What happens when you combine ethical production, parent-to-parent word of mouth, insanely fast delivery, and simple, customer-first SEO?

You build a Shopify brand that’s doubling year on year!

In this episode, Nick sits down with Liam Charlton, founder of Ethical Schoolwear - a Shopify store changing the school uniform game with better quality, better ethics, and a surprisingly powerful growth engine: the school playground.

We cover:

• How Ethical Schoolwear started (and why ethics became the mission)

• The “playground marketplace” and how word of mouth really works

• Why fast delivery creates 5-star reviews (and repeat customers)

• The simple SEO approach that drives sales

• What products sell best

• How to scale without losing what makes the brand special

• Plus: a teaser for the biggest online Shopify Summit launching September 2026

Visit Ethical Schoolwear: ethicalschoolwear.com

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Key Takeaways:

00:00 – Shopify’s CEO on Doing Good (and Why It Matters)

02:28 – Meet the Founder of Ethical Schoolwear

08:49 – Why Buying a Farm in Wales Beat Selling the Business

13:35 – The Reality of Multiple Suppliers in School Uniform

17:53 – Rethinking the School Uniform Industry

23:20 – Weight Loss, Capsules & Consumer Trust

26:25 – “Uber for Dads”: The Best Business Lesson Learned

32:25 – Tesla, Trustpilot & the Power of Brand Reputation

37:23 – School Uniforms: Ethics, Scale & Impact

41:17 – The Biggest Challenges Facing the Business

43:29 – One Lesson Every Founder Learns the Hard Way

46:07 – How to Double Your Business in One Year

We’re kicking off 2026 by breaking down how shopping habits are changing, what the latest Shopify and BFCM data tells us, and where ecommerce brands should focus this year.

In this episode:
• Ecommerce trends shaping 2026
• AI’s real impact on Shopify, CRO and content creation
• UK Black Friday visibility winners and retail shake-ups
• Why authenticity, reviews and UGC still drive conversions
• The return of subscriptions (done smarter)
• Why Boxing Day is still a critical sales moment
• The biggest marketing blind spots heading into 2026

Key stats we cover:
• Shopify BFCM hit $14.6B (+27% YoY)
• 81M+ shoppers bought from Shopify brands
• 39% YoY growth in Shop Pay
• Smartphones now drive 77%+ of retail site traffic
• Nearly 40% of Gen Z use TikTok or Instagram instead of Google

Quivia – test your ecommerce knowledge:
• What % of holiday shoppers planned to shop Boxing Day sales?
• Did “Black Friday” search volume rise or fall YoY?
• What % of shoppers use Google or YouTube to shop?
• True or false: Over half of users leave if a site takes more than 3 seconds to load?

If you’re responsible for Shopify growth, ecommerce marketing or CRO, this episode will help you reset and refocus for 2026.

New year, fresh opportunities, and a reality check for ecommerce brands heading into 2026.

This week, we break down the shifts that actually matter: AI-driven personalisation that’s now powering real-time selling, shopping that’s happening everywhere (from TikTok to AI assistants), and why first-party data is becoming the backbone of growth as privacy tightens.

We also unpack the biggest Q4 lesson: brands cutting marketing to “save money” aren’t fixing the real problem - tracking and performance are.

Add in faster mobile expectations, Gen Z searching on social instead of Google, and what Shopify’s latest trends signal for 2026 - and you’ve got a short, sharp reset for the year ahead.

Grab a drink and join us for a Tea Break designed to spark smarter decisions.