1. What’s the quick origin story of your brand, and what makes your product or positioning genuinely different from other options in your niche?

Leanna Spektor: Brand House Direct started in 2013 because Australian families deserved access to quality branded footwear without paying inflated retail prices. I’ve spent over 20 years in this industry and the one thing that never sat right with me was that good footwear felt out of reach for most people. That’s the gap we set out to close, and over a decade later, we carry 80-plus brands so everyday Australians have real options, at prices that make sense.

2. Since launch, what have been the 1-2 real turning points for your brand-specific decisions, pivots, or experiments that noticeably changed your growth or profitability-and what did you learn from them?

Leanna Spektor: Brand House Direct was built online from the start, but there was a moment early on where we had to decide how seriously we were going to commit to that. A lot of footwear retailers were still treating e-commerce as a side channel. We went the other way and put everything into the online experience, fast shipping, easy returns, and a catalog broad enough that customers didn’t need to shop anywhere else. That single decision is what separated us from competitors who waited too long to make the same move.

We also stopped trying to chase the luxury end of the market and leaned fully into serving everyday families. Once we made that call, everything got clearer. The brands we stocked, the prices we held, the customers we kept. That focus is what turned us from a retailer into something Australians actually trusted.

3. Which 2-3 channels drive most of your revenue right now (for example SEO, paid social, email, marketplaces, influencers), and what have you learned about making those channels work in your category?

Leanna Spektor: SEO and eBay are our two strongest channels, and both work for the same underlying reason — we’re reaching people who are already in buying mode. Our website captures shoppers who know exactly what they want. They’re searching for a specific brand or style, and we’ve built our catalog and online experience around being the obvious place to land. That kind of high-intent traffic converts well because we’re not convincing anyone of anything, we’re just making it easy to say yes.

eBay extends that same logic to a different audience. A lot of value-conscious Australians still start their search there, comparing prices before they commit. Showing up on that platform means we’re in the consideration set without having to build that audience from scratch. For a business built around honest pricing and broad brand selection, it’s a natural fit.

4. How are you thinking about search in 2026 – Google, AI assistants like ChatGPT, and other discovery platforms? What, if anything, have you changed in your content or site to stay visible as AI search grows?

Leanna Spektor: The old playbook was about chasing traffic numbers.The old playbook was about chasing traffic numbers. What we focus on now is context, making sure our content actually answers what someone is trying to figure out, not just matching a keyword. AI search tools pull from sources that are genuinely useful, so thin content doesn’t cut it anymore.

For a footwear retailer, that means our content has to do more than list products. We write about fit, care, trend cycles, and how different shoes perform in real situations. That depth is what gets us surfaced whether someone is searching on Google or asking ChatGPT what shoe to buy for a specific occasion.

5. What do you do to turn first‑time buyers into repeat customers and advocates? Are there specific experiences, content, or community touches that work especially well for you?

Leanna Spektor: . Footwear has a longer repeat purchase cycle than most categories, so staying in front of past customers in a way that feels useful rather than pushy takes more thought than a standard weekly send. We focus on timing, reaching people when they’re actually likely to be in the market again, not just blasting the full list.

The other thing that keeps people coming back is the experience of the first purchase. Fast shipping and an easy return process sounds basic, but in footwear specifically, where fit is everything, removing that friction is what turns a first-time buyer into someone who trusts you enough to order again without trying things on in a store first.

6. If you had to write a short playbook for an ecommerce founder one stage behind you, what would you double down on over the next 12 months – and what would you stop doing entirely?

Leanna Spektor: The one thing I’d double down on is owning one channel completely before you touch another. And what I’d stop doing entirely is spreading budget across platforms before any single one is actually working. Most e-commerce founders mistake activity for traction. Pick the channel where your buyer already is, learn it deeply, and squeeze everything out of it first. Adding more channels to a half-working strategy just means failing in more places at once.