Latest news with #SAPEmarsys

The Independent

2 days ago

Business
The Independent

Mind the personalisation gap: solving retail media's loyalty challenge

SAP Emarsys is a Business Reporter client Retail media spend is surging, but consumer products brands need to convert that investment into lasting customer loyalty. Retail media spend is booming. Consumer products giants are pouring billions of pounds into advertising on retailers' digital platforms to reach shoppers right where they browse and buy. But while media spend soars, customer loyalty is stagnating. Our Global Consumer Products Engagement Report reveals the disconnect: consumers don't want more ads – they want meaningful, relevant engagement. It's time for consumer products (CP) brands to adapt their strategies or risk losing the customer loyalty they have worked so hard to build. Retail media spend is projected to surpass $100 billion by 2026, according to McKinsey. Brands are shifting budget to retail media networks, encouraged by the benefits of digital ad campaigns that can reach consumers right when they can see a product they want to buy. It's factors such as this – direct access to customers and in-the-moment product awareness – that have pushed up the cost of retail advertising as brands compete for premium placements. But your ad appearing at the right time doesn't mean it's making a real connection. Many brands are discovering that awareness alone isn't enough. Awareness doesn't easily translate into valuable connections. SAP Emarsys recently surveyed over 750 senior marketing decision makers at enterprise-level CP businesses along with 14,000 consumers for the Global Consumer Products Engagement Report. We found that 69 per cent of CP marketers say it's becoming harder to engage meaningfully with customers. We also found a growing personalisation gap – a chasm between brands' ability to deliver tailored customer engagement and what customers want to receive. Only a minority of CP marketers feel they excel at engaging customers and just 36 per cent believe their campaigns and content are effectively personalised. Worryingly, 63 per cent of CP consumers say they value highly personalised content, but 51 per cent say their experience with a brand does not feel personalised. So, while there's an elite group of marketers who are taking advantage of this desire for enhanced engagement, the rest are falling into the personalisation gap. Call it ad fatigue or banner blindness – non-personalised, mass marketing approaches to retail media are no longer effective. Brands need to look for ways to connect with their customers more effectively. Your data, your advantage The starting point for connecting with customers should be data. Deep customer insights can help brands to maximise their retail media investments with more precise ad targeting. They can then extend these interactions seamlessly to power personalised engagements across other channels. Some CP brands have started to break down silos, connect data, accelerate operations and engage customers more effectively. However, just 32 per cent of CP marketers say they have an established, connected data strategy; the rest are falling behind, struggling to integrate data sources, gain insights and turn data into meaningful customer connections. But collecting this data – from insights into demographics to channel preferences to spending habits to purchase history – is a big ask. The majority of CP brands don't have a direct relationship with customers. Yet the need for it is clear. Almost two thirds (65 per cent) of CP marketers say consumer behaviour is becoming harder to predict. This tracks with consumer attitudes to CP brands: 64 per cent of CP shoppers don't pay attention to the brands they're buying as long as a product meets their needs. And with the cost of living front of mind for many people, 60 per cent have switched to own-label alternatives as more affordable options. SAP Emarsys helps brands turn every digital interaction into a meaningful data exchange – building trusted, first-party relationships through channels such as email, mobile apps and social media. This digital transformation is possible and certainly worthwhile with the right tools and team in place. Because the customer has made a conscious, informed choice to entrust a brand with this first-party data, it's of higher quality, more relevant and ultimately more useful than data from third-party sources. It's also essential for complex tasks such as personalising customer engagements. A good example here is global sweets company Ferrara, known for brands such as Jelly Belly, Nerds and Trolli. By using customer data solutions from SAP and SAP Emarsys, Ferrara can effectively collect and activate first-party and customer data to hit the sweet spot of delivering tailored experiences for its brand fans. By activating this data across marketing, commerce and sales, businesses have the basis on which to create seamless customer journeys that build loyalty. Maximising ROI: supercharge media strategies That's not to say that CP brands shouldn't continue with their retail media strategies; there's still an important role for digital or in-store advertising and activations. However, with the pressure brands are under because of consumer brand loyalty – or rather the lack of it – they need to be smarter in their approach. Businesses such as Criteo can help with this. Criteo helps brands drive targeted, data-driven ad placements through its commerce media platform. Using AI and data insights, brands can engage and convert customers with highly tailored ad experiences across digital platforms. Integrating Criteo with SAP Emarsys enables consumer products brands to supercharge their retail media strategies by combining powerful ad tech with rich customer data. Brands can turn first-party data insights collected from interactions into personalised, high-impact campaigns on Criteo's network across desktop, tablet and mobile devices, ensuring that ads are seen by the right people, wherever and whenever they are shopping. The result? Increased relevance, greater engagement and more loyal customers. It's a virtuous circle, as loyal customers are often more receptive to the targeted advertising messages they receive via retail media. From clicks to customers for life Inflation, supply chain disruptions, rising advertising costs: these are all contributing to increasing market uncertainty for consumer products brands. To survive, marketers must pivot from seeking short-term clicks and single transactions to building strong customer relationships. This shift means closing the personalisation gap and embracing new strategies to meet customer expectations, moving from transactional marketing to building long-term engagement. Success depends on leveraging first-party data effectively to understand customer needs and behaviours as the foundation for creating personalised experiences that customers value. Personalisation now means more than basic product recommendations but should instead deliver real-time, AI-driven and context-aware experiences to individuals on whatever channel a customer prefers to be. It requires consistent, relevant marketing interactions that build trust and loyalty over time. The challenge consumer products brands face isn't retail media: it is how retail media is used for mass marketing. Brands must look beyond ad spend and focus on what really drives customer connections: personalised engagement. By building tailored approaches and engagement into their strategies, brands can close the personalisation gap and ensure that every pound spent contributes to loyalty and focuses on the right customers at the right moment.

What's Stopping Brands from Anticipating Customer Needs?

Martechvibe

3 days ago

Business
Martechvibe

What's Stopping Brands from Anticipating Customer Needs?

