PODCAST · business
This Week In Ecommerce
by Ecom Nation
🎙️ This Week in Ecommerce is your weekly download on the headlines shaping Australian retail. Hosted by industry legend Mal Chia and rising star Alex Ross, each episode dives into the biggest stories—from billion-dollar deals to platform updates, policy shifts, and consumer trends. Sharp insights, no fluff, and plenty of honest takes. New episodes every Wednesday. Powered by Ecom Nation.
Episodes
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Skipping Black Friday Is Marketing Too
Episode 158 is Wednesday 21 October, and everyone is flat out getting ready for Black Friday. Alex has another LinkedIn Live on Friday, and Mal is heading to a black-tie Halloween party next week in a tux and a Phantom of the Opera mask. Ecom Nation is also up for a Meta agency award next week…
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Kmart Pulled Its Smart Glasses. Shoppers Are Pushing Back
Episode 157 is Tuesday 13 October, and Alex has to remind Mal to say the date, after listeners asked for it. Inside Retail's Top 50 People in E-Commerce nominations close the day this goes out, so get yours in. And a shout-out to Andrew Pearce and Hello Sarnie, the Adelaide sandwich shop Mal put…
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AI Is Making Too Many Ads
Episode 156 is Wednesday 7 October, and Mal is recording from a booth at WeWork Pitt Street in Sydney, still getting going after the long weekend. Alex spent hers at a packed Bunnings, photographing products and asking Claude which one to buy instead of finding a sales assistant. Mal's...
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Rates Just Hit 4.6%. Black Friday Is Going to Be Huge
Episode 155 is Wednesday 30 September, the last day of Q3. Adelaide can't decide if it's summer, and Mal is recording in shorts. The warm snap is pulling summer buying forward. A couple of Mal's clients are selling picnic gear at full price, without discounting. That's a nice counterpoint to last...
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60% of Shoppers Won't Pay Full Price. We Trained Them.
Episode 154 opens with the date, because you asked for it: Thursday 24 September. Mal is just back from eTail in Melbourne, where day one was all AI and day two was loyalty. R.M. Williams and Oz Hair & Beauty both argued that loyalty shouldn't mean handing out credits and killing your margin. Mal...
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Proud Poppy's Comeback, Cue's Collapse, and the RBA's Surcharge Ban: TWIE 153
Black Friday prep is well underway, and this week opened with something you don't get often on this show — genuinely good news. Tara McKeon has won back control of Proud Poppy after creditors voted to keep her running the business rather than winding it up, a real vote of confidence from the…
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Gen Z Isn't Broke, They're Just Not Buying Houses
Alex is back in the hot seat after two solo weeks, and it's a lean, sharp episode: five stories, no filler, in and out in twenty-odd minutes. The headline number this week belongs to Shein, whose Hong Kong debut shed $5 billion in value in five trading days — the second-worst opening week of its...
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Ooshies, AI Music Bans and a Golf Brand's Worst Week: TWIE 151
Solo week. Alex is off carving up the slopes in New Zealand (allegedly back next week — you said that last week too), which means it's just Mal, a jam-packed lineup, and a moment to mark a brutal 48 hours for pop culture that took Dolly Parton, Tim Curry and Peter Cullen within days of each…
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Why City Chic's 'Forced' Retreat From the US Might Be Its Best Move Yet
Episode 150 — and Mal's flying solo this week with Alex over in New Zealand, so the proper 150th milestone celebration is on hold until next week. In the meantime, it's a big one: seven stories, four quickies and three deep dives, built almost entirely around Australia's reporting season and one...
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The IP Survives, The Customers Don't: Inside Stax's Rescue
Mal's calling in from a Bali sunrise mid-reset before Q4 hits — squirrels, banana trees, the lot — while Alex is back in Adelaide mopping up after cars got swept down a creek in the weekend's flash floods. The news doesn't take a holiday though, and this week's two deep dives bookend the AU…
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AusPost Wants You to Build an Ecosystem. Its Own Data Says Build a Discount Habit.
