Customer Experience Matters for Australia’s Retailers

Australia Omnichannel Retail Census

Find a Winning Formula

Retailers must provide customer convenience—range, availability, speed—at the lowest delivered cost.

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Australia Omnichannel Retail Census

Retailers must provide customer convenience—range, availability, speed—at the lowest delivered cost.

Online retail is the growth bright spot in Australian retail. Growing at more than six times the rate of brick-and-mortar, it is expected to account for 30% to 40%, on average, of incremental market growth over the next three years, according to Forrester and Euromonitor.

Shopping in all sectors is omnichannel, with 80% of shopping research done online prior to purchase, according to Bain’s 2019 Australian Omnichannel Census. Bain’s research also demonstrates that the mobile phone plays an  increasingly critical part: More than 30% of respondents research categories on mobile phones or tablets, and more than 20% of respondents follow up and purchase using mobile phones or tablets.

Customer experience matters. Bain’s research shows that Australian omnichannel retailers’ online sales are highly correlated with their online Net Promoter Score®, which improves dramatically when customers shop in both channels.

Variability in advocacy for omnichannel retailers is high. The 2019 leaders are performing at twice the omnichannel average, and many are failing to deliver the same standard as in-store.

The winning formula provides customer convenience—range, availability, speed—at the lowest delivered cost.

Omnichannel experience leaders in 2019 are Dan Murphy’s and Officeworks, both with market-leading advocacy as indicated by their Net Promoter Scores.

The formula for winning today will not be the same as it is tomorrow. The Australian millennial generation spends more money online and has heightened expectations of a convenient, frictionless experience. The intersection of digital innovation and these rising consumer expectations has led to retail ecosystems in Australia and Asia with the potential to dramatically change the retail landscape. 

Net Promoter®, Net Promoter System®, Net Promoter Score® and NPS® are registered trademarks of Bain & Company, Inc., Fred Reichheld and Satmetrix Systems, Inc.