Arktic Fox, Six Degrees Executive and Amperity have released a report on AI, customer data and retail execution in Australia, finding a gap between retailer ambition and readiness.
Based on responses from more than 100 Australian marketing, digital, eCommerce and retail media leaders, the Inside Digital & eCommerce 2026 report found retailers and consumer brands are increasing investment in AI, personalisation, omnichannel experiences and retail media. Many still lack the systems and organisational coordination needed to deliver those efforts consistently.
The findings point to a mismatch between strategy and day-to-day delivery. While 89.1% of retailers said personalisation is strategically important, only 10% said they had the mature capability to deliver it. Just 12% said they were fully confident their customer and product data foundations were ready for AI-led use cases.
Operational issues appeared throughout the report. More than 80% of retail leaders said identity resolution and single customer view work remained under development, while 73.3% described their marketing technology and data environments as only partly integrated. One in five retailers said they were operating in a highly fragmented data and martech environment.
Omnichannel gaps
Those weaknesses are also affecting customer experience across channels. Some 83.7% of retail leaders said their ability to let customers move across channels without friction or repetition was still developing, while 77.1% said integrated fulfilment and returns across channels remained immature.
Among consumer brands, 82.2% identified omnichannel delivery as a strategic priority. Nearly half said execution still varied by team or channel, underlining how difficult it remains to present shoppers with a consistent experience.
Even so, the sector is continuing to spend on AI-related tools. Retailers identified AI-led product content creation and optimisation, onsite search and discoverability, and AI-driven personalisation as leading investment priorities over the next 12 to 18 months.
As companies move from pilots and planning to implementation, attention is shifting to the customer data, measurement and attribution systems needed to support those investments.
Teresa Sperti, director at Arktic Fox, said the industry's direction is clear, even if many businesses are not yet set up to respond in real time.
"Retailers and brands understand where the market is heading, particularly as AI reshapes how consumers discover, evaluate and purchase products. However, many organisations are still operating across fragmented customer data, disconnected systems and siloed teams, making it difficult to turn customer signals into connected, real-time engagement," Sperti said.
Retail media pressure
The study also highlights growing scrutiny of retail media. Among brand manufacturers surveyed, 96% said AI and agentic commerce would have a moderate or significant effect on how consumers buy, and half said they were adapting search and discoverability strategies for AI-driven environments.
At the same time, 52.9% said they planned to increase retail media investment in the year ahead. Yet only 4.9% reported high trust in retail media networks, and 73.2% said they struggled to measure return on investment and business impact.
Those figures suggest spending is still rising despite uncertainty over transparency and attribution. The report argues this is increasing pressure on both retailers and brands to improve measurement and link media spend more clearly to customer outcomes.
Billy Loizou, area vice president for Asia Pacific at Amperity, said retail media exposed broader weaknesses in customer data and measurement.
"Retail media is one of the clearest examples of how fragmented customer data and disconnected measurement create friction between retailers and brands. Brands are under growing pressure to prove business impact, but many still struggle to connect digital engagement, in-store behaviour and customer outcomes in a consistent and privacy-safe way. The organisations building trusted, real-time customer context are far better positioned to improve measurement transparency, strengthen retail media performance and deliver more relevant customer experiences," Loizou said.
Investment areas
Customer data platforms were the top marketing technology investment priority in the research, with 57.8% of retailers planning to invest in them. That emphasis reflects a broader push to improve the quality and accessibility of customer information as companies try to unify online and offline activity.
Loyalty is another area under review. Some 78.6% of retail leaders said their loyalty programs needed to evolve to meet changing customer expectations, suggesting many existing schemes no longer match the level of personalisation or convenience customers now expect.
Commerce operations are also becoming more complex. The report found 62.5% of retailers now manage three or more eCommerce channels, while 47.2% of consumer brands use four or more retail media networks. That fragmentation is adding operational strain as companies try to coordinate trading, advertising, fulfilment and measurement across more platforms.
The survey used two 41-question questionnaires tailored separately for retailers and consumer brands. It draws on responses from leaders working across marketing, digital, eCommerce and retail media in Australia.
Overall, the figures show a sector still willing to invest, but one where the hard work of integrating systems, teams and customer data has yet to catch up with the pace of AI adoption. Only 10% of retailers said they had mature capability to deliver personalisation.