any attendee’s PPC account and identify the top improvements.

Trivium continues to offer account reviews after the event. That kind of one-on-one audit is often more valuable than any framework talk because it applies directly to your listings.

Jungle Scout on the seller mistakes that kill Amazon profitability

Jungle Scout’s session broke down the specific seller mistakes that quietly kill Amazon profitability once you factor in Amazon’s hidden fees. The framing was helpful because most sellers underestimate the true landed cost of an FBA unit and end up scaling unprofitable SKUs.

Getida was also on stage as a sponsor. Their service recovers lost and damaged FBA inventory and only charges when they recover something, and Sellers Summit ticket holders received $400 in free reimbursements as a perk.

Liz Adkins on Fluencer Fruit and matching sellers with Amazon influencers

Liz Adkins launched Fluencer Fruit after six years at Jungle Scout, and her session covered how sellers can use Amazon influencer videos to drive product velocity in the video box of a brand-registered listing. Influencer videos in the listing get roughly 8x higher watch-and-buy conversion than a seller’s own polished brand video.

The reason is credibility. Overly produced brand videos read as ads. Influencer videos read as honest reviews, especially when the influencer includes a small critical note (a “hum” from an ice machine, for example) alongside the positives.

Alicia Reynoso on growing a brand with a 6-week challenge

Alicia Reynoso built an 8-figure water bottle brand by running structured 6-week challenges that create a community around the product, which is why Steve is now running a 6-week challenge of his own modeled on her method. In a market as crowded as branded water bottles, the challenge is what made her stand out.

The mechanics work for almost any product with an ongoing-use case. A challenge gives customers a reason to talk about your brand daily, which fuels UGC, referrals, and repeat purchases without ad spend.

Mike Jackness on the AI tactics you probably are not using

Mike Jackness’s session covered advanced AI tactics for ecommerce that go well beyond “use ChatGPT for bullet points.” He walked through workflows that even seasoned sellers in the room admitted they were not doing yet.

If you have written off AI as basic listing help, this is the session to watch. The real leverage is in the composed workflows, not any single tool.

Bill D’Alessandro’s cost-cutting talk: the “$100K promise” session

Bill D’Alessandro promised his session would save every attendee $100,000 in their business, and multiple people saved real money during the talk itself. Steve saved $40,000 in real cost cuts based on Bill’s frameworks.

The talk covered specific vendor renegotiations, subscription audits, and operational cost lines that most ecommerce owners never revisit once they are set up. If you have not audited your monthly overhead in the past year, this is the highest-ROI session on the roster.

Natalie Mounter on building a multimillion-dollar brand with unpaid influencers

Natalie Mounter grew a multimillion-dollar brand primarily with free (unpaid) influencer partnerships, and her session walked through the exact outreach and vetting process step by step. She sends the deck herself and does not sell on Amazon, so her entire growth engine sits on the same free playbook.

Most sellers assume influencers require payment and expect to be burned by non-delivery. Natalie’s process eliminates both problems by qualifying influencers up front and structuring the ask around free product plus content in exchange.

Spencer Jan of Solo Stove: how a bootstrapped brand went to a $2B IPO

Spencer Jan’s session covered how Solo Stove went from a bootstrapped side project to a $2 billion IPO, told through the personal failures that shaped the decisions along the way. It was the most heartfelt talk of the event.

The lesson is not that failure precedes success. It is that the specific failure modes teach specific lessons that later become the operating principles behind the eventual win. Spencer is one of the nicest and most unassuming founders you will meet, and the story lands even harder because of it.

Quiet Light on the steps to make your business sellable in 2-3 years

Quiet Light’s session laid out the exact steps you have to take today if you want to sell your business in two to three years. Most sellers only think about exit prep when they are ready to sell, at which point it is too late to clean up the structural issues that hurt valuation.

Multiple attendees have exited through Quiet Light, including Meg, Carol Rains, and Andrew Youderian. The theme: split multiple brands off shared Amazon accounts, get your books into professional shape, and address IP and contract issues years before you go to market.

Meghla Bhardwaj on sourcing from India and Vietnam

Meghla Bhardwaj’s session covered sourcing from India and Vietnam as alternatives to China, including which product categories each country is strong in, typical labor costs, and how to run supplier discovery trips. Given how many sellers are looking to reduce China exposure right now, this was one of the most timely talks.