Functional value is now beating brand familiarity, says Sara Richter, CMO at SAP Emarsys. To rebuild loyalty, brands need to go beyond transactions and deliver relevance, recognition, and reward – in real-time. It starts with first-party data… Yolande D'Mello 2 hours ago Yolande is a journalist with more than 10 years of experience covering emerging technology and business. She has tracked digital disruption and its impact on enterprise across the US and Middle East. View More brand strategycustomer datacustomer needsloyaltypersonalisationSAP Emarsys Locala's omnichannel advertising platform leverages granular insights and cutting-edge AI to help marketers plan, activate, and measure campaigns that are personalised to the local consumer. It specialises in transforming complex mobility and consumer data into actionable audience insights, fueling advanced media strategies. VISIT WEBSITE Blue Prism is a global software provider, offering ROM 2, an intelligent automation implementation methodology that empowers teams to scale their digital workflow. One of its use cases is sales and marketing solutions, which is powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) algorithms. VISIT WEBSITE Pega is a combined business process management and robotic process automation (RPA) platform that comes with workforce analytics features. It offers a wide variety of tools such as Pega Email Bot to automate repetitive tasks with personalised customer replies at scale. VISIT WEBSITE EdgeVerve, a subsidiary of India-based IT company Infosys Technologies, offers RPA software for major enterprise companies. Its AssistEdge Robotic Process Automation provides machine learning and AI tools called Infosys Nia. Its AssistEdge RPA enables global marketing and distribution companies to automate 970+ manual tasks at scale. VISIT WEBSITE Clevertap is a comprehensive platform that allows global marketers to get unified customer data analytics and omnichannel engagement in one place. VISIT WEBSITE UseResponse is a fully customisable customer support and feedback software, helping companies to better understand the needs of their customers. It provides the capabilities of multichannel ticketing, live chat with messengers aggregator, chatbot, feedback community portal, and knowledge base. VISIT WEBSITE Survicate is a drag-and-drop, multichannel survey builder, helping brands effortlessly collect and analyse customer feedback. It offers 23+ one-click, native integrations, enabling advertisers and marketers to create follow-up campaigns based on real-time customer feedback. VISIT WEBSITE SAP Sales Cloud comes with end-to-end solutions and offers AI-fueled insights for understanding customers' preferences. It helps build customer profiles at scale. It also empowers users to automatically manage contact information, which streamlines clients' journeys. VISIT WEBSITE Freshsales by Freshworks is an AI-powered software that streamlines the sales cycle by automating mundane tasks and personalising customer engagement. It generates quality leads and nurtures relationships by understanding visitor intent in real-time. VISIT WEBSITE Developed for midsize enterprises and large organisations, Creatio offers end-to-end CRM software solutions, allowing users to manage sales, marketing, and services all in one place. For marketing professionals, it provides Marketing Creatio, an omnichannel marketing platform to orchestrate customer journeys and accelerate lead-to-revenue. VISIT WEBSITE Salesforce is a global technology provider, offering low code/no-code, AI-powered capabilities. Marketers and advertisers can harness its technologies for multiple use cases like B2B strategies, cross-channel personalisation, real-time analytics, and more. VISIT WEBSITE SAS offers embedded CDP capabilities, letting marketers unify customer data, understand digital activity and enable analytically driven, real-time activation. It comes with data activation facility that enables marketers to pull only the data they want, further reducing data migration costs. VISIT WEBSITE Blueshift is a scalable CDP platform that offers AI-driven capabilities for clubbing real-time events with related data from various sources. It streamlines these insights into unified customer profiles, enabling marketers to automatically personalise their targeting goals. VISIT WEBSITE Wotnot is a genAI-powered , no-code chatbot platform, helping the sales and marketing team to engage with visitors on their website via personalised conversations, catering to their lead-generation goals. It offers platform-based solutions, such as AI Studio, a GPT chatbot builder, and an analytics dashboard. 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Powered by TesseractDB, a purpose-built database for engagement & retention, it combines the features of audience analytics, omnichannel engagement, and product A/B testing for marketing functions. VISIT WEBSITE Oracle Advertising and Customer Experience (CX), lets advertisers personalise their campaigns. Its flagship product, Oracle Moat, a comprehensive analytics and measurement platform, provides a suite of solutions across marketing and ad intelligence. Moat helps reach prospective customers, capture consumer attention, and measure the outcomes to unlock business potential. VISIT WEBSITE Meta Ads is a social media advertising platform leveraging the user base from Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp to deliver personalised ads at scale. It offers Meta Business Suite and Meta Business Manager for managing and tracking ad performance. Utilising its AI-powered tools, advertisers can partially or fully automate with complete control over their ads. VISIT WEBSITE WebEngage is an end-to-end customer data platform, helping brands to strategise their customer engagement and retention functions. It supports third-party integration for use cases including customer segmentation, omnichannel engagement, and survey & feedback. VISIT WEBSITE ServiceNow features Robotic Process Automation Hub (RPA Hub), a scalable genAI-powered platform for orchestrating and managing a robotic workforce to execute various business processes. Its workflow automation enables tasks like lead management and campaign execution and supports integration with popular marketing tools to streamline processes. VISIT WEBSITE Tealium is a comprehesive customer data platform helping brands orchestrate and manage their data activation from a marketing standpoint. Its AudienceStream CDP functionality enables marketers to create custom campaigns via 1300+ integration options for several use cases. VISIT WEBSITE Qualaroo is a saas-based online survey creator offering Qualaroo Nudge, a proprietary technology for uploading custom properties for airtight targeting. It enables marketers to 'nudge' when user clicks on a page element, helping them to target visitors on their real-time activity. VISIT WEBSITE Zendesk is a Danish-American company that offers software-as-a-service products with the capabilities of omnichannel integrations. Its omnichannel messaging platform enables sales and marketing teams to easily track and consolidate customer tickets from various sources, ensuring enhanced customer experiences. VISIT WEBSITE WebEngage is an all-in-one marketing platform that integrates omnichannel engagement with live analytics features. It offers AI/ML-driven product recommendations engine that enables marketers to boost conversion for all channels, including the web and mobile apps. VISIT WEBSITE Sprinklr is a comprehensive enterprise software company offering omnichannel support capabilities for all customer-focused marketing functions. It provides no-code, easy-to-build API integrations to access real-time customer data from multiple sources — such as CRM, CDP and ecommerce platforms. VISIT WEBSITE SAP provides omnichannel marketing capabilities through its flagship product: SAP Emarsys. By accessing its purpose-built reports, teams can determine the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns, segments, and channels in achieving sales goals. Its B2B account engagement features let brands deliver predictable and personalised marketing-led B2B insights at scale. VISIT WEBSITE MoEngage is a global AI-driven marketing platform that enables brands to orchestrate omnichannel campaigns from a single intuitive interface. Utilising MoEngage's User Path Analysis capabilities, marketing teams can target customers across 10+ channels, depending on their purchase behaviour. VISIT WEBSITE Intuit Mailchimp is an AI-powered omnichannel platform that offers email and marketing automation functions. With its customised pre-built audience segments, marketers can scale their campaigns based on individual contacts' demographic information and shopping behaviour. VISIT WEBSITE Hubspot is a cloud-based, scalable customer platform that offers various marketing automation solutions with omnichannel support capabilities. It enables marketers to create omnichannel campaigns to connect and interact with customers across multiple channels in real-time. VISIT WEBSITE Bloomreach is an all-inclusive marketing automation platform that comes with omnichannel orchestration supports for various use cases, such as marketing campaign personalisation, and headless CMS commerce platform experience. VISIT WEBSITE Agillic specialises in offering global brands a comprehensive Omnichannel Marketing Automation Platform that enables them to create personalised marketing campaigns. Its multichannel marketing capabilities support multiple integrations, such as Playable and Sleeknote for lead generation, Zapier for automating routine processes, among