Shows
The Ostrich ReportTwo Pints of Culture, Please – With Dave MorrisseyThe Struggle Bus with Dave Morrissey: Culture, Creativity & the Irish Peak MomentIn this episode of The Struggle Bus, Vinny sits down with the endlessly curious, relentlessly cultural, and occasionally feral-in-the-best-way Dave Morrissey — growth & culture consultant, ex-Meta, ex-TikTok, author of Grow Like Tech, and a man who can track the rise of Irish influence by reading festival lineups the way historians read ancient scripts.Together, they dive into:🇮🇪 Ireland’s Cultural PeakFrom Fontaines D.C. to Guinness dominating the UK to spice bags taking over London, Dave breaks down why Irishness is having...
2025-12-1130 min
The Ostrich ReportIf You Smell Like a Wookiee, Your Margins Better Work“If the first thing you do every morning is open Seller Central with a coffee… this one’s for you.” ☕📊New episode of The Ostrich Report just dropped, and this time Hendrik and I brought in someone who actually runs the thing everyone has an opinion about but very few truly understand: marketplaces.🎙 Guest: Jamie Roller🧼 Brand: Dr. Squatch (yes, the Star Wars soap people with the ridiculous scents and surprisingly serious P&L discipline)Jamie runs the marketplace business at Dr. Squatch, with a heavy focus on Amazon plus retail.com 1P. She’...
2025-11-2239 minThe Ostrich ReportWhat will $238 BN get you these days? The Ostrich Report$238BN Revenue a nostalgic, number-soaked sprint through Singles Day 2025 and a preview of our biggest episode yet. There are shopping events. There are cultural moments. And then once a year China lights the ecommerce beacons, JD.com flexes its fulfilment biceps, and the rest of us sit there whispering: “How… in the actual…?”Welcome to our latest episode of The Ostrich Report, where Hendrik Laubscher and I dove beak-first into Singles Day 2025 the shopping festival that casually moved $238.3 billion in the time it takes most Western...
2025-11-1533 minThe Ostrich ReportLLMs Ate the Search Bar, Now What? - The Ostrich ReportMax Sinclair blew our minds last week ( Hendrik Laubscher ) and I. We welcomed him onto the Ostrich Report to have what we thought would be a normal enough discussion about AI and its productivity gains for markketplace sellers. Wrong. Azoma occupy a unique space and have a long history in this space. 2 co founders with skills and experience, one from the Death Star (Amazon) who combined to build products for customers such as Mars - their customer list almost seems secondary to them - the product is critical. Isn't everyones? No. Nor is their product, for evereyone I mean...
2025-11-0639 minThe Ostrich ReportOrange Is the New Commerce - The Ostrich ReportIf you think Temu is just cheap socks and weird gadgets, you’re missing the real story. This is the case study in how fast commerce is mutating, faster than we can civilize it.On this week’s Ostrich Report, Hendrik and I dove deep into Temu’s European explosion, and the numbers are pure madness:📈 24.7 million EU customers between April and August 2024. 🚀 By June 2025, that figure will hit 150 million active users. 💶 $1.2 billion in revenue from Europe alone. 💰 $120 million in profit, yes, profit, not “adjusted EBITDA.” And they did it all by flipping the script: cross-border →...
2025-10-2843 minThe Ostrich ReportThe Ostrich Report: “An Irishman, a Wallaby, and a Springbok Walk Into a BarIf you’ve ever wondered what happens when an Irish eCommerce consultant, a South African data whisperer, and an Australian marketplace guru walk into a podcast — the answer is a surprisingly civil 45 minutes of insight, laughter, and just a tiny bit of existential dread about the state of retail.This week, Vinny and Hendrik sat down with Luke Hilton, Global VP of Solution Engineering at Marketplacer, to talk about everything — from standing desks and ergonomic enlightenment to how retailers can stop overcomplicating the idea of becoming a marketplace.And spoiler alert: Luke brough...
2025-10-2545 minThe Ostrich Report15 Minutes or Bust: What Hospitality Taught Rafael Barini About Commerce15 Minutes or Bust: What Hospitality Taught Rafael Barini About Commerce The Ostrich Report has landed. What I loved most about my conversation with Rafael Barini is his reminder that eCommerce is not just retail.It’s a discipline.A way of thinking.A toolkit for solving problems across any industry.Once you’ve learned to build and manage marketplaces, you start to see systems everywhere.The restaurant kitchen is just a fulfillment center with higher stakes. A hotel lobby is a loyalty program waiting to be optimized. Even real estate starts to look like product listi...
