In today's exclusive episode, Merline McGregor, Pattern's Managing Director AZN, joins Add To Cart to unpack what that shift really means for brands navigating Amazon, TikTok Shop and AI-driven discovery. From Amazon’s continued dominance to the uncomfortable truth that your brand might already be selling on marketplaces without your control, this conversation challenges the idea that everything should still funnel neatly back to your DTC site.

Today, we're discussing:

• Why over 90% of Aussies are now shopping via marketplaces
• The real reason Amazon keeps winning in Australia
• What “retail readiness” actually means for brands
• Why your product might already be on Amazon, without you controlling it
• How TikTok Shop could reshape ecommerce team structures
• The shift from single-channel ecommerce to fragmented commerce

Pattern's Consumer Marketplace Report 2026 now available here.

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Explore Pattern

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Download Shippit's Commerce Delivery Report 2026 for free.

At NRF in New York, Shopify and Google announced something that could quietly reshape the foundations of ecommerce: the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP).

In this episode, James Johnson, Enterprise Leader at Shopify Australia, joins Bushy to unpack what UCP actually is, why agentic commerce is accelerating faster than most retailers realise, and what operators should be doing right now to prepare.

Because while AI shopping sounds futuristic, the data says it’s already happening: Since January last year, Shopify has seen a 9x increase in AI traffic to merchant storefronts and a 14x increase in orders originating from AI searches. This isn’t theory. It’s distribution.

Today, we're discussing:

• What the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) actually is, and why it’s more than just another tech acronym
• The 9x growth in AI traffic and 14x growth in AI-originated orders
• Why agentic commerce is a new distribution channel, not the death of the storefront
• How AI agents like Gemini, ChatGPT and Copilot are reshaping product discovery
• The difference between AI traffic and AI conversion
• How tools like Shopify’s Knowledge Base and Sidekick prepare you now
• What retailers should be doing in the next 12 months

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Explore Shopify

Download Shippit's Commerce Delivery Report 2026 for free. 

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Dave Thompson, founder of Run Remote and Hometime, has built and operated businesses across ecommerce, marketplaces and venture studios, and what stood out wasn’t a tactic, it was a mindset. He kept coming back to one word: leverage. Designing businesses so they scale through systems, distributed teams and smart tooling, not just headcount. 

In this Playbook, we revisit Dave’s philosophy and connect it with lessons from Alice Williams (Ovira), Damien Smith (Boozebud) and Serene Lim (Gellae). All very different operators, all solving the same problem: how to grow without just throwing more people at it.

In Today’s Playbook:

• Why hiring is often a reflex, and what to question before you post the job ad
• How Dave Thompson designs businesses around leverage, not headcount
• Why distributed teams and modern tools create capital efficiency at scale
• How Ovira restructured roles to remove handoffs and speed up decision-making
• Why shared tech architecture prevents duplicated teams as you grow
• How Gellae uses automation to remove repetitive work without killing creativity

Connect with Dave Thompson
Explore Run Remote and Hometime
RunRemote’s main episode
Ovira’s episode
BoozBud’s episode
Gellae’s episode

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Want to level up your ecommerce game? Come hang out in the Add To Cart Community. We’re talking deep dives, smart events, and real-world inspo for operators who are in it for the long haul.

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As the Founder of IGU Global, Nick Gray has spent decades inside some of the world’s most influential brands including Nike, Adidas and Westfield. Today, he works with ecommerce and retail leaders who feel stuck between optimisation, automation and a creeping sense that something isn’t quite landing with customers anymore.

On today’s episode of Add To Cart, Nick joins Nathan Bush and Rosa-Clare Willis (making her first superstar appearance on the pod as co-host) to unpack why so many brands are doing “everything right” and still struggling to build trust, loyalty and momentum.

Today, we’re discussing:

• Why emotion drives ecommerce decisions long before logic
• The difference between convincing customers and helping them decide
• How over-optimisation creates doubt instead of trust
• Why AI should amplify judgment, not replace it
• What emotionally intelligent brands do differently online

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Explore IGU Global

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James Hurman, founder of Previously Unavailable and one of the sharpest marketing strategists in the region, analysed data across dozens of retail brands and billions of dollars in transactions. What he found flips the default ecommerce logic on its head. Growth didn’t come from retaining more customers. It came from retaining the customers who increased their spend over time.

That insight became the foundation for this Playbook.

In this Playbook:

• Why the brands retaining the most customers are often growing the slowest
• How to identify which retained customers actually increase lifetime value
• What Culture Kings learned about “toxic products” and one-and-done buyers
• Why Who Is Elijah stopped discounting its Discovery Set
• How Ryderwear protects margin by excluding high-propensity buyers from discounts
• The difference between retention volume and retention value
• How to rebalance loyalty and penetration for sustainable ecommerce growth

Connect with James
Explore Previously Unavailable
James’ main episode
Culture Kings’ main episode
Who Is Elijah’s main episode
Ryderwear’s main episode

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Want to level up your ecommerce game? Come hang out in the Add To Cart Community. We’re talking deep dives, smart events, and real-world inspo for operators who are in it for the long haul.

