Dan Brownsher is the Founder, Executive Chairman, and CSO at Channel Key, a full-service channel management marketplace agency. A recognized national thought leader in marketplace retail strategy and emerging eCommerce trends, Dan is a trusted commentator on Amazon and marketplace technologies and is frequently quoted by outlets such as Bloomberg, Forbes, Reuters, MSN.com, and the LA Times. He also co-founded Trend Nation, a top-200 global Amazon private label developer and seller that surpassed $1 billion in merchandise sales and achieved a private equity exit.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

• [1:41] Dan Brownsher shares his background and the evolution of Channel Key
• [3:12] The role of consumer trust and eCommerce adoption in omnichannel growth
• [7:01] How brands should approach omnichannel strategically
• [12:08] How Channel Key helps brands identify and prioritize commerce channels
• [17:10] What the Consumer Electronics Show revealed about agentic commerce and the future of digital transactions
• [19:18] How brand websites, trust, and AI agents fuel future buyer journeys
• [28:22] Dan’s top priorities for 2026: channel expansion, LLM indexing, and agentic commerce

In this episode…

As digital commerce scales across marketplaces and AI-driven experiences, brands aren’t deciding if they should sell online — they’re deciding which channels to prioritize, which products belong on each, and how to operate at scale. From Amazon and Walmart to TikTok Shop and emerging agent-led buying journeys, the number of viable paths to purchase is expanding fast. How can brands pursue growth without wasting margin, media spend, or internal resources?

According to national eCommerce thought leader Dan Brownsher, this shift is driven by consumer trust in digital commerce and expanding shopping habits across marketplaces. He advises brands to evaluate channels based on SKU-level profitability, fulfillment constraints, and measurable incrementality rather than solely omnichannel expansion. Dan also recommends narrowing assortment by channel, actively shifting media spend to where returns are provable, and using AI to accelerate analysis and execution — not replace judgment.

In this episode of The Digital Deep Dive, Aaron Conant chats with Dan Brownsher, Founder, Executive Chairman, and CSO at Channel Key, about the future of omnichannel commerce. Dan discusses why consumers are driving marketplace expansion, how brands should manage assortment and media across channels, and what agentic commerce and AI-powered discovery mean for search, trust, and buying behavior.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Aaron Conant on LinkedIn
• BWG Connect
• Dan Brownsher: Biography | LinkedIn
• Channel Key

Quotable Moments:

• “Ultimately, what that boils down to my brand is trust. People trust that they consume products on the internet.”
• “You don’t need to be on every channel. There’s still specific channels that work for brands.”
• “It’s not just a syndicate and push everything. That ain’t the way. That is not the way.”
• “Brands are built off of trust with the consumer, and is the trust layer going to be with the agents?”
• “It takes a long time to earn credibility and trust, but you can lose it really quickly.”

Action Steps:

1. Audit channel profitability at the SKU level: Understanding margin, fulfillment costs, and media efficiency by product prevents unprofitable omnichannel expansion. This ensures growth decisions are driven by economics, not assumptions or pressure to be everywhere.
2. Limit channel expansion to where customers already shop: Prioritizing marketplaces based on real customer behavior reduces wasted operational effort. This keeps teams focused on channels that can efficiently scale revenue.
3. Actively reallocate media spend across marketplaces: Shifting budgets based on incrementality and performance maximizes return on ad spend. It also prevents overspending on channels that no longer deliver profitable growth.
4. Use AI to increase speed, not replace strategy: Leveraging AI for analysis, forecasting, and content production improves efficiency while preserving human judgment. This allows teams to manage complexity without sacrificing strategic control.
5. Prepare for agent-driven product discovery now: Optimizing data, content, and indexing for LLMs positions brands for emerging buying behaviors. Early preparation reduces risk as search, trust, and transactions evolve beyond traditional marketplaces.

About BWG Connect...

BWG Connect provides executive strategy and networking sessions that help brands from any industry with their overall business planning and execution. We network and knowledge share together to better understand and adapt to the newest trends, strategies, and pain points shaping growth in the digital space. BWG Connect, in conjunction with BWG Strategy, has built an exclusive network of 125,000+ senior professionals and hosts over 2,000 virtual and in-person networking events on an annual basis.

In addition, we have had 1x1 conversations with over 5,000 brands and have a real-time pulse on what digital strategies are successful and why. This in-depth knowledge allows our team to operate on the cutting-edge and provide our clients with best-in-class guidance on how to win in the digital world. We have provided free consultations and strategy sessions for companies of all sizes, from start-ups to Fortune-100, to enable growth, resolve issues and make curated service provider introductions that can impact your digital footprint.

We have held to the philosophy of providing high-level insights and actionable knowledge with no sales pitches in order to provide to our network the ability to listen, learn and act to improve themselves as well as their organizations. Our ultimate goal is to be the resource out there to help digital executives find the research they need to excel in the modern marketplace.

If you are interested in getting involved with any of our current or past events, you can find them here. If you are looking for help & would like to set up some time to chat with our team, you can schedule a time or reach out directly to Aaron@bwgconnect.com or Tiffany@bwgconnect.com.