2025-10-0236 minThe Ostrich ReportZero Ads, 40,000 Sales: How Exploded Sweets Cracked Temu - The Ostrich ReportNo one ever buys something the first time they see it… said Rhys. Wethersoons taught him alot from the kitchen to the table. Learn How How a former Wetherspoons kitchen worker built a freeze-dried sweet brand that sold 40,000 products on Temu in just two months — without spending a penny on ads.This week on The Ostrich Report we sat down with Rhys Sandford of Exploded Sweets and, honestly, it was a masterclass in modern marketplace selling.Rhys told us:“No one ever buys something the first time they see it...
2025-09-2342 minThe Ostrich ReportBehind the frog shirt: the most honest conversation about Temu yet🐸 It’s not easy being green…or wearing a Kermit the Frog shirt while talking about Temu.Yet that’s exactly how Episode 7 of The Ostrich Report opens: me in full frog mode, Hendrik on the other mic, diving head-first into the most polarising marketplace on the planet.Temu (yes, “Team-oo”) isn’t a sideshow anymore. It’s a $B+ engine of cross-border commerce, a logistics experiment running at TikTok speed, and a masterclass in how to make Western consumers rethink price, trust, and delivery promises. Everyone you meet in ecommerce has an opinion — good, bad, indifferent. This w...
2025-09-1437 minThe Ostrich ReportThe Ostrich Report AKA: The Marketplace Podcast Week 4 (Re-Release) – eBay Turns 30: From Flea Market Glory to Missed Prime TimeHappy Birthday, eBay 🎂. The OG of marketplaces is officially 30 years old, and we’re re-releasing our Episode 4 deep dive to mark the moment.In this episode, we unpack:The magic of eBay’s early years — when auctions, Beanie Babies, and broken laser pointers defined the internet.The one big thing eBay missed (hint: logistics + payments = Amazon’s crown, not eBay’s).The cultural highs and management lows — from PayPal to Skype to “why does eBay still feel like a flea market?”What founders and brands today can still learn from eBay’s wins an...
2025-09-0344 minThe Ostrich ReportThe Ostrich Report AKA: The Marketplace Podcast Week 6 - JD.com Buys Into Germany… What Could Possibly Go Wrong?The marketplace podcast you didn't know you asked for (just like AI) is back. The Ostrich Report Ep 6 - JD.com Buys Into Germany… What Could Possibly Go Wrong?This week we put the Ostrich in Ostrich Report by burying our heads deep into one of the most head-scratching deals of the year: JD.com spending €2.5B to buy Ceconomy, the German parent company of MediaMarkt and Saturn.Yes, JD — the Chinese giant that was born an online retailer, flirted with marketplace models, wandered into logistics, cloud, and other shiny objects — is now buyi...
2025-08-1239 minThe Ostrich ReportThe Ostrich Report AKA: The Marketplace Podcast Week 5 eBay Part 2 - Sliding DoorsThe marketplace podcast you didn't know you asked for (just like AI) is back. The Ostrich Report Ep 5 – eBay Part Two 🚨The Sliding Doors of eBay: Part 2 – Electric (But Still Manual) Boogaloo 🚨 🎙️The Ostrich Report Ep 5 just dropped, and if nostalgia had a stock price, we'd all be rich… until activist investors spun it off for parts. Say his name Hendrik Laubscher - Humperdink (IYKYK)Three big takeaways from our gloriously unhinged post-mortem on eBay's ‘meh decade’:🔥 1. eBay didn’t lose its edge. It sold it.“If eBay ex...
2025-07-0734 min
The V Spot eCommerce Nearly NewsThe Ostrich Report AKA: The Marketplace Podcast with Vinny and Hendrik week 4🎭 Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou… eBay? 🕊️— The Ostrich Report, Week 4: A Love Song for a Platform That Ghosted UsOh eBay, thou ancient temptress of the trade,Whose listings once made hearts and PayPal swoon.We sung thy glory 'fore Amazon did invade,Now all that’s left—a dusty Deals tab strewn.Thy Turbo Lister—curse its cruel lag!Thy categories, like ghosts, do rearrange.Still, thou art our first love, warts and all,Even if thy homepage smells strangely... vintage.In this week’s tale...
