Customer migration driven by the COVID-19 crisis might be here to stay for many businesses across Australia and New Zealand, according to the latest Salesforce State of the Connected Customer report.

Consumer shopping habits formed in lockdown are here to stay, according to Opinium Research, which was commissioned by payments platform Adyen. While COVID-19 has been a huge catalyst for change, it’s also solidified our preference for certain activities, including shopping in-store.

The average time spent on social media has grown by 30 per cent during the COVID-19 crisis, according to an L&A Social census.This increase in social media usage, coupled with the shift towards ecommerce, has created a commercial imperative for brands and businesses to understand consumer behaviour across social platforms, according to the agency.​

It’s a problem many brands have been working for years to solve: Growing interest in digital engagement and commerce and a need for greater capability to meet it. But in Farmlands New Zealand’s case, the timeframe for a response was shortened to just three weeks after the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown struck antipodean shores.

Contactless payments, 2D and 3D visualisations allowing consumers to better experience products they want to order, B2B consumerisation and live and experience-led commerce are here to stay post-COVID crisis, a new report claims.

The Iconic has chosen Optimizely as its experimentation platform to help ensure its customer engagement and conversion testing is as impactful as possible while avoiding site performance issues.

There’s no doubt COVID-19 has accelerated the shift to digital channels and transactions for Australian retailers. Here, Cue Clothing’s CIO, Shane Lenton, shares how the iconic Australian fashion brand adapted to the new normal of retail presented by the pandemic, the virtual and digital offerings it’s rapidly created, and the longer-term innovations they’re helping inform.

Needing to revamp its online presence, high-end fashion house Aje tapped Shopify to improve its online metrics, which came at just the right time for the sudden reliance on ecommerce with the Coronavirus pandemic.

For Australian linen and homewares brand, Lorraine Lea, decline had set in long before the COVID-19 crisis hit.

Conversion rate rises of 50 per cent in key segments and the foundations for tailored digital engagement are some early wins for Gala Imports Australia after overhauling its ecommerce and CRM approach.

As recent months have clearly shown, having a strong digital marketing and commerce capability has been one of the defining factors of those organisations that have best coped with the COVID-19 crisis.

The digital habits of consumers have skyrocketed during the coronavirus pandemic, although many still prefer to shop in-store, the latest Toluna COVID-19 Barometer has found.

When the COVID-19 crisis pushed Australian consumers online in unprecedented numbers, ecommerce and auctions company, Grays, turned to an unconventional channel to help fuel its growth.

In a bid to help local businesses affected by coronavirus restrictions, a new marketplace for Australian-made and owned products has now launched. Buy Aussie Now, which started as an Instagram page in mid-March as the nation prepared to shut down with the Coronavirus, has developed into a new platform to showcase local businesses.

An experiential campaign created for Procter & Gamble in ecommerce is about bringing the physical shopping experience for relatable goods to the digital realm and a reflection of how consumers are seeking fresh engagement in new channels, the brand’s regional ecommerce chief says.

The launch of IGA’s online grocery delivery service is a lesson in developing minimum viable product that responds quickly to the needs of customers during a rapidly evolving crisis, its shopper engagement leader says.

Across all countries, just over half of consumers are using Amazon and search engines as their starting point for inspiration, according to the Future Shopper 2020 report.

An online shop, mobile app, fresh take on customer loyalty and new product ranging are just some of the steps Max Brenner’s local marketing chief says it’s taking to prepare the once-embattled brand as Australia recovers from COVID-19.

Realising customer lifetime value and personalising digital engagement to accelerate growth is one step closer to reality for Australian wellness brand, ECO. Modern Essentials, as it deploys a new marketing platform.

An ecommerce marketplace isn’t the first thing you’d expect an airport to create in a time of COVID-19 crisis. But that’s exactly what Brisbane Airport has done in 16 days in order to support its retail tenants and end customers.

Being the CMO for CMOs and showcasing Alibaba’s technology innovations to the world dominate the marketing strategy of its CMO, Chris Tung. And he sees the group’s 12-year partnership with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as a key way of achieving both aims.