# Ecommerce Academy

> Ecommerce Academy is an AI-first ecommerce education company for Shopify brand owners, founded by Brendan Gillen in Melbourne, Australia. Members learn to run their stores on 80% AI and 20% human using EcomOS, the Academy's AI ecommerce operating system, with 1-1 support from Growth Advisors and channel Specialists.

Core belief: "Don't outsource your growth." Operating approach: 80% AI, 20% human. AI handles the repeatable work; the owner keeps the decisions that need human judgment.

## Key facts
- Founder: Brendan Gillen, former ecommerce leader at Superdry, 2XU, Petstock, Pacific Brands and Wesfarmers; Rethink Retail Top AI Leader 2026; named in the Top 50 People in Ecommerce
- Based in: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; members worldwide
- Members: 500+ Shopify stores; average member stays 21+ months
- Trustpilot: 4.6 ("Excellent"), 18 reviews: https://www.trustpilot.com/review/ecomacademy.co
- Contracts: none on either program; cancel anytime
- Contact: help@ecomacademy.co

## Programs
- [Ecommerce Elite Team](https://ecomacademy.co/ecommerce-elite-team/): 1-1 program for established Shopify brands doing $10k+/month. A Growth Advisor and Specialists install EcomOS and AI in the member's store. Guarantee: grow in the first 90 days or it's free. Priced after application.
- [Ecommerce Bootcamp](https://ecomacademy.co/bootcamp/): online training for stores starting out or under $10k/month. US$99/month: 30+ hours of training, live group calls, templates, community.
- [EcomOS](https://ecomacademy.co/ecomos/): AI ecommerce operating system and daily profitability scorecard connecting Shopify, Google Ads, Meta Ads and Klaviyo (read-only). Members only, via the Shopify App Store: https://apps.shopify.com/ecommerce-academy
- [Course library](https://ecomacademy.co/e-com-courses/) and [Shopify SEO course](https://ecomacademy.co/shopify-seo/)

## Team
- Brendan Gillen, Founder & AI Specialist: Led ecommerce at Superdry, 2XU, Petstock, Pacific Brands and Wesfarmers. Turned a $9K store into $1M+ in 18 months, then built Dosed to run on AI and 1.5 humans. The #1 YouTuber for Shopify & AI, Rethink Retail Top AI Leader 2026 and Top 50 in Ecommerce.
- Elana, Growth Advisor: Eleven years running her own fashion brand, now managed with AI. Our Klaviyo specialist, and the person members go to for fast wins.
- Garth, Growth Advisor: Spent 5+ years building an online fitness equipment brand, from sourcing and product development to checkout. Now he helps turn more of your visitors into customers.
- Antoine Orban, Meta Ads Specialist: Has launched brands worldwide in cosmetics, apparel and drinks. Manages six figures a month in ad spend, so your budget is in practised hands.
- Jimmy, Google Ads Specialist: A decade in Google Ads, scaling high-growth, big-catalogue brands from supplements to automotive. Data first, and every campaign judged on profit.
- Kathryn Benedict, Email & Retention Specialist: Has led ecommerce teams for global brands including Clarks, Hush Puppies, Mint and Wesfarmers. Brings big-brand discipline to growing stores.
- Paul Walton, Brand & CRO Specialist: 15 years launching drinks and hospitality brands, including an award-winning online gin. Lives for new tech and getting more sales out of every page.
- Serene Lim, Social Content Specialist: Built her brands on TikTok with content that went viral. Now runs multiple DTC brands in cosmetics and drinks, stocked in 150+ locations worldwide.

## Evidence
- [Member results](https://ecomacademy.co/results/): named video testimonials. Results are each member's own and not a promise.