others. VISIT WEBSITE Adobe Experience Cloud features Adobe Campaign, enabling marketers to synchronise their customer data from various channels for omnichannel marketing. By leveraging its omnichannel integration with Adobe Journey Optimiser, brands can build multi-step journeys, campaigns, and personalised real-time moments that follow their customers across channels. VISIT WEBSITE ActiveCampaign is an intelligent multichannel marketing automation platform that enables marketers to seamlessly connect campaigns across the channels that matter most to them. It helps enterprises streamline personalised marketing, transactional emails, and one-to-one CRM interactions throughout the customer lifecycle. VISIT WEBSITE UiPath offers a comprehensive AI-powered robotic automation platform, enabling marketers to streamline recurring functions, such as lead automation and customer engagement. Utilising its capabilities, marketers can personalise and automate customer interactions, depending on their needs and preferences. VISIT WEBSITE SAP is a composable marketing automation technology provider, offering SAP Intelligent RPA solutions to automate repetitive, rules-based business processes, including marketing and sales. Using its tech stack, marketers can automatically extract product data from manufacturers' websites, update online inventory and import website and email sales. VISIT WEBSITE Microsoft offers Power Automate, a low-code and AI-powered RPA software that helps marketers streamline tasks like lead management, email campaigns, social media management, data analysis, content publishing, and customer feedback. Leveraging its capabilities, businesses can automate repetitive tasks, such as lead capture and email marketing workflows. VISIT WEBSITE IBM offers AI-powered Robotic Process Automation capabilities for CRM and marketing functions. It enables users to automate workflows with integrated OCR and intelligent chatbots, distribute work across multiple bots without human interventions and manage emails via low-code authoring tools. VISIT WEBSITE Hyland offers an AI-powered comprehensive robotic automation software suite, enabling marketers' teams to automate their campaigns. Its Natural Language Processing (NLP) technology allows businesses to automate repetitive marketing functions, such as execution of targeted and personalised strategies in near real-time. VISIT WEBSITE Datamatics is an intelligent automation platform, offering TruBot RPA designer, a low-code bot design tool for marketing teams to create customised bots quickly. It provides 500 pre-built components, enabling low-code design and rapid deployment capabilities with drag-and-drop options. VISIT WEBSITE Automation Anywhere offers Automation Success Platform powered by Vertex AI, enabling enterprises to develop a cloud-based digital workforce at scale. Leveraging its bots, ML, and AI technologies, marketers can automate their marketing and sales processes. One of its popular offerings is Automation Co-Pilot, a genAI-powered assistant that empowers businesses to create and summarise content. VISIT WEBSITE Appian is a global technology provider, delivering end-to-end process automation with RPA, AI, IDP and API integrations. Utilising the readily available APIs of this low-code platform, teams can create a series of connected digital business applications including customer management and marketing. VISIT WEBSITE Powered by Zoho Corporation, Zoho Analytics enables marketers to track all critical metrics in a single platform to enhance marketing outcomes. The company offers 75 pre-built data visualisation reports and dashboards on marketing performance for collaborative analysis. With its AI-powered assistant, marketers can generate automated insights, predict future trends, and configure smart alerts. VISIT WEBSITE Semrush is an online visibility management and content marketing SaaS platform, offering marketing analytics tools to global businesses. Its open-source analytical tools include Market Explorer and Traffic Analytics for understanding market trends and website traffic respectively. VISIT WEBSITE Nielsen is a global audience insights, data and analytics solution provider, helping marketers measure what people listen to and watch. It offers a comprehensive, AI-powered Nielsen Marketing Cloud platform with sub-products such as Audience Segments, Scarborough, and Advanced Audiences to understand audiences for different targeting initiatives. VISIT WEBSITE MoEngage is a full-stack marketing automation platform, offering consumer insights and analytics solutions for marketers to understand customer LTV. With MoEngage Analytics, they can measure user engagement, spot behavioural patterns, and act on retention to prevent app uninstalls. VISIT WEBSITE Microsoft Clarity is a behavioural analysis tool that helps marketers understand user interaction with their website. It supports features like Session recordings, Heatmaps, and ML insights in real time. Processing more than a petabyte of data from over 100 million users per month, Clarity accommodates limitless traffic for various marketing measurements at scale. VISIT WEBSITE Powered by AI-led insights, Merkle offers scalable marketing analytics and CX technology solutions, helping brands to optimise their campaigns. Some of its flagship solutions are Measurement & Media analytics, Consumer & Experience insights, and Product & Market intelligence. VISIT WEBSITE Hubspot offers marketing analytics and dashboard software, enabling businesses to make data-backed decisions for use cases, such as revenue generation, site analytics and detailed reporting. Leveraging the capabilities of its multi-touch revenue attribution model, marketers can monitor real-time website traffic via unique tracking codes. VISIT WEBSITE Google Analytics is an open-source analytics tool by Google, enabling marketing teams within organisations to better understand their customers via valuable insights. Consequently, businesses can use those insights to take action, such as website improvement and tailored audience list creation. VISIT WEBSITE Adverity is an integrated data analytics platform, enabling marketers to automate their customer's data integration and visualisation functions. It offers 600+ pre-built data connectors to popular marketing platforms, social media networks, SEO tools, and marketing automation solutions. The platform also provides pre-build dashboards to generate tailored reports. VISIT WEBSITE Adobe Experience Cloud offers Adobe Analytics and Adobe Target within its analytics tools solutions, enabling marketers to execute in-depth analysis of their customer data. Adobe Analytics allows the sales and marketing teams to mix, match, and analyse data from any digital point in the customer journey. VISIT WEBSITE Ahrefs features a suite of analytics tools under its Ahref Enterprise offering. It offers API and Looker Studio connectors, enabling marketing teams to elevate their SEO strategy with enterprise-grade and insights. Some of the criteria for its API endpoints include Backlinks, Organic & Paid Traffic, SERPs, Website health score and more. VISIT WEBSITE StackAdapt is a multi-channel programmatic advertising platform, enabling digital marketers to customise their strategy. It offers open and flexible DSP (Digital Signal Processing) capabilities for executing tailored ad campaigns. Furthermore, its ad previewer lets marketing teams preview video, display and native ads on desktop or mobile across 500+ publishers, covering 23 verticals. VISIT WEBSITE Rakuten is a global affiliate ad technology company, enabling advertisers to optimise their marketing strategies with data-driven insights. It offers AI-powered forecasting and benchmarking capabilities and dynamic multi-touch commissioning tools, allowing advertisers to customise their campaigns. It also supports first-party data collection integrations for both B2B and B2C marketers. VISIT WEBSITE Nielsen offers Nielsen Ad Intel, a cross-platform advertising intelligence platform with actionable insights to identify prospects, analyse brand strategies and learn from past advertising campaigns. It offers various advertising intelligence features such as ad spend monitoring, competitive benchmarking, global competitive insights and expert data harmonisation. VISIT WEBSITE Magnite is an independent sell-side advertising technology provider, enabling publishers to monetise their content across all screens and formats. It offers Magnite Streaming, a singular supply-side platform that merges technology from the Magnite CTV and SpotX platforms. Utilising this functionality, marketers can identify their potential audiences to restructure their targeting strategies. VISIT WEBSITE IBM offers a comprehensive suite of Watson Advertising to agencies and marketers. With Watson Advertising's AI-powered assistant, advertisers can customise their advertisements, based on real-time ad results. It also supports functionalities of cookieless advertising, ad fraud management and brand safety measurements. VISIT WEBSITE Google features a comprehensive list of AI-powered Ad tools under its Google Ads offering. Some of its popular tools include Keywords Planner, Ads Editor, Reach Planner, Ads Mobile App, Insights Finder, Ads API, and Recommendations Page. Additionally, it offers Google AdMob to help businesses plan their in-app revenue generation strategy. VISIT WEBSITE Criteo is an all-in-one connected commerce media platform, enabling marketers and agencies to scale their digital and physical assets. Leveraging the capabilities of its AI-powered technology, brands can develop strategies for intent-based