What 'How Brands Grow' Means for Ecommerce Founders

As you grow your ecommerce brand, chances are you’ve been told to “find your niche,” “build loyalty,” or “focus on retention.” But what if the data doesn’t fully support that approach?

Byron Sharp’s How Brands Grow is one of the most important marketing books of the last two decades, at least since I’ve been in ecommerce (1998 to be precise). Its evidence-based findings challenge many traditional beliefs and offer ecommerce founders a clearer roadmap to real, scalable growth.

What Sharp Actually Says (In Plain English)

At the heart of the book are a few key principles based on decades of empirical research from the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute. Here’s a quick breakdown:

1. Growth Comes from Customer Acquisition, Not Loyalty
   Bigger brands don't have much more loyal customers, they simply have more customers. This means winning in ecommerce is more about reaching more people than trying to deepen loyalty with a few.

2. Mental Availability Is Key
   Brands need to be easily recalled at the point of purchase. This comes from consistent branding, memorable assets, and repeat exposure, not one-off campaigns or constantly reinventing your brand voice.

3. Physical Availability Matters Too
   In ecommerce terms, this means frictionless purchasing, fast-loading pages, strong product availability, mobile-first CX, and wide distribution through marketplaces, social commerce and more.

4. Distinctiveness Beats Differentiation
   Most customers don't spend hours comparing products. What helps your brand win is standing out (visually, tonally, or emotionally) not being radically different in features or values.

5. Light Buyers Matter
   The bulk of your sales come from people who buy infrequently. Obsessing over high-frequency customers or VIPs can miss the bigger picture.

So What Does This Mean for the Ecommerce Founder?

Most ecommerce teams, and especially agencies, operate on a playbook that leans heavily on narrow targeting, loyalty programs, and hyper-segmentation through Klaviyo etc. Sharp argues that this is often counterproductive. Here's how his work translates into practical actions:

1. Rethink Your Marketing Funnel

Instead of focusing obsessively on retention and post-purchase journeys, ensure you’re reaching new potential customers consistently, broadly, and across multiple channels. This is especially important in saturated online markets.

2. Build Consistent Brand Assets

Every ecommerce founder should define and protect their brand’s distinctive assets logo, colours, packaging, tone of voice, etc. Use them relentlessly across ads, email, social and your store. These visual and tonal elements make your brand easy to recall and recognise (which increases mental availability).

3. Simplify the Path to Purchase

Whether it’s on your own Shopify store or through Amazon, TikTok Shop, or retail partnerships, make it easy to buy. Fast checkout, low shipping friction, and omnichannel presence all support physical availability.

4. Avoid Hyper-Segmentation

Sharp’s research shows that customers behave similarly across demographics. So instead of tailoring 20 ad variants for niche personas, focus on creating distinctive, emotionally resonant creative that can reach a broad audience.

5. Invest in Broad Reach

Paid ads, SEO, influencer partnerships, and media placements should focus on scale. Reach more people, not just better-targeted ones. Big ecommerce brands grow by increasing their market penetration not just nurturing the same customer base over and over.

A New Mental Model for Growth

Sharp’s work gives ecommerce founders permission to stop over-optimising for loyalty and start investing more in visibility, reach and accessibility. It also makes the case for consistency over cleverness, for staying memorable over being different.

My job is to help founders restructure their strategy around these very principles. Fuelling next stage growth. It’s not just about doing more marketing, following the playbook it’s about doing the right kind of marketing.

TL;DR: Byron Sharp for Ecommerce

• Growth = more customers, not deeper loyalty

• Focus on reach and recall, not differentiation

• Build a consistent brand, not a complex one

• Ensure physical and mental availability at all times

• Embrace the power of light buyers — don’t just target your superfans