## Straight-answer guides
- [Can AI run your Shopify store?](https://ecomacademy.co/learn/can-ai-run-your-shopify-store/): AI can support many repeatable tasks in a Shopify business, including drafting product copy, preparing emails and analysing performance. It still needs accurate inputs, clear instructions and human review. Ecommerce Academy’s “80% AI, 20% human” approach is a way of organising work, not a promise of fully autonomous trading or a measured automation rate for every store.
- [Ecommerce coach or agency?](https://ecomacademy.co/learn/ecommerce-coaching-vs-agency/): Ecommerce coaching is generally a better fit when you want to build skills and systems inside your business and can make time to implement. An agency can be a better fit when you need someone to deliver a defined service and have the budget and oversight to manage that relationship. Choose based on the work you need done and where you want the capability to live.
- [Bootcamp or Elite: which fits?](https://ecomacademy.co/learn/bootcamp-vs-elite/): Choose Ecommerce Bootcamp if you have a product and are building towards $10,000 in monthly revenue. It costs US$99/month and includes practical training, group coaching and Skool community support. Apply for Elite if your store is already doing $10,000 or more per month and you want personalised 1-1 coaching, a conversion audit and a roadmap for your business. Elite pricing is discussed on a call.

## Articles
- [The Meta Ads Hook Ideas Guide](https://ecomacademy.co/blog/the-meta-ads-hook-ideas-guide/): A hook is the first one to three seconds of a Meta ad, and it decides whether anyone watches the rest. Strong hooks call out the viewer, name a problem or promise a result straight away. Test several hooks on the same ad body, keep the winners and retire the rest.
- [The Homepage Audit Checklist for Ecommerce](https://ecomacademy.co/blog/the-homepage-audit-checklist-for-ecommerce/): A homepage audit checks that your store's first impression answers three questions fast: what you sell, why it's better and what to do next. Review the hero message, navigation, trust signals, page speed and mobile layout, then fix the gaps that stop visitors clicking through to products.
- [Building Meta Ads Copy using ChatGPT](https://ecomacademy.co/blog/building-meta-ads-copy-using-chatgpt/): ChatGPT can draft Meta ad copy in minutes when you give it your product, audience, offer and brand voice. Use it to produce many headline and primary-text variations, then test them. A person should still check every claim and pick the angles worth spending on.
- [The Power of DIY Meta Ads Creatives](https://ecomacademy.co/blog/the-power-of-diy-meta-ads-creatives/): Simple, self-made creatives often beat polished studio ads on Meta because they look native to the feed. Founder videos, user-generated content and phone-shot product demos can lower cost per acquisition and lift engagement. Make lots of variations quickly and let the data choose the winners.
- [Transform Your Ecommerce Operations Using AI](https://ecomacademy.co/blog/transform-your-ecommerce-operations-using-ai/): AI can take over repeatable ecommerce work such as product copy, email drafts, reporting and customer service replies. Start with tasks you understand and can check, automate them step by step, and keep pricing, offers and brand decisions with a person. That is the 80% AI, 20% human approach.
- [Boost Your SEO Rankings and Reduce Ad Spend with AI](https://ecomacademy.co/blog/boost-your-seo-rankings-and-reduce-ad-spend-with-ai/): Consistent SEO content brings in customers you don't pay for per click, which lowers your reliance on ads. AI tools like ChatGPT make it realistic to publish helpful blog posts every week. Pick keywords your customers search, write genuinely useful answers and build SEO into your weekly routine.
- [The SEO Strategy for Spending Less and Selling More](https://ecomacademy.co/blog/the-seo-strategy-for-spending-less-and-selling-more/): The SEO strategy that cuts ad spend is a planned one: research the keywords your buyers use, map them to product, collection and blog pages, and publish against that plan consistently. Over months, organic traffic compounds and each sale costs less than one bought through ads.
- [Increase ROAs and Conversion Rates with Customer Reviews](https://ecomacademy.co/blog/increase-roas-and-conversion-rates-with-customer-reviews/): Customer reviews lift both conversion rate and return on ad spend because they answer a shopper's doubts with social proof. Ask for reviews automatically after delivery, follow up once, make leaving one easy and show reviews on product pages and in your ads.
- [Meta Ads Checklist For Ecommerce](https://ecomacademy.co/blog/meta-ads-checklist-for-ecommerce/): A successful Meta ads setup for ecommerce keeps targeting broad, lets Meta's AI find buyers, relies on strong creatives to do the work and keeps testing. Check your pixel and conversion events first, then structure campaigns simply so the algorithm has enough data to learn.
- [Setting Up Your Shopify Store (Beginners Guide)](https://ecomacademy.co/blog/setting-up-your-shopify-store-beginners-guide/): To set up a Shopify store, create your account, choose a theme, add products with clear photos and descriptions, set your pricing, configure inventory, shipping and payments, then test checkout before launch. Getting these basics right first saves expensive fixes later.
