Why You’re Already Behind if You’re Not Using AI in eCommerce

Liam:

Hello. Incredibly excited to have you on today’s episode of the podcast. We met for the first time properly in New Zealand a couple of months ago at the Moustache Republic event, which was an incredible day. There were so many great brands in the room. You definitely brought the high energy and the jokes. I heard that you were actually thrown on stage last minute. I’m not sure if that’s true. But excited to have you. So many people know who you are, and you’ve been incredibly impactful on so many businesses here in Australia. Obviously Moustache is one of the most well known, fastest growing agencies, working with some pretty incredible brands. But you as an individual have also had a tremendous impact on these brands’ growth and their overall story, and continue to today. I’m excited for people to hear Laura’s journey and who you are as a person. Maybe that’s a good place to kick off. Let’s share with the audience your story. You’re a mom. You’re busy in your career. Tell us a bit about your journey.

Laura:

Thank you for having me. I used to do a lot of content and podcasts, and then the last two years I kind of stopped, so I appreciate this. It’s a bit different for me to talk about myself. I’m sure we’ll talk about you and Instant as well, so thank you for having me. My journey started in Scotland. This is not an Irish accent, it’s a Scottish one. I’ve been in Australia for fifteen years and I’m actually getting my citizenship on Australia Day. It took me having two kids and them having Australian passports to finally think, “Okay, I should commit to the country.” So fifteen years in Australia. It’s the best country in the world to live in. Maybe not the easiest place to do business, but definitely the best place to live. I first came here sponsored by eBay. My first five years in Australia were working in marketplaces at a super exciting time. Websites were barely functional back then and marketplaces were the big thing. eBay was essentially the only major marketplace. A group of us were traveling around speaking to brands about why marketplaces mattered. Looking at where we are today, we were really right at the beginning of that journey. My background is actually fashion. I studied fashion design at university and graduated with first class honours. I came from a strong fashion base but quickly realized my skill set wasn’t to be the designer but to enable designers. So I went on to do a master’s in business. Before coming to Australia I worked in menswear buying in the UK. The recession hit and it was a terrible time, and that’s when I got the opportunity to move to Australia through eBay. After five years there I moved into consultancy and then became General Manager of Digital for a pharmacy group that had around four brands. That role was particularly interesting because China was the big topic at the time. Later I met Tony, the founder of Moustache Republic. Seven years ago the agency was quite small. Tony had a few cool brands and it was primarily a Magento agency. He wanted to pivot toward Shopify, which was just starting to become a major platform. At that point Tony wasn’t even a Shopify partner and had maybe built a couple of websites. I came in and immediately thought this made sense. I took a shareholding in the agency and we scaled it. It was a great journey. Earlier this year I decided it was time for me to leave. Still huge respect for Tony. He’s like my Chinese brother.

Liam:

How did you get into ecommerce in the first place? Obviously eBay played a role. You studied fashion design, then business, and now everything has come together in ecommerce. What drew you into it?

Laura:

Honestly nothing from university pointed me toward ecommerce. The way I got into it was through fashion. I worked as a menswear buyer, so I already knew many brands. At the time UK professionals with fashion experience were quite valuable in Australia. That helped me get sponsored. So I entered through the fashion side and learned the tech side as I went. I was initially speaking to retailers about why marketplaces mattered, and then naturally the conversation shifted to how to implement them. That’s when the tech and enablement aspect became important. Eventually moving into the agency world made sense because I felt a bit like a fraud telling brands what they should do without helping them execute it. I wanted to say: “Liam, you should go global. You should sell on these marketplaces. You should build on Shopify.” And then follow that up with: “Here is the technology you should use and here’s how you actually execute it.” That was the next step for me. At Moustache we worked with brands like P Nation, JD Sports, Birdsnest, HealthPost and many others.

Liam:

A lot of them are Instant brands now as well.

Laura:

Exactly. You guys became a great partner over the last couple of years. This year it was just time for me to try something different.

Liam:

What are your thoughts on marketplaces today? You started your career there, back when they were huge and before platforms like Shopify made ecommerce easier. Where do you see marketplaces going?

Laura:

I’m still a massive believer in marketplaces. Some consolidation had to happen. There were too many marketplaces without clear differentiation. Retailers also became better. But if you look at the US for example, around sixty cents of every ecommerce dollar is spent on Amazon. So if a brand launches in the US and ignores Amazon completely, that’s a huge missed opportunity. Marketplaces need a strategy though. It’s not spray and pray. Brands need to ask which marketplaces actually make sense for them. For example in Australia you might consider The Iconic, Amazon and eBay. You might decide Amazon locally isn’t the right channel, but Amazon US absolutely is. Amazon is also the largest retail media platform. You cannot really participate in that ecosystem unless your inventory exists on Amazon. Their FBA logistics model also makes expansion easier.

