Top 24 Ecommerce Experts to Follow in 2026
The ecommerce experts you follow shape how you think, build, and grow. With so many voices out there, it's hard to know who actually moves the needle. I've done the work for you—this list covers the practitioners, operators, and strategists worth your attention. Through their blogs, videos, courses, and books, these ecommerce pioneers will help you cut through the noise and focus on ideas that drive real results.
Top 24 Ecommerce Experts
Below are the profiles of the top ecommerce experts, covering who they are and the impact they've made in this space.
Jason Goldberg
Jason Goldberg is Chief Commerce Strategy Officer at Publicis Groupe and a fourth-generation retailer with more than three decades of experience across retail, digital, and e-commerce strategy.
Goldberg launched online retail at…
Jason Goldberg is Chief Commerce Strategy Officer at Publicis Groupe and a fourth-generation retailer with more than three decades of experience across retail, digital, and e-commerce strategy.
Goldberg launched online retail at Blockbuster and later helped build e-commerce businesses at Best Buy and Target. Through Retailgeek and the Jason & Scot Show, he analyzes digital commerce, shopper behavior, retail technology, and the forces reshaping how retailers compete.
Sucharita Kodali
Sucharita Kodali is a VP and principal analyst at Forrester whose research covers e-commerce, omnichannel commerce, consumer behavior, retail technology, and consumer goods and retail markets.
Her research examines commerce strategy, social…
Sucharita Kodali is a VP and principal analyst at Forrester whose research covers e-commerce, omnichannel commerce, consumer behavior, retail technology, and consumer goods and retail markets.
Her research examines commerce strategy, social commerce, fulfillment, retail planning, marketplaces, and the technology changing shopping. That combination gives retail leaders an evidence-led view of where digital commerce is moving and how consumer expectations are changing.
Harley Finkelstein
Harley Finkelstein is President of Shopify and an entrepreneur who has helped shape the commerce platform’s work with merchants, founders, and businesses building and selling products online.
As one of Shopify’s most…
Harley Finkelstein is President of Shopify and an entrepreneur who has helped shape the commerce platform’s work with merchants, founders, and businesses building and selling products online.
As one of Shopify’s most visible leaders, Finkelstein works at the intersection of entrepreneurship and commerce infrastructure. His perspective spans merchant growth, new selling channels, platform development, and the changing tools businesses use to reach customers.
Brian Beck
Brian Beck is Managing Partner at Enceiba and co-founder of Master B2B, drawing on years as a commerce executive to advise manufacturers and distributors on digital growth and Amazon strategy.
Beck wrote …
Brian Beck is Managing Partner at Enceiba and co-founder of Master B2B, drawing on years as a commerce executive to advise manufacturers and distributors on digital growth and Amazon strategy.
Beck wrote Billion Dollar B2B Ecommerce and focuses on the practical challenges behind B2B digital transformation. His work covers Amazon, platform selection, product discovery, procurement, customer experience, and how manufacturers and distributors adapt to digital buying.
Linda Bustos
Linda Bustos founded Ecom Ideas after years covering e-commerce and digital marketing, building a body of practical analysis around online merchandising, UX, conversion, and store design.
Bustos breaks down real storefronts to…
Linda Bustos founded Ecom Ideas after years covering e-commerce and digital marketing, building a body of practical analysis around online merchandising, UX, conversion, and store design.
Bustos breaks down real storefronts to surface useful patterns in navigation, product pages, merchandising, checkout, persuasion, and experimentation. Her work gives retail teams a steady stream of concrete ideas for improving digital shopping experiences.
Taylor Holiday
Taylor Holiday founded Common Thread Collective, an e-commerce growth agency. He built his work around the operating, marketing, and financial realities of scaling consumer brands online.
Holiday’s analysis connects paid acquisition with…
Taylor Holiday founded Common Thread Collective, an e-commerce growth agency. He built his work around the operating, marketing, and financial realities of scaling consumer brands online.