product recommendations, multi-prolonged accessibility, contextual advertising, and more. VISIT WEBSITE Basis Tecnologies (formerly known as Centro), is a programmatic advertising platform, offering ad management tools for search, social and site direct via a single interface. Its flagship products are Basis Assistant and Basis Automate+. Basis Assistant is a Chrome extension, connecting 20+ platforms and tools, and Basis Automate+ is a digital advertising automation tool for simplifying campaign process. VISIT WEBSITE AppsFlyer is a mobile attribution company, helping mobile advertisers to identify their ad network. It offers a measurement suite, giving app marketers full visibility into their customer journeys while preserving their privacy. Utilising its AI-powered Creative Optimisation platform, marketers can formulate their creative strategy. VISIT WEBSITE Adtriba is a cross-channel digital marketing management platform based on data-driven attribution modelling. Its solutions include Adtriba Triangulation, enabling advertisers to witness the integration of diverse measurement methods, such as Marketing Mix Modelling (MMM), Multi-Touch Attribution (MTA) and Incrementality Testing. VISIT WEBSITE Adobe Experience Cloud offers connected advertising solutions with its natively integrated Adobe Advertising platform. Its consultancy-based reporting options come with AI-powered optimisation features, helping advertisers analyse their ad performance via 200+ measurement metrics. Utilising its connected TV (CTV) and search, social, and commerce tools, marketers can optimise their customer acquisition strategy. VISIT WEBSITE specialises in Conversational AI, generating autonomous conversations that appear human-like. These conversations form the foundation of brand engagement. Their AI-powered, no-code Dynamic Automation Platform manages around two billion conversations from a multitude of channels in numerous languages. VISIT WEBSITE Sprinklr offers a comprehensive suite of 250+ AI-intent bot templates for various industry verticals to accelerate bot development. Its specialised AI and compliant rule engine enables marketers to modify and automate their promotional campaigns for better engagement via suggestion-based personalised bots. VISIT WEBSITE Meta's new class of generative AI features and creative tools allow users to create and share custom stickers or update the visual style of their photos with a simple text prompt. They can also chat with 28 different AIs and get unique perspectives on topics like travel, games and food. VISIT WEBSITE is a UI-based platform that allows marketers to create a chatbot quickly and deploy it easily on multiple channels. Leveraging the capabilities of its conversational builder, enterprises can build the Dialogflow using dialogue messages. Some of its popular offerings include XO: Experience Optimisation and GALE(Beta). VISIT WEBSITE IBM watsonx Assistant is an interactive virtual agent that utilises natural language and AI, enabling users to set it up on their app and website. It offers fast and accurate responses to customers, enhancing their overall experience and satisfaction with its adaptive learning capabilities. VISIT WEBSITE Haptik helps enterprises manage their customer lifecycle with generative AI-powered conversational solutions to boost marketing and sales. It offers Contakt and Interakt to enhance overall CX, where Interakt enables marketers to send hyper-targeted and personalised campaigns to drive customers to take action on WhatsApp. VISIT WEBSITE Dialogflow is an all-in-one platform for developing chatbots, voice bots, and virtual agents using natural language understanding and Google AI. It helps marketing teams create conversational agents that can handle common customer requests and issues, such as FAQs, and order status at scale. VISIT WEBSITE Dialpad is a fully integrated unified conversation intelligence platform that utilises ongoing ML(Machine Learning) algorithms and does not require coding to configure a chatbot. It offers real-time insights and tips, helping marketing teams customise their approach for every customer. VISIT WEBSITE is a low code-no code, enterprise-grade generative AI platform offering readily available LLMs for CX transformations. Its omnichannel reporting and analytics suite for marketing enables organisations to streamline their customer journeys. VISIT WEBSITE is a global conversational AI technology provider optimised for operational efficiency at scale. It offers self-learning AI capabilities that emphasise Natural Language Understanding (NLU) along with intent suggestions. VISIT WEBSITE Avaamo is an all-in-one conversational AI platform for enterprises offering a suite of industry-specific skills developed to automate and resolve common use cases. It offers Outreach, which enables marketers to educate and engage with customers across existing touchpoints through proactive and personalised communication. VISIT WEBSITE Amazon Lex offers fully managed conversational AI interfaces with advanced natural language models to design, build, test, and deploy conversational interfaces in applications. It enables sales and marketing teams to automate user tasks in their applications like the CRM and across any digital channel. VISIT WEBSITE Zendesk is an AI-powered customer feedback software provider, offering customer satisfaction (CSAT) software to businesses across multiple industries. Its marketplace offers 1600+ apps and integrations, enabling marketers to create a complete customer feedback system. VISIT WEBSITE UserVoice provides product feedback management software for SaaS businesses. Its UserVoice Validation tool delivers actionable user insights to inform roadmap strategy. From testing ideas to ensuring satisfaction with released features, it helps research and marketing teams gather quick user feedback throughout the entire product lifecycle. VISIT WEBSITE Twilio provides integrated Mindful Feedback functionality within its Flex offering, enabling marketers to automatically take action based on real-time customer feedback. It automatically collects customer feedback after Flex interactions by capturing feedback over post-call voice IVR, outbound voice IVR, conversational SMS, Web SMS, email, and web surveys. VISIT WEBSITE Trustpilot offers ML and AI-powered feedback management tools, helping marketers build trust and loyalty through customer reviews. Its AI-driven Review Insights tool enables marketers to identify growth areas from negative feedback, whereas its Image Generator tool lets them enhance social media engagement. VISIT WEBSITE Survey Monkey is a global online survey and forms tech stack provider, offering AI-fueled market research solutions to businesses. Its enterprise feedback management program provides 250+ templates with the capabilities of customisation, allowing organisations to build tailored survey forms. VISIT WEBSITE Sprinklr is a unified customer experience platform (CXM), offering AI-powered feedback management capabilities with its flagship product: Sprinklr Surveys. It integrates solicited customer feedback with unified-CXM data, enabling brands to derive meaningful, actionable insights. Utilising its genAI-powered survey builder, marketers can create conversational surveys to streamline their NPS strategies. VISIT WEBSITE Salesforce is a comprehensive customer-oriented technology provider offering a feedback management suite. Salesforce's survey responses help marketers create personalised surveys based on their existing customers' data. Some of the supported applications of its feedback management platform are genAI-powered survey form development and sentiment-insights-based survey collections. VISIT WEBSITE QuestionPro is an online feedback software provider, offering ready-made survey templates to businesses across 40+ countries. Leveraging the capabilities of its customer satisfaction templates, advertisers and marketers can create and gather tailored questions. VISIT WEBSITE Qualtrics is an all-in-one customer experience solution provider, offering website & app feedback tools for organisations to collect customer feedback efficiently. Its digital experience analytics capabilities combined with DXA integrations, bring together verbal and behavioural data for in-depth analysis of user feedback. VISIT WEBSITE HubSpot is a one-stop marketing platform, providing customer feedback software under its Service Hub offerings. Its pre-built APIs include net promote score (NPS), customer effort score (CES), and customer satisfaction (CSAT) surveys, allowing marketers to strengthen their customer loyalty strategy. VISIT WEBSITE Medallia is a comprehensive platform, enabling marketers to capture feedback from all customer touch points. Some of its popular feedback management software capabilities include Sense360 for analysing consumer spending, Medallia Video to automatically extract meaningful insights from customer's feedbacks and Agile Research for creating branded surveys in real-time. VISIT WEBSITE Zeotap lets brands integrate, unify, segment and orchestrate customer data, fostering a cookieless future. It offers a 'Non-Customer Entity Data' feature that helps marketers to integrate both customer and non-customer entity data. VISIT WEBSITE Twilio provides, Twilio Segment, an AI-powered CDP, enabling marketers to streamline their personalised customer engagement journeys. It brings together clean, consented customer data for real-time insights with 450+ pre-built connectors. VISIT WEBSITE Syntasa provides data-ready CDP capabilities, equipping marketers with essential tools to prepare their customer data. It offers