Эпизоды
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It's bloody freezing, we're one week out from Online Retailer in Sydney (expect an impromptu Qantas Lounge recording), and before the conference chaos kicks off we've got a genuinely grim week of retail to unpack — three collapses, a national outage and a $40m loss.
The Stax saga got worse, and it's the one to read twice: customers who "bought" during the late-June pre-sale weren't paying for stock on a shelf — they were funding product that was never made, and now they're getting neither the goods nor a refund, with founders Don and Matilda pointing them to their banks for a chargeback. It's a masterclass in torching a brand on the way out. We get into that, plus who (if anyone) buys what's left.
Prime's Australian distributor collapses with ~$85k in the bank and millions owed — the inevitable end of a hype brand that never converted the queues into a repeat purchase.Stax's pre-sale buyers are left with no product, no refund and a "talk to your bank" — and that trust doesn't come back under new ownership.A four-hour Telstra outage knocked out payments nationwide, and the real lesson is single-vendor reliance plus a crisis-comms scorecard (Telstra fronted it fast; Optus's ghost still lingers).Retail spending is actually up — but only because over-65s lifted spend 14% year-on-year while younger cohorts contract, and most brands are still aiming at the shrinking half.Adairs is prepping investors for a $40m loss that's really a Focus on Furniture write-down, not an operating collapse — the core brand's EBIT still grew 15%, and the squeezed middle of furniture is where the pain sits.City Chic retreats from the US as unit economics and tariffs bite, while Uniqlo books a fifth straight record year — two opposite answers to "should you go global?". -
We're on the other side of EOFY and into the thick of H2 — and Australian retail served up one of its messiest weeks in a while. Two heritage-adjacent brands hit crisis on the very same day, a resale platform war escalated, and a two-year-old takeover saga added another wrinkle, all while Myer and T2 quietly proved that some operators are still finding real growth in this market.
The standout story is the Betts and Stax double: on the same day, Betts entered a managed restructure — closing 20 of its remaining 35 stores and pivoting hard to online — while Stax entered receivership and is now in a rushed fire sale, reportedly triggered by a disgruntled major creditor. One is a 134-year-old retailer trying to right-size before it's too late; the other is a five-year-old DTC brand that's been unprofitable for three-plus years and is now drowning in unfulfilled pre-orders and refund complaints. Same week, same headlines, very different stories underneath.
Country Road Group made MD Helen Wright redundant after just 18 months, splitting the role into a Chief Product Officer and a GM of Apparel & Accessories (Shani Delargy) — a structural signal, not just a personnel change.Myer added 25,000 products to its marketplace, with marketplace sales up 41% in FY25 and 80% of marketplace shoppers also buying Myer's own stock.T2 turned 30 with EBIT up 20% year-on-year, proof that retail theatre and premium packaging can still win in the most commoditised category imaginable.US Prime Day pushed online spend to $26.4bn (+9.3% YoY) with BNPL up 9.5%, while adult women drove real growth in the toy category — Lego, plush toys and collector cards, not just kids' stuff.Betts entered a managed restructure (20 of 35 stores closing) and Stax entered receivership on the same day, with Stax now in a fast-tracked fire sale after years of unprofitability.Depop is scrapping its 10% AU seller fee from 22 July after Vinted's zero-fee Australian launch — a genuine seller win, or a defensive land-grab to lock in supply before the competitive dust settles.The Accent Group takeover saga rolled on, with Frasers selling its Malaysian Sports Direct business to MAP Active to fund its $0.65-a-share bid for Accent, which the company's independent board committee has rejected as undervalued.Heading to Online Retailer in a couple of weeks? Check the show notes for the TWIEVIP code for a free expo floor pass.
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Пропущенные эпизоды?
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End of financial year is done and — despite the sale noise — the market actually went backwards in real terms, with Roy Morgan tipping EOFY growth of just 1.9%, under CPI. Mal's on the road in Sydney (yet another hotel), Alex is dodging a South Australian thunderstorm, and between the World Cup and NBA free agency it's basically Christmas in Mal's world. Plenty to get through.
The spine of this week: community is the last real moat — and the tax office is quietly pulling the rug out from under brands that forgot it. Hyrox is a billion-dollar cult with near-zero acquisition cost, while Stax and Geedup — two former Young Rich List darlings — have collapsed inside a fortnight, with the ATO increasingly the trigger. Plus a new boss at David Jones, a COO move at Adore Beauty, an Uber Eats campaign we loved, and a Made-in-Australia marketplace worth watching.