Liam:

When founders expand into new markets, how should they think about it? For Instant we actually had to embed ourselves in the US to really understand the market. It was so different from Australia. Buying behavior is different. Data expectations are different. People experiment more. How should founders approach that?

Laura:

You definitely need to validate first. I believe marketplaces can help brands land and expand in new markets. Amazon in particular can help with logistics through FBA. Many Australian brands start by shipping from Australia and later move fulfillment into the US once demand grows. Working in retail is hard and Australia has a small population. Expanding internationally becomes essential. If fifty percent of your revenue comes from the US, you should probably already have fulfillment there. That’s the next stage of growth.

Liam:

You’ve worked with some incredible brands. What are the traits of the fastest growing ones? Do they experiment more? Is it about hiring? Product?

Laura:

Everything is nuanced. Most of the brands I advise now are not startups. They’re scale ups doing fifty million plus in revenue with both online and retail channels. The biggest challenge they face is operationalizing growth. They need to answer questions like: Do we have the right team? How do we move fast strategically? What does AI mean for our company over the next year? Quick wins usually come from auditing three areas: CRO and website experience, CRM, and digital marketing. Those audits usually reveal immediate opportunities.

Liam:

What are the biggest mistakes brands make in digital marketing?

Laura:

Many brands don’t have a real three year strategy. I ask rooms full of retailers if they have one, and almost nobody raises their hand. Companies need a clear philosophy around technology and growth. Are we going global or not? What revenue target are we aiming for? What does success look like? You start with a three year plan and then work backward into a one year plan. Too many companies are simply firefighting from one Black Friday to the next.

Liam:

You’ve posted a lot recently about AI, especially around agencies versus bringing work in house. What are your thoughts?

Laura:

I think the agency world is changing. We moved from custom tech to Magento to Shopify. Now we’re entering a new phase again. Execution based agency models are becoming less valuable. The future is more about strategic guidance and growth. Brands should absolutely ask their agencies: “What are you doing with AI?” “How are you using it to create more value for us?” If the agency cannot answer that, they’re already behind.

Liam:

Do you think companies fall behind if they ignore AI right now?

Laura:

Yes. Avoiding AI is not an option. But brands also need guardrails. They need to decide what role AI plays within their values. Some brands might go fully AI driven. Others might only use AI as a supplement to real content. For example H&M is experimenting with licensing AI versions of real models. The model still gets paid while the brand can generate more content. That’s an interesting middle ground.

Liam:

Do you think AI will reduce the importance of influencers?

Laura:

No. I think influencers will remain important. AI may actually strengthen them because brands can scale content using their likeness with proper agreements. AI should supplement creativity, not replace it. Personally I wouldn’t want every piece of content from a brand to be AI generated.

Liam:

One final question. What is the most important thing you’ve worked on in your career?

Laura:

Honestly I hope the most important things are still ahead. But something I’m proud of is building a portfolio career. Two years ago I decided I didn’t want to only work behind founders helping them scale businesses. So I started investing, part owning gyms, and building a portfolio of assets. That gave me independence while still allowing me to help founders grow their companies. The relationships I’ve built along the way are probably what I’m most proud of. Helping people find jobs, supporting businesses, and giving back to the community. That’s what lets me sleep well at night.

Liam:

I think being part of the evolution from marketplaces to Magento to Shopify is already a huge legacy. And the work you’ve done helping brands grow and execute strategy has been incredible. Thanks for joining the podcast.

Laura:

Thank you. It was lovely to be here. And thank you for inspiring an old lady like me with what you’ve built at 22.

Marketplaces still matter — roughly sixty cents of every US ecommerce dollar flows through Amazon, and brands that ignore it are leaving serious revenue on the table

Most scaling brands aren’t failing on strategy, they’re failing on execution — the fastest growing ones audit their CRO, CRM, and digital marketing first and work backward from a three year plan

AI isn’t optional anymore, but brands need guardrails — agencies that can’t articulate how they’re using AI are already behind

00:00 Intro & Laura’s Journey

04:20 Entering Ecommerce

08:00 Marketplaces Today

12:00 Going Global

16:00 Scaling Brands

20:25 AI & Agencies

24:20 Strategy Over Execution

28:55 AI Guardrails

32:25 Portfolio Career

35:45 Final Takeaways