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Can ecommerce still be simple? And can it still scale?

Cooki Haircare is a solid shampoo and conditioner brand Jaimee and her husband Lucas acquired as a “business in a box”, originally doing just four sales a day. Fast forward, and the brand is now generating over $3 million in annual revenue, powered by a lean team, a tight channel mix, and an unusually deep connection with its customers.

Today’s conversation is a masterclass in restraint, and why sometimes, doing less is what unlocks growth.

Today, we’re discussing:

• Scaling ecommerce profitably with a lean, lifestyle-first setup
• Why focus on one channel can outperform spreading across many
• Using customer reviews as a growth engine, not just social proof
• Building a niche brand through product obsession and clarity
• How deep customer understanding drives conversion, bundles and retention

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Explore Cooki Haircare

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In the early days, culture just exists. The founder’s in the building. Decisions are fast. Everyone knows why the business exists and how things get done. It’s messy, but it works. But then the brand grows. Headcount increases. Layers appear. Process sneaks in. Suddenly, the thing that once felt like an advantage starts to feel fragile. Not broken, just thinner. Harder to rely on.

Today's Playbook pulls together lessons from operators who’ve been through that exact moment and come out the other side. Not by trying to “protect the vibe”, but by treating culture like infrastructure: something that has to be designed, maintained, and occasionally rebuilt.

In today's playbook:

• Why team culture usually breaks during change, not growth
• How to build trust before introducing process and structure
• The role of communication rituals in stabilising teams at scale
• Why measuring trust beats chasing engagement scores
• How calm leadership prevents culture from fracturing under pressure
• Using team culture as a quality control mechanism as you scale

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Explore Culture Kings
Culture Kings’ episode
Birdsnest’s episode
The Body Shop’s episode
Ecosa’s episode

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Five years ago, Danielle joined us as the founder with a bold idea, a bootstrapped balance sheet, and a firm belief that Merry People would never discount. Fast forward to today and the business looks very different. International revenue now makes up half of sales. The team has grown to more than 30 people. There’s a physical retail store. And Danielle has navigated global expansion, copycats, tariffs, two children, and the emotional weight of scale… still not discounting.

This episode isn’t a victory lap. It’s a check-in on what happens after the breakout. 

Today, we're discussing:

• What actually compounds over five years in ecommerce
• Why never discounting became a brand asset, not a constraint
• How international growth forces you to rebuild your playbook
• The hidden emotional cost of scaling while starting a family
• Why reflection, restraint, and saying no matter more at scale

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Explore Merry People

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In this Add To Cart Playbook, Bushy revisits three recent episodes that all land on the same insight from different angles: fit isn’t a logistics problem, it’s a confidence problem. When customers don’t trust the outcome, they hesitate, bounce, or buy three sizes and hope for the best. And the most expensive part of that behaviour is the bit brands never see: the sale that never happened.

In today's Playbook: 

• Why size anxiety is one of the biggest hidden conversion killers in fashion ecommerce
• How confidence at the decision point drives higher conversion and AOV
• Why fit should be treated as a pre-purchase experience, not a post-purchase problem
• How AS Colour uses hero franchises to reduce PLP overwhelm
• Why “try before you buy” can outperform traditional checkout models
• How removing commitment can unlock higher-value customers

Connect with Zoltan
Explore Magic Fit
Magic Fit’s Episode
AS Colour’s Episode
Try With Mirra’s Episode

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In this episode of Add To Cart, Bushy chats with Maheer Shah, founder of Dr Grillz, a.k.a a dentist who turned a cultural obsession into a global, made-to-order ecommerce business. What began as a passion project quickly became something much bigger: a brand sitting at the intersection of self-expression, trust, and technology, built without a typical target market or ecommerce playbook.

Today, we're discussing:

• Building visibility for a product that doesn’t fit a traditional ecommerce persona
• Why psychographics matter more than demographics when your audience is everywhere
• Turning a high-trust, bespoke product into a scalable ecommerce system
• The role of culture, emotion, and status in purchase decisions
• Using technology like 3D printing and AR to remove friction, not add hype
• Why passion-led ideas aren’t “too niche”; they’re often the most defensible

Connect with Dr. Maheer Shah
Explore Dr Grillz

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Support the show

Want to level up your ecommerce game? Come hang out in the Add To Cart Community. We’re talking deep dives, smart events, and real-world inspo for operators who are in it for the long haul.

Connect with Nathan Bush
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