EOFY reality check — Roy Morgan tipped EOFY sales growth at just 1.9% (below CPI), and while some brands cleared stock brilliantly, the 80%-off-for-three-weeks crowd waved a red flag on margin.Discovery is the new battleground — timings were all over the place (Click Frenzy's comeback, early vs late-June sales), and getting onto a curated list like Two Broke Chicks' EOFY round-up is earned-media gold.David Jones' new CEO — Erica Berchtold (ex-The Iconic, ex-Mosaic) becomes DJ's first female CEO, replacing Scott Fyfe, with PE owner Anchorage Capital unlikely to be patient as pre-tax losses widen to $95.5m on sales of ~$2bn.Adore Beauty's new COO — Jasmine Russell joins from gifting brand Lvly as Adore leans further into its store rollout and omnichannel growth.Uber Eats "bags" the city — giant Uber Eats bags wrapped around rival brands' billboards (GYG, Maccas, KFC, Hungry Jack's, Petbarn) — a masterclass in leaning on a distinctive brand asset rather than making Meta and Google do all the lifting.Made in Australia marketplace — Haroon Sheikh's new platform lists only verified Australian-made brands and competes on founder storytelling over price, with the real test being whether that goodwill converts at a viable cost of acquisition.Hyrox's billion-dollar cult — LVMH-backed L Catterton is reportedly in talks to take a major stake in Hyrox at a valuation as high as ~$1bn, buying not a sport but a cashed-up, referral-driven community with almost no paid acquisition.The AU brand reckoning — Stax entered receivership on 24 June across all four entities (12 stores down to two, permanently 50% off) and Geedup into liquidation, with Mal's "gym test" and a failure to renew the brand as the cautionary tale.The ATO is the silent assassin — insolvencies are up sharply YoY (retail and hospo leading), the ATO is now a leading creditor and far less willing to negotiate payment plans, so budget for tax like a household bill — buy the Hyundai, not the Lambo.See us at Online Retailer (22–23 July) — all-access passes are nearly gone, but free expo-floor passes are available (https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.onlineretailer.com/en-gb/register.html?cat%3DRetailer%26ct%3DU2FsdGVkX18zizAT%252FPRxllJH9%252FV5p%2B%2BH4EYAQXzu%2BZFrIUBftFov4nFdHg365ESU%26utm_source%3DMalChia%26utm_medium%3DPartner%26utm_campaign%3DMarComms&source=gmail&ust=1782853352122000&sa=E); Mal's hosting the NORA podcast stage. Use code: TWIEVIP -
Alex is back from the dead, Mal's discovered the Riverside sound-effects board, and the World Cup has well and truly taken over the Cheer household — but underneath the banter this is a big one. It's the episode where AI stopped nibbling at the edges of ecommerce and started eating the actual buying journey: discovery, the checkout, and the ad auction, all at once.
The headline: Google has switched on agentic commerce in Australia — we're the first market in the region — letting shoppers buy straight out of Search, AI Mode and Gemini, with Kogan, Bunnings, Adore Beauty, Petbarn and The Iconic first in the door. The cart is moving into the model, and if your product feed isn't clean you simply won't exist. From there it's ChatGPT ads, the death of growth-at-all-costs DTC, and why the smartest money this year is getting off Meta and Google.
Google agentic commerce lands in Australia — the checkout moves into Search, AI Mode and Gemini, and clean structured product data becomes the price of entry.New York's world-first "synthetic performer" law forces AI-actor disclosure on any ad reaching the state — and the ACCC's $138k HiSmile fine proves the same honesty crackdown is already here at home.A pack of TikTok-native activewear challengers is out-creating the incumbents on speed — a lesson for Australia's crowded field of Stax, P.E Nation, Muscle Nation and Nimble.Ads have arrived in ChatGPT off the back of OpenAI's eye-watering $39bn loss — and the early-adopter window looks a lot like the early days of Meta.Pure-play DTC's growth-at-all-costs model is dead: Dôen, La Ligne and Cinq à Sept grew to nine figures and stayed profitable by being deliberate, while Everlane, Glossier and Allbirds sold for scraps.Paramount's US-only CTV deck is really a case for diversification — get off the small screen, use the surfaces nobody's touching, and remember the 95:5 rule: you're ignoring 95% of your market chasing ROAS. -
Solo show from a gate at Sydney Airport — Alex is out sick, and the week didn't slow down to match. Regulation, reputation and the biggest float in history, all at once.