Holiday’s analysis connects paid acquisition with contribution margin, forecasting, creative strategy, and business fundamentals. Rather than treating growth as a marketing metric alone, he examines the economics and operating decisions that determine whether e-commerce brands scale sustainably.
Drew Sanocki
Drew Sanocki is a co-founder of PostPilot and a longtime e-commerce operator who has built, acquired, and sold consumer businesses while focusing on customer value and retention strategy.
His approach draws heavily…
Drew Sanocki is a co-founder of PostPilot and a longtime e-commerce operator who has built, acquired, and sold consumer businesses while focusing on customer value and retention strategy.
His approach draws heavily on database marketing, segmentation, retention, and customer economics. At PostPilot, Sanocki has helped bring those principles to DTC direct mail, positioning physical outreach as a measurable acquisition, retargeting, and retention channel.
Zia Daniell Wigder
Zia Daniell Wigder is Global President, Connected Commerce at Hyve Group, leading a portfolio that includes Shoptalk, Groceryshop, POSSIBLE, and Manifest across the connected commerce journey.
Her remit links marketing, merchandising, customer…
Zia Daniell Wigder is Global President, Connected Commerce at Hyve Group, leading a portfolio that includes Shoptalk, Groceryshop, POSSIBLE, and Manifest across the connected commerce journey.
Her remit links marketing, merchandising, customer experience, retail, and supply chain through some of the industry’s major event platforms. Earlier research and leadership work at eMarketer adds a data-driven perspective on how commerce trends become operating priorities.
Cody Plofker
Cody Plofker helped build Jones Road Beauty into a major direct-to-consumer brand and served as its CEO before stepping away from day-to-day leadership to remain a board member and advisor.
Plofker’s work…
Cody Plofker helped build Jones Road Beauty into a major direct-to-consumer brand and served as its CEO before stepping away from day-to-day leadership to remain a board member and advisor.
Plofker’s work has centered on the mechanics of bootstrapped DTC growth: paid advertising, funnels, conversion, creative, and disciplined channel strategy. His experience scaling Jones Road without relying on wholesale or Amazon gives him an operator-led view of building digital-first retail brands.
Sean Frank
Sean Frank is CEO of Ridge, where he has helped turn a wallet brand into a broader consumer-products business while sharing an operator’s view of DTC growth, margins, channels, and scale.
Frank’s…
Sean Frank is CEO of Ridge, where he has helped turn a wallet brand into a broader consumer-products business while sharing an operator’s view of DTC growth, margins, channels, and scale.
Frank’s public commentary gets into the economics behind e-commerce rather than stopping at top-line growth. He discusses product launches, gross margin, wholesale, hiring, brand building, and channel expansion, giving retail leaders a practical look at scaling a modern consumer business.
Karl Lillrud
Karl Lillrud is an e-commerce speaker, author, and strategist. His work centers on online growth, digital business models, customer behavior, and the commercial impact of emerging technology.
His work approaches e-commerce as…
Karl Lillrud is an e-commerce speaker, author, and strategist. His work centers on online growth, digital business models, customer behavior, and the commercial impact of emerging technology.
His work approaches e-commerce as a business transformation problem rather than simply a storefront project, connecting customer expectations, technology adoption, conversion, and growth strategy. That broad perspective is useful for retailers navigating rapid shifts in digital buying behavior.
Tim Peter
Tim Peter is President of Tim Peter & Associates, a consultant with more than two decades of experience spanning digital marketing, e-commerce strategy, customer acquisition, and hospitality.
Peter helps businesses connect digital…
Tim Peter is President of Tim Peter & Associates, a consultant with more than two decades of experience spanning digital marketing, e-commerce strategy, customer acquisition, and hospitality.
Peter helps businesses connect digital channels to commercial outcomes, with work spanning search, content, analytics, customer journeys, and direct online sales. His cross-industry experience offers retailers a useful view of how digital discovery and customer acquisition translate into revenue.
Cynthia Stine
Cynthia Stine is founder, President, and CEO of eGrowth Partners, an Amazon seller consultancy, and the author of Suspension Prevention, a guide to reinstatement and account protection.
