S17 E8: What Every DTC Brand Should Know Before Q4 (with Shopify's Harley Finkelstein)

About this episode

What actually changes in Q4 every year, and what stays exactly the same? In this week's episode, Nik revisits a live conversation about the Q4 playbook for DTC brands with Harley Finkelstein, President of Shopify. Recorded on-stage at an earlier Q4 Summit, what Nik and Harley cover still applies directly to 2026, so it felt like the right time to bring it back! Harley opens with fresh data from a survey of 18,000 consumers, breaking down where holiday spending is headed, why discounting and free shipping are still the top two loyalty drivers, and why shoppers are starting their holiday planning earlier every single year. From there, Nik and Harley get into why novelty might be the most…