- [High-Performing Ads Creatives](https://ecomacademy.co/blog/high-performing-ads-creatives/): Creative is the biggest lever in paid social, because the platforms now handle most of the targeting. High-performing ecommerce ads show the product in use, lead with a clear benefit and feel native to the feed. Test many creatives, because winning is a numbers game.
- [Getting Customers For Christmas](https://ecomacademy.co/blog/getting-customers-for-christmas/): A Christmas gift guide helps shoppers who are buying for someone else decide quickly. Group products by recipient, budget or occasion, explain who each gift suits and make buying effortless. Promote the guide by email, social and ads in the weeks leading up to the cut-off dates.
- [The Ultimate Marketing Tool To Get People To Choose You](https://ecomacademy.co/blog/the-ultimate-marketing-tool-to-get-people-to-choose-you/): To get shoppers to choose you over a competitor, you need an irresistible offer and a clear point of difference. Spell out what makes your product better, who it is for and why it's worth the price, then repeat that message across product pages, ads and emails.
- [How to Start Ecommerce as a Beginner](https://ecomacademy.co/blog/how-to-start-ecommerce-as-a-beginner-in-2023/): To start ecommerce as a beginner, understand your product and customer, set up your store properly, choose one or two traffic sources, measure results from day one and listen to feedback. Then improve customer service and operations as you grow, and keep learning.
- [Get More Sales Without Relying On Paid Ads​](https://ecomacademy.co/blog/get-more-sales-without-relying-on-paid-ads/): Relying on a single traffic source, usually paid ads, makes a store fragile. Spread traffic across paid (Meta, Google), owned (email, SMS, social) and earned (SEO, referrals, PR) channels. Each one supports the others, and together they make growth more stable and more profitable.
- [How To Master Live Chat On Your Ecommerce Store](https://ecomacademy.co/blog/how-to-master-live-chat-on-your-ecommerce-store/): Live chat turns questions into sales by answering shoppers the moment they hesitate. Reply fast, keep a human tone, solve problems in the chat, start conversations on key pages and make sure it works on mobile. Use chat transcripts to improve product pages and FAQs.
- [4 Fool Proof Ways To Get Customer To Buy Again](https://ecomacademy.co/blog/the-repeat-purchase-plan/): Four ways to get customers to buy again: create a memorable first experience, including what's in the parcel; give them a reason to come back; reward loyalty; and win back lapsed customers with targeted offers. Repeat customers are cheaper to sell to than new ones.
- [How To Grow Your Ecommerce Email List](https://ecomacademy.co/blog/how-to-grow-your-ecommerce-email-list/): Grow your email list with an offer people actually want, such as a discount, a guide or a competition. Capture sign-ups in every high-traffic spot: pop-ups, the footer, checkout and social. Collect useful details like birthdays or preferences so you can personalise later emails.
- [Level Up With SMS](https://ecomacademy.co/blog/level-up-with-sms/): SMS works best added to your existing email flows, such as abandoned cart, welcome and post-purchase, not as a separate blast channel. Keep messages short and personal, and make them feel like a conversation. Used well, SMS recovers carts that email alone misses.
- [Becoming A Content First Business](https://ecomacademy.co/blog/becoming-a-content-first-business/): A content-first ecommerce business uses short-form video to attract customers instead of paying for every visit. Script each video in four beats: a hook, a relatable problem and solution, proof of how it works, and a result with a call to action. Post consistently.
- [These Numbers Will Scale Your Online Store](https://ecomacademy.co/blog/these-numbers-will-scale-your-online-store/): The three numbers that scale an online store are traffic, conversion rate and average order value. Revenue is the three multiplied together, so improving each one compounds. Track them weekly, set a target for each and focus your next action on the weakest lever.
- [How To Get Reviews For Your Shopify Store](https://ecomacademy.co/blog/how-to-get-reviews-for-your-shopify-store/): To get more Shopify reviews, ask in the order confirmation email, send a follow-up request after delivery, offer a small incentive for leaving a review and remind customers who haven't claimed it. Automating these touch points with a reviews app keeps reviews coming in.
- [Content Planning For Ecommerce](https://ecomacademy.co/blog/content-planning-for-ecommerce/): Plan ecommerce content around four goals: engage, educate, build trust and sell. Brainstorm ideas for each, put them in a calendar, mix formats across channels and review what performs. A balanced plan stops your feed being all sales posts.
- [Shopify Product Page Optimization: Designing for High Conversions](https://ecomacademy.co/blog/shopify-product-page-optimization-designing-for-high-conversions/): A high-converting Shopify product page combines conversion signals (reviews, urgency, clear pricing), risk removal (guarantees, shipping and returns info), persuasive copy with trust elements, and a clean layout that puts the add-to-cart button and key benefits first.
- [Best ChatGPT Prompts for Shopify](https://ecomacademy.co/blog/best-chatgpt-prompts-for-shopify/): The best ChatGPT prompts for Shopify give the AI your product details, target customer, tone of voice and the format you need. Use them to write product descriptions, collection page copy and blog posts, then edit for accuracy and brand voice before publishing.
