I'm Erison — solo founder of NiZED a Berlin streetwear brand with a narcotic aesthetic identity
This post is about the technical and operational side of running an e-commerce brand completely alone — the stack the automation decisions and the honest lessons from two years of building without a team
The Core Problem of Solo E-Commerce
When you run a brand alone every task you do manually is a task that doesn't scale
Packing orders is manual Writing product descriptions is manual Customer support is manual
But email flows inventory management and customer segmentation don't have to be
The goal of my automation setup is to make sure that the operational parts of the business run without me so that I can spend my time on the things that actually require a human — design content community
The Stack
Shopify as the primary e-commerce platform
Klaviyo for email marketing — abandoned cart flows post-purchase sequences browse abandonment flows sunset flows for list hygiene
n8n as an automation bridge between Shopify events and marketing triggers — handling logic that neither Shopify nor Klaviyo can execute alone
Canva connected via API for rapid content iteration
The Email Automation Architecture
The abandoned cart flow is the highest ROI automation in the setup
Three touchpoints at 1 hour 24 hours and 48 hours post-abandonment
The first email is a direct reminder — short dark branded minimal The second introduces brand story and scarcity messaging The third includes a 10 percent discount code with a 48-hour expiration
The 48-hour email consistently outperforms the first two in conversion rate because by that point the people who open it have demonstrated genuine intent multiple times and respond to a concrete incentive
Browse abandonment triggers via Shopify pixel data passed through n8n to Klaviyo event tracking One email one hour after a product view with the specific product referenced
The sunset flow runs on a 90-day inactivity trigger — anyone who hasn't opened an email in 90 days receives a re-engagement email written as a personal note from me as founder If they don't engage within 7 days they're removed from the active list
List hygiene matters more than list size A smaller list of engaged subscribers will outperform a large list of inactive ones on every metric that matters — deliverability open rate conversion
The Paid Advertising Problem
The brand's narcotic aesthetic identity creates a specific challenge with Meta advertising
Content that references pharmaceutical names or drug culture gets limited reach through Meta's policy enforcement even when the content is clearly artistic in nature This means you're paying for a reach ceiling that gets lower over time
The solution was to redirect the advertising budget
50 euros monthly on TikTok Spark Ads boosting already-performing organic content 50 euros on Pinterest promoted pins targeting psychedelic art and room decor search terms 50 euros on Reddit ads in targeted communities
The total monthly ad spend is 150 euros compared to a previous spend of 700 to 1000 euros on Meta with significantly better return
What TikTok Organic Actually Looks Like
The highest performing content follows a simple formula
Strong hook in the first two seconds — either a visual or a spoken line that stops the scroll A product reveal that feels natural not staged A moment of humor or provocation that gives people a reason to comment A low-friction call to action
The narcotic aesthetic actually has an advantage on TikTok because it is inherently thumb-stopping People react to the Codein Makers name and the dilated pupil designs even when they don't know the brand yet
The comments drive additional reach The provocation is the distribution mechanism
What I Would Do Differently
Start email automation on day one not year two
The abandoned cart flow alone recovers enough revenue each month to justify the entire email marketing setup I was leaving money on the table for a long time by not having it in place
Build the organic content strategy before the paid strategy
Organic content that performs tells you exactly what your paid creative should look like Paid content that doesn't have organic validation is guesswork
Invest in micro-influencer relationships earlier
The Berlin rap scene connection through Herzog has been more valuable than any paid placement because it is genuine The brand is recognized not promoted
The Technical Setup for Anyone Building Something Similar
Shopify handles product management inventory and checkout
Klaviyo handles all email communication with template IDs stored for each flow stage
n8n sits between them handling event routing custom logic and anything that requires conditional processing that neither platform supports natively
The key insight is that n8n should not be used to replace what your existing tools do well It should be used to connect them and handle the logic that falls between them
Happy to answer technical questions about any part of the setup in the comments
Brand side if you're curious: nized.de
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