Stine began selling on…
Cynthia Stine is founder, President, and CEO of eGrowth Partners, an Amazon seller consultancy, and the author of Suspension Prevention, a guide to reinstatement and account protection.
Stine began selling on Amazon before building a consultancy around the operational problems marketplace sellers face. Her work spans account reinstatement, catalog compliance, intellectual-property issues, risk reduction, seller management, and sustainable growth on Amazon.
Alaa Hassan
Alaa Hassan is founder and CEO of eCommerce Training Academy, where he coaches and advises consumer brands on e-commerce growth, digital strategy, merchandising, and online customer acquisition.
Hassan’s work combines training with…
Alaa Hassan is founder and CEO of eCommerce Training Academy, where he coaches and advises consumer brands on e-commerce growth, digital strategy, merchandising, and online customer acquisition.
Hassan’s work combines training with hands-on growth strategy for online brands. His programs address positioning, acquisition, conversion, retention, and scaling, drawing on long experience across e-commerce operations and multichannel digital marketing.
Matthew Rubin
Matthew Rubin is Senior Vice President, President – Digital at Tractor Supply Company, leading its digital and e-commerce business after earlier roles across retail, strategy, and growth.
Rubin’s career spans merchandising, retail…
Matthew Rubin is Senior Vice President, President – Digital at Tractor Supply Company, leading its digital and e-commerce business after earlier roles across retail, strategy, and growth.
Rubin’s career spans merchandising, retail operations, strategy, M&A, consumer goods, and digital growth. At Tractor Supply, that breadth now sits behind a large digital commerce business, giving him a practical perspective on integrating e-commerce with an established store-led retailer.
Peep Laja
Peep Laja is founder and CEO of Wynter and the founder of CXL, combining entrepreneurship with deep work in conversion optimization, customer research, positioning, and B2B marketing strategy.
Laja built CXL around…
Peep Laja is founder and CEO of Wynter and the founder of CXL, combining entrepreneurship with deep work in conversion optimization, customer research, positioning, and B2B marketing strategy.
Laja built CXL around experimentation and conversion education, then created Wynter to help companies test messaging with target customers. His emphasis on evidence, differentiation, and understanding why buyers choose gives e-commerce teams useful tools for improving persuasion and digital performance.
Rick Watson
Rick Watson is CEO of RMW Commerce Consulting, where he advises brands and investors on e-commerce strategy after years working across marketplaces, operations, technology, and digital retail.
Watson analyzes the competitive and…
Rick Watson is CEO of RMW Commerce Consulting, where he advises brands and investors on e-commerce strategy after years working across marketplaces, operations, technology, and digital retail.
Watson analyzes the competitive and operational shifts behind online retail, from marketplaces and Shopify to fulfillment, enterprise platforms, and emerging technology. His work is particularly useful for leaders separating durable commerce changes from industry noise.
Juozas Kaziukėnas
Juozas Kaziukėnas is an advisor at Quartile and independent technology analyst. His work examines e-commerce, advertising, marketplaces, and the technology shaping digital retail today.
After founding Marketplace Pulse, Kaziukėnas developed a distinctive…
Juozas Kaziukėnas is an advisor at Quartile and independent technology analyst. His work examines e-commerce, advertising, marketplaces, and the technology shaping digital retail today.
After founding Marketplace Pulse, Kaziukėnas developed a distinctive data-driven voice on Amazon, marketplaces, advertising, and commerce technology. His advisory work at Quartile adds hands-on exposure to the technology behind marketplace advertising and performance.
Bryan Eisenberg
Bryan Eisenberg co-founded Buyer Legends and has spent decades working at the intersection of conversion optimization, digital analytics, customer experience, persuasion, and buyer behavior.
Eisenberg helped pioneer approaches to conversion and persuasive…
Bryan Eisenberg co-founded Buyer Legends and has spent decades working at the intersection of conversion optimization, digital analytics, customer experience, persuasion, and buyer behavior.
Eisenberg helped pioneer approaches to conversion and persuasive digital experiences, later developing Buyer Legends with Jeffrey Eisenberg. His books and frameworks connect customer intent, storytelling, testing, and experience design to the practical question of why buyers choose one business over another.
