The Dirty Secret of eCommerce Growth: Everyone Is Copying Everyone With Cherene Aubert
Up Arrow Podcast · with Cherene Aubert · February 17, 2026 · 77 min
Summary
This episode challenges the common e-commerce practice of copying competitors. Cherene Aubert argues that this leads to marketing plateaus and diluted brand trust. Instead, brands should prioritize deep customer understanding, emotional resonance, and full-funnel content strategies to build sustainable growth and differentiation, moving beyond short-term conversion tactics to cultivate long-term desirability.
Key takeaways
Shift marketing focus from competitor analysis to deep customer understanding to unlock differentiated messaging and sustainable growth.
Invest in a full-funnel content strategy, including upper and mid-funnel efforts, to build future demand and stabilize performance beyond saturated bottom-funnel ads.
Redefine 'quality' through the customer's perception of value for money and emotional resonance, rather than universal standards, to improve conversion.
Empower creative teams with the freedom to experiment and develop original ideas that resonate culturally, rather than restricting them with rigid performance-only briefs.
Strategically invest in diverse channels where target customers spend their time, prioritizing brand familiarity and trust-building over immediate ROI, for long-term visibility and growth.
Cherene Aubert is the CEO of Growth Capital, a growth marketing firm that scales consumer brands. As a seasoned e-commerce and digital growth leader, she has nearly two decades of experience scaling DTC brands and managing media investments across multiple high-growth companies. Before Growth Capital, Cherene was the Fractional SVP of Digital & eCommerce at ILIA Beauty, where she drove omnichannel digital strategy for a rapidly growing clean beauty brand. In this episode… Marketing has become automated and identical across companies. Brands chase the same ads, channels, and short-term wins, only to discover that growth stalls and loyalty disappears. How can you build something memorable and scale without losing trust? The way forward starts with obsessing over customers, not competitors. As a growth and e-commerce leader, Cherene Aubert maintains that brands should use customer insights — from ad data to conversations — to guide creative strategy, redefine quality as value for the customer, and invest in full-funnel thinking. This requires originality, emotional resonance, and the space for creative teams to build long-term demand rather than quick conversions. In this episode of the Up Arrow Podcast, William Harris sits down with Cherene Aubert, CEO of Growth Capital, to discuss how brands can escape the marketing echo chamber. Cherene explains why copying competitors backfires, how full-funnel content drives sustainable growth, and how premium and beauty brands can stay culturally relevant.
Shift marketing focus from competitor analysis to deep customer understanding to unlock differentiated messaging and sustainable growth.
What does this episode say about brand & content?
Invest in a full-funnel content strategy, including upper and mid-funnel efforts, to build future demand and stabilize performance beyond saturated bottom-funnel ads.
What does this episode say about paid acquisition?
Redefine 'quality' through the customer's perception of value for money and emotional resonance, rather than universal standards, to improve conversion.
What does this episode say about customer retention?
Empower creative teams with the freedom to experiment and develop original ideas that resonate culturally, rather than restricting them with rigid performance-only briefs.
What does this episode say about dtc strategy?
Strategically invest in diverse channels where target customers spend their time, prioritizing brand familiarity and trust-building over immediate ROI, for long-term visibility and growth.