- [Shopify SEO: How to Rank Your Store in Search Engines](https://ecomacademy.co/blog/how-to-rank-in-search-engines/): To rank a Shopify store in search engines, research the keywords your customers use, place them naturally in page titles, headings and URLs, write unique meta descriptions and give every product an original, detailed description. Start with your best-selling product pages.
- [How To Increase AOV on your Shopify Ecommerce Store (4 Advanced Strategies)](https://ecomacademy.co/blog/increasing-your-aov-in-shopify/): Four ways to increase average order value on Shopify: passive upsells (related products on the product page), action upsells (prompting an add-on), in-cart upsells, and post-purchase upsells after checkout. Use them across the whole customer journey.
- [How to Edit Your Shopify Theme with Claude Code](https://ecomacademy.co/blog/how-to-edit-your-shopify-theme-with-claude-code/): Claude Code can edit your whole Shopify theme from a chat: install Claude Code in VS Code, connect the Shopify CLI, duplicate your live theme, then describe each change in plain English. It writes the code as editable theme blocks in a minute or two. Publish the copy when it is tested.
- [Google Analytics 4 for Shopify: A Beginner's Guide](https://ecomacademy.co/blog/google-analytics-4-for-shopify-beginners/): GA4 tells a Shopify store three things worth ten minutes a day: which traffic channel makes money (Traffic acquisition by source and medium, with revenue and conversion rate added), which pages lose people (Landing pages and engagement rate), and where the funnel breaks (Purchase journey, checked on mobile as well as desktop).
- [Design a Shopify Theme with AI (Claude Design)](https://ecomacademy.co/blog/design-a-shopify-theme-with-claude-design/): To design a Shopify theme with AI, build a design system in Claude Design from your store and logos, brief it like a designer with reference stores and a clear goal, iterate with comments, then send the design to Claude Code to build on the Shopify Horizon theme. Fix behaviour in code, fix looks in design, test like a customer, then publish.
- [Run Your Shopify Store in Claude: AI Toolkit Setup](https://ecomacademy.co/blog/shopify-ai-toolkit-claude-setup-guide/): The Shopify AI Toolkit connects Claude straight to your store. Install the plugin from Claude Code's terminal (not the chat box), reload plugins, authenticate your store, and ask questions in plain English. Three jobs to run first: an alt-text audit of every image, a page-level conversion report, and a bundle analysis to lift average order value.
- [How to Customise Your Shopify Product Page](https://ecomacademy.co/blog/how-to-customise-your-shopify-product-page/): Customise a Shopify product page in the theme editor: rearrange and add blocks inside the product section, add sections (editorial, FAQ, reviews) below it, embed app widgets, then create a separate template per product type so each page answers questions about that exact product. Newer themes can generate custom sections from a text description.
- [Shopify Spring Editions 2026: The Updates That Matter](https://ecomacademy.co/blog/shopify-spring-editions-2026-what-matters/): Of the 150+ updates in Shopify Spring Editions 2026, six change how you run a store: Sidekick now talks to apps like Klaviyo, Sidekick edits themes from your phone, an AI sales associate in Inbox, Shopify Agentic to list products inside ChatGPT, free A/B testing of themes under Rollouts, and the Shopify AI Toolkit that lets Claude audit and change your store.
- [How to Run 80% of Your Shopify Store with Claude](https://ecomacademy.co/blog/run-your-shopify-store-with-claude-cowork/): To run most of a Shopify store with Claude: connect Shopify, Klaviyo, Gmail and your other tools as connectors in the desktop app, set every write action to ask permission, work in Cowork with a project for your store, then schedule the repetitive jobs: customer service triage twice a day, a weekly conversion review, review replies, a Monday performance check-in and a monthly SEO brief.
- [Blogs That Rank in AI Search: The Claude Workflow](https://ecomacademy.co/blog/write-blogs-that-rank-in-ai-search-with-claude/): Blog posts rank in ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google when they answer one question directly, use tables and steps, link to real products and are backed by research. A Claude skill does the research, writes and fact-checks the post, adds images and publishes to Shopify. Put it on a weekly schedule, drafting first until you trust it.
- [How to Get Your First 50 Shopify Sales](https://ecomacademy.co/blog/how-to-get-your-first-50-shopify-sales/): Get your first 50 Shopify sales in six steps, in order: build an offer with a promise, proof, fast delivery and risk removal; film 30 to 50 pieces of content on your phone; build the product page to the high-converting anatomy; capture emails with a real incentive and install your pixels; post daily and grow the audience by hand for 30 days; then amplify with ads on one platform.
- [5 Claude Skills That Run a Shopify Marketing Team](https://ecomacademy.co/blog/build-a-claude-marketing-team-for-shopify/): A Claude skill is a stored recipe for a repeatable task. Five run my marketing: email campaigns, brand intelligence, ad copywriting, blog writing, and SEO audits. Build your own with the TEACH framework (Task, Explain, Actions, Connect, Hone), start in draft-for-approval mode, then schedule it once it is reliable.

