18 Lessons from Summer School: Ecommerce Ops Edition

Ecommerce operators have a lot on their plate. And let’s be honest, backend operations can easily get pushed to the bottom of the list.

But those backend operations are often the place that has the highest leverage to improve profit margins and enable brands to scale efficiently.

Which is why we created Summer School: Ecommerce Ops Edition. To help operators unlock new opportunities in their business operations through expert-led content that they can digest on their own time. The series includes 9 practical sessions, covering everything from customer support, returns, global payments, subscriptions and so much more.

Get a sneak peek at the top 18 lessons we learned along the way. Covering 9 unique topics:

• Latest AI trends in customer support
• Streamlining multi-channel sales
• Staying sales tax compliant as you grow
• Stopping revenue leakage with smart fraud protection
• Smarter inventory planning
• Redefining returns for growth
• Navigating global expansion
• Best practices for accurate revenue recognition
• Growing your subscription program

Latest AI trends in customer support

Lesson #1. Resolution rate is the new north star metric for support
First response time used to be the gold standard. But what really matters to customers? Getting their issue solved (fast). Tidio sees brands resolving 60–70% of tickets instantly with AI (with no CSAT drop). That means happier shoppers, and more time for your team to focus on the more complicated tickets.

Lesson #2: You don’t have to sacrifice customer experience when adopting AI
A great support experience can set your brand apart — and AI can actually help you level it up. When you train AI on your brand voice, personality, and goals, your shoppers still get that on-brand experience (even if they’re chatting with a bot).

Check out the full session to learn more about the latest AI trends in customer support from Marius Laza and the Tidio team.

Streamlining multi-channel sales

Lesson #3. 73% of consumers shop on more than one channel
The proof is in the pudding—your audience isn’t just shopping on your website, they expect you to find you on marketplaces, retail shelves and more. Yes, it adds complexity. But if you’re not expanding across channels, you’re leaving revenue on the table.

Lesson #4. Manual data reconciliation might be costing you more than you think
Multi-channel growth is great — but it can make your accounting messier. The Webgility team found that brands lose up to 20 hours per week manually reconciling scattered data. That’s time you could be spending on higher-impact work.

Learn how to streamline your multi channel accounting chaos from John May and the Webgility team.

Staying sales tax compliant as you grow

Lesson #5. You need to track your marketplace orders in your nexus calculations
Marketplaces (like Amazon, Walmart, and Etsy) are responsible for collecting and remitting sales tax on your transactions there, but that doesn’t mean you’re off the hook. You still need to track those orders to understand where you’ve triggered nexus and what that means for your overall compliance.

Lesson #6. Sales tax is complicated — but it doesn’t have to be
Sure, sales tax has a lot of rules to navigate, but you don’t have to be the expert (you’ve got enough on your plate). With the right tools and partners, you can automate compliance and stay ahead as your business grows.

Curious what to look out for with your sales tax compliance as you grow? Check out our full session for more tips in less than 15 minutes.

Stopping revenue leakage with smart fraud protection

Lesson #7. Payments are a major source of found revenue
Revenue leakage is a major problem for ecommerce brands—and false order declines can be one of the most costly causes. Signifyd reports $18B in lost purchases last holiday season alone. The good news? You can recover 5-9% of your lost revenue by using AI-backed fraud protection tools like Signifyd.

Lesson #8. Stop wasting time on manual order review
Fraud tools often flag questionable orders (not clearly good, not clearly bad) for manual review. And that time can seriously add up—Signifyd found brands can spend up to 10 hours/month reviewing those edge cases. But, with AI-powered fraud protection, you can automate that review process and get those hours back.

Ready to plug your revenue leakage and grow fearlessly? Check out the full lesson presented by Travis Merle from Signifyd.

Smarter inventory planning

Lesson #9. Inventory is your operational compass
As Branden from Settle put it: inventory and cash flow need to move in parallel — like two tracks of the same train. If they’re not aligned, things go off the rails fast.

Lesson #10. Stop relying on your gut to forecast inventory
Gut-based forecasting can get messy fast. Overestimate, and you’re stuck with inventory you can’t sell. Underestimate, and you miss out on revenue. The fix? Get out of the spreadsheets and use tech to plan smarter.

Are you using your gut to forecast? Learn how you can scale smarter in the full session presented by Branden Foote and the Settle team.

Redefining returns for growth

Lesson #11. Charging for returns is the new norm
Loop found that 64% of brands now charge return fees and consumers are on board. In fact, 70% say they’d pay for a more premium return experience. If you haven’t explored this model yet, this might be your sign (it could make a big impact on your margins).

Lesson #12. Charging returns at checkout is the optimal experience
Charging at the point of return can catch customers off guard. That’s why Loop’s Checkout+ lets brands add a return fee at checkout instead. It creates a new revenue stream and gives shoppers more peace of mind before they buy.

Loop is redefining the returns for growth and you can get the playbook in less than 15 minutes, presented by Marco De Paulis.

Navigating global expansion

Lesson #13. Global expansion is a massive opportunity
Airwallex estimates cross-border payments will reach $250 trillion by 2027. Shoppers are buying internationally, and more brands are going global. But don’t jump in blindly — take the time to do your research and understand the costs before you pick your first (or next) market.

Lesson #14. Every international dollar gets converted twice
The “conversion trap”, as Colette breaks down, is one of the biggest costs of global expansion. But you can avoid it with the right infrastructure (and partners) in place.

Learn how you can navigate the cost, complexity and risk that can come with global expansion in the full session from Colette and the Airwallex team.

Best practices for accurate revenue recognition

Lesson #15. Accurate revenue recognition starts with fulfillment dates
Many platforms report sales based on the order date, but for accurate revenue recognition, you should be looking at the fulfillment date instead.

Lesson #16. Revenue recognition can get messy — fast
When you’re selling through ecommerce, retail, and marketplaces, revenue reporting can get complicated quickly. Jason breaks down the biggest factors that lead to messy reporting and the best practices to manage it for your business.

Get the full run down from Jason and the Bookkeep in less than 15 minutes here.

Growing your subscription program

Lesson #17. Go beyond the pointy party of the the funnel
When you think of the funnel, you probably picture the upside-down triangle — but there’s big opportunity beyond that narrow tip. This is where you maximize LTV, and subscription programs are a powerful way to automate repeat purchases and keep customers coming back.

Lesson #18. Don’t overlook your subscription cancellation flow
Acquiring subscribers is great — but keeping them is even better. Your cancellation flow is a goldmine for retention. Maybe a customer just needs to skip an order, not cancel entirely. Smart brands are using this moment to save subscriptions and gather insights, and Nick shares exactly how they’re doing it.

Learn the 3 levers to grow your subscription program, presented by Nick Belanger from the Skio team.

That’s a wrap! 18 key lessons from Summer School: Ecommerce Ops Edition.

Missed a session? Summer School was built to fit your schedule, so you can catch up anytime. Just head to the Summer School page and dive into each lesson when it works for you.

We want to give a special thank you to our partners: Tidio, Webgility, Signifyd, Settle, Loop, Airwallex, Bookkeep and Skio for being a part of this series.

And to those that have followed along—we’d love to hear from you! If you have any feedback, questions or ideas on what you’d want to hear from us next, reach out to us marketing@taxcloud.com.