real-time sentiment analytics capabilities, helping enterprises derive behavioural insights from unified user profiles to foster hyper-personalised experiences. VISIT WEBSITE SAP is a company-wide customer data management platform, helping marketers improve engagement, conversion, and retention. It offers a genAI-powered data model, enabling enterprises to unify their B2B and B2C customers' profiles to reach their personalisation goals. VISIT WEBSITE Oracle is a global database management company, providing CDP solutions, under its flagship product: Oracle Unity. Its AI-powered models enable marketers to create hyper-personsalised campaigns with predictive insights by streamlining real-time customer data from heterogeneous sources. VISIT WEBSITE Growthloop is a composable CDP platform, allowing marketing and sales team to action their data at scale. It offers GrowthLoop Audience Builder, enabling marketers to initiate their lead generation functions. VISIT WEBSITE Adobe Experience Cloud offers a real-time CDP, letting users create high-value audience segments for B2C and B2B use cases across their marketing funnel. It follows a cookieless marketing approach to automatically unify customer data across various online and offline channels in real-time. VISIT WEBSITE ActionIQ is a composable CDP platform that offers audience segmentation, acquisition marketing, and Customer 360 capabilities. It integrates analytical tools, enabling marketers to collect and analyse their first-party customer data at scale. VISIT WEBSITE Zoho CRM leverages automation and comprehensive analytics to empower any sales team, fostering stronger customer loyalty. Ideal for both small businesses and enterprises, this software enables enhanced productivity and tailored solutions through predictive intelligence. VISIT WEBSITE Zendesk offers Zendesk Sell, an easy-to-deploy CRM platform that is simple to deploy and navigate, catering to businesses of any scale. Its mobile-friendly Sell app has the functionalities of geolocation, helping sales and marketing teams. Offering an all-in-one CRM platform, organisations can implement use cases like prospecting, engagement, lead generation and communication capabilities. VISIT WEBSITE SugarCRM is a global CRM software provider, helping marketing, sales, and service teams improve efficiency through automation, data, and intelligence in near real-time. It offers Sugar Market, an all-in-one marketing automation platform that helps marketers to automate their campaign with higher ROI. VISIT WEBSITE Salesforce is a one-stop sales and support CRM software that regularly updates customer records, tracks emails and calls, and creates organised support processes for quicker customer responses. Its simple and scalable infrastructure is ideal for businesses of all sizes. VISIT WEBSITE Pipedrive stands out with its emphasis on automation, tailorability, and seamless integration. Purposefully built to enhance the efficiency and productivity of sales professionals, this CRM solution has an intuitive setup and robust capabilities. It facilitates lead generation, comprehensive sales analytics, and seamless business expansion. VISIT WEBSITE Oracle NetSuite CRM, a component of Oracle's business software suite, is for all midsize and booming businesses that want a comprehensive, integrated CRM solution with ERP capabilities. Using it, customers and partners can directly interact with the platform, freeing the additional work load for their sales team. VISIT WEBSITE Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales represents a robust cloud-based CRM solution brimming with features such as pipeline assessment, relationship analytics, and conversational intelligence. It utilises AI-powered insights to provide actionable intelligence via predictive analytics, lead scoring and sentiment analysis. VISIT WEBSITE Less Annoying is a CRM software that utilises a straightforward search feature within its contact management system, making it easy to track contacts. It is ideal for small-sized businesses and offers a highly intuitive and user-friendly interface. VISIT WEBSITE Insightly offers CRM software solutions for enterprises looking to understand their audience data across various marketing functions. It integrates seamlessly with third-party apps, streamlining workflow automation, including bulk emailing and report generation. VISIT WEBSITE HubSpot's sleek dashboard with consolidated CRM tools simplify complex customer data, further transforming it into meaningful insights. Complementing typical CRM functionalities, HubSpot provides tailored options, including conversation intelligence and email monitoring. VISIT WEBSITE Apptivo delivers adaptable and web-based CRM solutions, enabling marketing and sales teams to streamline all customer service requirements across various devices and browsers. Despite its focused feature set, it encompasses over 65 interconnected applications alongside a robust sales pipeline management tool, ensuring efficient tracking of potential leads without any downtime. VISIT WEBSITE Sitecore offers composable cloud solutions with its flagship products, Sitecore Experience Platform(XP) and Sitecore Experience Manager (XM). They help marketers to overcome scalability challenges. Some of its features include intuitive visual editing, headless delivery, marketing automation, scalable personalisation, data and machine learning capabilities. VISIT WEBSITE Salesforce Experience Cloud is a platform that helps enterprises link clients, partners, and employees to securely exchange information and documents. Built on its Customer 360 platform, Salesforce's DXP ensures seamless integration with any solution in the Salesforce ecosystem. VISIT WEBSITE Oracle Cloud offers a comprehensive suite of platform-based marketing automation solutions for personalised B2B and B2C automation campaigns. Some of its featured products are Eloqua Marketing Automation, CrowdTwist Loyalty and Engagement, and Unity Customer Data Platform. VISIT WEBSITE Optimizely is a digital experience platform (DXP) provider that offers Optimizely One, an easy-to-use and fully integrated suite. It provides a single, unified workflow with thoughtfully embedded AI and machine-learning algorithms, accelerating work across the entire marketing lifecycle. VISIT WEBSITE OpenText offers a cloud-native, scalable platform for enterprises to streamline their marketing functions. It provides fully composable content management, digital asset management, creative workflows, personalisation, targeting and customer data technologies in one place, ensuring a holistic approach to B2B, B2E and B2C experiences. VISIT WEBSITE Neptune DXP is a PaaS(Platform-as-a-Service) provider, helping marketing teams build custom apps based on modular, reusable application building blocks. The company offers flexible environments to businesses across different verticals, further providing personalised digital solutions at scale. VISIT WEBSITE Magnolia is a composable DXP that comes with no-code connector packs and low-code micro-frameworks for third-party integrations. It also offers an open-source version alongside its commercial plans enabling enterprises to build tailored use cases. VISIT WEBSITE Liferay DXP helps marketers deliver personalised and connected digital experiences across a broad range of channels, including customer portals, websites, intranets, mobile apps, and connected devices. It offers intuitive CMS, user analytics, and site management tools that businesses need to launch, test and optimise digital experiences for faster go-to-market. VISIT WEBSITE Powered by IBM Consulting, IBM iX offers a composable DXP, providing a comprehensive solution to make enterprises' systems future-ready. Utilising its data-driven insights and intelligent workflows, marketers can design and deliver human-centred experiences across the customer lifecycle. VISIT WEBSITE HCL Digital Experience (DX), forms part of a wider HCL Customer Experience (CX) product portfolio, offering core capabilities such as content management, DAM, CDP called Signals, and low-code application development. It provides services in government, life sciences, insurance, financial services, and other verticals. VISIT WEBSITE Contentstack is a headless CMS and Composable Digital Experience Platform (DXP) solution provider that helps marketers gain a competitive edge. It recently launched into Google Cloud Marketplace, and is also available on Microsoft Azure and AWS. It seamlessly enables mid-market brands to adopt its omnichannel campaign engine to drive higher conversions and sales. VISIT WEBSITE Bloomreach Commerce Experience Cloud provides businesses an edge with its modular capabilities: Content Management System (CMS), Discovery features for search and merchandising optimisation, and Engagement tools such as Customer Data Platforms (CDP) for personalisation and analytics. VISIT WEBSITE Adobe Experience Cloud offers a comprehensive set of services specifically designed to address the day-to-day requirements for personalised customer experience at scale. Its platform helps manage different digital content and assets to improve customer satisfaction. Some of its products include Adobe Gen Studio, Experience Manager Sites, Real-time CDP, and Marketo Engage. VISIT WEBSITE Acquia offers DXP solutions, comprising of two main elements: Acquia Drupal Cloud and Acquia Marketing Cloud. It can be accessed in both platform-as-a-service (PaaS) and software-as-a-service (SaaS) with additional components such as Site Factory for multisite management, digital asset management (DAM), CDP, personalisation, and Campaign Studio. VISIT WEBSITE