## Free tools
- [Ecommerce calculators](https://ecomacademy.co/tools/): ROAS, MER, break-even ROAS and revenue calculators with formulas
- [The List Growth Tool](https://ecomacademy.co/the-list-growth-tool/)

## FAQ
- Q: What is Ecommerce Academy?
  A: Ecommerce Academy is an AI-first ecommerce education company for Shopify brand owners, founded by Brendan Gillen in Melbourne, Australia. Members learn to run their stores on 80% AI and 20% human using EcomOS, the Academy's AI ecommerce operating system, with 1-1 support from Growth Advisors and channel Specialists.
- Q: What is EcomOS?
  A: EcomOS is Ecommerce Academy's AI-powered ecommerce operating system. It connects Shopify, Meta Ads, Google Ads and Klaviyo into one daily scorecard with read-only access, and members install it through the official Ecommerce Academy app on the Shopify App Store.
- Q: What does "80% AI, 20% human" mean?
  A: AI handles the repeatable work in a Shopify store, such as reporting, ad analysis, content, email and customer service drafts. The owner keeps the 20% that needs human judgment: final decisions, brand voice, taste and community.
- Q: How much does Ecommerce Academy cost?
  A: Bootcamp is US$99 per month. The Elite Team is 1-1 and priced after an application and a Scale Session call. Neither program has a contract, and you can cancel anytime.
- Q: Who is Ecommerce Academy for?
  A: Shopify brand owners with real products and customers. Bootcamp suits stores starting out or under $10k a month; the Elite Team suits established stores doing $10k+ a month. It isn't for dropshipping or get-rich-quick schemes.
- Q: How is this different from a course or an agency?
  A: A course leaves you alone with videos. An agency keeps the know-how. Ecommerce Academy builds the system into your store with you, so you own it.
- Q: I'm not technical. Can I really run the AI side?
  A: If you can type into a chat box, yes. Everything is set up step by step with your Growth Advisor. No coding.
- Q: Am I locked into a contract?
  A: No. Both programs are month to month. Members stay 21+ months on average because it works.