These days everyone has an opinion about virtually everything. While it’s great that access to opinions and advice is readily available, the challenge is knowing whose advice you should take to heart. Plus, with eCommerce growing rapidly over the last couple of years, even more content about the industry gets shared by the hour. To help ensure that you listen to the right advice, this post highlights the top 20 eCommerce influencers to follow in fashion, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), B2B, marketing, and eCommerce platforms.
Top 20 eCommerce Influencers by Industry:
Fashion
Mary Portas (@maryportas)
Mary wears many hats. She’s a brand and retail expert, TV presenter, journalist, podcaster, published author, government advisor, and founder of Portas, a creative agency. As an influencer, she has also partnered with brands like Playtex, Charnos, and Clark’s. She often lectures across the world on topics relating to brands and retail and has spoken alongside the likes of the Dalai Lama.
In 2011, she was included in The Independent’s list of the Top 100 Tweeters in the UK. Fast-forward 10 years and she has close to 228,000 followers on Twitter.
Emma Sharley (@emsharley)
Emma Sharley is an award-winning marketer and founder of Sharley Consulting. Her strategic brand consultancy has worked with brands like Retail Express, Lush, and Le Specs. In addition to starting a consulting agency, she also co-founded Shop You, a personalized virtual shopping mall that uses patent-pending AI tech. Her ties to the fashion industry, in particular, are also strong as she serves as an advisor to the Independent Fashion Advisory Board.
You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram where she is equally active. From time to time, she also publishes blog posts about marketing, conversational AI, branding, and technology on Medium.
Gemma Talbot (@GemmaTalbot)
Gemma is one of the top fashion influencers on Instagram and has worked with the likes of ASOS, a British online fashion and cosmetic retailer. Some of the other brands that she has worked with include H&M, Missguided, and REVOLVE. Her biggest following is on Instagram where she has more than 76,000 followers.
FMCG
Keith Anderson (@KeithAnderson)
Keith is a recognized speaker and one of the top retail-tech influencers. He’s also the head of strategy and partnerships at Profitero, a global provider of eCommerce performance analytics for retailers and brands. His insights in retail tech have been included in Forbes Magazine, Financial Times, and Recode. In addition to FMCG, his other fields include consumer direct goods, process improvement, and automation.
Steve Dresser (@dresserman)
Steve is a retail advisor, consultant, and managing director of Grocery Insight, a retail consultancy. He was included in the first-ever RTIH Top 50 Retail Technology Influencers List and the RETHINK Retail Top 100 Retail Influencers Annual List in 2021. For more info about UK-based trends, @dresserman is your man.
Gretta van Riel (@grettavanriel)
At the young age of 22, Gretta founded her first startup, SkinnyMeTea. It was a huge success and won the Shopify Build-a-Business competition merely a year after it was founded. After her taste at success, she went on to create a number of other multimillion dollar startups that include Skintox Co and DROP Bottle.
Her biggest following is on Instagram where she has over 210,000 followers. If you want to learn more about her secrets to being a successful influencer, you can check out her free course, Influencer Marketing: Zero to Hero.
B2B
Peep Laja (@peeplaja)
Peep Laja creates a lot of content about B2B strategy and optimization. He has also founded CXL, Speero, and Wynter. What sets his approach apart is that he doesn’t invest in startups or buy companies. Instead, he builds each of his businesses from the ground up. He’s active on only one platform – Twitter – where he has just over 42,000 followers.
Nathan Huppatz (@huppy)
Hailing from Australia, Nathan is the co-founder of a B2B tool, ReadytoShip. With this web-based shipping integration tool, SME online retailers can automate the shipping process of their online stores. He’s also the co-founder of one of Australia’s biggest online retailers of costumes, accessories, and party supplies.
While he doesn’t have a big international following, he’s a well-known eCommerce influencer in Australia. He also offers private consultancy to small to medium-sized companies about online business growth and online sales channels.
Marketing
Zia Daniell Wigder (@zdwigder)
Zia is the head of content at Insider Intelligence, the parent company of eMarkerter and Business Insider Intelligence. She is no stranger to research. Prior to joining the team at Insider Intelligence, she worked as a senior analyst and research director at Jupiter Research as well as Forrester Research. In her role as analyst, she has covered a wide range of topics that include online marketing, global eCommerce expansion, localization of websites, and digital store innovation. Needless to say, you’ll find a lot of graphs in her Twitter feed.
Armando Roggio (@EcommerceBoy)
Armando is an experienced eCommerce marketing pro. As the senior contributing editor at Practical Ecommerce, an independent online magazine, he has written countless articles about practically all the aspects of managing an online store.
If you’re not much of a reader, you can listen to the live-streamed interviews that he hosts on CommerceCo. From content marketing to generating revenue, his Q&A sessions with marketing experts cover a wide range of topics.
He recently also started his own side hustle, You, Money, Happiness, a YouTube channel where he shares tips regarding money management. It’s still in its infancy, but covers topics like eCommerce dropshipping and making money as a freelance writer.
Tracey Wallace (@TraceWall)
As the former editor-in-chief of BigCommerce, Tracey is no stranger to the world of eCommerce. After working at the eCommerce platform for close to five years, she was briefly the head of marketing at Eterneva, before she joined MarketHire as Director of Marketing. She has also offered marketing strategy consultancies to a number of big brands that include Hotjar and Amazon.
Not only does she offer her consultancy services to big brands, but she also teaches eCommerce essentials. Her E-commerce Essentials: How to Start a Successful Online Business course is available on Skillshare. Plus, she is also currently working on her second course about content-first marketing.