Khaleej Times

4 days ago

Business
Khaleej Times

Brand apathy on the rise among UAE consumers, especially Gen Z, study shows

Almost two-thirds (65 per cent) of UAE's consumers and 61 per cent of the UAE's Gen Z population don't pay attention to the brands they're buying — as long as the product meets their needs, a study showed. New research by SAP Emarsys in association with Deloitte has revealed increasing brand apathy among UAE consumers. According to the study, 67 per cent of all consumers in the UAE have switched to own-label alternatives because they are more affordable. Interestingly, despite this heightened indifference to brands in general, a significant proportion of UAE consumers (68 per cent) still actively advocate for their favourite brands in public. These insights are based on a survey of more than 2,000 UAE consumers and 100 senior marketers at multinational enterprises, which examined shifting attitudes towards consumer products. According to The Global Consumer Products Engagement Report by SAP Emarsys, we have entered the 'Engagement Era,' in which brands must establish a robust data foundation across their entire business in order to thrive. Embracing AI-driven, omnichannel strategies is no longer optional; it is critical for transforming fragmented data into actionable insights, building long-term relationships, and achieving true customer loyalty and lifetime value, experts say. This message resonates in the UAE, where 72 per cent of consumer product marketers say it is becoming harder to engage meaningfully with customers, indicating that the majority are at risk of falling behind in this new engagement-driven landscape. Success in the Engagement Era depends on delivering a personalised omnichannel experience across the entire customer lifecycle, and leading brands in real-time engagement are already putting these strategies into action. 'Today's consumer landscape is shifting faster than ever, and brands must navigate this terrain with agility and insight,' said Marwan Zeineddine, Managing Director of SAP UAE. 'The research highlights a clear opportunity: while brand apathy is increasing, so too is the demand for personalised, emotionally resonant experiences. Leveraging technologies such as SAP business AI, brands can go beyond transactional relationships and deliver the kind of real-time, meaningful engagement that cuts through consumer indifference and earns lasting loyalty. This is where marketers can lead the charge; by bridging data and strategy to stay relevant and drive long-term success.' 'Consumers globally aren't just becoming less loyal to brands — they're ignoring them entirely,' said Sara Richter, CMO at SAP Emarsys. 'That's a wake-up call for marketers. Without a strong data foundation, it's impossible to deliver the real-time, personalised experiences needed to achieve that all-important 'true' loyalty.' When asked about barriers to effective customer engagement, UAE consumer product marketers cited internal complexity as the biggest challenge, with 31 per cent identifying this as a key issue. Additionally, data continues to pose significant hurdles: 53 per cent of marketers say they are unable to access or use data in real time, and 69 per cent report their organisation's data is too unstructured to use effectively. Similarly, when it comes to predicting future behaviors, only 28 per cent of marketers feel confident in their ability to predict future consumer behavior, and just 30 per cent believe they can effectively segment and analyse their audiences. As global consumer apathy toward brands increases, marketers in the UAE recognise the need to improve fragmented engagement approaches and outdated technologies. According to the report, 65 per cent of UAE marketers say they will need to overhaul their engagement strategies in 2025. Meanwhile, 69 per cent believe personalisation will be a key differentiator in the year ahead, especially important considering that 77 per cent of UAE consumers say they value highly personalised content. Where do brands stand in the Engagement Era? The report also introduces the Customer Engagement Maturity (CEM) score, which ranks consumer product brands on the strength of their customer engagement strategies. This research builds on earlier findings from Bain & Company, which point to a major industry shift toward ERP and SAP S/4HANA. This shift underscores the urgent need for consumer product brands to break down silos, accelerate operations, and engage customers more meaningfully. The CEM Index categorises brands into three maturity levels: Reactive: Still reliant on batch-and-blast marketing, sending the same message to all audiences. Proactive: Using mobile and messaging channels, but still dependent on manual processes. Predictive: Leveraging AI to anticipate needs, deliver real-time, personalised offers, and build long-term relationships. Brands in the 'Predictive' category demonstrate that to truly succeed in the Engagement Era, a robust business AI-infused ERP foundation, supported by a customer engagement platform, is essential. However, many brands still lag behind, with only 34 per cent of consumer product marketers in the UAE currently sharing customer engagement data with a dedicated ERP system. 'For those clinging to outdated strategies, investing in AI-driven, real-time engagement is no longer a luxury. This investment could be the deciding factor in whether a brand achieves its revenue targets in the Engagement Era,' a statement said.

Struggling Aussies turn to Coles and Woolworths, Albanese leads Pope Francis tributes, 12-year-old girl dies riding e-scooter

Yahoo

22-04-2025

Politics
Yahoo

Struggling Aussies turn to Coles and Woolworths, Albanese leads Pope Francis tributes, 12-year-old girl dies riding e-scooter