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This week:
The EU "withdrawal button" (live 19 June) — if a customer can buy in one click, they now have to cancel in one click. Applies to any Aussie brand selling into the EU; penalties up to 4% of regional sales. Check Shopify's comms now.Grill'd in the Federal Court — the ACCC alleges only ~4% of 5M "Tree Day Tuesday" burgers actually triggered the promised tree-planting donation. Cause marketing you can't back up is now a legal risk, not just a trust one.Lincraft closes all ~60 stores, going online-only — but craft is a touch-and-feel category, so this reads more like a managed exit than a pivot.Drop Shop reinvents the bottle shop — Dan Sims' konbini-style store sorts wine by occasion and budget, not grape. Clever, but a feature not a moat. If it works, Dan Murphy's copies it.Nike's first global gym deal (The Yard) — two months after shutting its own gyms, Nike rents presence in 100+ rooms full of its exact customer. Build vs partner, done right.SpaceX floats at ~$1.8T — the biggest IPO ever, and because your super tracks the indices, you probably just helped make Elon a trillionaire. -
EOFY is in full swing, Mal's recording from yet another airport — Perth this time, en route to a Singapore keynote — and the retail news is ramping as fast as the sales calendar. This week is a tale of two retails: brands hitting the wall, and brands quietly cleaning up by doing the exact opposite.
The headline act is a streetwear bloodbath. Trapstar and Geedup — two scarcity-drop darlings on opposite sides of the world — both tipped into administration in the same week, and the post-mortem lands on one culprit: the drop model is a working-capital trap, and the moment your gear is on every kid on the block, you stop being special. Around it: a collapse, a comeback, a viral data scandal, and a value-brand land grab.
Barbeques Galore — creditors knock back the rescue deal, 59 company-owned stores wind up by month's end, and the gift-card "two-for-one" sting tells you everything about the exit.Okanui — the hibiscus-print boardies are booming, proof that Aussie 70s/80s retro heritage is a moat Temu can't knock off (and yes, Oscar Piastri's Lego figure picked floral boardies and thongs).Click Frenzy — returns 18 June under the Leibovich brothers, with Australia Post footing the bill for the first 500 retailers, and Mal's "go short, go hard" advice for the EOFY scrum.Coles × Palantir — the two-year-old deal goes viral on TikTok again, and we're not buying the "nothing to see here" on what a CIA-and-ICE contractor does with your flybuys data.Trapstar + Geedup — the deep dive: scarcity, over-saturation, directors drawing down the working capital, and the difference between a 100-year business and a get-in-get-out play.Kmart's Anko — squares up to IKEA with its first standalone K Home store as the squeezed middle keeps losing ground to both ends.🎟️ Online Retailer is coming up — we've got 50 all-access passes for verified retailers (plus free expo passes). First in, first served — details in the links.
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The week the funnel finally collapsed. New data shows that when Google serves an AI Overview, only 1% of users click through — down from 15–20% on a standard SERP. People are discovering brands on ChatGPT and Claude, then arriving directly via branded search, if they arrive at all. Traffic isn't dying. Attribution is.
Two retail failures landed in the same 48 hours and both told the same story. Stateside Sports went into voluntary administration, weighed down by 31 stores and licensing fees on US sports merchandise. OzGoods Depot called in liquidators owing $2.5m, with the top three creditors being Meta, Microsoft Advertising and Shopify Capital — a creditor list that is its own diagnosis. Meanwhile Kogan reported gross sales up 13% to $876m, Mighty Ape trimmed its losses, and LVLY did the opposite of every other brand by pulling humans back into customer service and lifting NPS from 58 to 76 in a year.
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Online retail share has barely moved — Mandala/Inside Retail estimate online shopping saves households around $1,400/year, but online retail is stuck at ~12% of total, up roughly 1% in three years. Omnichannel isn't a buzzword, it's the actual ceiling.Stateside Sports enters voluntary administration — 31 stores, a major warehouse, and licensing fees on every unit. The cost stack on licensed retail is brutal at scale.OzGoods Depot calls in liquidators owing $2.5m — top three creditors: Meta, Microsoft Advertising, and Shopify Capital. If your debt sheet is paid acquisition and revenue-based finance, the model is the problem.Kogan reports gross sales up 13% to $876m, gross profit up 11%, EBITDA up 8.6% — the marketplace flywheel is paying off, and Mighty Ape's loss is shrinking the same way Iconic's eventually did after a decade.ACCC takes federal court action against Amazon over 41 unicorn backpacks failing battery warning rules — the first real litmus test for the new platform liability laws. If Amazon wins, the floodgates open.Google AI Overviews are killing click-through — 1% versus the 15–20% you'd see on a normal SERP. The research, discovery and intent stages are now collapsing into a single AI conversation, and your traffic metrics will not tell you what's happening.Article (Redbubble) narrows its losses to -1.1% from -9.3%, gross profit up 10.2% — print-on-demand and personalisation are accelerating, but the margin stack (artist + print + fulfilment + ads) is what makes the model so hard to run.LVLY lifts NPS from 58 to 76 in a year by going the opposite direction on AI — real-time delivery updates, live chat with real humans, and a care team empowered to fix issues without escalations. -
The week the market said "thanks for staying focused." Guzman & Gomez quietly closed its eight Chicago stores and the share price jumped 20%. Skin Candy pulled off the first properly successful retail ASX listing of the year. And Alo Yoga planted a flag directly opposite Lululemon at Chatswood Chase — a brand move with a price tag and a clear message.
