# Erik Hettinga

Erik Hettinga works on ecommerce SEO and data infrastructure at Cook and Pan, a cookware brand. Their posts describe using Shopify and other business data to improve search and sales analysis, and building AI tools that let teams ask questions across those data sources.

- Profile: https://b2binfluencer.marketing/creators/erik-hettinga/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrrivers
- LinkedIn followers: 2,300
- Topics: artificial-intelligence, ecommerce, seo, shopify, ai-in-ecommerce
- Based on 12 dated posts, latest 2026-09-22

## Summary

Erik Hettinga is most useful for practical Shopify SEO, ecommerce data work, and AI data tools.

- Best for: Shopify ecommerce brand in Netherlands or Belgium wanting joined-up search, product and revenue data.
- Not for: A consumer label wanting broad English reach, video, lifestyle content, or paid placement across channels.
- Check first: Confirm audience data, post performance, sponsorship terms, pricing, and disclosure practice before contacting them.

### Takeaways

- Combining Search Console, Shopify, Triple Whale and Merchant Center in Databricks can reveal SEO gaps.
- A read-only AI gateway lets teams query business tools with role-based access and security checks.
- AI agents choosing and checking out could change what a store pays Shopify for.

## Main ideas

- **Join search, product and sales data to find SEO gaps**: Hettinga argues that connecting a language model directly to many tools is slow and uses more tokens. Bringing the data together first makes it possible to relate what people search for to what a shop sells and earns.
- **Make business data easy to ask about, but limit what users can do with it**: Hettinga describes one gateway where people can ask questions across sources in plain language, rather than hunt through separate platforms. Access remains controlled: the data is read-only, and different roles see different information.
- **AI shopping could weaken the value of a store platform**: Hettinga argues that if an AI agent compares products and pays before a shopper visits a brand's site, a shop may still pay its platform's monthly and per-order fees while losing the platform's role in persuading customers. The post raises this as a question about platform economics, not a settled prediction.

## Work to read

- [Building an internal AI data gateway on a brand’s tool stack](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mrrivers_automatiseerik-claude-chatgpt-activity-7483463525844193281-J6xF)
- [Why AI agents change what a store pays Shopify for](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mrrivers_google-chatgpt-claude-activity-7500644335231680513-Y3Ry)
- [Centralising Search Console, Shopify and ad data in Databricks](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mrrivers_automatiseerik-ecommerce-seo-activity-7474164985363927040-gL6q)
- [Teaching Shopify SEO as a practitioner, not an agency](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mrrivers_masterclass-activity-7503169097891774465-GzE4)
- [A Shopify milestone for 100,000 orders at Cook and Pan](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mrrivers_a-beautiful-shopify-milestone-award-for-100k-activity-7508158472576962560-ZA1l)

## Brand relationships

- **Cook and Pan** (employment)
- **Shopify** (mention)
- **SEO Brein** (mention)

## Partnerships

Erik Hettinga's five LinkedIn posts show a practitioner working on ecommerce SEO and data infrastructure for cookware brand Cook and Pan, announcing a Shopify-focused SEO masterclass, and crediting colleagues on a 100,000-order milestone. Shopify, Databricks, Triple Whale, Klaviyo, Google Ads, Meta, DatAds, Atria, Intelligems, Microsoft Clarity and The Cirqle appear as parts of a working data and marketing stack; the posts disclose no sponsorships or endorsements involving these tools. One public appearance is described: an "SEO Brein" masterclass at 12:00 on a Thursday, presented by they and hosted by Jeroen Stikkelorum. It is framed as a technical and strategic session on Shopify structure, scale and future-proofing rather than a vendor pitch. The posts list no rates, package tiers, deliverables, exclusivity terms or booking contact. For a Shopify brand planning a campaign, a paid partnership would need to be negotiated directly rather than selected from a published menu. Ask for a current media kit, rate card or sample collaboration terms, including pricing and disclosure practice, before budgeting.

## Alternatives

- Paul Hassels Mönning: When the need is less about joining a webshop’s search, product and revenue data, and more about the commercial foundations of an AI rollout. One post describes returning to study in autumn 2025, becoming certified as an AI Business Professional, and what changed: sharper conditions for the commercial process and the everyday gap between switching on Copilot, ChatGPT or Gemini for colleagues and getting them to adopt the tools. The argument: holding a licence is not adoption. A second post examines what makes an ideal B2B customer, including high-value solutions, international reach, attention to marketing, sales and customer success, culture fit and long-term client value, as well as when to end a loss-making client relationship. For a Benelux B2B client deciding which customers to pursue and what must be in place before AI helps sales and customer-success teams, this speaks more directly to the decision than a method for joining shop data.
- Marko Stupar: When the AI-search need is really about paid AI ad placements and social commerce launches, not joining the brand’s own data. One post walks through OpenAI placing ChatGPT Ads inside Shopify and HubSpot: US merchants installing an app from the Shopify App Store, international markets following six days later, HubSpot tagging URLs so attribution can be argued with numbers, product data becoming the ad creative, reach capped to free and lower-tier users, and testing across client accounts from a dated start. Another explains what Sephora launching new products on TikTok Shop ahead of its own site means for sellers: locking top creators into retainers rather than affiliate links, a higher average-order-value ceiling as prestige retail enters the feed, and exclusivity windows as a TikTok tactic. For a brand deciding where to test AI ad inventory and how to move before a category gets expensive, this material is a closer fit.
- Christoph Nagy: If the campaign targets an enterprise software or security buyer rather than a Shopify brand, the two posts cover an SAP security event in Frankfurt and a Microsoft Sentinel and Security Copilot use case combining detection data from a security vendor to assess and triage threats. They also argue that SAP security will be an intelligent ecosystem of specialised parts rather than one product doing everything. The other post marks a personal cycling milestone around a company-sponsored ride, offering a glimpse of the wider professional network but no buyer-relevant method. For a brand selling enterprise security, ERP protection or agentic defence tooling and seeking a practitioner who works inside that ecosystem, this is a relevant campaign.

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AI-assisted summary of public posts. Audience demographics are not available. Engagement appears only where we checked recent posts. Method: https://b2binfluencer.marketing/methodology/