
← This Week In Ecommerce6 days ago · 15 min
Gen Z Isn't Broke, They're Just Not Buying Houses
<p>Alex is back in the hot seat after two solo weeks, and it's a lean, sharp episode: five stories, no filler, in and out in twenty-odd minutes. The headline number this week belongs to Shein, whose Hong Kong debut shed $5 billion in value in five trading days — the second-worst opening week of its size on the exchange, behind only Baidu — and Mal and Alex dig into whether that's ultra-fast-fashion cracking or just Shein specifically wearing the regulatory target on its back.</p><ul><li>Aje is reportedly courting private equity and family offices to fund its next growth phase, fresh off a Lara Worthington denim collab.</li><li>A credit-card-sized e-reader called the Xteink is quietly showing up Big Tech, and you can buy it on Temu, TikTok Shop and Amazon.</li><li>Coles has ended its three-year Palantir partnership after a GetUp campaign topped 85,000 signatures — and its "wasn't surveillance" line raised more questions than it settled.</li><li>Gen Z's financial stress is real, but the wallet's moved toward toys, charms and travel rather than vanishing altogether.</li><li>Shein's Hong Kong IPO lost $5 billion in its first week, and Mal's not convinced one bad week makes an IPO.</li></ul>