The deep dive everyone needs to sit with: Amazon's new Rufus + Alexa agentic shopping assistant is live in the US, and Mal's been using it. It is, in his words, "weirdly like the future." Meanwhile Shopify has quietly opted every store into its agentic storefront — so if you haven't started optimising your product feed for LLM discovery, you're already behind. We close on the AI layoffs wave (Meta, Microsoft, Intuit, Upwork all swinging the axe) and what Klarna's quiet customer-service backflip tells us about where the real line sits.
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Guzman & Gomez pulls out of the US — eight Chicago stores shuttered, share price up 20%, and the market just rewarded focus over a vanity expansion.2,000 Rebel Sport managers launch a class action — Super Retail Group in the firing line again over unpaid pre/post-shift hours and through-break work.Heaps Normal's Marrickville Health Club named one of the top 10 global retail experiences alongside Zara, Rolex and Erewhon — four months after opening.Alo Yoga's first AU sanctuary opens at Chatswood Chase, literally opposite Lululemon, with four more sites locked in by year-end.Amazon's new agentic shopping assistant merges Rufus and Alexa — Mal road-tested it in the US and it changes the discovery game, while Shopify quietly opted every store into its agentic storefront.Skin Candy's ASX debut — the first genuinely successful retail listing of the year at $245m cap, up 5% on day one, proving the service + product hybrid model still pulls capital.The AI layoff wave hits 200k+ globally — Meta, Cloudflare, Upwork, Microsoft and Intuit all cut deep, but Klarna's quiet rehiring of customer service staff says the limits are real. -
Mal's back on home soil — briefly — and Alex is dodging the Adelaide rain. Episode 137 lands in a week the ACCC has had its biggest enforcement win in a decade, and the rest of the retail and ecom news has decided to fall in line: discount discipline, brand portfolio pruning, platform consolidation, and the cleanest live test yet of whether the AU consumer is genuinely pulling back, or just buying differently.
The headline this week is Coles — the Federal Court has officially ruled the Down Down program misled customers, and the implications travel well beyond the supermarket aisle. Every AU operator running was/now pricing should be auditing this week. We get into what the ruling actually says, how it changes BFCM planning, and the Klaviyo flow risk most operators haven't thought about. Plus: Country Road Group's five-brand Shopify migration and what it signals about platform monopoly risk, Temple & Webster's 30% earnings miss after choosing margin over volume, and Birkenstock launching nail polish (yes, really).- Officeworks doubles down on permanent price cuts — round two, and specialty retailers competing in their space are running out of road
- LVMH offloads Marc Jacobs for up to US$1bn as Bernard Arnault declares 2026 "won't be simple" and luxury's biggest house starts pruning- Birkenstock launches its first colour cosmetics with five nail polish shades matched to its sandals — "here for the foot"
- Federal budget allocates $67.7m to the ACCC with Shein and Temu explicitly named in the crosshairs- Coles loses the Down Down case — what the ruling means for your was/now pricing, Klaviyo flows, and BFCM 2026 planning
- Country Road Group consolidates five brands onto Shopify, following Brand Collective's 19-brand move — and Mal's contrarian read on the platform homogenisation risk
- Temple & Webster takes a 30% earnings hit after pivoting to margin optimisation, and the market punishes the share price ~80% off its August peak
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The streak's broken — first missed week in three years, courtesy of Retail Fest swallowing the calendar whole. Mal and Alex are back on the mics with a full debrief on the Gold Coast event, the WhatsApp party, and the Pink Flamingo carnage. Plus the Simon Beard reel that turned a vague "the conference was rubbish" critique into a soft pitch for One Life Club — and why that whole move just didn't sit right.
The headline story this week is Gabi and Hezi Leibovich pulling Click Frenzy out of liquidation only weeks after Grant Arnott shut it down. The brothers are bullish, Mal isn't — the model has problems the Iran war didn't cause. Plus Super Retail's 13% share crunch, the AU retail "perfect storm" tightening, and an anonymous whistleblower letter accusing Harvey Norman buyers of taking kickbacks.
The Retail Fest debrief, the WhatsApp crew shoutouts, and the Simon Beard reel that didn't land — including the One Life Club plug that took the gas out of itSuper Retail Group shares down 13% as BCF LFL drops 3.3% on the back of an Easter weekend that got killed by fuel pricesUniversal Store sells off 3% on a perfectly good update — what it says about the youth fashion walletMeta launches Hatch agentic AI plus Instagram in-app checkout, and Mal's meeting Mark Zuckerberg in a few daysGabby and Hezi Leibovich buy Click Frenzy and Power Retail out of liquidation — Mal's taking the underdog on this oneThe AU retail perfect storm gets worse: CommBank flags inflation hitting 5.4% by mid-year, Australia Post hikes 19%, big retailers offloading inventoryAn anonymous letter alleges Harvey Norman buyers took cash, trips and entertainment from vendors — and what brand owners should do about it regardless of whether the claims stick -
Alex is back from iMedia (a touch fresher than Sunday morning suggested) and the lineup is loaded: Meta has officially overtaken Google in ad revenue, China has blocked the Manus AI deal that Meta was building its entire creative platform around, and Lululemon has poached its new CEO from Nike. Plus a quietly significant Aussie consolidation story that Mal cannot stop saying "just makes sense" about.
