Nathan Bush: Before we get into today's chat, I want to share a little resource that we've just released. As you might know, in our checkout episodes, I ask our e commerce guests, do you have a book or a podcast that you recommend our listeners get into? Well, I've taken all of those book recommendations and there's over a hundred of them, plus the stories that go behind them and put them into their own book called the Book Recommendations of E Commerce Experts. Yeah, I know. It's totally original. You will never, ever run out of reading ideas again. You can download that one now for free over on addtocart.com.
[Voiceover]: Welcome to the checkout. We catch up with previous add to cart guests and ask them five quick questions to get to know them better and leave you with a little extra inspiration to get through your Friday. Here's your host, Bushy.
Nathan Bush: Today's checkout features Hannah Yudena, head of partnerships for Shopify in Australia and New Zealand. Hannah works with agencies to develop and grow their footprint within the Shopify ecosystem. Hannah joined us on a special episode brought to you by Shopify, where we discuss the findings that have come out of Shopify's most recent market research, the Australian Retail Report.
Nathan Bush: Hannah, welcome to the checkout.
Hannah Udina: Hello, Bushy. Lovely to be here.
Nathan Bush: Great to have you here. Now, we've heard a lot about the Australian Retail Report at Shopify, but we're here to learn a little bit more about you. I've got five quick questions. Number one, hit me. You might not be saying that later. What's the weirdest thing that you've ever bought online?
Hannah Udina: Oh, do you know, this is such a good question context here, and it's probably tmi, but I went gray really young. Right? It's not. It's not something I'm proud of, and it's something I very much hate. But those gray hairs get me anyway. I got advertised a hair serum and hair tablets that are meant to reverse gray hairs. Now, they didn't work, but you bet I absolutely bought them. And I'm gonna say that that's probably my weirdest purchase I've made online.
Nathan Bush: How long did you take them for before you realized that they didn't work?
Hannah Udina: A good six months. It was bad.
Nathan Bush: Just embrace it.
Hannah Udina: Just no hard. No hard.
Nathan Bush: No hard.
Hannah Udina: No.
Nathan Bush: All right. I'm not. I'm not here to give you style advice. All right, number two, who is your favorite retailer?
Hannah Udina: Oh, so I just love Camila and Mark. I think they're my favorite. I love their clothes. I love the quality. I Love the experience. I definitely spent upbeat with them this end of financial year. Sale time, that's on the clothes side now the from the beauty side because also I, you know, love my clothes, love my beauty, is probably banging body. I just love Priscilla. I love what she stands for and I love her product.
Nathan Bush: Great stuff. Can I assume both Shopify merchants?
Hannah Udina: Both Shopify merchants. Pushy, of course, coincidence. But you know, the thing is, is that they, they're the best. Hey, we've got the best merchants on our platform.
Nathan Bush: All right, number three, which e commerce practice do you wish was history?
Hannah Udina: This is also a good one. I'm going to say discounting, like heavy aggressive discounting just because I don't think that it's number one, sustainable. And you know, fast fashion kind of aligns with, with heavy discounting. I don't think it's good for the environment. I also just think in terms of high tides rise ships or whatever the saying is, you know, we want to make sure that we are supporting businesses to be profitable. So yeah, that for me is, is what I wish ended.
Nathan Bush: Do you find a lot of retailers are still relying on discounting to cut through?
Hannah Udina: Yeah, I do, I do. And I, I think that there's merit in discounting and, you know, this end of financial year, I think we've seen a lot of it. And ultimately, when it comes to making sure that you have a business is better than no business, but I do also think there's something to say for sustainable discounting and making sure that you're not doing it just because everyone else is.
Nathan Bush: Yeah. And that was one of the key parts of our conversation around the retail report is around creating value. Not necessarily by just reducing prices, but how do you create value for your customers?
Hannah Udina: Correct point. Yep, correct.
Nathan Bush: Number four, can you recommend a book
Nathan Bush: or a podcast that our listeners should immediately get into?
Hannah Udina: I love, and I'm sure that a lot of people who come on the checkout will tell you this. I love Stephen Barlett's diary of a CEO. I think that he's got an awesome lineup of guests. He gives really actionable, practical advice and the topics that he discusses are diverse. Right. So there's something in there for everyone. For me, I just love him. That's on my daily listen. So I highly recommend that everyone, if they haven't already, start listening. But in particular, I want to call out a recent episode that he did with Mo Godad. I think that's how you say his name, on the rise of AI and the impact to society. I think it was A great listen and something that everyone should definitely put on there listening list.
Nathan Bush: Awesome.
Nathan Bush: And we will, we will add a
Nathan Bush: link to that episode for people to put on their listening list.
Hannah Udina: Is that a new thing?
Nathan Bush: I don't know. You made that up right then.
Hannah Udina: Did I just coin a new topic? I just made that up. So I think that sounds great.
Nathan Bush: Now you are being incredibly humble there. I think there's another podcast that I think you should be giving a plug to that you're a bit close to.
Hannah Udina: Are you talking about my own. My own podcast? Yes. Yeah.
Nathan Bush: The ideal time to drop that in.
Hannah Udina: Oh, it is. Well, look, I, I decided at the start of the year an opportunity, an opportunity arose that kind of put myself and Carmel Zane, who is awesome, shout out to her. We got an opportunity to launch our own podcast and it really pushed me out of my comfort zone. But we decided that in terms of the. You've done a great job, Bushy, at cultivating a e commerce community. We thought we'd do the same but with more of a female founder led vibe to it. Ultimately we just want to hear great stories from great people. So yes, I do have a podcast and it's been an awesome experience. I love it. It's called Humble Brags and Shopping Bags and I would love if everyone wanted to go and take a listen, subscribe and let me know what you think. But yeah, you know, you're the OG Bushy, so I love the fact that I can come on here and we can talk all things podcast together.
Nathan Bush: Exactly. There's plenty of room for everyone and you've got some great stories on there. So far I've loved checking it out. So great job. Check it out if you haven't already. Last question for you, Hannah, finish this sentence. The future of retail is ever evolving.
Hannah Udina: The future of retail is ever evolving. And you know what? How exciting. I really think in five years, maybe even sooner than that, three years, we're going to have better experiences, better access to technology and it's going to rise. The lift, the lift, the standard that everyone has to, has to kind of see to. So I'm really excited for what's to come in the future of retail, personally.
Nathan Bush: What's the evolution you're looking forward to most? What are we going to overturn?
Hannah Udina: What are we going to overturn? That's such a good question. I'd like to think that we're going to overturn just bad business practices. I, I really do. I'm a fundamental believer that AI is a great thing and it will create better businesses in that we're all a lot more efficient, a lot more lean, we're a lot more considered in terms of how we're doing business. So I think that that is going to influence retail in a great way. Right?
Nathan Bush: Awesome. I love it. And we chat a lot about AI in our Australian Retail Report episode with Simon Hannah. Thank you so much for joining us on the checkout.
Hannah Udina: No thank you. Excited to be here.
Nathan Bush: To hear more from Hannah, jump back into episode 318 where Hannah is joined by Culture King's co founder Simon Beard to discuss how to create perceived value for customers and avoid the doom loop of discounting. We cover how to create profitable experiential stores, not just marketing exercises. And we talk about when the right time is to sell your business, with Simon sharing some personal insights on why and when he chose to sell. And in an Add to Cart exclusive, Hannah gives us the details on a new Shopify AI feature which will give retailers intelligent insights on demand. Thanks for listening and until next time, keep adding to Cart.
