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Online shopping

This Month

Myer’s executive chair Olivia Wirth says the deal to buy the five apparel brands is transformational.

Myer’s mega-expansion guards against Temu and Shein threat: expert

The independent assessors of the retailer’s proposed purchase of five Premier Investments chains say scale is needed to compete against cheap global giants.

  • Updated
  • Simon Evans
Phoebe Simmonds (left) and Kate Casey at The Memo in Bondi Junction, Sydney.

Frustration gives birth to ‘the Mecca of the baby world’

Phoebe Simmonds and Kate Casey saw customers embrace big changes in the beauty world. So they brought them to the baby industry.

  • Lauren Sams
The very name of Amazon’s new ‘Haul’ marketplace is a nod toward a trend of quantity over quality in shopping.

Amazon’s Temu copycat to fuel mindless Australian consumerism

The e-tailing giant’s “Haul” shopfront – an answer to cheap marketplaces that’s now on a US trial – is feeding a growing subculture of over-shopping.

  • Vanessa Friedman
Amazon has a number of large distribution centres and hopes to be able to do same-day delivery in every major city by 2026.

Amazon is quietly turning into a major rival for Coles and Woolworths

Goldman Sachs estimates it is now the second-largest online retailer in Australia, but sales are still a fraction of the big supermarkets. Will that change?

  • Updated
  • Carrie LaFrenz

November

CBA prepares for AI to transform banking, with dozens of uses

The country’s biggest bank is already using AI to resolve 15,000 payment disputes every day. And its chief executive, Matt Comyn, says many more uses are on the way.

  • James Eyers and Lucas Baird
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Adidas’ classic “Gazelle” trainer.

Fashion retailer The Iconic plots recovery, one Samba at a time

The boss of the popular fashion app is aiming to restore sales growth and shrink its net loss after a tough 12 months. But the field is getting crowded.

  • Updated
  • Carrie LaFrenz
Laura and David Oosterloo are the founders of Bali Body. They are seeking to raise outside capital for the first time for their self tanner brand.

Bronzed Bali Body seeks capital injection to fund growth spurt

The founders of the self tanner and skincare company are hoping to catch a wave of offshore interest from international buyers.

  • Carrie LaFrenz
Coles CEO Leah Weckert testified at the ACCC supermarket hearing on Thursday.

Coles says focusing only on low prices sent customers away

Appearing at a competition inquiry, chief executive Leah Weckert says experience has shown shoppers want more than just cheap products.

  • Updated
  • Carrie LaFrenz
Woolworths boss Amanda Bardwell speaks at the ACCC hearing on Tuesday.

Woolworths suppliers put on ‘holiday’ for price pushback, ACCC hears

The competition regulator’s public hearings have been told some producers did not receive any orders from the supermarket if they refused to drop prices.

  • Carrie LaFrenz
Kristy Bannister

Small retailers give a ‘hard no’ to Black Friday and the big sales

Dr Dough Donuts boss Kristy Bannister says discount blitzes like Black Friday do more harm than good for smaller retailers by creating “unsustainable” expectations.

  • Gus McCubbing
Koala founders Mitch Taylor and Dany Milham in the early days of the business.

Milkrun founder Milham returns to his roots at Koala

Koala co-founder Dany Milham will return to the chief executive role at the online furniture retailer he created in 2015, as it booked an annual profit.

  • Paul Smith

October

Cynthia Scott has navigated Zip Co back towards growth after rising interest rates in 2022 crunched the company’s valuation.

Zip banks on interest rate cuts as transaction volumes soar

The buy now, pay later group has endured a difficult two years and returned to growth, particularly in the US, where the majority of sales are processed.

  • James Eyers
Mark Coulter CEO of Temple & Webster has tuck to full year margin guidance. 

Temple & Webster sales growth slows

The online furniture retailer is the latest to show sales momentum is slowing this half.

  • Carrie LaFrenz
eBay isn’t as fun as it used to be. It’s less an auction site now, and more an online marketplace.

Ebay struggle’s to stay relevant

It’s become just another online marketplace, as the auctions that once added to the thrill of the chase now make up a small fraction of transactions.

  • Ben East
Foot Locker vice president Asia Pacific, Natalie Ellis, in the new store in Melbourne Central.

Foot Locker goes all in on basketball with new Melbourne mega-store

The American sporting giant is hoping to grab the attention of a generation of shoppers who have more choices than ever for where to buy their sneakers.

  • Carrie LaFrenz
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Dale Smedley (left) and Shaun Trevillian (right) are two former tradies who have built Golf Gods into a business generating sales of $6 million a year.

Ex-tradies go from zero to $6m by swinging for young golfers

Online retailer Golf Gods takes the “Happy Gilmore” approach to its line of offbeat clothing that aims to take the stuffiness out of the game.

  • Simon Evans
JPMorgan has done a deal with Quest to enter “merchant acquiring” in Australia where it will compete with major banks for retailers.

JPMorgan enters Australian payments as competition heats up

The world’s largest bank said it would start offering “merchant acquiring” services in Australia, in the latest threat to major banks’ payments margins.

  • James Eyers

September

Google plans to roll out AI Overviews in Australia very soon.

Google to test its artificial intelligence-powered search in Australia

Known as AI Overviews, the change is the biggest to the platform in years. But news publishers and e-commerce sites fear it could leave them out in the cold.

  • Sam Buckingham-Jones
Anthony Scali has big ambitions for his family’s furniture retailer.

Nick Scali wants to conquer Britain. Does it stand a chance?

The ASX-listed furniture retailer has made a big bet on the United Kingdom, where plenty of big Australian companies have come unstuck.

  • Hans van Leeuwen and Carrie LaFrenz
Rajneen Aroro wants to further her studies at Harvard.

What this exec has learnt from becoming a CEO at 29

In 2022, Rajneen Arora was the GM of Best Gift Group when the hospitality gift card company fielded a buyout offer. The deal was contingent on Arora becoming its chief executive.

  • Sally Patten

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/online-shopping-1mqs