Many brands in Australia are overspending on retail media but fail to turn that investment into lasting customer loyalty, a study from SAP Emarsys shows.
According to the 2025 SAP Emarsys Global Consumer Products Engagement Report, 55 per cent of consumers share that their brand experiences still feel impersonal.
About 63 per cent of them say they are more likely to stay loyal to brands that focus on personalisation and tailor experiences to their needs.
Despite growing expectations for personalised content, only 36 per cent of marketers said their companies are truly personalised, with fragmented data, outdated tech stacks, and a lack of access to real-time behavioural insights cited as challenges.
“It’s tempting to think more media spend means more loyalty – but it’s the wrong equation,” said Sara Richter, CMO at SAP Emarsys.
“Loyalty today isn’t driven by louder ads, but by smarter personalisation. If retail media spend isn’t powered by meaningful customer insight, it’s just noise.”
The research also found that 36 per cent of marketers have access to real-time customer data across key channels. Without a unified view of the customer, from email to app to in-store and paid media, brands risk overpaying for underwhelming results, it added.
“Brands must stop chasing impressions and start building the infrastructure that turns insight into engagement,” Richter stressed.
SAP Emarsys teamed up with Deloitte to survey 2000 consumers and 100 senior marketers at enterprise-level businesses in Australia.
