Draft: hidden from Google until Dan signs it off.
E-commerce marketing is everything that gets the right shoppers to your online store and gets them to buy: Google Shopping, SEO, Meta and social ads, email, and now AI shopping assistants. I'm a marketing consultant on the Central Coast, NSW, working with online stores across Australia. Most stores I look at don't have a traffic problem. They have a margin problem hiding behind a good-looking ROAS. So I start with what a sale is actually worth to you, then work back to where your shoppers are.
Written by Dan Picken, founder. Last checked 25 October 2026.Spend is up, baskets are smaller, and households now buy from about 16 different brands a year. More competition for smaller orders. Winning now means being found in more places, and making sure each order actually makes money.
How online shoppers buy
They see it on Instagram, search it on Google, read the reviews, ask ChatGPT, check the price on Amazon, then come back to you. Or they don't. Every stop is a chance to win or lose the sale.
The psychology
Every shopper runs the same checks before they pay. Most are about risk, not price. Answer them on the product page, before they have to go looking.
01
Extra costs at checkout, like shipping and fees, are consistently the top reason people abandon a cart in Baymard Institute's research.
Show them: Shipping cost, or the free-shipping threshold, on the product page. Not just at checkout.
02
73% of Australian shoppers say a good delivery experience makes them more likely to shop online (Australia Post).
Show them: A delivery date, not a range. Parcel locker and click and collect options.
03
People feel a loss more than an equal gain, so the fear of being stuck with the wrong thing stops the sale.
Show them: The returns policy in one line, right next to the buy button.
04
If they've never heard of you, they look for proof from people like them.
Show them: Recent reviews with photos, real contact details, payment options they recognise.
05
The first price they see becomes the yardstick for every other one.
Show them: Show the value before the price: what's included, bundles, warranty. If you're dearer, say why.
From my audits
Most stores I look at lose money in the same handful of places. These are the six I check first.
Bidding to a ROAS target nobody worked out from the margin. The account looks great and the bank account doesn't.
It happily claims sales from people already searching your store name, which makes it look far better than it is.
'The Aria' tells a shopper nothing. 'Aria linen sheet set, queen, white' matches what they type, and what AI shopping tools read.
A threshold picked years ago instead of from your average order. Set just above it, it can nudge shoppers to add one more thing.
Sizing, delivery date, returns and care are missing or buried. The shopper leaves to find answers, often on a competitor's site.
Ads shown to people who were already coming back. The platform counts the sale. The ad didn't cause it.
Calculator
Google and Meta report ROAS on revenue, not profit. Once you take out the cost of the product, the shipping you pay for and the orders that come back, a ROAS that looks healthy can still lose money on every sale. Put your own numbers in.
Break-even ROAS
3.2
Any ROAS under 3.2 loses money on every ad-driven sale. The most you can pay in ads per order is $29.74.
This is before any other costs (staff, software, rent). It also assumes every ad-credited sale was caused by the ad. Some would have happened anyway.
AI shopping
Six in 10 Australians already use AI (Australia Post), and shoppers are starting to ask it what to buy. This is where things stand:
OpenAI shelved its Instant Checkout in March 2026 and is focusing on discovery: recommending products and sending shoppers to stores. Getting recommended depends on clear product information, reviews, and being talked about around the web.
Google's agentic checkout lets shoppers buy inside AI Mode and Gemini with Google Pay. Australian products are eligible, but as of September 2026 checkout was only live for select US merchants. It runs off your Merchant Center product feed.
What to do now
My take: your product feed is becoming your most important shop window. Most stores still treat it as a technical chore.
Australian rules
Australia's new unfair trading practices laws passed Parliament in 2026 and start on 1 July 2027. If you sell online, three parts matter.
If you advertise a price, unavoidable per-transaction fees (like a booking or card fee) have to be shown with it, not added at the end.
Subscriptions need clear information upfront, reminders before a free trial ends or a renewal, and an easy way to cancel.
A new general ban on design that manipulates shoppers or unreasonably distorts their choices. Fake countdown timers and pre-ticked add-ons are the kind of thing it's aimed at.
Penalties for companies go up to $100 million or more. This is a plain-English summary, not legal advice. Check with a lawyer for your situation.
The channel mix
The next 12 months
The dates that matter for Australian online stores, and when to have your ads built and testing for each. In my experience, most stores start too late: by the time the sale starts, the ad platforms are still learning and costs are already up.
Wed 11 November 2026
Bigger in Asia, but growing here, especially in fashion and beauty.
Ads ready by 28 Oct
Mid November (dates set by Click Frenzy)
The Australian kick-off to the big sale season. Check the official dates each year.
Start now
Fri 27 November 2026
The biggest online sale period of the year. Ad costs rise as everyone competes, so build audiences and test creative early.
Start now
Mon 30 November 2026
Often run as one long Black Friday weekend sale. Plan them together.
Start now
Around 21 December for interstate Parcel Post (earlier for WA and NT)
Push 'order by' dates hard in early December. After the cut-off, switch to express, click and collect, and gift cards.
Ads ready by 30 Nov
Sat 26 December 2026
Sales often start on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day and run into early January.
Ads ready by 5 Dec
Late January
Uniforms, tech, stationery, lunchboxes. Parents shop in the last fortnight of the holidays.
Ads ready by 30 Dec
Sun 14 February 2027
Gifts, beauty, flowers, experiences. Delivery dates matter more than discounts.
Ads ready by 24 Jan
Sun 9 May 2027
One of the biggest gifting days of the year. Lead with delivery cut-offs and gift ideas.
Ads ready by 11 Apr
Wed 30 June 2027
Big for tech, office and anything tax-deductible. The deepest discounts usually land in the last week of June.
Ads ready by 2 June
Mid July (dates set by Click Frenzy)
Winter mid-year sale. Check the official dates each year.
Ads ready by 24 June
Sun 5 September 2027
Australia's is in September, not June like the US and UK. Overseas content and ad templates get this wrong.
Ads ready by 8 Aug
Click Frenzy and Christmas post cut-off dates change each year. Check Click Frenzy and Australia Post for the official dates.
It gets the right shoppers to your store and turns them into profitable orders: Google Shopping and Performance Max, SEO for product and category pages, Meta and social ads, email, and now visibility in AI shopping tools. I do the same work as a consultant, so you deal with the person doing it.
There isn't one number. It depends on your margin, shipping and returns. Use the calculator on this page to find your break-even ROAS. Anything above it makes money, anything below it doesn't.
Marketplaces took 23% of Australian online spend in 2025 (Australia Post), so they're worth a look. The trade-off is fees and less control over the customer. In my experience they work best alongside your own store, not instead of it.
Typically Google Shopping first if people already search for what you sell, because it catches buyers who are ready. Meta first if your product is new or visual and people don't know to search for it yet.
Prepare, don't panic. The groundwork is the same as good Google Shopping: a complete product feed, clear product pages and real reviews. Do that now and you're ready as AI checkout reaches Australia.
Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce and most others. The marketing side doesn't change much between them.
Keep going
Free. Done by me. Top 3 fixes and a 20-minute call.