2025-06-2144 minThe Ostrich ReportThe Ostrich Report AKA: The Marketplace Podcast with Vinny and Hendrik week 3Here’s your self-deprecating, hilarious LinkedIn post for The Ostrich Report – Episode 3, complete with a grovel for sponsors and a nostalgic teaser for eBay in Episode 4:🚨 The Ostrich Report: Episode 3 is out now! 🚨🎙️ Starring: Two ecommerce nerds with more opinions than hair—Me and Hendrik Laubscher.This week we tackle checks notes … whatever we felt like talking about for 25 minutes before running out of coffee and credibility.✨ What’s inside? ✨Lukewarm takes on TikTok ShopAudible sighs about AmazonSome borderline slander (lawyers, let’s chat)And a moment of silenc...
2025-06-1436 minThe Ostrich Reporthe Ostrich Report AKA: The Marketplace Podcast with Vinny and Hendrik week 2*Welcome to The Ostrich Report – Where Ecommerce Sticks Its Head in the Sand So You Don’t Have To*🚨 PILOT EPISODE ALERT 🚨 Two marketplace nerds walk into a livestream... and the algorithm lets them stay. Hosted by *Hendrik Laubscher* (the man, the myth, the spreadsheet) and *Vinny O’Brien* (part-time ecommerce guru, full-time professional cynic), The Ostrich Report is your no-holds-barred, semi-accurate, occasionally insightful look into the wild world of global ecommerce marketplaces.In this glorious mess of a pilot, we tackle:Why marketplaces are multiplying faster than AI bros on LinkedIn The real reason brands cry in the shower a...
2025-06-0738 minThe Ostrich ReportThe Ostrich Report AKA: The Marketplace Podcast with Vinny and Hendrik - The Marketplaces Wake Up Call.**Welcome to The Ostrich Report – Where Ecommerce Sticks Its Head in the Sand So You Don’t Have To**🚨 *PILOT EPISODE ALERT* 🚨 Two marketplace nerds walk into a livestream... and the algorithm lets them stay. Hosted by **Hendrik Laubscher** (the man, the myth, the spreadsheet) and **Vinny O’Brien** (part-time ecommerce guru, full-time professional cynic), *The Ostrich Report* is your no-holds-barred, semi-accurate, occasionally insightful look into the wild world of global ecommerce marketplaces.In this glorious mess of a pilot, we tackle:- Why marketplaces are multiplying faster than AI bros on LinkedIn - The real reason brands cry in the showe...
2025-05-3128 minThe V Spot eCommerce Nearly NewsThe V Spot eCommerce News 2024 Week 6
Welcome, shoppers and shippers, to the world's most hilariously overstocked channel, lovingly called 'The V spot'! 🎬🤣 Your one-stop-shop for a light-hearted stroll through the chaotic, box-filled alleys of retail and ecommerce worldwide. 🌍📦
Your favourite host here (that's me! 😎), with a sense of humor that's been labeled 'Prime' by critics, guarantees that our videos have more punchlines per minute than your average checkout line on Black Friday. 🛍️⏱️
In our newest video, we unbox the absurdities of the retail industry and parcel out the funniest quirks of ecommerce, all delivered to your screen faster than your last Amazon order. We've got everything from jabs at...
2024-02-2304 minThe V Spot eCommerce Nearly NewsThe V Spot eCommerce News 2024 Week 1
Welcome, shoppers and shippers, to the world's most hilariously overstocked channel, lovingly called 'The V spot'! 🎬🤣 Your one-stop-shop for a light-hearted stroll through the chaotic, box-filled alleys of retail and ecommerce worldwide. 🌍📦
Your favourite host here (that's me! 😎), with a sense of humor that's been labeled 'Prime' by critics, guarantees that our videos have more punchlines per minute than your average checkout line on Black Friday. 🛍️⏱️
In our newest video, we unbox the absurdities of the retail industry and parcel out the funniest quirks of ecommerce, all delivered to your screen faster than your last Amazon order. We've got everything from jabs at...
2024-02-2203 minThe V Spot eCommerce Nearly NewsThe V Spot eCommerce news 2024 Week 2
Welcome, shoppers and shippers, to the world's most hilariously overstocked channel, lovingly called 'The V spot'! 🎬🤣 Your one-stop-shop for a light-hearted stroll through the chaotic, box-filled alleys of retail and ecommerce worldwide. 🌍📦
Your favourite host here (that's me! 😎), with a sense of humor that's been labeled 'Prime' by critics, guarantees that our videos have more punchlines per minute than your average checkout line on Black Friday. 🛍️⏱️
In our newest video, we unbox the absurdities of the retail industry and parcel out the funniest quirks of ecommerce, all delivered to your screen faster than your last Amazon order. We've got everything from jabs at...