The high-level takeaway: India and Vietnam are not blanket replacements for China. Each country has categories where it wins on price, quality, or tariffs, and you need to match the country to the product to make the numbers work.

Mike Epstein on direct mail and postcards with automated Klaviyo-style triggers

Mike Epstein’s session on postcard direct mail is where a lot of attendees had their biggest “why am I not doing this?” moment. Steve ran a case study on his own site and hit a 16x ROI on a postcard campaign.

The reason direct mail is working now is that everyone abandoned it for email, which is now noisy and competitive while physical mail is quiet. Modern services can trigger a postcard from an abandoned cart, match your handwriting, and drop it in the mail within 24 to 48 hours.

Dana Jaunzemis’s closing keynote

Dana Jaunzemis’s closing keynote was the strongest personal story of the event and struck attendees across every demographic in the room. Male, female, new sellers, veteran sellers, she had every kind of person walking up afterward saying she was speaking directly to them.

We will not spoil the specifics. Watch the recording if you have a virtual pass.

The big cross-cutting trends from Sellers Summit 2023

Looking across all 19 sessions, four cross-cutting ecommerce trends emerged from Sellers Summit 2023.

• Community and free-audience playbooks are outperforming paid ads for brand-building. Alicia’s challenges, Natalie’s free influencers, Chris’s conversation method, and Liz’s Amazon influencer videos all rely on earned attention over paid impressions.
• AI is moving from novelty to operating leverage. Chad Rubin’s dynamic pricing (from episode 473), Mike Jackness’s workflows, and Google’s Performance Max all treat AI as the layer that manages complexity a human team cannot.
• Amazon-only is a risk position, not a business. Walmart Marketplace, Buy with Prime, and DTC channels were the top diversification themes across sessions and hallway conversations.
• Old-school channels are back. Direct mail postcards, printed influencer packages, and offline-to-online funnels are working precisely because everyone abandoned them.

Frequently asked questions

What is Sellers Summit?

Sellers Summit is an annual ecommerce conference founded by Steve Chou and Toni Herrbach that focuses on practical, tactical sessions for owners of physical-product businesses (Amazon FBA, Shopify, WooCommerce, etc.). It runs each May and caps attendance to keep the room intimate, and it publishes a virtual pass with recordings of every session.

How can I get the Sellers Summit 2023 recordings?

You can get all Sellers Summit 2023 recordings by going to sellersummit.com and clicking “grab your virtual pass.” The link comes down once Sellers Summit 2024 is announced, so it is only available for a limited window.

What are the top ecommerce trends from Sellers Summit 2023?

The top ecommerce trends from Sellers Summit 2023 are community-driven brand building (6-week challenges, unpaid influencers, Amazon influencer videos), AI-driven operations (dynamic pricing, advanced workflows, Google Performance Max), channel diversification off Amazon (Walmart Marketplace, Buy with Prime, DTC), and the return of direct mail with modern automation.

Does Buy with Prime integrate with Klaviyo?

Yes. Amazon’s Buy with Prime now integrates with Klaviyo, which means customer email addresses and purchase data from Buy with Prime orders flow into your Klaviyo lists. The integration launched in mid-2023 and is one of the reasons Buy with Prime is worth revisiting for DTC brands.

Is Walmart Marketplace worth joining in 2023?

Yes, especially if you already sell on Shopify. Walmart Marketplace has removed most of the old barriers (physical warehouse requirements, complex applications) and released a Shopify app that auto-imports your catalog, which makes it one of the fastest ways to add a second sales channel and reduce Amazon dependence.

What is a 6-week challenge in ecommerce?

A 6-week challenge in ecommerce is a structured, six-week program where customers use your product daily toward a shared goal, generating community engagement, user-generated content, and repeat purchases. Alicia Reynoso used the format to build an 8-figure water bottle brand and it is now spreading to other product categories.

Do Amazon influencer videos really convert better than brand videos?

Yes, roughly 8x better in the video box of a brand-registered listing according to data shared at the event. The reason is credibility: shoppers trust honest influencer reviews (especially ones that include a small critical note) far more than the professionally produced brand videos that read as ads.

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