This week Mal's flying solo — Alex is out, so it's just opinions, no pushback. It's a mixed bag: a couple of quick cost-and-consequence stories, then three deep dives that all circle the same question in different ways — what happens when a business chases the top line instead of the bottom one....
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Kogan Gets Caught Comparing Itself to Itself
Mal and Alex are back this week still hoarse from two big days on the podcast stage at Online Retailer and the ORIAS — congrats to The Iconic on a first-time Online Retailer of the Year win, and to Ben Hare for taking out industry recognition. From there it's a genuinely wide-ranging one: a...
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They Took Your Money and Told You to Call Your Bank
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...
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Betts, Stax, Depop's Fee War & the Accent Group Takeover
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…
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The ATO Is Quietly Killing Your Favourite Brands
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…
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Google Agentic Commerce, ChatGPT Ads & the Death of Pure DTC
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...
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One-Click Cancel, Greenwashed Burgers & Elon's Trillion
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…
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The Scarcity Trap: Why Hype Brands Keep Going Broke
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…
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Two retail failures, one Kogan win, and the death of the click
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...
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GYG retreats, Alo invades, and Amazon goes full agentic
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...
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Coles Down Down, Birkenstock Nail Polish & Temple & Webster's 30% Miss
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...
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Retail Fest, Click Frenzy, and a 13% share crash
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...
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Koala's Broken IPO, Lulu's Nike Hire, and Meta's $244B Year
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....
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NewBird AI, OnePass, and the $9M Hair Brand You've Never Heard Of
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…
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Monopoly Guilty, DTC Exit and Instagram's Late Arrival
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...
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The Allbirds Collapse, Sabo Goes to War, and the US Cost Squeeze
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…
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Gap's Back, Cadbury's at It Again & Big Tech's Worst Week
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...
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Fuel Crisis, Rate Rises & Agentic Commerce
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...
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Amazon's $750M Queensland Bet, Von Dutch's $100M Comeback & The Spam Fine Every Brand Should Read
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…
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Koala's IPO, The Iconic's Profit & The Dynamic Pricing Threat Facing Every Retail Brand
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...
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Block's AI Cuts, More Store Closures & The Ozsale Comeback
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,...
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Tariff Chaos, TikTok’s Backflip & The Return of Retail Reality
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…
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Barbecues Galore, Insolvencies & Luxury’s Surprise Winner
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...
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Bunnings Wins Facial Recognition Case, Cosette Collapses, and the Return of Topshop
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...
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Crying Horses, TikTok Trouble & Meta’s Master Plan
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...
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Trust Issues: AI Ads, Supermarket Pricing & the Cost of Cutting Corners
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…
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Woolies Goes AI, The Oodie vs News, and Store Closures Galore
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...
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Sendle Collapses, Returns Crack Down & Brands Lose Focus
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...
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Year In Review: Why Retail Broke in 2025 (And What Actually Caused It)
This wasn’t a normal year in retail. It was a stress test. In this solo episode, Mal breaks down the five forces that quietly reshaped retail and ecommerce this year — and why so many brands struggled at the same time. This isn’t a recap of headlines. It’s a post-mortem of business models that…
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When Sales Spike but Brands Struggle: The New Reality of Ecommerce
Black Friday has officially become Australia’s retail Super Bowl — but is that actually a good thing? In Episode 118, Mal and Alex unpack Australia Post’s biggest day ever ($1.5 billion in a single hit), why activewear keeps winning the sales race, and what it means when demand gets squeezed into...
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Bunnings AI Error, Step One Slump & BFCM Insights
This week, Mal and Alex break down the biggest stories shaping Australian ecommerce and retail. From AI slip-ups to collapsing kids’ brands, booming APAC Black Friday numbers, and a world-first social media ban, this episode covers the signals founders need to be watching as we head into 2026....
