Australian consumer brands struggle with profit growth but see AI personalisation delivering stronger ROI than loyalty programmes.
What’s happening: Australian consumer goods leaders are rapidly adopting AI agents to combat margin pressure and drive growth, with 85% believing these autonomous AI systems will be essential for competition within two years. New Salesforce research shows 53% of local CG leaders expect profitable growth to be tougher this year, prompting strategic investment in AI-driven personalisation over traditional revenue tactics.
Why this matters: With 40% of Australian SMEs already adopting AI and the consumer goods sector facing economic headwinds, the shift toward AI agents represents a fundamental change in how brands engage customers and manage operations. The data suggests traditional approaches like loyalty programmes and trade promotions may no longer deliver sufficient returns for sustainable growth.
Australian consumer goods companies are placing unprecedented bets on artificial intelligence as they confront the toughest profit environment in years, with industry leaders viewing AI agents as their primary weapon against margin erosion and customer disloyalty.
New research from Salesforce surveying 2,400 global consumer leaders, including 200 from Australia, reveals that 53% of local consumer goods business leaders expect profitable growth to be more challenging this year than last.
In response, these companies are making AI their top investment priority, with 85% saying AI agents will be essential to compete within two years and 83% expecting these autonomous systems to directly boost sales.
Profit pressure drives AI adoption
The challenging environment is reshaping strategic priorities across the sector. Nearly all Australian CG leaders (99%) cite exposure to economic policy shifts such as tariffs as impacting their sourcing, operations, and margins.
“It’s clear that Australian consumer goods businesses need to do more to deliver effective customer engagement,” says Nathan Alexander, Chief Information Officer of McPherson’s, one of Australia’s leading suppliers of health, wellness and beauty products.
“This report reinforces our strategy of leveraging social engagement to build in market brand awareness and enable more personalised brand messaging.”
Alexander’s company is implementing what the industry calls “Agentic AI” to drive greater productivity, faster decision-making, and accelerated value creation through Salesforce’s unified ecosystem.
The urgency reflects broader market pressures. With 59% of Australian CG leaders saying it’s harder than ever to maintain consumer loyalty, and 74% of consumers switching brands in the past year, traditional customer retention strategies are proving insufficient.
Agents become essential by 2027
AI agents represent a fundamental shift from reactive customer service to proactive business assistance. Unlike chatbots that respond to queries, these systems can act autonomously alongside human teams to complete complex tasks from trade promotion creation to new product development.
The research shows Australian leaders expect rapid adoption:
- 85% believe AI agents will be essential to compete within two years
- 89% expect their companies to increasingly invest in AI agents
- 83% believe AI agents will help increase sales
“The message from Australian consumer goods business leaders is clear; maintaining customer loyalty is increasingly challenging, and businesses need to move quickly to implement AI agents to remain competitive,” says Jane Brown, SVP Enterprise, Salesforce ANZ.
This aligns with broader adoption trends, with 70% of small retail businesses already using AI tools in some form, though the move toward autonomous agents represents a significant evolution in capability.
Traditional tactics hit limits
The research reveals concerning gaps in traditional revenue-generation strategies. Trade promotions, despite being one of the biggest expenses in consumer goods, deliver positive ROI for only 41% of Australian companies.
After years of pursuing growth through direct-to-consumer channels and loyalty programmes, these approaches appear to be reaching effectiveness ceilings. The data suggests newer AI and data-driven personalised offers significantly outperform loyalty programmes by nearly 15 percentage points in Australia.
Companies are responding by shifting spend toward digital engagement channels:
- 63% are boosting social media spend
- 51% are increasing digital advertising investment
- 67% are investing more in personalisation capabilities
This strategic pivot reflects what Michelle Grant, Director RCG Insights at Salesforce, describes as a fundamental shift in market dynamics.
“In 2025, price hikes, blanket promotions, and standard assortments can’t guarantee growth,” Grant said. “Winning now means precision: using data, strategic trade promotions, and agentic AI to turn every step from the factory to the shopper into a revenue generating opportunity.”
Personalisation wins over loyalty
The standout finding concerns personalisation effectiveness. While loyalty programmes have been a cornerstone of customer retention strategies, AI-driven personalised offers are delivering substantially stronger results.
This reflects broader trends in Australian retail, where AI personalisation creates content at scale, allowing brands to create variations that resonate with different audience segments rather than relying on one-size-fits-all approaches.
The shift suggests fundamental changes in consumer expectations and engagement patterns. As customer journeys fragment across multiple channels, brands are discovering that personalised, data-driven interactions outperform traditional mass-market approaches.
McPherson’s strategy exemplifies this evolution, with the company deploying AI to ensure their brands “connect more meaningfully with consumers while delivering measurable commercial outcomes.”
The research indicates this personalisation advantage will likely expand as AI agents become more sophisticated and integrated into customer journey management.
For Australian consumer goods companies, the data presents both a challenge and opportunity. While traditional growth levers show diminishing returns and economic pressures intensify, AI agents offer a pathway to enhanced efficiency, innovation, and customer engagement.
With 70% of consumer packaged goods manufacturers already allocating resources to artificial intelligence and robotics technologies, the race to implement effective AI strategies is accelerating rapidly.
The companies that successfully deploy AI agents over the next two years may gain significant competitive advantages in an increasingly challenging market environment.
Explore further:
- Read the full Consumer Goods Industry Insights Report
- Learn more about Salesforce Consumer Goods Cloud
- Find more insights on the Salesforce Stat library
Keep up to date with our stories on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
