Inside the Digital Shelf Future Forum
- Kat Matthews
- Nov 5
- 8 min read
Updated: Nov 5
On the 28th October, more than 120 brand leaders, marketers and retail experts gathered in South Melbourne for Australia’s first-ever Digital Shelf Future Forum, a day designed to explore how brands can stay discoverable, relevant and competitive in an era of constant change.
Hosted by Arktic Fox and Six Degrees Executive, and proudly supported by SAP Emarsys, Salsify and MikMak, the event brought together some of the Australia’s sharpest minds to tackle the forces reshaping digital commerce, from marketplaces and retail media to AI, content and data.
What unfolded was a day of candid conversation, data-backed insight and practical takeaways where ideas sparked, assumptions were challenged, and one clear theme emerged: the future of shopping is already here, and that means brands need to move fast.
The Now & The Next: What's Shaping the Future of the Digital Shelf | Keynote from Teresa Sperti
Arktic Fox Founder and Director Teresa Sperti opened the forum with a simple but confronting truth:
“Digital no longer influences the minority of sales - it now shapes or facilitates the majority of retail sales in Australia.”
Across categories, shoppers are researching, comparing and planning via digital long before they even reach a store. In 2024, Coles reported that at least 20% of in-store sales are linked to shoppers who browsed web or their app before heading into a store. Myer in FY24 stated that 59% of store purchases are influenced by their online activities. Whilst Endeavour Groups, FY24 financial results highlighted that 49% of their sales are now digitally influenced.
And eCommerce itself continues to surge. Australia Post’s Online Shopping Report shows the eCommerce market grew 12% in 2024. In the most recent reporting period, JB Hi-Fi (+16.4 %), Baby Bunting (+10.8 %) and Coles Online (+24.4 %) all posted double-digit online growth.
Digital is no longer a channel; it’s the bread and butter of modern shopping and retail which means it must be a key part of any CPG and FMCGs overarching business strategy. But too few today see it as critical to success.
Looking ahead, digital will exert even greater influence and the dynamic nature of the market will demand that brands adapt fast to shifting audiences, advancing technology, and evolving retail models.
Some of the key shifts in the market that Sperti highlighted includes;
A generational shift – Millennials and Gen Z already account for 36 % of retail spend in Australia but represent more than half of all eCommerce spend – meaning they over-index in eCommerce sales, even though some Gen Zs are even yet to join the workforce. Gen Alpha will soon join the workforce in a part time capacity in the coming years, bringing truly digital-first expectations.
The rise of marketplaces – Amazon now commands 8–10% of Australian eCommerce sales, boasts 4 million Australian Prime members and is building toward same-day delivery nationwide. Temu and Shein are fast-tracking local operations, while local retailers brace for impact.
Social and quick commerce – TikTok Shop’s imminent launch in Australia and rapid-delivery partnerships with Uber Eats and DoorDash are redefining convenience.
AI-driven discovery – With one in three Australians using AI for everyday decisions, purchase journeys are becoming conversational. By 2030, Gartner predicts one in five digital transactions will flow through GenAI platforms.
Sperti urged brands to ready themselves for this new era - one where “AI agents will shop on behalf of consumers, and product content becomes the difference between being found and being forgotten.”
She closed with four imperatives for brands seeking to lift their digital-commerce maturity:
Serve the omnichannel shopper. There’s no digital shopper and store shopper, just one shopper moving fluidly across touchpoints.
Invest in people and capability. Technology alone won’t transform the shelf, people will.
Adopt a dual-lens mindset. Balance today’s execution with tomorrow’s capability building.
Break the mould. Experiment, take risks, and re-imagine how your brand shows up.
The New Omnichannel Reality: Rethinking Channel Strategy for a New Era | Panel with Hannah Wilson - Commercial Director, FUNDAY, Charles Wood - Founder & Managing Director, Vitadrop & Naomi Shorman - General Manager ANZ, Tommee Tippee
Moderated by Nicole Cooke from Six Degrees Executive, the opening panel tackled the messy, fragmented world of modern commerce and how brands can make sense of it.
