New report shows Aussie marketers critically lagging in tech, AI, privacy and data

Partner content – Australian marketers are grappling with significant maturity gaps, underutilised tech, restructures and talent woes against a backdrop of massive AI disruption and economic upheaval, says a new report produced by Melbourne based digital, data and eCommerce advisory and consultancy Arktic Fox in collaboration with recruitment firm Six Degrees Executive.

The Digital, Marketing & eComm in Focus 2025 report, charts striking trends across the strategic and technological maturity of brands engaging with digital, marketing and eCommerce in Australia.

The report has surfaced a wealth of arresting key insights from across the local marketing landscape, including:

• Almost 75% of Australian brands are either currently resizing their business or are planning to do so in the future
• 73% of leaders state their marketing budget has remained static or been reduced
• 59% of brands are experimenting with or scaling efforts around GenAI and AI more broadly to drive personalisation
• Only 19% of brands feel they have semi / strong utilisation of their marTech tools
• More than half (53%) of Australian brands self-report lagging behind in customer and first-party data capabilities
• Just 14% of Australian brands believe they’re making meaningful progress towards a unified view of the customer
• Only 4 in 10 leaders agree their brands have clear plans to evolve in line with proposed privacy act changes
• ‘Emerging technologies’ is now the number one skill gap in marketing teams
• When comparing themselves with global leaders, 75% of brands feel as though their eCommerce maturity lags
• Over half (54%) of respondents have low levels of trust in retail media networks

The study, now in its fifth year, surveyed more than 200 senior marketing and business leaders on the topics of strategic priorities, customer experience (CX), marTech, AI, data & analytics, privacy, skills, eCommerce, and retail media.

The study suggests that while most brands are aware of the key trends impacting the broad marketing and digital landscape, such as the acceleration of generative AI, the importance of first-party data, privacy law amendments, skills challenges, and the rise of retail media,  investment and capability is often not currently aligned with such ambitions.

Arktic Fox Founder & Director and report author Teresa Sperti (pictured) says this year’s study painted an eye-opening picture of the Australian marketing and digital industry, set against a backdrop of rising economic pressure, intensifying competition and shifting customer expectations: “Grappling with emerging tech, limited budgets and pressure to drive value, brands are being asked to do more with fewer resources than before.

“We see a host of maturity gaps and lag across marTech, data and analytics, customer experience and more.

“We are also seeing a clear shift in mindset from brands this year around generative AI. Some are moving beyond experimentation: re-skilling teams, embedding AI in workflows, and building governance to support scale.”

The full report, which contains many more insights, statistics and charts, as well as insights from industry leaders, is now available for download by clicking here.