Consumer Sentiment & Retailer Strategy 2025/26 | State of the Nation 32
Retail Doctor Group Insights division, in partnership with Ebeltoft Group and World Retail Congress, have undertaken this research to determine how customers buy and how retailers plan, revealing the behavioural, operational, and strategic forces now reshaping Australian retail.
About Consumer Sentiment & Retailer Strategy 2025|26
Our results will be shared and published live to attendees at our next CEO breakfast event, bringing together a select group of Australia’s senior retail leaders for a high-level, closed-door conversation on the forces reshaping the sector heading into 2026.
Centred on the findings of RDG’s 2025|26 Consumer Sentiment & Retailer Strategy whitepaper, the session will explore the widening gap between customer behaviour and retailer capability, examining the strategic implications for leadership, governance, data maturity, and AI-enabled decision-making.
Discussion will focus on three core themes:
- Customer Reality vs Retail Strategy – CEOs will unpack the behavioural shifts driving immediacy, value sensitivity and emotional engagement, and why only 17% of retailers feel future-fit.
- AI, Data & Governance – Leaders will examine the operational constraints created by fragmented data and low organisational confidence, and how governance is emerging as a strategic growth lever, not a compliance hurdle.
- Leadership Resilience – The group will compare approaches to capability uplift, commercial clarity and decision velocity, noting that resilient leadership correlates with 60% higher profit expectations.
The event will close with a forward-looking discussion on business fitness, outlining how the Industry 2030 Program, Limbic Insights™, Fit for Business™, and REX create an integrated framework for retail transformation. Attendees will leave with a shared mandate: align insight, capability, and execution to build organisations that move at the speed of their customers.
Join our CEO breakfast event
Complete the form below to register for this event now.
Save the Date:
Wednesday, 24th September 2025
07:30 am to 10:00 am (AEST)
Get daily updates and more information about our proprietary research by following our official page on LinkedIn.