Hannah, Charles and Naomi shared the realities of balancing retailer partnerships with DTC, marketplaces and social commerce.
Their verdict: there is no one-size-fits-all channel mix. Each category demands its own playbook, grounded in where the shopper actually shops. For FUNDAY and VitaDrop, marketplaces and social channels are growth engines; for Tommee Tippee, retailer collaboration remains central.
Yet across categories the advice was consistent - start with clarity on purpose, not presence. Be deliberate about why each channel exists and how it complements the ecosystem around it.
Cracking the Code: Tech & Data for Digital Shelf Success | Panel with Will Wilson - Regional Vice President (Sales), SAP Emarsys, Vera Skocic - Head of Customer & Strategy (Consumer & Commercial), Techtronic Industries & Amish Goel - Head of Data Analytics & Insights, Adairs Retail Group
In a panel led by Katrina Park, leaders from SAP Emarsys, Techtronic Industries and Adairs unpacked the technology and talent foundations that underpin digital-shelf success.
Vera Skocic shared how Ryobi has learned to build brand influence without owning the transaction - connecting Bunnings shoppers through add-to-cart integrations and post-purchase data capture.
Will Wilson drove home a powerful truth: “Tech without people is a Ferrari in the garage - capability has to match the stack.” He highlighted how the most successful brands are translating data into action through smarter, connected journeys that bridge in-store and online.
One example came from Ferrara’s Trolli candy brand, which discovered through first- and zero-party data, that it over-indexed with gamers. That single insight inspired a series of gaming-focused sweepstakes and promotions, turning data-driven understanding into authentic engagement and growth.
Wilson also shared three practical steps for choosing the right technology:
Start with your strategy.
Define the data you want to collect.
Assess your internal capacity to use it effectively.
As he noted, agentic AI is beginning to automate much of the heavy lift - freeing marketing teams to focus more on creativity and connection.
Amish Goel underscored that none of this is possible without solid data foundations: maturity, governance and shared literacy across teams.
The consensus: data is the engine, but people are the drivers. Upskilling teams to interpret, activate and measure data is just as critical as selecting the right tools to power the journey.
Tradition Meets Transformation: Inside Bega’s Digital Evolution | Fireside Chat with Darryn Wallace - Executive General Manager Retail Sales, Marketing & Partnerships, Bega & Carla Salsone - Head of Retail Marketing & eCommerce, Bega
The fireside chat with Bega’s Darryn Wallace and Carla Salsone, moderated by Maya Wettenhall, was a masterclass in how legacy brands can evolve without losing their DNA.
Wallace reflected on recognising the need for change in 2022 and the cultural shift required to make the “invisible visible.” With over 1,000 products and 4,000 employees, Bega had to modernise without disrupting its core - no small feat.
Salsone outlined how the team built four workstreams - Retail, Shopper Marketing, eCommerce and PR/Social - supported by cross-functional digital champions. The approach balanced internal talent development with specialist expertise.
Bega’s test-and-learn mindset is paying off. Their first TikTok campaign with Coles generated 3 million views in days. Always-on experimentation has become part of their DNA.
Wallace described the next frontier as AI-powered insights and honing relevance through effective time of day targeting:
“We have 25,000 customers ordering daily, but we’re not yet harnessing that data to its full potential. Our next wave of growth will come from turning those signals into smarter decisions and ensuring we are maximising share of voice at times or day and day of week that are peak times for us based on buyer behaviour.”
Salsone’s advice to others on the journey was simple:
“Understand your digital maturity, build cross-functional alignment, and don’t let perfection get in the way of progress.”
Next-Gen Discoverability: Evolving Content for a Changing Shelf | Panel with Gill Smythe - Managing Director, Salsify & Kate Muslayah - Head of Digital Products and eCommerce, Reece
If Bega’s session was about building capability, the next panel was about what to do with it.
