Tuesday 17th March | #65 | Join Free
Happy St Patrick's Day ☘️, traditionally a day for pints, parades, and questionable green clothing. Though if today's issue is anything to go by, Gen-Z might skip the pint entirely and head straight to the gym. (More on that below) Plus a Chinese giant just landed on Amazon's doorstep, a new report reveals a third of your customers left last year without you noticing, and TikTok is finally trying to prove it's worth the ad spend.
Let's get into it. - Mike
In the basket today:
🛒 China's answer to Amazon just landed in the UK
📉 A third of your customers left because of your website.
💪 Gen-Z is buying gym kit, not pints
📱 TikTok can now show you the sales it's driving off-platform
+plus 🐣 Easter Prep Checklist - Time to get cracking.
ECOMMERCE
🛒 China's answer to Amazon just landed in the UK (via Retail Gazette)
TL;DR: JD.com has launched Joybuy in the UK, with its own warehouses, its own delivery network, and same-day delivery as the standard offer, no subscription required.
Why it Matters: Joybuy is backed by self-operated warehouses in Milton Keynes and Luton, with delivery handled by its own JoyExpress service. The sharper point is the pricing model. Amazon's fast delivery sits behind a £95/year Prime subscription. Joybuy is charging £3.99 for next-day, free on orders over £29, no membership required. That's a straightforward value pitch to shoppers who've never bothered with or have recently ditched Prime. This isn't a speculative market entry either, JD.com has been circling the UK for a while, with failed bids for both Currys and Argos before building this themselves.
Your Move: Watch the categories Joybuy leads with, electronics, clothing, daily deals. If you compete there on price, expect added market pressure. For everyone else, the bigger question is whether a fast, cheap, subscription-free alternative raises shopper expectations around delivery speed to the point where absorbing those costs becomes unavoidable.
🔍 Bigger picture: Sainsbury's terminated Argos sale talks with JD.com in September 2025 after just 24 hours, after JD.com tried to materially revise the terms of the deal. Read More >
POLL
🗳️ The Pulse
How concerned are you about Chinese marketplace competition in 2026?
UX | ECOMMERCE
📉 A third of your customers left because of your website. You probably didn't notice. (via MSQ DX)
TL;DR: New MSQ DX research shows 33% of UK consumers switched brands last year due to poor digital experiences, and most business leaders think it's half that.
Why it Matters: Digital leaders estimated 24% of customers left for digital experience reasons. The actual figure is 33%, rising to 64% among 25-34 year olds. The benchmark problem is just as sharp: consumers aren't comparing your site to your competitors. They're comparing it to Amazon, Google, their banking app, and Netflix. Only 8% of users benchmark against direct rivals.
Your Move: Most business leaders assume slow load times are the killer. Consumers say it's having to repeat themselves, 35% cite that as their top reason to abandon. Check three things: does your checkout remember returning customers, does your returns flow require them to re-enter order details, and can your customer service team see purchase history without asking? If the answer to any of those is no, that's where to start.