To survive the competition, brands must blend storytelling with science, art, and algorithms

Subarna Mukherjee, Founder and Global CEO at Shop Culture, started as a one-woman consulting effort has now scaled into a full-service agency, now trusted by 50+ global brands including Carmex, Orly, Almo Nature, Skin Republic, Brillare (Emami), and Pipercross.

With a strategy-first, end-to-end model, Shop Culture manages over $100 million in digital commerce revenue, empowering brands across beauty, wellness, petcare, home, and lifestyle to not just grow, but lead categories profitably. The company headquartered in Europe with operations across the US, UK, EU, and India, Shop Culture helps brands navigate today’s fast-changing digital commerce landscape with clarity, confidence, and category expertise.

As an Indian woman founder in Europe, it was both bold and uncertain, but my vision was clear, she said while speaking to Bizz Buzz. “To help brands navigate modern e-commerce with clarity and confidence. That vision became Shop Culture today, a growth engine for 50+ global brands.”

What was the turning point that led you to start Shop Culture in 2023?

After a decade inside Amazon, Flipkart and ITC, I saw great products lose to platform complexity not competitors. In 2023 felt like an inflection: AI accelerating, algorithms shifting, cross-border getting harder, and brands needing profit-first growth.

I felt the urge to step out of the system and build something more democratic, global, and impact-driven. As an Indian woman founder in Europe, it was both bold and uncertain, but my vision was clear: to help brands navigate modern e-commerce with clarity and confidence. That vision became Shop Culture today, a growth engine for 50+ global brands.

Starting in 2023, in the midst of global e-commerce turbulence, what were the biggest initial challenges you faced?

Cutting through a crowded “ad-agency” noise while insisting on strategy before spending was one of the first hurdles. Most brands are pitched performance quick-fixes, so positioning Shop Culture as a strategy-first, category-growth partner required us to educate the market. Building trust as a founder-led, new entrant—especially as a brown woman entrepreneur in Europe meant proving credibility faster and more decisively, without the safety net of a large system.

Scaling from a one-woman effort to a global team while maintaining high-touch, hands-on execution was another challenge.What helped us break through was our insider playbooks from Amazon, Flipkart, and Walmart ecosystems.

We weren’t just talking about CPMs or CTRs, we were showing brands how to improve TACOS, retail media efficiency, inventory health, localization, and profitability at scale. Once clients saw the difference between “running ads” and actually winning categories sustainably, the trust and momentum followed.

You are based in Europe while your team operates across the globe. Do you see this as a challenge?

You can say Europe is our command centre while India is our execution engine. And yes, we now have footprints globally. Far from being a challenge, this setup has actually been a huge advantage.

When I was based in Luxembourg as part of Amazon’s expansion team, I quickly realized the benefit of being in a place with fast access to major markets and regulators. So when I started Shop Culture, it was natural to build from here. Europe gives us proximity to global decision-making hubs, while India brings us scale, agility, and executional excellence.

Today, this structure allows us to seamlessly work with brands across the UK, EU, USA, UAE, and India helping them strengthen their presence in home markets while also expanding internationally with ease. Rather than a barrier, our global presence has become one of our strongest enablers for growth.

In such a crowded e-commerce ecosystem, what makes Shop Culture different from other agencies?

We’re the full stack of profitable growth: market entry → compliance & ops → listings & CRO → retail media / advertising → flywheel & geo-expansion, owned in-house, backed by proprietary AI tools, and run by people who’ve shipped inside the platforms. To add to that, we focus on telling the Brand’s story and hence, build sustainable long-term businesses.

Most agencies focus on isolated aspects like ads, SEO, or logistics, but we partner with brands as true growth engines combining marketplace expertise, category strategy, brand storytelling, and operational excellence under one roof. We don’t outsource; we invest in building proprietary tech and SaaS tools to deliver AI-driven optimization and expansion.

This integrated approach helps us not just drive sales, but build category leaders, ensuring our 50+ global clients scale profitably, sustainably, and with confidence in complex digital ecosystems. That’s why we do not identify as an agency, but an e-commerce accelerator.

You’ve already worked with 50+ brands globally. What kind of brand profiles resonate most with Shop Culture’s model?

