Loyalty Beyond Points: Building Community-Led Brands — with Matias Marquez

Send a text to Canada Now! 💬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 toCommunity-led customer engagement and modern membership strategyUGC, authenticity, and why real content outperforms traditional adsLoyalty as acquisition — not just retentionAccess, experiences, and the future of brand communityHow Shopify brands are using loyalty and memberships to drive growthFounder lessons from a second-time entrepreneurBuilding 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 Love the show? Help it grow! → Subscribe, Review, and Share 🍁 Follow Canada Now for bold ideas and real conversations shaping what’s next in Canada. 🇨🇦 → All Links (including socials)→ YouTube → Canada Now Newsletter (subscriber perks coming soon!) Meet the host, Ashley Smith! 🙋‍♀️→ Ashley's links (social, website, + more)