The Unofficial Shopify Podcast The €330M Exit Guy Shares His Europe Playbook
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Jan 6, 2026 Christian Erthel, a serial ecommerce entrepreneur, shares his journey from launching Meller sunglasses to orchestrating HelloBody's massive €330M exit. He discusses the cultural quirks that challenge US brands in Europe, emphasizing the importance of local payment preferences like cash on delivery in Italy. With over 3,500 A/B tests under his belt, Christian reveals surprising insights on ad creative, such as the effectiveness of bold visuals and the advantage of collection pages. His strategies offer invaluable lessons for scaling ecommerce brands across diverse markets.
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From €30M To €330M Exit
- Christian Erthel joined HelloBody as a fractional CMO while they were at €30M and helped scale them to €107M before the €330M exit to Henkel.
- He worked in-house part-time, replaced the agency, hired and trained teams, and ramped creative output to drive growth.
Focus Beats Diversification For Meller
- Meller battled severe winter seasonality and briefly survived by selling watches, then refocused on sunglasses and scaled globally.
- Narrowing to one strong product category improved brand clarity and long-term performance.
How Meta Disrupted Sunglasses
- Sunglasses were tightly controlled by Luxottica and carried massive markups, creating an opening when targeted ads arrived.
- Meta ads lowered distribution barriers so new brands could undercut incumbents on price and quality.
