, and easy, convenient and available to purchase for a customer, you’re losing sales and potentially losing a customer over time.    Winning on the digital shelf requires brands to shift their mindset from managing products in physical store environments to managing products in a digital ecosystem that is driven by algorithms and online reputational cues. It requires brands to master a series of levers that enable discoverability and conversion, drive repeat purchases and more.   As a generational shift in the workforce is on, the next decade will show purchasing power shifting more towards Millennials, Gen Z and even Alphas. These generations’ shopping journeys across many categories are now heavily influenced by digital, even if the physical purchase occurs within a store or, in the case of a B2B buyer, through a salesperson.   For brands looking to level up their digital shelf strategy, it is important not only to understand where we are, but where the market is heading, to future proof for today and tomorrow.   Fuelling the next wave of e-commerce growth   Social commerce is one of several fast-growth e-commerce channels locally and globally, but it has yet to reach the scale and maturity in Australia seen in markets like China and to some extent the US. With platforms like TikTok, Instagram and Facebook increasingly blurring the lines between content and commerce and nearly one-in-three minutes of total time online spent on social-media platforms, it’s heavily influencing what and how people buy.     More than 3.8 million Australians shopped on Temu in 2024, and the ‘TikTok made me buy it’ mentality played a key role in influencing these sales, with 40 per cent of Australians having purchased a product after seeing it on the social app. Amazon’s recent integrations with Meta and TikTok are also set to accelerate adoption of social commerce by enabling customers to move seamlessly between content and conversion.  The appeal of social commerce lies in its ability to turn inspiration into action in just a few taps. Whether through influencer-led shopping events, interactive livestreams, or shoppable posts, brands can engage consumers in real time and reduce the friction between discovery and purchase.  There are still a few hurdles. Consumer trust in buying via social channels in markets like Australia is still building, and brands are grappling with integrating social commerce into their broader e-commerce and loyalty ecosystems. Those that invest in creator-led commerce, seamless checkout, and cross-channel personalisation will be best positioned to capture market share.  Selling via social commerce requires a very different approach to more traditional e-commerce channel activation, with creators acting as a bridge between the brand and the customer. Shining a light on Sunrise 2027 and what that means for digital content   Imagine a world where customers scan a product and instantly receive tailored content, such as allergy information or complementary product recommendations. It’s closer than you think.  In just a few years, the global shift to 2D barcodes (QR codes), known as Sunrise 2027, will transform how consumers interact with product information and re-shape consumer expectations. Unlike traditional barcodes, 2D barcodes provide rich, detailed data, enabling shoppers to access sustainability credentials, ingredients, usage instructions, and promotions through a single scan.  For brands, this shift makes high-quality product content non-negotiable. Investing in a robust product information management system, enriched product content, and AI-powered content optimisation will be essential for ensuring products are discoverable, engaging and accurate. And this must extend well beyond compliance.   The implications go beyond customer experience. Better product data means more accurate search results on retailer platforms, improved discoverability, and ultimately, increased conversion rates.  Sunrise 2027 is more than a compliance change – it’s a digital shelf revolution. Blended experiences taking centrestage  Digital screens are redefining the in-store experience. From interactive shelf talkers that highlight product benefits in real time to lift-and-learn technology that changes digital displays based on customer interactions, screens are blending the physical and digital world.  Retailers like France’s Sephora are leveraging AI-powered skin analysis tools to provide personalised recommendations, while other retailers are using digital shelf labels to update pricing, promotions, feature reviews and more, instantly. These innovations drive engagement, enhance the omnichannel shopping journey, deliver a more immersive experience, and support decision-making.   This shows the digital shelf increasingly extending into the physical store environment and requires brands to consider how to bring together their digital and physical shelf playbooks. It also challenges brands to think about product information beyond the golden record to fuel these digitalised in-store experiences.  Screens are no longer just for advertising, they’re re-shaping the in-store experience and are an extension of digital shelf management. The rise of AI-powered commerce  AI will lead to one of the single biggest shifts in digital shelf management. Today, Amazon is already using AI to rewrite product titles dynamically to serve more tailored and personalised search results and product detail pages to an individual. Rufus, Amazon’s AI shopping assistant, also provides a completely new way for customers to research and shop in the US..   What’s more, AI-powered interfaces are enabling the shopping experience to be increasingly conversational in nature, through both text and voice.   AI is expected to narrow choices for customers in many ways, which reduces cognitive load but presents new and different challenges for managing digital shelf presence, as it affords fewer opportunities for brands to be discoverable.    Optimising content and the experience for AI will be a new paradigm shift for those managing the digital shelf and one that will require much testing and learning, as AI-driven experiences continue to evolve and adapt as retailers and marketplaces innovate.   Adapting early to AI-powered commerce can provide a first-mover advantage. Winning the repeat purchase game with invisible commerce  Invisible commerce, which encompasses subscriptions, ‘buy again’ features, automated re-ordering and more, is a new term coined to describe the growing number of transactions occurring without customers even thinking about them. These models are disrupting the sales funnel as we know it. They are reshaping how customers shop, especially in categories like household goods, personal care, and food and beverage, where the whole discovery stage is bypassed in pursuit of convenience. Research from IPG suggests that 65 per cent of US consumers are using buy again features to purchase products, and 48 per cent use a subscription. When we break this down by category, half of US consumers are using it for household goods, 48 per cent for personal care and 45 per cent for food and beverage.   This shift is creating an intimacy gap, where customers are no longer browsing product pages or walking down store aisles, which means they are not seeing competitor products, ads or promotions. Convenience is the new currency for loyalty, so getting your product in the baskets and hands of the customer first is more important now than ever before.   And this trend isn’t just for B2C brands. Wunderman Thompson’s 2023 Future of B2B Shopping Report revealed that half of B2B purchases are by repeat purchasers, with Australian B2B buyers the highest repeat purchasers of major markets globally (at 57 per cent).   Despite the popularity and prevalence of these consumer behaviours today, there is not enough emphasis from brands to maximise opportunities that invisible commerce affords.   Convenience is the new currency for loyalty – brands that win in invisible commerce will own the future.  Winning on the digital shelf in 2025 and beyond  Digital shelf management is still a relatively immature discipline in Australia. Whilst some global players with local offices are ahead of the curve, particularly in industries like health and wellness, personal care and more, others lag behind. To be successful, brands and executives need to:   Build digital literacy within their organisations and a better understanding of shifting customer behaviours to ensure everyone can contribute to the change efforts.  Better understand the link between overall sales performance and digital influence to ensure investment decisions are made on the basis of the total value derived from digital shelf management as opposed to e-commerce sales.  Go beyond addressing the basics. Too many brands are attempting to simply play catch up and are falling further behind. Brands must balance brilliant basics with innovation and experimentation to build new capabilities and adapt to the changing market as a way to bridge the gap.  Rewrite the playbook for on-shelf execution. There are many parallels between in-store shelf management and online, but there are also distinct differences. When we know how to do both and successfully integrate the two to deliver a seamless experience end to end, we are more likely to win sales and shares over time.   The digital shelf is evolving – now is the time to act.