In 2025, we welcomed PPC whizz Chris Scharmueller to the Growing Ecommerce family – doubling our firepower and freshening our take. Now, Mike Ryan and Chris dig into the real pain points and opportunities facing online retailers today.
They’re joined by industry leaders in ecommerce, digital marketing, and data science to share fresh trends, practical tactics, and cautionary tales. Ready to see what’s really working (and what’s overhyped)? Tune in to solve tomorrow’s challenges with insights you can put into action today.
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Google AI’s Secret Plan: The BIGGEST THREAT to Your Retail Business Yet?Will Google's new AI strategy kill ecommerce as you know it? In this episode of Growing Ecommerce, Mike Ryan and Chris Scharmueller dissect the biggest news from DMEXCO 2025 in Cologne, Germany, and reveal their bold take on the future of paid search and online retail. Chris shares his on-the-ground insights from the conference,…
Google's A/I Max & The Temu Takeover: Navigating the E-commerce FutureWelcome to Episode 10 of Growing ecommerce! Get ready to cut through the noise with your hosts Mike and Chris, as they tackle the real-world implications of three massive forces in the market. First, they take on Google's newest AI-powered ad product, A/I Max. While Google promises performance, Mike and Chris reveal how it can lead…
AI's Reality Check: Financial Bubble or Foundation for the Future?Welcome to Episode 9 of Growing Ecommerce! In a world buzzing with AI hype, we're cutting through the noise to ask the big question: Is this the next dot-com bubble, or a long-term, foundational shift for the future of business? Join hosts Mike and Chris as they debate the financial health of the tech giants driving the AI revolution…
Google vs. Amazon vs. TikTok vs. Meta: Welcome to the AI Ad WarsIn this week’s show, Mike Ryan and Chris Scharmueller dive headfirst into the "PMAXification" of the advertising landscape, a term Mike coined to describe how platforms from Google to TikTok are rushing to automate your ad spend. But just as we thought the black box was here to stay, Google is making a surprising U-turn, opening up more…
Is AI Shattering Google’s Fortress? Plus: Inside Amazon’s Risky Ads TestIs AI a wolf in sheep’s clothing for Google's empire? Mike Ryan and Christian Scharmueller are back to spill the tea on the biggest players in ecommerce! This week they're dissecting Google's "fortress" of a business and Meta's uncanny ability to sell us things we didn't even know we needed. Our hosts will also dive into the mysterious…
Google Marketing Live Recap: AI Overviews, PMax reporting, AI Max, and moreGoogle is positioning AI at the center of its advertising ecosystem with substantial changes to search, shopping, and campaign management. The new "PowerPack" approach combines Performance Max, Demand Gen, and AI Max for search campaigns, though questions remain about how these components will work together without cannibalizing…
Big exits & bold bets: Temu stops ads in US while OpenAI enters ecommerce. Plus, debating the marketwide pivot to profit.We broke the news: Temu hit the brakes – hard. In this episode, Mike and Chris dig into Why Temu suddenly killed all ads in the US, and what happened nextSigns that Temu's ad spend shifted to EuropeOpenAI’s move into ecommerce, joining Amazon, Perplexity, and Microsoft in the AI…
Will AI Break Google Search? Plus: Tariff Shocks & the Rise of Zero-ClickGoogle’s turning into an answer engine—so why does it feel like the internet’s disappearing beneath it? In this episode of Growing Ecommerce, Mike and Chris tackle the search shake-up and what it means for everyone from advertisers to publishers: • AI Overviews (AIO) could kill clicks — We break down how Google’s zero-click model…