Salsify’s Gill Smythe and Reece’s Kate Muslayah joined Teresa Sperti to tackle the content and data challenges shaping discoverability.
Smythe painted a frank picture of Australia’s retail reality: many retailers are still using supply-chain-era systems to manage product information. “Some can only host a single planogram image,” she noted, a world away from the hundreds of image variants global leaders deploy to optimise conversion.
Muslayah shared how Asahi were able to identify that it took 17 different internal touchpoints for a single piece of content to move through before it reached a retailer – a reality that hampers agility in a fast-moving consumer goods space. By mapping and simplifying the process, and later leveraging AI for scaling imagery creation, they cut time to market and improved quality.
Both agreed: technology is an enabler, not a silver bullet. A centralised PIM or PXM is essential, but only when paired with clear ownership and strong foundations.
The conversation turned to AI. Large language models like ChatGPT and Perplexity are already pulling product data directly from brand sources, a shift that will reward those with accurate, structured information.
“AI won’t do the work for us,” Sperti reminded the room. “It’s only as good as the data we feed it.”
Making Retail Media Work: Investment, Measurement & What’s Next | Panel with Bridie Cowell - Head of Partnerships, Coles 360, Melissa Polglase - GM - Category & Trade Marketing, and Retail Media (Amplify), David Jones & Dan Ferguson - Business Advisor & Retail Leader, ex-CMO, Adore Beauty
The final panel of the day brought together Melissa Polglase, Bridie Cowell and Dan Ferguson to unpack the fast-evolving world of retail media.
Retail media is booming - but also bewildering. Arktic Fox’s latest study shows 62% of brands are managing Retail Media across three or more platforms. Where should they focus?
Ferguson advised brands to “start with your partners” and seek depth over breadth. Melissa Polglase emphasised audience fit and context: “Start with the customer, not the channel. The power of retail media lies in relevance.”
Bridie Cowell shared Coles 360’s data-driven research into what really drives growth, highlighting the five principles they have uncovered through a recent in-depth research piece. These were:
Clarity of objectives – ROAS is not always the right metric.
Target out-of-category buyers – Coles found 65 % of new brand buyers were new to category.
Go omnichannel – Consumers touch 9+ touchpoints before purchase. If you’re only in one or two, “you’re whispering in a stadium.”
Integrate trade and media – Media-amplified promotions deliver around 15 % higher sales uplift.
Stay always on – Continuity builds mental availability and market share.
The measurement conversation was a highlight. Polglase warned against ROAS myopia: “Look at category growth, new-to-brand customers and behaviour change. ROAS alone doesn’t tell the story.”
Cowell added that retail media is also a brand builder, not just a sales driver. Attribution windows, brand lift and category share should all be part of the picture.
To truly unlock value, the panel agreed, brands must build internal capability by breaking down silos between sales, media and eCommerce and treating digital as a shared competency across teams.
A Market on the Move
After six sessions, one thing was clear - Australia’s digital commerce community is ready to move from catch-up to leadership.
Brands that will win are those thinking about what it takes to stand out on the shelf across both physical and digital touchpoints by creating experiences that are consistent, connected and genuinely useful to shoppers. They will need to reimagine how content, data and media work together to drive discovery and conversion, and how teams collaborate to deliver that seamless brand story wherever customers choose to shop.
Digital influence has rewired how Australians buy. The next era of growth belongs to those who can translate that influence into impact through better data, richer content, smarter partnerships and stronger teams.
To everyone who joined us, thank you for your energy, curiosity and contribution. And to our sponsors SAP Emarsys, Salsify and MikMak, your partnership made it possible.
And a final huge shout out to our partners in crime, Six Degrees Executive, who worked tirelessly with us to make this idea a reality.
The future of the digital shelf is bright - and we’re just getting started.
Arktic Fox partners with brands to build capability by training teams and drive digital growth by evolving their eCommerce strategy for digital shelf success. Find out how we can help.
