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 o...
12 Kesä 17min
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 Cha...
3 Kesä 21min
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...
27 Touko 22min
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 new...
21 Touko 16min
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 WhatsA...
13 Touko 22min
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...
29 Huhti 19min
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 ...
26 Huhti 18min
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 c...
16 Huhti 21min