Headline story: Meta is forecasted to clock $244 billion in ad revenue this year vs Google's $239 billion — first time it's ever happened, and it's a reflection of Meta's creative-first, low-complexity positioning playing better with operators than Google's targeting-heavy legacy. We get into what it means for AU brand budgets, why founders keep telling us they trust Meta more, and the surprise CCP move that just torpedoed Meta's $2B AI bet.
The rise of the value-seeking customer: Two Broke Chicks, refurbished tech, free alterations at Uniqlo, lifetime warranty at Nudie — when 8 in 10 shoppers are hunting deals, brands need a perceived-value playbook that isn't just discounting.Koala's broken IPO: Listed at $3.40, popped to $3.88, now sitting at $3.10 — 30 days in and already a sub-list-price story. The wider question: is the public market dream over for AU retail?Treasury Wines re-merges Penfolds: A 40% Chinese New Year sales pop, and TWE is folding its flagship back into the portfolio. Smart consolidation or a P&L masking play?Meta vs Google: Meta tipped to overtake Google in ad revenue for the first time ever — plus the Manus AI acquisition just got blocked by the CCP.Heidi O'Neill goes from Nike to Lululemon: A 26-year Nike veteran takes the Lulu top job in September. Mouse story in heaven, or more of the same?Edible Blooms acquires three hamper brands: Kelly and the team consolidating Dessert Boxes, Gift Baskets, and Hampers.com.au into a single 700+ SKU marketplace in a category Shopify says is growing 43% YoY. -
In a week where Allbirds rebranded as an AI company and somehow the stock went up 582% in a single day, we're asking the most important question for any operator: who actually owns the brand when you scale? Alex is back from the dead, iMedia and Retail Fest are around the corner, and the lineup is genuinely loaded — three deep dives across founder vision, the AU brand quietly hitting $10M in under twelve months, and Wesfarmers' very-cleverly-disguised loyalty chess move.
Headline story: Fear of God just eliminated its CEO role to bring Jerry Lorenzo back into daily operations, while Nike sits at an 8-year low under Elliot Hill's slow-burn turnaround. Two brands, opposite ends of the lifecycle, same disease — and we get into what AU founders should actually do at the $50M-plus mark when the operator hire is tempting but the brand essence is fragile.
Allbirds → NewBird AI: Sustainable footwear pioneer becomes a GPU-as-a-service play. Stock up 582%, then down 36% the next day. The zombie shell era of public markets is here.Woolies' ACCC defence + the rise of pawn shops: Woolies is blaming suppliers for the "Prices Dropped" mess while AU consumers are increasingly pawning their stuff to make ends meet — and op shops are jam-packed.Decjuba launches sleepwear: A 30-piece permanent range timed neatly into Mother's Day, sitting in the white space Peter Alexander doesn't quite serve.Bunnings' weekend dog hoodie drop: Mal missed it. Alex didn't. Bunnings continues its masterclass in turning product drops into earned brand moments.Bouf — Booth, Bouf, "boofhead": $10M in under 12 months, Indy Clinton as a co-founder rather than ambassador, five SKUs, expanding into men. The York St Brands holding-co playbook unpacked.OnePass goes free for 6 months: Wesfarmers wraps an Amazon-defence loyalty acquisition campaign in cost-of-living relief paper. Read the strategic intent, not the press release. -
Alex is out sick this week, so Mal’s flying solo — which means the takes are unfiltered and the tangents are entirely his fault. Five stories this episode spanning a landmark US antitrust verdict, a celebrated Australian DTC brand heading to market, Instagram finally arriving late to the social commerce party, and two quickies on what happens when platforms change the rules and consumers start stockpiling baked beans.
This is a big week. The Live Nation verdict dropped yesterday — a federal jury found the concert giant guilty of operating an illegal monopoly, and the implications stretch well beyond live music into how we all think about platform dependency and vertical integration. If you build your business on infrastructure you don’t own, this one’s worth your full attention.
Etsy bans all fur products from 11 August — why activist-driven platform policy changes are a channel risk every marketplace seller needs to account for.
Panic buying hits Australian supermarkets amid Iran jitters — what demand volatility events reveal about inventory planning assumptions.
