This Week In Ecommerce

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...

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 spin...

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...

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. 🎟️ Online Retailer 2026 — 50 listener passes, plus free expo passes. First in, first served. Use code TWIEPodcast (link below). This week: The EU "withdrawal button" (live 19 June) — if a customer can buy in one clic...

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...

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...

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...

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 bu...

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...

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...

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 u...

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 sto...

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...

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 actua...

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 c...

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-yea...

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...

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 a...

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, rely...

This week, Mal flies solo while Alex recovers from a big weekend, but the headlines are anything but quiet. From a 38% surge in business-related personal insolvencies to the strategic voluntary administration of Barbecues Galore, retail stress is no longer theoretical — it’s structural. Plus: US daily online shopping drops 12% Social commerce declines sharply Valentine’s Day spending underperforms...

This week, Mal and Alex return to unpack a massive week in Australian retail. From job cuts at Peloton and controversy at Nike to Cosette’s dramatic closure and JB Hi-Fi launching a retail media network, Episode 125 breaks down the headlines that matter. 🔹 In this episode: Peloton Cuts 11% of Staff The pandemic darling continues its post-boom correction with major layoffs. Is AI taking over engin...

It’s chaos out there – but in the best possible way. This week, Mal Chia is recording live from Sydney and joined by Alex Ross for a fast-paced round-up of stories shaking up ecommerce, tech, and retail. From viral toys in China to the TikTok/Meta power struggle, this episode covers the cultural trends, algorithm shifts, and economic forces every ecommerce brand should be watching. They unpack a f...

Trust is taking a beating in Ecommerce — and this week, Mal and Alex unpack exactly why. From AI-powered shopping ads and supermarket pricing games, to brands relaunching without soul and others doubling down on transparency, this episode explores how easily trust is lost… and how hard it is to win back. There’s plenty for retailers to think about as 2026 trends start creeping into today’s decisio...

This week, Mal and Alex are back with a scorching episode of This Week in Ecommerce , breaking down the biggest stories shaping retail in Australia and abroad. From Woolworths jumping headfirst into AI to the fading glow of The Oodie, the duo tackle retail shakeups, brand resurrections, and what happens when luxury loses its sparkle. Here’s what’s in store: 🏆 Inside Retail Awards 2026 : A refresh...

The Trust Reckoning: Platforms, Partnerships & the Cost of Playing It Safe 2026 has barely started and ecommerce is already flashing warning signs. In the first episode of the year, Mal Chia and Alex Ross unpack a week of stories that perfectly capture the state of modern retail: trust under strain, platforms asserting power, partners disappearing overnight, and brands being forced to confront...