Sustainability Is a Hard Sell Right Now 🍂

We’re back! And yep, we’ve moved to Fridays. I know… we’re wild.

While catching up on eCom news - beyond the AI swooning and tariff chaos - the one that hit hardest was Zero Co shutting down.

I interviewed founder Mike Smith back in December 2022. He also joined us at Add To Cart Social in Melbourne last year. Always passionate. Always driven. His mission to untrash the planet one plastic bottle at a time always got me excited. But passion alone isn’t enough, especially in a post-COVID, cost-of-living world.

And it’s not just Zero Co. Circonomy. Arnsdorf. Designerex. All hit a wall. I honestly can’t name a game-changing sustainable-led retailer that’s thriving right now. Many are just hanging on.

Running a sustainable business is bloody hard. You’re like Gout Gout’s weird uncle sprinting the Retail Stawell Gift in pluggers. Massive disadvantage.

You start from scratch. New packaging. New sourcing. New messaging. Off-the-shelf doesn’t cut it.

It’s expensive. Slow. Hard to explain. Long-term and invisible. Not a rocket-emoji kind of business. Doesn’t help cash flow. Doesn’t excite investors.

Your pool of partners shrinks. You spend more. You give more away. And you get judged harder than anyone else.

Customers care. Until price wins. Maslow always wins.

Even when you succeed, you get copied. Usually by someone doing a half-arsed greenwash.

Honestly, name a passionless accountant who would take this on?

So yep, it’s sad to see Zero Co go. But credit to Mike and the team. They challenged the norm. Opened the door. Hopefully made the path a little easier for the next brave crew.

Cheers,
Bushy

ECOMMERCE NEWS (from the past week)

💬 Shopping in GPT: Google killer, personal creep
Have you heard that ChatGPT will now show you shopping results? Oh, you have? Obviously, there’s more excitement about this than Robert Irwin in his underwear, so I'll refer you to the Openai official announcement, which outlines how it works and links to more detailed information on how products are selected. Start here and go out.

There's a lot of talk about it being a Google killer, but for me, the memory piece is the biggest kicker here. We are turning our GPT of choice (OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, or, heaven forbid, Llama) into our personal stylist, as well as our study buddy, creative partner, research mule, and, if Zuck has his way, intimate confidante. And to think we were worried about cookies. We have a great conversation going about the impact of this development in the Add To Cart Community.

🥷 M&S Hack Is a Wake-Up Call
UK retailer Marks & Spencer has paused online orders for almost a week in response to a cyberattack. They do £3.8M a day. Their share price is down 3% this week. A group called Scattered Spider are thought to be behind the attack, which encrypted key systems with ransomware. A glaring reminder to ensure that best practice security measures are in place (see the Essential Eight as a starting point) and that cyber incident response plans are in place. No one is immune.

🥱 76% Say Online Shopping Is Boring
You’re in the doghouse. According to new Criteo research (PDF), 76% of customers say online shopping has lost its spark, describing it as lacking surprise or delight. Ooft. 73% say it is practical but not exciting. 79% say it is lonely. And 29% said it is a chore. Maybe it’s time to book a fancy restaurant and light some candles. Customers say easy access to customer support, positive reviews, and an unexpected, memorable ad may reignite the spark. God speed.

🪀 Nostalgia Isn’t Just Cute - It Converts
Not to fear, though, UserTesting has found that 81% of Aussies can name a brand they are faithful to. On average, it’s five…. maybe we stop the relationship metaphor here. Interestingly, over half said they would pay extra if their brand brought back a nostalgic, retired product - think Banana Quik, Sega Dreamcast, or Crystal Pepsi. Time to check the stockroom and see what you have on hand.

🍳 The ‘MUM-NIPULATE’ Campaign You Can’t Unsee
Look, when I read the headline ‘Kitchen Warehouse Launches ‘MUM-NIPULATE’ Campaign’, my head went somewhere else - that dash is in an awkward place. But it’s a fun and slightly evil idea from Kitchen Warehouse. Mums can visit the site, pick the product they want, and they will ‘chase your family around the internet with ads for it’. Dads and kids lose. Trade desks win.

Got opinions on the top news stories this week? Join Add To Cart CAMPUS, our free learning community for ecommerce professionals to discuss in our Inspiration Library.

JOIN US FOR TRIVIA AT RETAIL FEST!

We thought we’d mix it up this Retail Fest and have a trivia night - because who doesn’t love a bit of friendly competition and dressing up as a Gold Coast bogan? Tickets are $20, which includes entry, drinks and nibbles, with all money going to Thread Together. Thanks to Shippit and impact.com for being our partners for the night!

Join the waitlist here - we will be releasing tickets to retailers first 🎉

(We’ve got two more tables available for partners if you are keen to join. Call me.)

ADD TO CART IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY

NEW EPISODES

I'd love to hear from you! Got an opinion on today’s topics? Have a suggestion for future newsletters? I’d love to hear from you. Hit reply and I’ll get back to you.

WORK WITH NATHAN

Nathan Bush is an independent Australian ecommerce transformation consultant, with expertise in marketing, technology, and team leadership. If you're looking for fresh ideas, facing key decisions, or implementing significant investments, I'd love to work with you. Learn more and get in touch.