At Shop Culture, we work best with brands that are ambitious, either founder-led, or marketing-driven, who treat e-commerce as a strategic P&L and not just anadditional channel. So far we have worked across various categories such as beauty wellness, petcare, home & lifestyle, office supplies, automotive, toys and the likes.

We have launched new brands and scaled them on global platforms as well as revived stagnant sales for legacy brands.

Our strategy-first, end-to-end approach blending marketplace expertise, storytelling, and tech innovation allows us to function as an extension of their team, helping them navigate complexity with clarity and scale sustainably across platforms and geographies.

What common mistakes do mid-sized brands make when scaling globally?

When mid-sized brands attempt global scaling, the most common mistake is treating new markets as extensions of their home market. They often underestimate cultural nuances, local customer behavior, regulatory complexities, and market place dynamics.

Another pitfall is focusing solely on topline growth without factoring in profitability levers such as logistics, inventory health, and retail media efficiency. Many also rely on fragmented agency support leading to inconsistency and missed opportunities. Finally, brands sometimes jump into multiple geographies at once without a clear roadmap, spreading resources too thin. Our fix: stage-gated roadmaps tied to profitability KPIs and seamless execution.

AI is reshaping e-commerce. How is Shop Culture integrating tech innovation into its services?

AI is fundamentally changing how brands engage, scale, and stay profitable in e-commerce. At Shop Culture, we see AI not as a buzzword, but as an enabler of precision, speed, and smarter decision-making. We are actively developing proprietary SaaS tools that leverage AI for listing optimization, predictive inventory planning, profitability analysis, and campaign efficiency.

This ensures brands not only scale fasterbut do so sustainably across geographies. Beyond automation, we use AI-driven insights to merge the science of algorithms with the art of storytelling helping brands resonate with customers while winning categories. For us, technology isn’t an add-on,it’s embedded into our strategy-first model. By integrating AI into every layer of exe cution, we empower our clients to turn marketplace complexity into competitive advantage

Can you tell us more about the SaaS tools you’re building for predictive growthand marketplace optimization?

At Shop Culture, we are building proprietary SaaS tools designed to solve the real challenges brands face in scaling across marketplaces. Our focus is on AI-driven listing optimization, predictive inventory planning, profitability calculators for cross-border expansion, and campaign efficiency dashboards.

Today, most brands rely on ragmented solutions or tedious manual work, which leads to inefficiencies and missed growth opportunities. Our tools aim to change that by combining data, algorithms, and platform-specific insights into actionable recommendations that drive both revenue and profitability.

What makes them unique is that they are being developed directly from our hands-on experience managing $100 million+ in digital commerce. We identify use cases and opportunities everyday with this brands and are working on solutions. In essence,these tools will empower brands with clarity, foresight, and control helping them scalefaster, smarter, and more sustainably.

Where do you see Shop Culture five years from now? Do you believe the “Top3 Global Accelerator” goal is achievable?

Five years from now, I envision Shop Culture as a truly global growth partner recognized not just for scaling brands across market places but for shaping how digital commerce is done. Our ambition to be among the top 3 global accelerators is bold, but I firmly believe it’s achievable.

What sets us apart is our strategy-first approach, insider knowledge of platforms, and commitment to profitable growth values that resonate deeply with brands worldwide. With 50+ clients already and $100 million+ revenue managed, we’re building momentum.

Our proprietary SaaS tools for AI-driven optimization and cross-border expansion will further differentiate us, enabling brands toscale faster and smarter. In five years, Shop Culture will stand at the intersection of strategy, tech, and storytelling empowering brands to lead, not just grow.

If you had to give one piece of advice to brands struggling in today’s e-commerce chaos, what would it be?

Stop chasing hacks and start building with clarity. Protect unit economics, and treat market places as partners with rules. Too many brands get caught up in short-term tactics: flash discounts, ad spends, algorithm “tricks” while losing sight of the bigger picture.

Sustainable success comes from aligning three fundamentals: a sharp category strategy, a compelling brand story, and disciplined execution across market places. E-commerce is no longer just about being present, it’s about being profitable, differentiated, and resilient.

Focus on creating a strong digital P&L, understand your customer deeply, and treat market places as partners, not just platforms. The brands that combine storytelling with science, the art and the algorithm are the ones that not only survive the chaos but lead in it.