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Streetwear IPOs, Fashion Inflation and the Housing Crunch
Black Friday may be done and dusted, but the retail news machine definitely isn’t. This week, Mal and Alex unpack everything from the world’s first streetwear IPO to the grim reality of Aussies spending nearly half their income just keeping a roof over their heads. Add in fashion inflation, a…
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The Marketplace Meltdown & Australia’s CPG Innovation Problem
This week, Mal and Alex wade into a very marketplace-heavy news cycle — from Princess Polly jumping into physical retail, to the quiet death of flash-sale platforms, to the Iconic proving you don’t need to spend more to grow more. Then we get into the big stuff: Kogan’s New Zealand headaches,...
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Menulog's Exit, AI Copyright & the Tim Tam That Won the Internet
Black Friday mayhem is in full swing, but Mal and Alex are keeping cool—and throwing the odd grenade—while the industry scrambles. In this episode, they unpack the week's biggest stories in ecommerce, from delivery duopolies to unexpected beauty wins. In this episode: Menulog exits Australia –...
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The Great Retail Reset: Trust, Tech and The New Definition of Cheap
This week on This Week in Ecommerce, Mal and Alex wade into the mayhem of “Black Friday month” — from the ACCC crackdown and a $6.8B spending forecast, to Coles’ AI-powered ecommerce surge and Shein’s controversial Paris store opening. Plus, they unpack the women’s workwear boom and why it’s the...
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Operational Fitness, AI Predictions & the Great Retail Reset
In this episode, Mal and Alex dig into what the latest retail news really signals — from job cuts at Amazon and Puma to quiet operational mastery at JB Hi-Fi and Starbucks’ long-awaited turnaround. They unpack the balance between AI efficiency and human experience, and debate whether Lululemon’s...
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Flying Solo into Cyber Month — Amazon Fees, LSKD Goes Global & The Fashion Rebound
With Alex off the grid for the Tinny Rally, Mal takes the mic solo to unpack the week’s biggest retail headlines — from LSKD’s global retail rollout to Amazon’s rising fulfillment fees and what the latest Australia Post data says about online fashion’s surprise comeback. In This Episode: Cyber...
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Revenge of the Boring Brands, Halloween Hype & Unexpected Collabs
It’s another jam-packed week in retail as we edge closer to peak season. In this episode, Mal and Alex cover the biggest stories across the e-commerce landscape—from unpredictable collabs to timeless classics making a comeback, and the rising retail moment that is Halloween. 💡 In this episode…
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Simon Beard’s Creator Army, Digital Passports & Trump’s 100% Tariff
This week, hosts Mal Chia and Alex Ross dive into one of the biggest news weeks of the year for global retail and ecommerce. From Simon Beard’s bold new Creator Army venture to the rise of Digital Product Passports and a 100% tariff on Chinese imports announced by Donald Trump, this episode…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
🎙️ This Week in Ecommerce is your weekly download on the headlines shaping Australian retail. Hosted by industry legend Mal Chia and rising star Alex Ross, each episode dives into the biggest stories—from billion-dollar deals to platform updates, policy shifts, and consumer trends. Sharp insights, no fluff, and plenty of honest takes. New episodes every Wednesday. Powered by Ecom Nation.
HOSTED BY
Ecom Nation
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does This Week In Ecommerce have?
This Week In Ecommerce currently has 162 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is This Week In Ecommerce about?
🎙️ This Week in Ecommerce is your weekly download on the headlines shaping Australian retail. Hosted by industry legend Mal Chia and rising star Alex Ross, each episode dives into the biggest stories—from billion-dollar deals to platform updates, policy shifts, and consumer trends. Sharp insights,...
How often does This Week In Ecommerce release new episodes?
This Week In Ecommerce publishes regularly with 162 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to This Week In Ecommerce?
You can listen to This Week In Ecommerce on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts This Week In Ecommerce?
This Week In Ecommerce is created and hosted by Ecom Nation.
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