135: Delight Your Customers And Increase Loyalty With Innovative Nationwide Return Bars

Show Notes

Your Business Is A Journey. Invest In Yourself Today.

Being an entrepreneur is a life of learning, implementing, and iterating. All it would take is a new idea, a strategy, a Shopify app, or a marketing platform to be the next thing you need to improve efficiencies, drive more revenue, and build lifetime customer loyalty for your Shopify brand.

In today’s episode, my guest is David Sobie the Co-Founder & CEO of Happy Returns. They are a returns software solution paired with an innovative and market-leading reverse logistics process. They are successfully tackling the painful challenge of returning products purchased online. Its mission is to make returns beautiful for shoppers, retailers and the planet. This is a great conversation with tons of learnings about how other Shopify brands are building loyalty through convenience. Listen through to the end to get access to an exclusive listener-only bonus too!

What You Will Learn Today

• How to retain revenue, reduce costs, increase loyalty, and enhance sustainability.
• A nationwide network of 2,600+ Return Bar locations serving 288 metros across every state in the continental US.
• Dramatically lower reverse logistics costs with bulk shipping and efficient processing at bicoastal hubs.
• Enhance sustainability by replacing cardboard boxes with reusable containers and shipping in bulk saves trees and fuel.

Links And Resources Mentioned

• Happy Returns - 60-Days Free Access To Return Portal Software - Mention eCommerce Fastlane
• Happy Returns Shopify App
• Outerknown
• Rothy's
• Untuckit
• Andie

Thank You For Listening

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I would also be so grateful if you would consider taking a minute or two to leave an honest review and rating for the show on iTunes. They’re extremely helpful when it comes to reaching our entrepreneurial audience, and I read each and every one personally!

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Episode Sponsor: OMNISEND

Today’s episode is brought to you by Omnisend, the leading Shopify automation platform to drive sales on autopilot.

With more than 3,000 5-star reviews on Shopify Appstore, Omnisend is a top email & SMS marketing automation platform that helps nimble ecommerce teams drive more revenue without increasing their workload.

Full Shopify integration, pre-built automation workflows, intuitive segmentation, and no-code editing make it easy to get up & running without diving into the gritty details - unless you want to.

More than 50,000 ecommerce brands use Omnisend to grow their businesses on autopilot, converting their customers with quick-to-build, highly-relevant emails & texts.

Find out more about Omnisend today and start your 14-day free trial, no credit card required.

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What is eCommerce Fastlane: Shopify Growth Strategies—Where AI Efficiency Meets Human Connection?

Running a Shopify store? You already know success isn't about finding the right app—it's about knowing which strategies actually work at your specific stage of growth.

I'm Steve Hutt, and I've lived every level of the ecommerce journey. From eBay Power Seller shipping products from my garage, to co-founding and scaling VisionPros.com (an optical DTC startup) through to a successful exit, then spending 6+ years as a Shopify Merchant Success Manager helping 100+ brands from startup to enterprise scale, including working with teams at Tentree, Dr. Squatch, Bulletproof Coffee, Salt & Straw Ice Cream, MUD/WTR, Bokksu, and many more.

Here's what makes this podcast different: I've been on both sides of the table.

6+ years working inside Shopify gave me access to what's coming before most merchants know it exists. Building, scaling, and successfully exiting my own ecommerce businesses taught me what actually works when your money and reputation are on the line. That combination of insider access plus real operator experience gives you a perspective you won't find anywhere else.

Since 2018, eCommerce Fastlane has delivered over 430 episodes and more than 2 million downloads to ambitious Shopify founders and marketers. Every week, I chat with operators, developers, and experts who share what's actually moving the needle right now—not theory, but patterns I've seen work consistently across dozens of brands at multiple stages.

Whether you're launching your first store or scaling past seven figures, every episode gives you stage-aware strategies you can implement this week. We dig into Shopify apps, digital marketing, retention tactics, AI tools, and the operational stuff that actually reduces overwhelm—while building customer loyalty that lasts.

You'll learn how to leverage emerging tech without losing what makes your brand unique. You'll also hear real founder stories, including lessons from my own journey building and exiting a DTC brand, plus insights from guests across 430+ episodes who've been exactly where you are.

This isn't content for content's sake. It's what you'd get sitting at a mastermind table with someone who's built, scaled, and exited—and helped hundreds of others do the same.

Ready to grow smarter, not just faster? Join thousands of founders and marketers in the eCommerce Fastlane community through our podcast, newsletter, blog, and forthcoming book "Thriving with Shopify."

Steve Hutt
DTC Founder | Podcast Host

Find Us Online
Website: eCommerceFastlane.com
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LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/shutt
X: x.com/stevenhutt
Instagram: instagram.com/ecommercefastlane
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