Retailers need data, but shoppers have privacy concerns: Deloitte

Two competing trends in the world of retail are set to collide this Christmas, according to Deloitte’s 2023 Report Holiday Report, with retailers’ growing need for data clashing with shoppers’ reluctance to hand it over.

The pandemic boom in e-commerce has subsided somewhat, with customers returning to brick-and-mortar stores, especially for their holiday season shopping.

But although online sales for Australian retailers have declined over the past two years, they remain higher than pre-COVID, with 42% of retailers making at least 10% of sales through online channels. Significantly, only 5% of retailers surveyed in the Deloitte survey have no online sales channel at all.