Hello and welcome to Yahoo's live news blog this Tuesday. Pope Francis has died at the age of 88. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has led tributes for the leader of the Catholic Church, saying he was "close to the people of Australia". Struggling Aussies are turning to Coles and Woolworths for financial relief, new data shows. More and more shoppers are ditching trusted brands for cheaper own brand alternatives. A 12-year-old girl has died while riding an e-scooter. Police believe she fell into the road before colliding with a passing car. Labor continues to dodge questions on whether Russia did in fact request to base military aircraft in Indonesia. Defence Minister Richard Marles refused to declare if the Albanese government has been informed of such a development after the prime minister did the same earlier on Monday. Follow along as we bring you regular updates throughout the day. While Coles and Woolworths have copped a lot of criticism in recent years amid cost-of-living struggles, more and more Aussies are turning to the supermarkets' own brands to get through financial difficulties. New research from SAP Emarsys says 60 per cent of shoppers have switched to more affordable own brands, while 55 per cent of shoppers believe the quality of those items are comparable to branded ones. 'Aussie consumers aren't just becoming less loyal to brands - they're ignoring them entirely.' SAP Emarsys CMO Sara Richter said. A 63-year-old man has a court date after cops say they pulled him over riding a lawnmower along a main road while clinging to a takeaway meal. Police in Taree on NSW's Mid North Coast allege the lawnmower did not have licence plates and that the man did not have a licence. NSW Police allege he hasn't had one since 1986. It comes after an Easter Weekend where three people lost their lives on the state's roads, and while Acting Police Minister Tara Moriarty said most drivers stuck to the rules, a small number were responsible for "preventable tragedies". Over the long weekend, police said 4,892 were caught speeding, while 802 people failed drug-driving tests. Take a look now at these striking images in the video below, showing a remarkable influx of ladybirds in SA's southeast. One photo even shows the insects clinging to the back of a man's shirt. Local photographer Darren Archibald told the ABC parts of the ground are "covered" in ladybugs. Drought and cooler conditions have led to the surge in numbers. The first votes in the May 3 federal election will be cast from Tuesday, as campaigning is overshadowed by the death of Pope Francis. Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton are still expected to front the third leaders' debate on Tuesday night, but the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader have cancelled planned events for Tuesday. The Opposition Leader has said 'today's not the day for big politicking'. Mr Dutton says he will spend the day 'reflecting' instead of engaging in 'overt politicking' on Tuesday, out of respect for Pope Francis. He is expected to attend a church service, while Mr Albanese attended mass at Melbourne's St Patrick's Cathedral early on Tuesday. - NCA NewsWire It's been 12 years since Pope Francis became the head of the Catholic Church so you may need a reminder of how a new leader is elected. Nine days of official mourning will now take place following Pope Francis' death, a period when his funeral will take place. Two to three weeks after the funeral, a conclave will take place. Cardinals and Vatican officials chosen by the pope will gather in Vatican City to vote on who will be the next pope. "The cardinals vote by secret ballot, processing one by one up to Michelangelo's fresco of the Last Judgment, saying a prayer and dropping the twice-folded ballot in a large chalice," the US Conference of Catholic Bishops explains. "The result of each ballot [is] counted aloud and recorded by three cardinals designated as recorders. If no one receives the necessary two-thirds of the vote, the ballots are burned in a stove near the chapel with a mixture of chemicals to produce black smoke." This process repeats until a cardinal receives the necessary two-thirds vote. At this point, white smoke will rise from the chimney on the roof of the Sistine Chapel, indicating to the wider world that the cardinals have elected a new pope. Four rounds of balloting are taken every day until someone receives this vote share. Pope Francis's election in 2013 was confirmed on the second day, after five ballots. A man has been charged with the murder of beloved 19-year-old Audrey Griffin a month after her remains were discovered in a NSW Central Coast creek. The body of the teenager was found partially submerged in the Erina Creek near The Entrance Rd, Erina, on the Central Coast at about 3.45pm on Monday, March 24. She had been reported missing only a few hours earlier, with her friends last seeing the 19-year-old at about 2am on a night out at the Gosford Hotel. Initial inquiries led police to believe the death wasn't suspicious. However after further investigation, police arrested a 53-year-old man in Surry Hills at about 12.20pm on Monday. He has been charged with murder and 11 other unrelated domestic violence matters. Police will allege the man had a physical altercation with the teenager. He was refused bail and is due to appear before Downing Centre Local Court on Tuesday. Ms Griffin's death rocked the local community, who remembered her as a 'beautiful girl' who was 'treasured by a lot of people'. 'She touched the hearts of so many people and always had a smile,' a friend penned on social media. - NCA NewsWire It's the simple question Labor is refusing to answer. Did Russia make a request to position military aircraft in Indonesia? Prime Minister Anthony Albanese repeatedly dodged that question on Monday morning and now Defence Minister Richard Marles has followed his lead, saying he wouldn't "get into it". It is of course the possibility that Labor doesn't actually know the answer to that question but Opposition Leader Peter Dutton says if that's the case, it should just simply be said. Marles argued however it was not Labor's position to be declaring such information. "What we know about that is not something I'm going to ventilate in the public domain, nor am I going to comment on it," he told Sky News. 'What matters is the assurance that Indonesia has provided to us, which they did, with great speed when we reached out and that was to assure us that there was no prospect of Russian aircraft operating from their soil.' High school student Summah Richards has been remembered for having a smile that could light up a room. Summah, 12, was riding her e-scooter in the quiet town of Laidley in rural Queensland before a tragic collision took her life about 3pm on Saturday. According to police, initial investigations indicated that both vehicles were travelling south on Vaux Street and around 3pm the rider of the scooter fell into the path of a grey Holden Barina on Vaux Street. Police said Summah was declared dead at the scene. The driver and passenger of the Holden Barina were not injured. Investigations are ongoing. Stacey Ardrey, the best friend of Summah's mother, has remembered Summah as 'a remarkable young girl with such a vibrant spirit'. Read more from NCA NewsWire here. Pope Francis has been remembered as a leader who was determined to be with the people until the end as millions of Australian Catholics mourn the pontiff's passing. The 88-year-old's death on Monday after a recent serious battle with double pneumonia was marked by tolling church bells and preparations for scores of memorial masses for the Catholic leader. Australian Catholic Bishops Conference president and Perth archbishop Tim Costelloe reflected on images taken just hours before the Pope's death, when Francis made a public appearance at St Peter's Square. "Even though he was so sick, and so weak, he was determined to be with his people," Archbishop Costelloe told ABC Radio National on Tuesday. "And I think being with his people, being present to his people, was probably the great gift that he brought to the church and to the world." Many mourners attended early masses at local cathedrals following the Pope's passing. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who is Catholic, said the major party leaders had agreed to dial back election campaigning on Tuesday as a sign of respect. He attended mass at St Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne on a rainy Tuesday morning, when he was greeted by the cathedral's dean, Monsignor Stuart Hall. The Pope's death could also prove a turning point in Australia's relationship with the Vatican after Francis overlooked local archbishops when selecting the nation's sole cardinal in December. Cardinal Mykola Bychok said he was filled with sadness for the loss of a "pope of peace" and a man of simple piety. Read more here. Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@ You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube. While Coles and Woolworths have copped a lot of criticism in recent years amid cost-of-living struggles, more and more Aussies are turning to the supermarkets' own brands to get through financial difficulties. New research from SAP Emarsys says 60 per cent of shoppers have switched to more affordable own brands, while 55 per cent of shoppers believe the quality of those items are comparable to branded ones. 'Aussie consumers aren't just becoming less loyal to brands - they're ignoring them entirely.' SAP Emarsys CMO Sara Richter said. A 63-year-old man has a court date after cops say they pulled him over riding a lawnmower along a main road while clinging to a takeaway meal. Police in Taree on NSW's Mid North Coast allege the lawnmower did not have licence plates and that the man did not have a licence. NSW Police allege he hasn't had one since 1986. It comes after an Easter Weekend where three people lost their lives on the state's roads, and while Acting Police Minister Tara Moriarty said most drivers stuck to the rules, a small number were responsible for "preventable tragedies". Over the long weekend, police said 4,892 were caught speeding, while 802 people failed drug-driving tests. Take a look now at these striking images in the video below, showing a remarkable influx of ladybirds in SA's southeast. One photo even shows the insects clinging to the back of a man's shirt. Local photographer Darren Archibald told the ABC parts of the ground are "covered" in ladybugs. Drought and cooler conditions have led to the surge in numbers. The first votes in the May 3 federal election will be cast from Tuesday, as campaigning is overshadowed by the death of Pope Francis. Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton are still expected to front the third leaders' debate on Tuesday night, but the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader have cancelled planned events for Tuesday. The Opposition Leader has said 'today's not the day for big politicking'. Mr Dutton says he will spend the day 'reflecting' instead of engaging in 'overt politicking' on Tuesday, out of respect for Pope Francis. He is expected to attend a church service, while Mr Albanese attended mass at Melbourne's St Patrick's Cathedral early on Tuesday. - NCA NewsWire It's been 12 years since Pope Francis became the head of the Catholic Church so you may need a reminder of how a new leader is elected. Nine days of official mourning will now take place following Pope Francis' death, a period when his funeral will take place. Two to three weeks after the funeral, a conclave will take place. Cardinals and Vatican officials chosen by the pope will gather in Vatican City to vote on who will be the next pope. "The cardinals vote by secret ballot, processing one by one up to Michelangelo's fresco of the Last Judgment, saying a prayer and dropping the twice-folded ballot in a large chalice," the US Conference of Catholic Bishops explains. "The result of each ballot [is] counted aloud and recorded by three cardinals designated as recorders. If no one receives the necessary two-thirds of the vote, the ballots are burned in a stove near the chapel with a mixture of chemicals to produce black smoke." This process repeats until a cardinal receives the necessary two-thirds vote. At this point, white smoke will rise from the chimney on the roof of the Sistine Chapel, indicating to the wider world that the cardinals have elected a new pope. Four rounds of balloting are taken every day until someone receives this vote share. Pope Francis's election in 2013 was confirmed on the second day, after five ballots. A man has been charged with the murder of beloved 19-year-old Audrey Griffin a month after her remains were discovered in a NSW Central Coast creek. The body of the teenager was found partially submerged in the Erina Creek near The Entrance Rd, Erina, on the Central Coast at about 3.45pm on Monday, March 24. She had been reported missing only a few hours earlier, with her friends last seeing the 19-year-old at about 2am on a night out at the Gosford Hotel. Initial inquiries led police to believe the death wasn't suspicious. However after further investigation, police arrested a 53-year-old man in Surry Hills at about 12.20pm on Monday. He has been charged with murder and 11 other unrelated domestic violence matters. Police will allege the man had a physical altercation with the teenager. He was refused bail and is due to appear before Downing Centre Local Court on Tuesday. Ms Griffin's death rocked the local community, who remembered her as a 'beautiful girl' who was 'treasured by a lot of people'. 'She touched the hearts of so many people and always had a smile,' a friend penned on social media. - NCA NewsWire It's the simple question Labor is refusing to answer. Did Russia make a request to position military aircraft in Indonesia? Prime Minister Anthony Albanese repeatedly dodged that question on Monday morning and now Defence Minister Richard Marles has followed his lead, saying he wouldn't "get into it". It is of course the possibility that Labor doesn't actually know the answer to that question but Opposition Leader Peter Dutton says if that's the case, it should just simply be said. Marles argued however it was not Labor's position to be declaring such information. "What we know about that is not something I'm going to ventilate in the public domain, nor am I going to comment on it," he told Sky News. 'What matters is the assurance that Indonesia has provided to us, which they did, with great speed when we reached out and that was to assure us that there was no prospect of Russian aircraft operating from their soil.' High school student Summah Richards has been remembered for having a smile that could light up a room. Summah, 12, was riding her e-scooter in the quiet town of Laidley in rural Queensland before a tragic collision took her life about 3pm on Saturday. According to police, initial investigations indicated that both vehicles were travelling south on Vaux Street and around 3pm the rider of the scooter fell into the path of a grey Holden Barina on Vaux Street. Police said Summah was declared dead at the scene. The driver and passenger of the Holden Barina were not injured. Investigations are ongoing. Stacey Ardrey, the best friend of Summah's mother, has remembered Summah as 'a remarkable young girl with such a vibrant spirit'. Read more from NCA NewsWire here. Pope Francis has been remembered as a leader who was determined to be with the people until the end as millions of Australian Catholics mourn the pontiff's passing. The 88-year-old's death on Monday after a recent serious battle with double pneumonia was marked by tolling church bells and preparations for scores of memorial masses for the Catholic leader. Australian Catholic Bishops Conference president and Perth archbishop Tim Costelloe reflected on images taken just hours before the Pope's death, when Francis made a public appearance at St Peter's Square. "Even though he was so sick, and so weak, he was determined to be with his people," Archbishop Costelloe told ABC Radio National on Tuesday. "And I think being with his people, being present to his people, was probably the great gift that he brought to the church and to the world." Many mourners attended early masses at local cathedrals following the Pope's passing. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who is Catholic, said the major party leaders had agreed to dial back election campaigning on Tuesday as a sign of respect. He attended mass at St Patrick's Cathedral in Melbourne on a rainy Tuesday morning, when he was greeted by the cathedral's dean, Monsignor Stuart Hall. The Pope's death could also prove a turning point in Australia's relationship with the Vatican after Francis overlooked local archbishops when selecting the nation's sole cardinal in December. Cardinal Mykola Bychok said he was filled with sadness for the loss of a "pope of peace" and a man of simple piety. Read more here.