Paul Boag
Paul Boag is a UX consultant, author, and adviser with more than three decades in digital, helping organizations improve user experience, conversion, design leadership, and digital strategy.
Boag looks beyond interface polish…
Paul Boag is a UX consultant, author, and adviser with more than three decades in digital, helping organizations improve user experience, conversion, design leadership, and digital strategy.
Boag looks beyond interface polish to the organizational conditions that shape digital experiences. His work on UX research, conversion, customer journeys, experimentation, and design leadership helps commerce teams identify and remove the friction that keeps users from acting.
Graham Charlton
Graham Charlton is an e-commerce and digital marketing editor. His career includes leadership roles at SaleCycle, ClickZ, Search Engine Watch, and Econsultancy, with a focus on online retail.
Charlton has spent years…
Graham Charlton is an e-commerce and digital marketing editor. His career includes leadership roles at SaleCycle, ClickZ, Search Engine Watch, and Econsultancy, with a focus on online retail.
Charlton has spent years translating commerce data and digital behavior into practical editorial analysis. His coverage includes mobile commerce, cart abandonment, conversion optimization, customer journeys, and seasonal retail performance—issues that remain central to online retail execution.
Sophia Alj
Sophia Alj is co-founder and COO of Chari, a Casablanca-based B2B e-commerce and fintech company serving traditional retailers, following earlier digital transformation work at McKinsey.
Chari digitizes procurement for neighborhood retailers while…
Sophia Alj is co-founder and COO of Chari, a Casablanca-based B2B e-commerce and fintech company serving traditional retailers, following earlier digital transformation work at McKinsey.
Chari digitizes procurement for neighborhood retailers while layering financial services into the merchant relationship. Alj’s work shows how e-commerce infrastructure can solve distinctly local retail problems, particularly where small stores remain central to consumer distribution.
Angie Schottmuller
Angie Schottmuller is a growth and conversion strategist at Interactive Artisan, where her work spans conversion optimization, SEO, digital marketing, customer experience, and experimentation.
Schottmuller combines search visibility with what happens after…
Angie Schottmuller is a growth and conversion strategist at Interactive Artisan, where her work spans conversion optimization, SEO, digital marketing, customer experience, and experimentation.
Schottmuller combines search visibility with what happens after the click, examining persuasion, user behavior, social proof, testing, and digital experience. That cross-functional approach is valuable for retailers trying to improve both qualified traffic and the likelihood that shoppers convert.
Sarah Carroll
Sarah Carroll founded Grow Global and works as an international e-commerce and digital growth strategist. She helps businesses expand across markets through digital channels, trade, and AI.
Carroll works with companies and…
Sarah Carroll founded Grow Global and works as an international e-commerce and digital growth strategist. She helps businesses expand across markets through digital channels, trade, and AI.
Carroll works with companies and development organizations on cross-border digital growth, market expansion, and e-commerce capability. She also works with UN agencies on international e-commerce, giving retailers a perspective that connects online selling with export strategy and market entry.
Selection Methodology
I selected the leaders on this list based on their relevance, demonstrated expertise and impact, professional credibility, and ongoing contributions to the field.
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I look for evidence such as leading meaningful initiatives or delivering notable results within their organizations, developing influential ideas or practices, publishing research or educational resources, speaking or teaching, and other contributions that demonstrate impact within their work or the broader field.
Additional Resources
We've compiled other great resources for ecommerce operators, such as:
- The best ecommerce analytics software and latest tools for optimizing your online business.
- Practical guidance for developing effective omnichannel strategies.
- A ton of amazing ecommerce communities for connecting with peers and industry professionals.
- The best ecommerce courses for SEO tips, Amazon FBA education, dropshipping, retail management, online merchandising, and general ecommerce knowledge.
- All the ecommerce conferences you could ever hope to add to your travel calendar.
- The top ecommerce newsletters for staying informed (plus great PPC-specific newsletters).
What’s Next?
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