Patrick Elhindi | eTail Australia

Agenda Day 1

Panel: Has omnichannel shifted from a growth lever to a margin liability for most retailers? And if so, where should

leaders draw firmer lines?

This panel brings together the contributing commentators behind the eTail Australia Benchmarking Report "The Cost-to-Serve Crisis:

Where Australian Retail Profit Is Actually Being Lost in 2026" to unpack what the data is really telling Australian retailers beyond

headlines and hype.

Rather than revisiting trends in isolation, the discussion reframes AI fatigue, omnichannel complexity, and rising operational pressure

into a single, urgent commercial challenge: cost-to-serve is rising faster than revenue per customer.

Expect candid perspectives on where margin is quietly leaking, which investments are paying off, and where well-intentioned strategies

are actively slowing retailers down.