E-commerce’s race to the bottom: and why it feels so gross
Why am I being educated by a guy who got rich from wearable blankets made of plastic?
Sales make me want to vomit. I would rather reconcile 200 xero transactions, run up Heartbreak Hill in Rose Bay or take a shot of Ruskov before asking people to spend their disposable income on a purchase that indirectly benefits me.
Alas, I am in charge of growing the brand at Nonna’s Grocer where we are a small team, with big dreams and a tight budget. While I love most aspects of my job, navigating the digital marketing landscape of 2025 is heinous.
Digital Marketing is Spooky
When Nonna’s Grocer was launched during COVID, it experienced substantial organic growth and demand. Design and food lovers were captivated by our innovative product and thoughtful brand. But we soon learned that having a great product and loyal customer base wasn’t enough for a non-essential* product like ours.
Today, growing an online brand without a massive creative or PR budget requires deploying calculated, psychology-driven tactics that cater to short attention spans and instant gratification. Without these tactics, it’s like being at the Era’s tour, trying to get a message to a friend on the other side of the stadium with no phone signal.
These tactics include everything from the obvious to the subtle, such as:
the colour of your ‘add to cart’ button
using software to segment customers for targeted promotions based on spending habits
sending separate marketing emails based on whether you are an active customer or not
This is a sampling of hundreds of available tactics. Here’s a list of 86 of them I downloaded from a growth marketing resource if you care to learn more.
The so called marketing gurus
My instagram algorithm prompted this newsletter. It’s now flooded with business-bro influencers telling me everything I’m doing wrong with my brand, claiming they have the ‘secret’ to turning my revenue into 8 or 9 figures. Sure.
A prominent leader in this space is Davie Fogarty, Founder of ‘Oodie’ and now Shark Tank Australia judge who positions himself as an e-commerce messiah through his acquisition after achieving $85 million in revenue.
I’ll acknowledge that there are inspiring elements to the story: Davie is only 30, speaks candidly about his failures and has bought his family their dream home. I’ll likely never achieve a fraction of his financial success.
Yet it’s troubling that in a relatively modern online space - dominated by younger people compared to traditional business - the ‘winner’ succeeded by selling a deeply unsustainable product.
Oodies are made from a synthetic fibre commonly derived from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) - the same plastic used to make single-use water bottles. With approximately 10 million Oodies sold, each weighing two kilos, that's 20 million kilos of plastic riddled waste. And I’d wager that most Oodies weren’t intended as long term purchases.
Does your brand or product even matter these days?
What the current digital marketing education offerings teach us is that you don’t need a sustainable product or strong brand. Just thousands of dollars to learn from people like Fogarty about increasingly aggressive and often sinister digital marketing techniques.
Though, in a recent newsletter, Frank Body co-founder, Jessica Hatzis emphasised the importance of brands focussing on community building and emotional customer connections for long-term success. She cited Glossier and Gym Shark as examples of brands that prioritised community and customer retention over aggressive acquisition-at-all-costs techniques.
Unfortunately, a lot of small business owners and consumer product founders aren’t subscribing to high quality content about brand building. They are time poor and bombarded by performance marketers (using their performance marketing techniques) offering quick fixes to problems that probably can’t be found in a webinar run by a hoodie-wearing 28-year-old from his bedroom.
Let’s all hold hands and block our eyes
If you’re a founder, know that I feel your pain trying to avoid this hellscape. It’s exhausting, demoralising, and occasionally soul-crushing to spend more time tweaking email subject lines than thinking about the actual product you care about.
If you’re a consumer, pay very close attention. Your clicks, scrolls, and purchases are currency. Scrutinise the products. Support brands that may not be algorithmically shoved in your face but feel authentic, imperfect, a little rough around the edges. That’s often where the good stuff lives. Look for brands that make you smile, think or feel a flicker of connection beyond just wanting your money.
*I would argue that ornate, handmade candles that look and smell like lemons are essential.