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In this episode of Canada Now, I’m joined by Matias Marquez, founder and CEO of ethos — a modern loyalty and membership platform helping brands move beyond transactional points and discounts toward something far more powerful: community, participation, and real customer connection.

Built for Shopify merchants and modern e-commerce brands, ethos is part of a new wave of tools helping online retailers turn customers into engaged communities — not just repeat buyers.

Matias previously founded Buyatab, a global digital gift card company acquired in 2019, and he’s now deep into his second act — building tools that help brands create loyalty programs that feel more like belonging than marketing.

We talk about how loyalty is evolving into a true customer engagement operating system, why user-generated content and experience-led memberships are becoming core growth levers, and how the best brands are turning loyalty into more than retention — even into a channel for new customer acquisition.

We also zoom out to the Canadian founder landscape: what it feels like to build from Canada right now, the headwinds entrepreneurs are facing, and why sustainable, community-led growth may be one of Canada’s greatest strengths.

If you’re building a brand, running an e-commerce business, or thinking about the future of customer relationships — this one’s for you.

In this episode, we cover:

• Loyalty beyond points: building brands people belong to
• Community-led customer engagement and modern membership strategy
• UGC, authenticity, and why real content outperforms traditional ads
• Loyalty as acquisition — not just retention
• Access, experiences, and the future of brand community
• How Shopify brands are using loyalty and memberships to drive growth
• Founder lessons from a second-time entrepreneur
• Building and scaling from Canada with a global mindset 

Episode feature article and show notes coming very soon (subscribe to https://canadanow.beehiiv.com for updates). 

Find Matias and Ethos:
https://linkedin.com/in/matiaspmarquez
https://heyethos.com 

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