Retail's Data-Driven Future: Turning Insights Into Action

Forbes

15-04-2025

Business
Forbes

Retail's Data-Driven Future: Turning Insights Into Action

According to a new report released from SAP Emarsys, 51% of U.S. brands say their organization suffers from 'dark data,' which is data that is collected but not effectively used. By Balaji Balasubramanian, President and Chief Product Officer for SAP Customer Experience and Consumer Industries In today's retail landscape, customer expectations have never been higher. Shoppers want to move effortlessly between in-store visits, mobile browsing, social commerce, and digital marketplaces, expecting every interaction to be seamless and personalized. Behind the scenes, retailers struggle to deliver these experiences due to fragmented, outdated, and incomplete data that makes real-time decision-making nearly impossible and hampers engagement, operational efficiency, and, ultimately, profitability. When retailers' data exists in silos, the problem is compounded from all angles. With sales, inventory, marketing, and customer engagement data living in separate systems, retailers lack the clear view of customer behavior and business insights they need to respond with critical actions in real time. Lack of context within the data means businesses struggle to extract meaningful insights. Consider the impact: At a moment when retailers must optimize every facet of their business to remain competitive, a unified data strategy isn't optional—it's essential. To break these silos, retailers need a unified data foundation—one that consolidates insights across all customer touchpoints, enabling real-time intelligence and business agility. SAP Business Data Cloud (SAP BDC) is an integrated solution that can bring data together from all sources, owned and external, to help create a single, trusted source of truth. With SAP Business Data Cloud, retailers can have the total picture of data from sales, inventory, marketing, loyalty, service, and near-real-time statuses of third-party logistics. With this holistic view, retailers can: By shifting to a data-first approach, retailers can move beyond managing transactions to driving intelligent, customer-centric experiences for long-term loyalty and growth. Despite the rise of e-commerce, more than 80% of retail interactions still take place in physical stores. Brick-and-mortar locations remain central to the retail journey, yet, as retailers' largest cost center, they also encompass the biggest operational challenges—from inventory carrying costs to labor and store operations. Although today's consumers are fluid in how they shop—researching products across multiple platforms or buying online and picking up in-store, for example—they still expect accurate, real-time visibility into inventory wherever they engage. In this landscape, data is the lifeblood that allows retailers to orchestrate orders, manage workflows, and ensure that customers can trust the information they see. Yet, according to a new report released from SAP Emarsys, 51% of U.S. brands say their organization suffers from 'dark data,' which is data that is collected but not effectively used. To remain competitive, retailers must harness real-time transactional insights to optimize store efficiency, maximize revenue, and provide seamless customer interactions. For Hornbach, one of the largest DIY stores in Germany, the idea of interconnected retail is more than just omnichannel. It needs to be able to add new channels quickly—and to maintain a seamless customer experience over all channels. Hornbach adopted SAP Order Management Services as a foundation for this vision, enabling the flexibility to address new markets quickly, connect new systems, process orders rapidly and efficiently, and adopt new innovations. With the addition of SAP Omnichannel Sales and Transfer Audit, the Hornbach team expects to get more visibility in day-to-day operations, like checking fraud detection and the completeness of transactions. 'The most exciting thing will be the combination of all these new technologies we're seeing: artificial intelligence, event-driven architecture, as well as native cloud solutions,' said Carsten Mueller, head of Enterprise Architecture and Security, Hornbach. 'The combination will give Hornbach great power in the next year.' The retail industry is evolving at an unprecedented pace, with AI redefining how businesses operate and interact with customers. According to the same SAP Emarsys report, 89% of U.S. consumer product marketers believe AI will be essential for engaging new customers. However, the effectiveness of AI hinges on the reliability and accuracy of the data it processes. Retailers that embrace AI-powered data intelligence will lead the next era of omnichannel excellence. The future isn't just about connecting data—it's about activating it in real time to drive seamless customer interactions. To stay ahead, retailers must: As omnichannel complexity grows, brands that fail to unify their data risk falling behind. SAP Business Data Cloud and intelligent order management solutions can provide the foundation for a future-proof transformation. As AI continues to evolve, retailers must shift from reactive decision-making to proactive, predictive commerce, where every transaction is optimized for efficiency and profitability. The future of retail is here. Those who harness AI to unify, analyze, and act on their data will define the next generation of customer experience and retail success. I'm excited to partner with companies navigating this transformation and empower them to seize new opportunities for success. Learn more about SAP's solutions for retail.