Top 11 eCommerce Influencers To Follow and Learn From

We know you’re busy – your business needs you like a child. But we also know that you need to develop and keep track of what’s going on to be on top of your game every single day. In the vast and forward-going world of eCommerce, it’s hard and often frustrating to cut through the clutter of opinions and advice.

That’s why we put together the major eCommerce influencers who we follow and listen to – maybe you’ll find their resources relevant and useful as well. Of course, this is not a comprehensive list, but, we wanted it to be a realistic morning-coffee read.

Disclaimer: Entries are not ranked on any criteria.

Te best eCommerce Influencers:

Hiten Shah (@hnsha)

Who is he: He founded two SaaS companies – CrazyEgg (an analytics tool) and KISSmetrics (a marketing optimization tool).

Why we listen: Shah is noted speaker on Growth Hacking, the topic all need to know everything about. What he shares with his audience is diverse – from science to brand image, often funny, accessible, and in the end – always helpful in your overall entrepreneurial journey.

He sends out a weekly newsletter on SaaS. We like his more personal and casual blog, though. One of his posts actually gives advice on how to optimize information intake, which we find really relevant to our purpose here. 🙂 Last but not least, he and Steli Efti run The Startup Chat podcast, a great discussion on all things entrepreneurial.

Tobias Lütke (@tobi)

Who is he: Lütke is the founder and CEO of Shopify.

Why we listen: Apart from having been named CEO of the Year, Lütke is a developer in the first place, which makes his perspective techy but surely valuable to insiders of the trade. Even if you don’t run on Shopify, he’s worth every minute of your attention because, well, he created an empire and even Amazon chose it as a preferred migration provider upon closing its Amazon Webstore service for merchants In September 2015. 🙂

He’s socially active and wildly entertaining, too, with funny comments on current issues like elections, entrepreneurship and life in general on Twitter.

Linda Bustos (@lindabustos,@ecomillustrated,@edgacentlinda)

Who is she: An ecommerce consultant and author of the Get Elastic Ecommerce Blog. Founder of Edgacent, an ecommerce advisory firm, and the upcoming blog Ecommerce Illustrated. Bustos is an expert, trusted by top media, and often speaks at industry events.

Why we listen: She has not one, not two, but three Twitter accounts, all of which are awesome source of ecommerce news and insights. Her newborn brainchild, Ecommerce Illustrated, is exactly what is sounds like – ecommerce in pictures, a nice break in a world of information overload. The Get Elastic Ecommerce Blog is the #1 Ecommerce blog (according to PostRank), covering everything from multichannel, social media, search marketing, web design, conversion, and merchandising.

Ben Marks (@benmarks)

Who is he: He is the the Official Magento Evangelist, so he knows ecommerce. 🙂 Basically, he travels the world and talks about Magento (his words, not mine). You can follow his hectic lifestyle and everything new and exciting about the platform on his blog.

Why we listen: His Twitter feed is Magento-oriented, yet it’s a good one from a human point of view – you get to see the people behind the platform and all events organized for the community. After all, even in online retail, it’s done by people for people.

Brian Dean (@Backlinko)

Who is he: He is the founder of the SEO Training Blog Backlinko and author of the Skyscraper Technique, which consists of, simply put, identifying good content and creating even better content on the topic to pitch to the right people, and is getting a lot of attention among influencers.

Why we listen: His areas of expertise are link building, SEO, content marketing, conversions. On Twitter, he shares really relevant tips on everything else you’re struggling with like business growth, marketing, SEO, lead generation, blogging, etc. from various and noteworthy sources. Following him alone will give you enough ideas for improvement to cancel all vacations from now on. 🙂

Kristi Hines (@kikolani)

Who is she: Freelance writer who has worked for CrazyEgg, HubSpot, Kissmetrics, Content Marketing Institute, Moz, Social Media Examiner and other similar institutions on the web. She writes, optimizes and engages, which has turned her into an industry expert.

Why we listen: Hines has over 400 pieces in 60+ publications. Her content has been shared over 300k times on social. She’s also great at amplifying the reach by promoting on her own channels with huge following. Cool approach that works as a content aggregator on digital marketing, ecommerce, social media and so on.

Rand Fishkin (@randfish)

Who is he: Co-founder of Moz, offering SEO research and analytics software tools, and co-founder of Inbound.org.

Why we listen: Being an online marketing wizard (as is his job title at Moz), he keeps this blog, which provides detailed info on marketing, startups, Moz culture, as well as more personal topics. Fishkin is not shy on opinions and shares content that caught his interest, complete with comments. His Tweets are fresh and candid, but you can feel his authority as a trend-setter in the field. However, his most noteworthy content is on the Whiteboard Friday video blog,where he explores very specific online marketing issues from new perspectives and he’s very fun to watch at it!

Andrew Youderian (@youderian)

Who is he: Youderian started out as an ecommerce entrepreneur and after his efforts paid off, he started eCommerceFuel as way to share his experience and help other fellow-entrepreneurs in the field. He also co-authored The Ultimate Guide to Dropshipping together with Shopify’s Director of Communications, Mark Hayes.

Why we listen: Youderian’s personal entrepreneurial experience of bootstrapping for four years brings him closer to us, his audience. His voice on business is human, he openly shares others’ content on all relevant topics and he makes comments on current events as well, which is a nice break in the long day of the entrepreneur :).

His creation eCommerceFuel is positioned as an exclusive membership club for successful online store owners.  It’s like a community forum where entrepreneurs discuss troubling issues common for their businesses. It’s a great place for experienced merchants to give and take away valuable insights.

Richard Lazazzera (@RichardABLS)

Who is he: Lazazzera is an online marketer, founder of A Better Lemonade Stand, an “online ecommerce incubator”. He compiles comprehensive resources and guides on all topics ecommerce, as well as curates a community of followers.

Why we listen: Over the years, Lazazzera himself has founded, developed and sold a few successful online retail businesses. He states his mission is to “create and cultivate 20,000 new entrepreneurs in 2015.” We sympathize gladly. Also, he has been part of the Shopify Growth Team so has a thing or two to share from the kitchen as well. His Tweets are straight to the point – all handy tips and resources.

Zia Daniell Wigder (@zdwigder)

Who is she: The Senior Vice President and Head of Content at Shoptalk, promised to be one of the biggest ecommerce events worldwide. She’s a former VP and Research Director at Forrester and native to digital, tech and ecommerce.

Why we listen: Wigder has extensive experience in strategy, digital business, and ecommerce consulting. As she’s responsible for content at Shoptalk, we’re expecting to take the journey on their blog. Other than that, her Twitter feed offers a balanced selection of updates about the conference and industry news from all around. What we like is her focus on real-life examples of innovation rather than guides, how-tos, and other forms of theory.

Neil Patel (@neilpatel)

Who is he: A digital marketing celebrity and the co-founder of the analytics companies KISSmetrics, Crazy Egg, and Quick Sprout.

Why we listen: Prolific in content and highly active on social media, Patel gives you all the information you need for developing your marketing strategy day in and day out. He doesn’t concentrate on one aspect only, but talks about blogging, branding, SEO, strategy, the life of the entrepreneur, and so on. He’s featured on Forbes and has worked with quite large companies like Amazon, NBC, GM, and HP, too. Many call him one of the top influencers on the web today.

Surely, there are many more experts to learn from, but this is, in our opinion, the minimal starting set of influencers to set you on the right track. It’s awesome that so mush knowledge and passion for online retail is being shared out there! If we missed out on anybody important who you follow and worship, don’t be shy and let us know – sharing is caring. 🙂