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It's a stressful week for you if you have a heap of investment properties, you invested wisely in growing companies or you have a promising startup. Luckily, I'm not that smart. So it's BAU this week.
Enjoy
Bushy
P.S. We're launching something very cool today. Over the next five weeks, we will be giving away 10 tickets to Online Retailer, valued at $1,681 each. Have a look here to see how you can enter. Hint: the earlier you get your entry in, the better chance you've got of winning the tickets.
This week’s ecommerce news you should know
1. Amazon just killed Rufus and superpowered Alexa 💪
Amazon has launched Alexa for Shopping, folding its Rufus chatbot into Alexa+ to create a single AI shopping assistant that works across the app, Amazon.com and Echo Show devices. Rufus had 300 million users in 2025 and engagement was up 400% year on year. Now it's absorbed into something bigger. The new experience maintains context across all Amazon devices. Conversations flow both ways, shopping history informs Alexa, and Alexa informs shopping. It can reorder, track prices, build carts and eventually just buy things for you at your target price. I wonder where I can buy "Alexa Turn Off The F---ing Lights."
They also updated their Hear the Highlights feature, which lets you listen to product summaries while browsing and interrupt with questions.
Totally unrelated of course, Amazon employees went public about creating frivolous AI agents just to hit internal AI usage targets.
Amazon is not the online experience you're trying to copy. It’s an ecosystem play, don’t even try. But it is setting the tone for what consumers expect everywhere else.
2. eBay is in the fight of its life 🥊
You know that final scene in Fight Club where Edward Norton says "trust me, everything's going to be fine" And then all the buildings around him explode, shatter and collapse. Then it all settles down again he says “You met me at a very strange time in my life.” I feel like that's eBay right now.
This week, eBay rejected a $55.5 billion takeover bid from GameStop (the video game retailer) calling it "neither credible nor attractive." GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen argued his 1,600 store locations would give eBay a national network for authentication and fulfilment. eBay's board said thanks, but no thanks, citing uncertainty around how GameStop would actually finance a $55.5 billion deal.
Meanwhile, in Australia, eBay sent out an email this week with the subject line "Free shipping is here." Which was true, as long as you're not on a Pro plan, and your sales are under $25,000, and you're okay with the new mandatory buyer protection fee - a flat 30 cents per item plus 4–8% of the selling price. So… there is a fee.
At the same time, Hertz announced it's selling old rental cars on eBay and Vogue Australia is launching a vintage wardrobe on eBay for Australian Fashion Week. Blow it all up and start again.
3. Swap launches the agentic storefront. This could be real. 🤖
A few weeks ago, I posted about Runner AI claiming to be the first agentic ecommerce engine. Those who tested it quickly found out they were very good at PR and less so at ecommerce. This week, Swap has launched what it's calling the first agentic storefront. They've got more runs on the board, having served 800+ brands as a cross-border commerce and returns platform since 2022.
The concept is a dedicated .ai destination that sits alongside a brand's main .com site. It guides shoppers from discovery to virtual try-on to checkout in a single branded experience, without cannibalising the existing store. They're already claiming 2x conversion rates, 3x time on site and 20% fewer returns. Launch partners include Studio Nicholson and Retrofète - worth a look to see how it actually works. It's probably a stopgap between the traditional ecommerce experience and wherever AI commerce lands. But it might be a useful glimpse at what's coming.
Most brands lose time and money going global because they translate instead of localise. TransPerfect's Stephanie Rogers on how to fix that.
4. 72% of Australians are worried about AI in ads. The government's solution is a Word doc 📄
Roy Morgan research for Ad Standards found that 72% of Australians are concerned about the use of AI-generated content in advertising, and only one in five say they're confident they could identify it. The devil on one shoulder says respect that and be transparent with your customers. The devil on the other shoulder says maybe you're just not using enough AI then.
The government has also launched ai.gov.au, a national AI platform aimed at guiding small businesses in using AI safely and responsibly. While I applaud the intention, it's full of explainer articles that look like they were generated by CoPilot, with planning templates created in Word and PowerPoint ready to download. Perfect for your next monthly lunch-and-learn, with the cake Jenny baked the night before. It's a real missed opportunity to get small business owners hands-on with AI functionality to give them personalised starting points.
5. White Fox and the Coachella hangover 🦊
I know we posted about some of the great content coming out of Coachella this year, but the hangover is real for some brands. White Fox Boutique has been issued an Ad Standards breach over a TikTok featuring influencers declaring their missions for day one at the White Fox festival house, which included getting friends as drunk as possible and having as many tequila shots as possible. The complaint noted that White Fox is well-known and loved by teenagers. The panel agreed and found the ad in breach of the AANA Code of Ethics.
White Fox did not respond to the complaint, the ruling, or the request to remove or modify the content. The Ad Standards press release has since been removed. The matter has been referred to TikTok. The video was still live at time of writing. I couldn't find the exact clip. Bet you can't pay me to watch every video on their TikTok to find it. The Fox has some power.
If you work in ecommerce, you don’t have to figure it out alone. Inside the Add To Cart Community, you’ll find like-minded professionals, expert insights and live webinars. All for free.
This week’s discussions include:
🧐 Claude for Loyalty Programme Analysis - James shares the good and the bad
💼 WANTED: Shopify Developer - back + front-end - very cool brand
👚 Looking for a lead on suitable PIM Solutions - yep, that question from Wes
🔎 Free Behavioural Revenue audit - from some of the smartest people I know
Not in the Add To Cart community?
How to Create a Hero Product as an Entry Point
Most ecommerce brands can tell you their best-converting product. Fewer can tell you whether it's bringing in the right customer.
Those are two different questions, and the gap between them is where a lot of DTC businesses quietly bleed. The ROAS looks fine. The CAC looks manageable. Six months later, the repeat purchase rate tells a different story. You've been filling your database with people who buy once and disappear.
"If this person is buying for the first time a hat, it's like an entry to the brand. I do this as well when I'm shopping and I really like a brand, I'll quite often buy the hat first and then I'll be like, oh, I might buy the tee, I might buy the jacket."
Sam Moore has been rebuilding PYRA since he bought the brand back from AKA Brands and Culture Kings and had to start the customer base from scratch. He had no inherited emails, no purchase history, nothing. What emerged as the acquisition engine was headwear. Hats now make up about 25% of PYRA's revenue. High margin, no size risk, and a two-for-$100 bundle that keeps AOV healthy. But what Sam noticed about those customers is the part worth paying attention to.
Examples from this Playbook
🌸 Adam from Who Is Elijah found his Discovery Set buyers had the lowest LTV of any customer segment, so he pulled back on discounting the sample and shifted acquisition toward full-price products that attracted better customers.
👗 Lauren from Motto grew 127% in twelve months after ditching brand-level acquisition and betting everything on a single product chosen for its accessible price point, broad appeal and natural path to the next purchase.
👃 Laura from Snotty Noses surrounded a hero product that gets bought once with consumables that keep the same customer coming back. The device earned the trust and the ecosystem earned the revenue.
🔒 Rob from Quad Lock built a mount system where every addition makes the whole more valuable. 50% of customers acquired in 2017 were still customers years later, not because of discounts, but because leaving meant starting over.