Live Nation found guilty of operating an illegal monopoly — breaking down the verdict, the potential breakup, and why the Ticketmaster tax is a warning shot for every operator building on platforms they don’t control.
al.ive body — the skincare brand built by The Block twins Alisa and Lysandra Fraser — is heading to market, and it’s a masterclass in building an exit-ready DTC business without venture capital.
Instagram finally launches shoppable affiliate links for Reels — nearly 15 years after affiliate marketing became standard, and why the creator economy’s real problem is still measurement, not features.
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Mal's back from Japan — and the news this week is anything but zen. Allbirds just sold for $39 million after hitting a $4.1 billion valuation, Sabo Skirt has taken 16 retailers to court for design theft including Kmart and Shein, and the US cost stack is getting uglier by the week.
This episode, we cover what Allbirds' spectacular collapse really tells us about the DTC hype cycle, why Sabo's legal fight matters for every fashion brand in Australia, and what the Amazon FBA fuel surcharge and the First Sale loophole threat mean for operators selling into the US market. Plus: AusPost acquires same-day delivery platform Rendr, Click Frenzy and Power Retail enter liquidation (blame the Iran war — we call BS), and junior pay rates in retail are about to be abolished.
AusPost acquires same-day delivery platform Rendr, expanding same-day coverage to 90% of the Australian populationClick Frenzy and Power Retail enter liquidation — the Iran war gets the blame, but the model was already brokenJunior pay rates in retail abolished for workers 18+, with rises of up to 42% phased in through to 2030ACCC hands down Australia's first financial penalty for undisclosed influencer marketing — the Photobook Shop caseAllbirds sells for $39M — a 99% wipeout from its $4.1B peak, and what it really means for DTC brand buildingSabo Skirt takes 16 retailers to court over design copying, including Kmart and a Shein that apparently didn't get the memo after their 2024 settlementAmazon FBA adds a 3.5% fuel surcharge from April 17 — and don't expect them to ever take it off — plus the First Sale tariff loophole under threat in the US CongressAusPost acquires same-day delivery platform Rendr, expanding same-day coverage to 90% of the Australian populationClick Frenzy and Power Retail enter liquidation — the Iran war gets the blame, but the model was already brokenJunior pay rates in retail abolished for workers 18+, with rises of up to 42% phased in through to 2030ACCC hands down Australia's first financial penalty for undisclosed influencer marketing — the Photobook Shop caseAllbirds sells for $39M — a 99% wipeout from its $4.1B peak, and what it really means for DTC brand buildingSabo Skirt takes 16 retailers to court over design copying, including Kmart and a Shein that apparently didn't get the memo after their 2024 settlementAmazon FBA adds a 3.5% fuel surcharge from April 17 — and don't expect them to ever take it off — plus the First Sale tariff loophole under threat in the US Congress -
Mal's recording from a stairwell in Osaka — because Japan doesn't open cafes before 10am and that's the quietest spot in the building.
Easter crept up on everyone this year — except Cadbury, who had their shrinkflation strategy ready to go for the second year running. We also dig into the ACCC finally fining a retailer for undisclosed influencer reviews (and why the penalty might actually be too small to matter), the AusPost fuel surcharge hike hitting 30,000 contract customers from April 23, and KMD Brands — Kathmandu, Rip Curl, Oboz — entering a voluntary trading suspension as a recapitalisation hangs in the balance.
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Easter egg shrinkflation — Cadbury's hollow egg packs are smaller and more expensive for the second consecutive year, down from 408g to 340g since 2024 while the price jumped from $12.50 to $18. Cocoa wholesale prices have actually fallen. CHOICE is doing the forensic work so consumers don't have to.ACCC fines PhotobookShop — $39,600 in penalties for 107 undisclosed influencer reviews and selectively editing negative comments out of a published review. Mal makes the case the fine is too small to be a real deterrent.AusPost fuel surcharge hike — contract customers face a jump from 4.8% to 12% from April 23. Time to revisit your free shipping threshold and unit economics before it hits the P&L.KMD Brands trading suspension — the owner of Kathmandu, Rip Curl and Oboz enters voluntary ASX suspension while a Goldman Sachs-led recapitalisation is finalised. Half-year results delayed indefinitely.GAP returns to Australia via Myer — the third attempt, this time through local operator Fashionata across 27 Myer stores. Six consecutive quarters of global growth, cultural traction with a new generation, and Myer continuing its aggressive brand refresh strategy. Mal raises the anti-Americanism wildcard.Big Tech's very bad week — Meta hit with a $375M verdict in New Mexico, YouTube and Meta liable in California, and Australia's eSafety commissioner investigating five platforms for non-compliance with the under-16 social media ban. What this means for your channel mix, why diversification isn't optional anymore, and ChatGPT ads landing in Australia. -
Mal is live from Singapore this week, joining Alex from the eTail Asia conference where AI dominated every session and the conversation is shifting — Asia's big marketplace-first model is starting to make room for DTC. Back home, Australians are dealing with a second consecutive RBA rate rise, a fuel crisis driven by the Strait of Hormuz shutdown, and the kind of cost-of-living pressure that changes how consumers spend and what operators need to do about it.
