operator can outmanoeuvre “juggernauts” like Amazon and Temu in a market where consumers have never been more price-sensitive. Group gross sales crossed the AU$1 billion mark for the first time, while Kogan.com’s own revenue climbed 16.2 per cent to AU$425.2 million. Net profit swung back to AU$11.2 million, a sharp reversal from the prior year’s AU$39.4 million loss. Value as the strategy, not the slogan What separates Kogan’s FY26 story from a generic “resilient in tough times” narrative is the discipline behind it. Rather than chasing revenue at any cost, the company paired growth with margin expansion – gross margin rose 0.8 percentage points to 43.5 per cent, even as fixed costs fell to 12.8 per cent of revenue. That efficiency gap gave Kogan headroom to reinvest in marketing to keep acquiring price-conscious customers, rather than retreating to protect margin, which is the instinct many retailers default to during downturns. Kogan has framed this as a “powerful cycle” in which efficiency gains get funnelled back into better prices and range, which deepens loyalty, which in turn funds further efficiency. It is a deliberately virtuous-sounding pitch, but the mechanics are visible in the numbers – loyalty subscriptions across Kogan ‘First’ and Mighty Ape ‘Primate’ grew 14.3 per cent to AU$61.4 million combined, suggesting the flywheel is more than rhetoric. AI as a cost lever, not a buzzword Kogan’s use of artificial intelligence this year is fundamentally an operations story rather than a technology one. AI was rolled out across Kogan.com’s customer service function in March, automating a large share of enquiries and cutting servicing costs, while further AI deployment across product, engineering and operations is helping the group scale without adding headcount proportionately. In a cost-of-living environment where every basis point of margin matters, this is arguably the most consequential strategic move in the results, letting Kogan hold or lower prices for consumers while still expanding earnings margins, a combination that is difficult for less automated competitors to replicate. The Mighty Ape correction Not every part of the group is telling the same growth story. Mighty Ape, Kogan’s New Zealand arm, saw revenue fall 30 per cent as management executed what it calls a “significant operational reset” – slashing inventory from roughly $21 million to AU$10 million, closing its Christchurch warehouse and adopting a leaner “One Global Team” structure. Quarterly fixed costs there dropped from AU$4.9 million to AU$3.4 million across the year, and the business returned to positive adjusted EBITDA by the fourth quarter. The Mighty Ape turnaround matters strategically because it shows Kogan applying its own playbook – platform-based marketplace sales, loyalty subscriptions and cost discipline – to a market it had previously struggled to fix. It is essentially a live test of whether the Kogan.com model is transferable, and the early signs, particularly the swing to positive quarterly EBITDA, suggest it is. Reading the broader signal The most interesting subtext in Kogan’s results is what they imply about consumer behaviour more broadly. Sixty-one per cent of group gross profit now comes from high-margin, platform-based sales – marketplace, loyalty and verticals like Kogan Mobile and Kogan Insurance – up from 59 per cent in FY25. That shift suggests Australian and New Zealand shoppers under financial pressure are not abandoning discretionary spending altogether. Instead, they are consolidating it with operators who can prove sustained value, convenience and trust through repeat, loyalty-driven relationships. For a trade audience watching global platforms tighten their grip on local retail, Kogan’s FY26 result is a useful case study in how a mid-sized domestic player can compete on cost structure and customer economics rather than scale alone, entering FY27 with, in Kogan’s own words, “a stronger and more efficient business.”