Unpacking the Digital Shelf

In this episode, we break down the key findings from the 2025 Digital, Marketing & eComm in Focus report — a comprehensive look at the evolving digital landscape for Australian brands. We explore the growing complexity of the digital shelf, the rise of retail media, the quick commerce revival, and the ongoing tech challenges brands face in managing product content. With insights from over 220 industry professionals, this conversation is a must-listen for anyone navigating omnichannel growth in a rapidly changing Australian market.

Every six months, the ecommerce education consultancy Allume Group consolidates the output of expert conversations, annual reports, and the latest data to create their Allume Insider report, or AIR. It’s chock a block full of the most current insights into the present and future of ecommerce. Andrea Leigh, Founder & CEO of Allume Group rejoins the podcast with the takeaways from their latest research.

Our guest today, Swagat Choudhury, Global Director of Perfect Store Online at Mars has been steeped in the evolution of digital commerce for almost 20 years, 17 of that at Diageo. Today’s conversation about where digital commerce is going, and global plus local transformation has as its core a really crucial reminder that the fundamentals of commerce have remained the same: using a loop of influence and conversion to drive results. According to Swagat, the exciting difference of this next AI-fueled era will be the ability to unleash so much more data to drive the next best action, both for the consumer and for the marketer.

In chaotic times, trust becomes a premium value in the choices a consumer makes. That’s why so many brands invest heavily in creating brand experiences on the world’s most watched canvases, at the Super Bowl, the Oscars, the Olympics. But the most valuable real estate for your brand experiences may be where your consumers spend the vast majority of their time - in digital experiences often on the PDP. Roald Van Wyk, Global Creative Commerce Lead at IPG, is issuing an urgent and compelling call that creative briefs, and the processes they fuel, must change to ensure that your brand is building trust with the best creative across every screen, and every interaction.

Across brands and retailers, we are starting to see the long-standing silos that stand in the way of efficiency, growth, and accountability start to crumble. Today’s guests from Kroger are living proof of the power of this, with the media maven Jenny Holleran, VP at Kroger Precision Marketing having the important conversations and the united front together with Jorge Alfonso, Head of Digital Merchandising at Kroger. They share a deep commitment to a seamless, unified omnichannel experience for consumers that drives growth for both Kroger and for their brand partners. It’s a sibling rivalry in the best way possible.

Recorded live from Cannes Lions, this episode dives into the future of commerce, creativity, and connection with special guest Eric. We unpack why brands are losing their voice, how AI is transforming everything from influencer marketing to grocery shopping, and why human experience still matters. It’s a fast-paced, thought-provoking conversation about what’s hot at Cannes—and what’s coming next.

These are, how should I say it, interesting times to be a seller on Amazon. It’s good to be able to make decisions based on data in the midst of the chaos, so Jay Lovelace, CEO at Jungle Scout joined the podcast to lay out the trends that the data is identifying overall and across some specific categories that are on the move.

For the first episode of the APAC edition of Unpacking the Digital Shelf, Teresa is joined by Paul Brooks, former GM of Retail Media at Coles360 to discuss the retail media scene in Australia. Paul shares his journey building one of Australia’s largest retail media networks, the growth phases retailers go through, and the real-world trade-offs that come with scaling these platforms. We also explore how Australia compares to the US, UK, and Asia – and what brands need to focus on to win in this fast growing landscape.

I don’t know whether it’s a holy grail, but certainly a worthy grail is getting your organizations to behave with an omnichannel mindset to hopefully connect with the consumer however and wherever they choose, driving better conversion and a more strategic joint approach with your customers. Kenvue has organized around that mindset to ensure that they are spending their next dollar in the most productive place possible. That takes clear signals, communication, and strong relationships - all things we talk about with the fantastic Kacie McKee, Head of Omni-Commerce and Digital Acceleration at Kenvue. (This episode was recorded on May 20, 2025)

On this bonus episode of Unpacking the Digital Shelf you will hear the recap of each day of the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity as Lauren Livak Gilbert sits down with Colin lewis & Kiri Masters each day to summarize the themes.