This episode covers the macro squeeze in full — what rising rates, oil prices and shipping costs actually mean for your business — alongside the latest in agentic commerce (Shopify's big move and Walmart's quiet reality check), Myer's luxury beauty pivot, and the usual retail openings, closings and M&A news from around the country.
H&M exits Tasmania / By Charlotte opens in WA: Global fast fashion retreats from low-density markets while a homegrown premium DTC brand goes big in Western Australia with three stores at launch.
KMD rejects Stokehouse's Rip Curl demerger bid: The surf and outdoor giant turned down a proposal to spin off Rip Curl and merge it with US label Stokehouse, citing no new capital, shareholder dilution and a deal structure that created no value.
Priceline franchise sale narrows to final four: The sale of Priceline Pharmacy's franchisee operations has reached its final stage with four undisclosed bidders, signalling further consolidation in Australian pharmacy retail.
Rates, oil and the operator squeeze: The RBA's second consecutive rate rise to 4.10% — driven by a global energy crisis after Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz — is pushing fuel prices, freight costs and mortgage stress higher, with a third rise tipped for May.
Agentic commerce arrives — but is anyone buying: Shopify has opened its infrastructure so millions of merchants can sell inside ChatGPT, but Walmart's months-long trial of in-chat checkout has produced disappointing sales results.
Myer bets big on luxury skincare: After ending its 17-year Mecca partnership, Myer is repositioning beauty as its greatest growth opportunity with La Mer, Guerlain, Swiss Perfection and Helena Rubinstein landing in bespoke shop-in-shop formats. -
Mal and Alex are back halfway through March with another Australian-heavy episode — covering everything from a $702K spam fine to a $750 million Amazon warehouse landing in Queensland. The week's stories are a useful reminder that the rules around consumer trust, brand authenticity, and competitive infrastructure are all tightening at once.
This episode spans compliance wake-up calls, a 17-year trademark saga finally resolved in an Australian designer's favour, a bold strategy to reshore premium fashion manufacturing, and two deep dives into what brand longevity actually looks like — one a $100M nostalgia revival, the other a cautionary tale about losing sight of your customer.
Lululemon's $702K Spam Act Fine — Lululemon was hit with a $702K ACMA fine for emailing unsubscribed customers and embedding promotional content in transactional emails — a reminder that enforcement is ramping up and the maximum penalty is $2.2M per day.Dolls Kill False Urgency Class Action — The US brand is facing a class action for running sales that outlasted their advertised end times, raising the broader point that manufactured urgency erodes consumer trust whether or not it ends in litigation.Katy Perry vs. Katie Perry — Australian Designer Wins — After a 17-year trademark battle, Sydney-based fashion designer Katie Perry has won the right to her own name in the High Court, underlining the importance of registering trademarks early before someone more famous comes along.RM Williams & Australian Fashion Council's 10-Year Manufacturing Strategy — RM Williams and the Australian Fashion Council have tabled a strategy to grow the domestic fashion and textiles industry from $27B to $38B by reshoring premium manufacturing — leaning into what Australia can actually win at globally.Amazon's $750M Robotics Fulfilment Centre in Queensland — Amazon is building a four-level, double-Suncorp-Stadium-sized fulfilment centre in Logan, fast-tracked by the Queensland government in just 35 days, which will make next-day delivery even more of a baseline expectation for Queensland shoppers.Von Dutch's $100M Comeback — Von Dutch has quietly crossed nine figures in global revenue by licensing its IP rather than manufacturing — proof that the 20-year nostalgia cycle is real, and that brand heritage can be monetised without owning a single factory.Witchery x Pip Edwards & Lara Worthington Collab — The campaign attracted criticism for a "hobo chic" aesthetic that felt misaligned with Witchery's core customer and tone-deaf given current cost-of-living pressures — a sharp lesson in knowing your customer before chasing cool. -
Mal and Alex are back for a jam-packed, very Australian episode — recorded a day late thanks to the uneven chaos of state-based public holidays. From Koala's impending ASX debut to the Iconic finally turning a profit after 15 years, it's a week where the big stories reward anyone paying close attention to what they actually signal about the state of ecommerce and retail in Australia.
This episode covers a lot of ground: geopolitical pressure on shipping costs, the dynamic pricing debate at Coles and Woolies, a snapshot of January's surprisingly solid retail data, and the tactical playbook brands need right now as conditions tighten heading into Q1. Whether you're a brand operator, a marketer, or just a retail nerd, there's something here for you.
