The Australian retail industry is facing challenges with fragmented customer data, which prevents brands from delivering personalized experiences despite collecting vast amounts of information. A CDP provides a solution by unifying data from various sources, enabling brands to create real-time, individualized customer experiences that foster loyalty and drive growth.
The $420 billion Australian retail industry is facing tough odds - subdued demand, escalating costs, and stringent data regulations.
To win customers' hearts, minds, and wallets, brands need to understand them.
Australian brands collect more customer data than ever, from in-store purchases, e-commerce platforms, loyalty programs, and social media. But, do they really know their customers?
There’s a massive gap between brands and their customers’ perceptions. 84% of brands believe they excel at customer engagement. Yet, only 54% of consumers agree.
Brands, especially those with an extensive online presence, have a wealth of data. It’s captured in different forms, but not brought together in an actionable way.
25% of marketers feel confident about their data systems. 85% believe direct access to customer data is essential, but only 9% have easy access. Merely 18% can move quickly from data to actionable insight.
To go from data to actionable insights, brands need to connect anonymous customer data to personally identifiable information. This could look like getting a customer’s email ID by offering to inform them when an out-of-stock item is restocked.
Australian retail’s problem isn't a lack of data, but its fragmented nature. Customer data resides in silos across disconnected systems—CRMs, e-commerce platforms, POS, and mobile applications. Brands often lack the tools to connect this data and build a 360-degree customer view.
The result? Missed opportunities for personalisation. For example, an in-store customer may not receive an offer for a product they browsed online.
Customers expect personalisation. In fact, 66% say they will quit a brand if their experience isn’t personalised, and 88% are loyal to brands that create personalised experiences.
Historically, retail decisions were made based on gut feelings and past experiences.
Digitalisation has changed that. Now, brands collect customer data and make decisions in the moment. They instantly learn which offer resonates with which customer profile, which SKUs are flying off the shelf, how individual customers react to price changes, and more.
Data allows brands to play on the front foot - to move from reactive to predictive decision-making.
So, if data equals immediate revenue and future growth, why aren’t more Australian brands doing it?
Inability to build a unified view
Data is collected at different customer touchpoints and allowed to lie there in fragmented silos. Australian brands often have no way of connecting the dots and building an accurate profile. This makes it impossible to get a full view of customers.
Reliance on engineering and data teams
When business users (aka non-technical teams) need custom views of data or specific reports, they are forced to rely on engineering or data teams for the execution. This results in delayed insights (that might not be relevant anymore) while also preventing the data/engineering professionals from focussing on more impactful, strategic projects.
Data quality
Outdated or inaccurate data sits in the system, resulting in poor customer experiences. Consider the example of a retailer trying to sell nappies to the parents of college-going adults.
Disconnected systems
Many Australian brands still rely on legacy systems that don't play well together. Brands that want to utilise data beyond the ERP or website need a full-blown IT project to resolve. It’s not always possible to commit resources for such projects, making it difficult for brands to surface relevant insights.
Data privacy compliance
Navigating data privacy regulations like the Australian Privacy Act is complex, especially as consumers demand greater transparency and protection of their personal information.
As a result, many brands are unable to move beyond personalisation to individualisation. That’s a problem because the future of retail is “a segment of one”.
Personalisation is out, individualisation at scale is in.
Individualisation delivers unique, one-to-one experiences to millions of customers at once. Think Amazon’s homepage. It changes for each user based on their browsing habits, past purchases, and even the season. Prices and promotions shift too, making every interaction unique.
AI makes this scale possible. By processing billions of data points in real-time, AI uncovers patterns and preferences, predicting what customers want, when they'll buy, and which messages will hit the mark.
However, Australian brands that want to step into this future must build a modern data foundation today.
A CDP solution helps brands make sense of the customer journey. It collects data from different sources (CRMs, websites, stores, and apps), and unifies it into a single view for each customer. This makes it easy to personalise marketing, improve customer service, and drive sales.
Why retail brands need a CDP
A CDP turns data into a powerful tool for creating personalised, meaningful customer experiences.
Unification
Goodbye to customer data scattered across different systems because a CDP pulls everything together. This gives brands a 360-degree picture of each customer, making it easier to understand their needs, preferences, and behaviours.
Easy Access
With all the data in one place, business teams (marketing, sales, and customer support) can easily access the same up-to-date information. They don’t need to lean on IT and data teams to surface insights. Instead, they can quickly self-serve data. This ensures that every customer interaction is informed and relevant.
Real-Time Activation
A CDP doesn’t just store data; it makes it actionable. Brands can quickly segment customers and deliver personalised experiences across any channel, whether it’s sending targeted emails or offering in-store recommendations.
Transform fragmented customer data into actionable insights with Twilio Segment. Our CDP integrates seamlessly with your existing tools, providing real-time, unified customer profiles. Empower your teams to make data-driven decisions, optimise marketing spend, and create personalised, channel-less experiences that drive loyalty and revenue growth.
Our annual look at how attitudes, preferences, and experiences with personalization have evolved over the past year.