Andrew Youderian (@youderian)
In 2012, Andrew founded eCommerceFuel, a successful online community for 7-figure eCommerce store owners. He also hosts the eCommerceFuel Podcast that’s available on Spotify, iTunes, and Stitcher. From site redesign to building an audience from scratch, there are close to 400 episodes that cover the latest eCommerce tactics.
If you don’t want to pay the $99 per month membership fee to join his community, you can simply follow him on Twitter. Alternatively for $11, you can buy his paperback, The Ultimate Guide to Dropshipping, on Amazon that he co-authored with Mark Hayes.
Neil Patel (@neilpatel)
Neil Patel needs little introduction. As the co-founder of Neil Patel Digital, Crazy Egg, KISSmetrics, and Hello Bar, he enjoys celebrity status in the digital marketing industry. In fact, in 2017 Forbes listed him as one of the 25 marketing influencers to watch. He has even grabbed the attention of former US president Barack Obama who recognized him as one of the top 100 entrepreneurs under the age of 30. Frankly, his achievements are simply too many to list in this article. Nicknamed the SEO Guy, he is definitely someone to follow for SEO tips in particular.
Kunle Campbell (@KunleCampbell)
Kunle is an eCommerce growth advisor and international speaker. He has worked with brands like 7dayshop.com and Tile Mountain, while his work has also been published on sites like Smart Insights and SEMrush. You can catch him on the 2X eCommerce Podcast or follow him on Instagram where he often shares videos and inspirational quotes.
Marsha Collier (@MarshaCollier)
As one of eBay’s first successful sellers, Marsha is your go-to gal for anything related to eBay. In fact, she has co-authored the first edition of eBay For Dummies and later went on to author Starting an eBay Business for Dummies on her own. Not only is she an accomplished author, but she also co-hosts a podcast, Marsha Collier & Marc Cohen Techradio, and regularly speaks at conferences and universities.
In 2016, she was included in Onalytica’s list of the Top 100 influencers and brands. The following year, Onalytica once again recognized her reach by including her in its Top 200 Global Influencers list. With more than 235,000 followers on Twitter, she’s still going strong in 2021.
Chris Do (@theChrisDo)
Chris Do, aka the Business Buddha, is the founder and CEO of The Futur, an education platform for creative professionals looking to learn more about business principles. The work that his company has completed has been recognized by international names like the Huffington Post and Communication Art, the biggest international trade journal of visual communications.
Teaching others is one of his biggest passions. In fact, he’s on a mission to teach one billion people how to generate a sustainable income by doing what they love. From branding to business management, Chris has presented workshops on a wide range of topics.
eCommerce Platforms
Felix Thea
If you use Shopify to power your eCommerce store, be sure to follow Felix Thea.
He is the host of the Shopify Masters Podcast and has appeared in nearly 400 episodes. Each week he interviews an eCommerce entrepreneur about building online businesses. He has also founded TrafficAndSales.com where he shares advice for how you can increase the traffic and sales of your online store.
Justin Cener (@justincener)
For more tips about Shopify, you can also check out Justin Cener. On YouTube, he offers a step-by-step tutorial on how to use Shopify for print on demand. On his blog, he also regularly adds posts about the best Shopify tools.
He describes himself as a lifelong entrepreneur. After he created the fastest growing sports app, he has built several seven-figure eCommerce businesses. Not only is he regarded as an industry leader in Shopify, but also an expert in Facebook Ads spaces.
Unlike most of the other eCommerce influencers featured in our list, he’s not really active on Twitter. His biggest following is on Instagram and YouTube where he has shared hundreds of videos.
Ben Marks (@BenMarks)
For everything related to Magento, Ben is your guy. As a former Magento evangelist, he hosted hundreds of presentations about the platform around the world. After being part of Magento’s team for nearly 8 years, he moved to Shopware, another leading eCommerce platform, at the beginning of 2021. In his position as Director of Global Market Development, he helps the platform to secure and expand its growth.
Tobias Lütke (@tobi)
Tobias (aka Tobi) is the founder and CEO of Shopify. In 2014, he was named CEO of the Year by the Globe and Mail. Needless to say, he knows a lot about scaling a business and how the world of eCommerce operates.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a commerce influencer?
eCommerce influencers are a new strategic approach to generate leads and sales by brands and marketers. Influencer commerce is the act of using influencers to drive traffic to your website or e-commerce to generate sales, using an influencer’s audience.
What is the role of influencers in eCommerce?
Influencers are the most popular way to generate word-of-mouth over the Internet. Influencer marketing can be a wonderful way to increase brand awareness, build audiences, and boost sales.
How do influencers use ecommerce marketing?
Here are some important ways to build eCommerce success with influencer marketing:
– Establish social channels based on where your potential buyers are located
– Use micro-influencers
– Do market research to identify the best influencer fits for you
– Trust your influencer
Who are the best ecommerce mentors?
Here are some of the best ecommerce mentors:
Justin Cener
Austin Brawner
Gretta van Riel
Alaa Hassan
Drew Sanocki
How do I find a millionaire mentor?
Here are some of the most important steps to finding a millionaire mentor:
– Do research in your chosen field
– Understand why you need a mentor
– Understand where to find a mentor
– Ask the person to be your mentor
About the Author
Writer
Koba Molenaar brings nearly a decade of rich experience in content writing, specializing in digital marketing, branding, SaaS, and eCommerce. Her passion for helping brands, from solopreneurs to established companies, connect with their audiences shines through her work. As a member of the Golden Key International Honor Society, Koba’s commitment to excellence is evident in her work, showcasing her as a relatable and knowledgeable voice in the industry.