2024-02-2203 minThe V Spot eCommerce Nearly NewsThe V Spot eCommerce news 2024 Week 3
Welcome, shoppers and shippers, to the world's most hilariously overstocked channel, lovingly called 'The V spot'! 🎬🤣 Your one-stop-shop for a light-hearted stroll through the chaotic, box-filled alleys of retail and ecommerce worldwide. 🌍📦
Your favourite host here (that's me! 😎), with a sense of humor that's been labeled 'Prime' by critics, guarantees that our videos have more punchlines per minute than your average checkout line on Black Friday. 🛍️⏱️
In our newest video, we unbox the absurdities of the retail industry and parcel out the funniest quirks of ecommerce, all delivered to your screen faster than your last Amazon order. We've got everything from jabs at...
2024-02-2204 minThe V Spot eCommerce Nearly NewsThe V Spot eCommerce News 2024 Week 4
Welcome, shoppers and shippers, to the world's most hilariously overstocked channel, lovingly called 'The V spot'! 🎬🤣 Your one-stop-shop for a light-hearted stroll through the chaotic, box-filled alleys of retail and ecommerce worldwide. 🌍📦
Your favourite host here (that's me! 😎), with a sense of humor that's been labeled 'Prime' by critics, guarantees that our videos have more punchlines per minute than your average checkout line on Black Friday. 🛍️⏱️
In our newest video, we unbox the absurdities of the retail industry and parcel out the funniest quirks of ecommerce, all delivered to your screen faster than your last Amazon order. We've got everything from jabs at...
2024-02-2203 minThe V Spot eCommerce Nearly NewsThe V Spot eCommerce News 2023 Week 38
Welcome, shoppers and shippers, to the world's most hilariously overstocked channel, lovingly called 'The V spot'! 🎬🤣 Your one-stop-shop for a light-hearted stroll through the chaotic, box-filled alleys of retail and ecommerce worldwide. 🌍📦
Your favourite host here (that's me! 😎), with a sense of humor that's been labeled 'Prime' by critics, guarantees that our videos have more punchlines per minute than your average checkout line on Black Friday. 🛍️⏱️
In our newest video, we unbox the absurdities of the retail industry and parcel out the funniest quirks of ecommerce, all delivered to your screen faster than your last Amazon order. We've got everything from jabs at...
2024-02-2203 minThe V Spot eCommerce Nearly NewsThe V Spot eCommerce News 2023 Week 39
Welcome, shoppers and shippers, to the world's most hilariously overstocked channel, lovingly called 'The V spot'! 🎬🤣 Your one-stop-shop for a light-hearted stroll through the chaotic, box-filled alleys of retail and ecommerce worldwide. 🌍📦
Your favourite host here (that's me! 😎), with a sense of humor that's been labeled 'Prime' by critics, guarantees that our videos have more punchlines per minute than your average checkout line on Black Friday. 🛍️⏱️
In our newest video, we unbox the absurdities of the retail industry and parcel out the funniest quirks of ecommerce, all delivered to your screen faster than your last Amazon order. We've got everything from jabs at...
2024-02-2203 minThe V Spot eCommerce Nearly NewsThe V Spot eCommerce News 2023 Week 41
Welcome, shoppers and shippers, to the world's most hilariously overstocked channel, lovingly called 'The V spot'! 🎬🤣 Your one-stop-shop for a light-hearted stroll through the chaotic, box-filled alleys of retail and ecommerce worldwide. 🌍📦
Your favourite host here (that's me! 😎), with a sense of humor that's been labeled 'Prime' by critics, guarantees that our videos have more punchlines per minute than your average checkout line on Black Friday. 🛍️⏱️
In our newest video, we unbox the absurdities of the retail industry and parcel out the funniest quirks of ecommerce, all delivered to your screen faster than your last Amazon order. We've got everything from jabs at...
2024-02-2204 min
The V Spot eCommerce Nearly NewsThe V Spot Retail and eCommerce Weekly News Friday Week 20
Welcome, shoppers and shippers, to the world's most hilariously overstocked channel, lovingly called 'The V spot'! 🎬🤣 Your one-stop-shop for a light-hearted stroll through the chaotic, box-filled alleys of retail and ecommerce worldwide. 🌍📦
Your favourite host here (that's me! 😎), with a sense of humor that's been labeled 'Prime' by critics, guarantees that our videos have more punchlines per minute than your average checkout line on Black Friday. 🛍️⏱️
In our newest video, we unbox the absurdities of the retail industry and parcel out the funniest quirks of ecommerce, all delivered to your screen faster than your last Amazon order. We've got everything from jabs at...
2023-09-2102 min