We have now delivered our 6th annual study in partnership with Six Degrees Executive titled Inside Digital & eCommerce 2026. For this edition, we made a deliberate choice to move away from a broad industry view and go deeper on two closely connected sectors: retailers and brand manufacturers. The findings land at a genuinely turbulent moment. A rare convergence of pressures is reshaping the landscape — consumer confidence has dropped to levels not seen since the COVID lockdo

We have now delivered our 6th annual study in partnership with Six Degrees Executive titled Inside Digital & eCommerce 2026. Rather than continuing to take a broad view across the industry, we decided to go deeper on two sectors that are really interwoven being retailers and brand manufacturing. The latest report lands at one of the most disruptive times for both sectors. We're navigating a genuinely unusual convergence of pressures. Consumer confidence is sitting at levels

When most people think about loyalty, they picture supermarket points, coffee rewards or airline miles and small perks that add up over time like $10 off your shop, your 7th coffee free, or patiently waiting for those frequent flyer points to pay off. Retailers have historically owned loyalty because they control the transaction. They see the purchase, the basket composition and the frequency of visits, which gives them the visibility required to design programs that influenc

For years, Starbucks has been the benchmark for what a successful loyalty program looks like. When brands start thinking about loyalty, Starbucks is usually the example they reference. A program that doesn’t just reward customers, but actively shapes behaviour, driving frequency, habit and long-term value. But loyalty programs are not static. They need to evolve as customer expectations change, competition intensifies, and as the economics of running them alongside of other

If you attended any industry events in Australia this month, you couldn't escape one overwhelming theme: the AI conversation has shifted. We're no longer debating whether AI will change the industry. We're now grappling with the speed at which it already has, and how far behind some organisations already are. Having attended two standout events this month (Salsify's Decanting the Digital Shelf and the NORA Retailer Gen AI Summit) I want to share the most important themes, te

Retail has been organised around products for decades. Categories, departments and individual SKUs shape how retailers build their stores and web experiences, and how customers are expected to navigate them. That structure makes sense operationally. It’s how inventory is managed; ranges are planned, and website structures are defined. But it doesn’t reflect how people actually shop. Many shoppers don’t start with a product in mind. They start with a problem they are tryin