In many ways, 2020 has challenged Australia like few years have ever before: with fires, floods and lockdowns all leaving their mark.

For the retail industry, as well as the food and beverage (F&B) sector, the impact has been dramatic. From amongst the debris of discarded five-year plans and annual forecasts, businesses are getting to their feet, dusting themselves off, and surveying the world around them. It might seem a bleak picture but beyond the initial fallout lies the possibility for new beginnings. It’s a chance to lay foundations that will allow your business to thrive in a digital age where customers regard experience and brand values as highly as the quality of your product.

With Australia in recession for the first time in nearly 30 years, and uncertainty over how to best navigate these next stages of the pandemic, Aussies have naturally tightened the purse strings and re-evaluated what’s essential. As they become more selective, securing loyalty becomes critical. It's not enough to open their wallets, you have to win their hearts.

But how do you secure customer loyalty in a market where things seem to change by the week?

To help you make sense of this new landscape, we commissioned the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) to provide analysis on the current state of the retail and F&B sectors in Australia and across the globe. We’ve explored our own data to measure the impact of unified commerce on businesses' success and we’ve interviewed 2013 consumers in Australia, and 23,174 across Europe, the US, Asia Pacific, and Brazil to understand what people expect from shopping and dining experiences today.

Omnichannel

Siloed systems