Koala IPO — Koala is targeting an April 1st ASX listing at a $300–305M market cap, backed by 42% revenue growth and a 280% jump in EBITDA, making a compelling case even in a muted IPO market dominated by AI capital flows.US-Iran Conflict & Retail Inflation — Ongoing conflict is pushing fuel and shipping costs higher, with New Zealand fashion sales already down 2.3% year-on-year and Australian petrol prices hitting record levels — bad news for discretionary retail.Lovisa & Cotton On Go Global — Lovisa has surpassed $500M in revenue across 1,100 stores in 50 countries, while Cotton On's rare push into India signals that international expansion is becoming a serious hedge against a soft Australian market.Coles & Woolies Dynamic Pricing — Neither retailer has ruled out demand-based pricing via their new electronic shelf labels, raising serious concerns about brand pricing control and consumer trust — all while both remain under ACCC investigation.ABS January Retail Data — Overall retail spending was up 5% year-on-year in January, but the data predates the February rate rise, making your own site's conversion rate a far more current indicator of business health.Brand Playbook for a Tough Market — With the in-market buyer pool shrinking, brands should shift budget toward upper-funnel demand generation, scenario plan at 70–80% of prior revenue, and prioritise newness and scarcity to drive urgency.The Iconic Finally Profitable — After 15 years, The Iconic has delivered $45.7M in adjusted EBITDA — achieved not through a single dramatic move, but by reducing discounting, going more premium, and growing its higher-margin third-party marketplace business. -
In Episode 127 of This Week in Ecommerce, Mal Chia and Alex Ross break down the biggest retail news in Australia, from store closures and collapsing margins to AI-driven job cuts and the escalating beauty wars between major players.
If you’re a retailer, founder, marketer or ecommerce operator, this is what you need to know right now.
🔎 In This Episode:
Accent Group shuts down Glue Store after an $8.6M loss — is mid-market retail officially dead?
Maggie Beer Holdings returns to profit by focusing on operational efficiency instead of expansion.
Ozsale relaunches under its original founder — can flash-sale marketplaces survive in 2026?
Adore Beauty grows revenue 8.7% but sees profit drop 70% — can physical retail fix a margin problem?
Sephora racks up $78M in Australian losses under LVMH — why is Australia so tough to crack?
Block (owner of Square and Afterpay) cuts 40% of its workforce, explicitly citing AI efficiency.
📈 Key Themes:
Margin pressure in ecommerce
The collapse of mid-market retail
Beauty industry competition in Australia
AI replacing knowledge workers
Marketplace viability in a discount-heavy world
Retail strategy in 2026
Subscribe for weekly breakdowns of the biggest ecommerce and retail news affecting Australian brands.
#Ecommerce #RetailNews #AustralianRetail #BeautyIndustry #AIinBusiness #Afterpay #Sephora #AdoreBeauty #Ozsale #RetailStrategy
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From Trump’s tariff whiplash to TikTok’s strategic retreat and Lovisa’s share price tumble, this week’s episode unpacks the volatility shaping retail in 2025.
Mal and Alex break down what’s noise, what’s signal, and what Australian retailers actually need to pay attention to — especially as global trade tensions resurface and consumer confidence remains fragile.
If you’re exporting to the US, relying on TikTok Shop, or still operating on an old-school fast fashion model… this episode is a wake-up call.
📰 In This Episode
TikTok walks back mandatory Fulfilled by TikTok (FBT)
TikTok reverses its plan to force sellers onto its fulfilment network, signalling limits to platform power in early-stage social commerce.
ACCC announces 2026–27 enforcement priorities
The regulator sharpens focus on misleading pricing, digital platforms and consumer protection — with tougher enforcement expected.
Bunnings launches on Uber Eats
30,000 products now available for delivery, marking another step toward “everything commerce” and on-demand retail.
eBay acquires Depop
A major move in recommerce consolidation, as eBay doubles down on Gen Z resale and secondhand fashion.
US Supreme Court overturns Trump’s global tariffs
The initial tariff framework is struck down — but quickly replaced with a new 15% flat tariff under alternative legislation.
What the new US tariffs mean for Australian exporters
Increased volatility, margin pressure and renewed urgency around supply chain diversification.
Lovisa shares drop ~30% after weak results
Slower growth and margin compression highlight the pressure on fast-fashion retail models.
The risks of constant newness in fashion
Inventory cycles and discount dependency continue to challenge brands reliant on rapid product turnover.
The counterfeit crisis accelerates
A new study shows 78% of brands lose at least 5% of annual revenue to counterfeits — with AI and online marketplaces amplifying the issue.
Platform consolidation and shifting retail power
From TikTok to eBay, major platforms are redefining the rules — and brands must decide how much control to give up.
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