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E-commerce

September

Athlete star power drives 600pc rise in undies company’s share price

Step One, a bamboo underwear producer for “bigger blokes”, had a difficult start on the ASX, but a new women’s fitness range has reversed the slump.

  • Simon Evans
Cettire’s reclusive founder Dean Mintz, pictured in February.

Is Cettire having a lend?

Even its most loyal of backers must by now agree this is a very kooky business.

  • Myriam Robin

July

Joshua Suntup, the founder of NDIS software start-up Caresquare, and investor Michael Frazis.

Frazis unveils venture capital fund, makes first investments

The Gen Y tech investor has nabbed stakes in a dozen start-ups in tech, health and e-commerce, thanks to $10 million raised from wealthy investors.

  • Tom Richardson

June

COSRX’s Snail Mucin cream became the most popular beauty product on Amazon last year.

Online shopping has become a giant fake-product machine

TikTok is better than any other digital platform for turning cult favourites into global bestsellers – and making counterfeiters money.

  • Amanda Mull
Yoox Net-A-Porter, owned by Richemont, is exiting China to focus on more profitable geographies.

Cettire quietly enters China’s rocky luxury goods market

The ASX-listed retail platform had flagged the move this year. But it comes as rivals including Yoox Net-a-Porter focus on “more profitable geographies”.

  • Carrie LaFrenz
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From left, Sleeping Duck co-founders Winston Wijeyeratne and Selvam Sinnappan.

Sleeping Duck wins court battle with biggest investor

Venture capitalist Adir Shiffman had alleged the mattress retailer had sidelined him from the business. The Supreme Court of Victoria threw out the case.

  • Tess Bennett

May

Larry Diamond is returning to Australia from where he will chair Zip US.

Zip’s Larry Diamond returning to Sydney, says US mission accomplished

Diamond says he heeded warnings from James Gorman, setting Zip onto a profitable path in the US, where he expects BNPL to keep winning share off credit cards.

  • James Eyers
Ruslan Kogan still works at his Melbourne office in a T-shirt and jeans.

Why Kogan stops interviews with marathon runners to hire them

BOSS sat down with Kogan.com founder Ruslan Kogan just as his share price collapsed by 30 per cent.

  • Patrick Durkin

April

Tesco is one of Britain's largest supermarket chains.

How supermarket shoppers became part of a $3.8b gold rush

As supermarkets hunt for new sources of revenues in an age of rising costs and narrowing margins, they have stumbled on one of their most valuable assets: data.

  • James Warrington

March

David Jones Amplify hopes to boost revenue by $35 million a year in its new retail media division.

David Jones pens new tech deal to power $35m fresh revenue

The Anchorage Capital-owned department store has signed up US advertising firm Criteo to help it boost revenue and profitability.

  • Carrie LaFrenz and Sam Buckingham-Jones
Booktopia director and former CEO, Tony Nash.

Booktopia vows to do anything to stay afloat

The boss of the book retailer says all options are on the table in a strategic review hastened by a disastrous share price performance.

  • Paul Smith
Shein and Temu were both founded in China and are rapidly expanding overseas, including in Australia.

From nothing to $1b: Inside Temu and Shein’s flying start in Australia

The fast fashion group and Temu, an ultra-cheap marketplace, are rewriting the rules of retailing as shoppers flock to their low-cost platforms.

  • Nick Bonyhady and Carrie LaFrenz
Coles CEO Leah Weckert is in a technology, as well as pricing battle with her supermarket rivals.

Customers may hate supermarket anti-theft tech, but investors don’t

Coles share price rise is partly due to its ability to take advantage of tech like artificial intelligence to stop thieves and appeal to more shoppers.

  • Paul Smith

February

Alibaba has launched another share buyback.

Alibaba approves another $38b in buybacks after sales slump

The Hangzhou-based group is trying to stage a comeback from years of brutal government punishment and strategic missteps.

  • Jane Zhang
Adore Beauty founder Kate Morris is likely to have options to exit the company after a failed acquisition bid last year.

The online beauty stock that will be a takeover target this year

Doubts remain on whether Adore Beauty is really a scalable business, but a failed PE takeover bid late last year will not be the last we hear of a profitable buyout.

  • Updated
  • Adir Shiffman
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December 2023

Amazon was something of a market leader in free shipping and quick delivery, but things have changed.

RIP to fast and free shipping

The urgency around overhauling retail businesses to offer speedy delivery at no extra cost turned out to be an expensive reaction to a momentary trend.

  • Leticia Miranda
Paul Rovere

Retail sector to bounce back in 2024 faster than expected

The sector will be helped by higher population growth and moderating interest rates, says KPMG partner James Stewart.

  • Carrie LaFrenz
Australia Post CEOs past and former: Ahmed Fahour, Christine Holgate and Paul Graham

How Australia Post CEO secured letters reprieve where others failed

The understated and straight shooting Paul Graham has pulled off what his “rock star” predecessors, Ahmed Fahour and Christine Holgate, could not.

  • Patrick Durkin
The government will announce on Wednesday the end of daily letter deliveries.

How new postie rounds will work when daily letters are dead

The Greens and crossbench senators have reserved their right to force a vote on changes to Australia Post that would end daily letter deliveries.

  • Patrick Durkin
The government looks set to dump daily letter delivery to keep Australia Post financially viable.

The six locations where AusPost is testing the end of daily letters

The government is expected to sign off on dropping such deliveries potentially as early as this week, as part of a restructure of Australia Post.

  • Patrick Durkin

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/e-commerce-hqm