Retail Media and the NEO mindset
A Roy Morgan Business Address featuring Scott Browning, Founder of Retailorer, and Dr Ross Honeywill, Social Scientist and Founder of The Right Customer.
In this special Roy Morgan business address, NEO retail guru Scott Browning (former Chief Marketing Officer of JB Hi-Fi, ex-Chief Operating Officer of Jaggad, and founder of Retailorer) gives a presentation on the dramatic emergence of ‘Retail Media’ and the role of the ‘Next Economic Order’ of consumers (NEOs) in its financial growth.
Social scientist Dr Ross Honeywill shares his latest insights into the evolving NEO consumer wave and what it means for brands in 2025 and beyond.
Scott also unpicks the confusion swirling around Retail Media and analyses where it poses a threat and provides exceptional opportunities. He reviews the established players like Woolworths and Coles, reveals Amazon as the ‘elephant in the room’ and contextualises the emerging players like Officeworks, Chemist Warehouse, Bunnings, and others.
Roy Morgan CEO, Michele Levine, introduces the Roy Morgan Business Address on Retail Media:
“Retail Media: two words that seem to cause equal measures of excitement and confusion. It’s the hot topic everyone’s talking about, yet no one seems to fully understand. Throughout my career, I have applied a simple tool: when something is complex, condense it to its simplest form.
“So, for me, Retail Media looks like this … retailers are becoming publishers. They have inventory — advertising space to sell — and they need advertisers to buy it.
“However, despite its name, we mustn’t only see Retail Media through a media lens — and we’re privileged to have Scott Browning with us, a retail guru who insists on flipping that perspective upside down, or perhaps right side up, and tackling Retail Media from a retailer’s point of view. I’ve known Scott for many years, and if there’s anyone who can cut through complexity and turn chaos into clarity, it’s him. Scott’s retail pedigree is unmatched.
“Our second speaker will take us from technology to precision targeting — from capability to customer. Because precision like that only works if we aim it at the right customer. After Scott, Dr Ross Honeywill — creator of the NEO consumer typology and a long-time Roy Morgan collaborator — will unpack who the NEOs are, why they matter more than ever, and how this future-shaping mindset is already reshaping the consumer economy.”
Scott Browning, Founder of Retailorer, lauds the retailers thriving in a tough environment:
“If you are in the business of retailing and you are still in business; you are a successful retailer. Successful retailers have a great vision for their business, they are resilient, they are calm in the face of the storm, and they adapt quickly to countless constantly changing circumstances. However. it can sometimes feel like your business is moving further away from important strategic goals.
“As context I am coming to you here not as a media expert but from the perspective of a retailer addressing the huge challenges and opportunities in media – amongst other things.”
Key factors for a successful Retailer Strategy
- What to do about turning my data into actionable insights?
- How do I leverage media in communication?
- How is AI going to affect how I use media assets?
- Where is growth going to come from?
- What is Amazon betting on?
- What is the future of physical stores?
Artificial Intelligence is already transforming online shopping
AI-driven hyper-personalisation, predictive commerce, and immersive technology is set to make, traditional onsite ads (banners, pop-ups, YouTube commercials) and shopping websites potentially obsolete.
The future of advertising and shopping on mobile phones and computers will be invisible, interactive, and AI-curated.
Retail Media:
- Commerce-Driven Advertising.
- Monetization of Retailer Own Properties.
- Dominance of First-party Data.
- Instant Conversion Pathways.
Retail Media players in Australia
Retail media represents a fundamental shift where commerce and media merge, enabling brands to reach shoppers at the point of purchase. As third-party cookies disappear and privacy regulations increase, retailers' first-party data will become the gold standard for targeted advertising.
Retailers must think like a publisher. That is what Amazon is doing today.
Amazon and On Site dominate the ecosystem.
Amazon Wedge: Amazon is the eCommerce Infrastructure Landlord
In an AI-first world, Amazon no longer needs a front-end shopping experience – it just needs to own the fulfillment, logistics, and AI infrastructure behind automated purchases. This would make Amazon the "landlord" of eCommerce, charging businesses to exist in a commerce ecosystem where human-led shopping interfaces are irrelevant.
This shift suggests Amazon is future-proofing itself against the death of search-based shopping and advertising, ensuring no matter where consumers shop (via AI or other systems), Amazon still wins.
Stores are Media – Rent is advertising
The store is not just a space for transactions; it is the physiognomy of the brand – its physical embodiment and the most tangible expression of its values, purpose, and personality. Much like a face communicates emotions and intentions, a store communicates a brand’s identity through its architecture, layout, and sensory elements.
Capabilities Matter
- Empowered store staff
- Trust equity
- Growth customer focus
- Superior store network
- Agile CX tech adoption
- Low cost of doing business
Customers Matter
- Diagnosis
- Research
- Segmentation
- Strategy
- Targeting
- Positioning
- Tactics
- Promotion
- Price
- Product
- Place
Applying Sun Tzu to Retail success
- Strategy without tactics is a slow road to victory
- Tactics without strategy is the noise that occurs before defeat
Dr Ross Honeywill, Social Scientist and Founder of The Right Customer:
“We all now have a powerful vision of what the future of Retail Media looks like — predictive, physical, programmatic, invisible. In a word, complicated. But no matter how sharp the tech stack, it only works if it’s pointed at the right customer.
“And that’s where the NEO — the Next Economic Order — comes in.
“Retail Media is an ecosystem filled with automation and intelligence, making it a complex target. Australians with a NEO mindset are the arrowhead — driving innovation, influencing culture, and reshaping what value means. This is the mindset that should be at the centre of every future-facing success strategy.”
The NEO mindset is at the tip of the consumer revolution.
+ Future-shapers. Early adopters.
+ Emotion-first decision-makers.
To learn more about NEOs and their striking impact on the consumer revolution, view the full presentation on Retail Media and the evolving NEO Consumer address here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8-tTinoYz4.
To learn more call (+61) (3) 9224 5309 or email askroymorgan@roymorgan.com.
About Roy Morgan
Roy Morgan is the source of the most comprehensive data on Australians’ behaviour and attitudes, surveying over 1,000 people weekly in a continuous cycle that has been running for two decades. The company has more than 80 years’ experience collecting objective, independent information.
Margin of Error
The margin of error to be allowed for in any estimate depends mainly on the number of interviews on which it is based. Margin of error gives indications of the likely range within which estimates would be 95% likely to fall, expressed as the number of percentage points above or below the actual estimate. Allowance for design effects (such as stratification and weighting) should be made as appropriate.
| Sample Size | Percentage Estimate |
| 40% – 60% | 25% or 75% | 10% or 90% | 5% or 95% | |
| 1,000 | ±3.0 | ±2.7 | ±1.9 | ±1.3 |
| 5,000 | ±1.4 | ±1.2 | ±0.8 | ±0.6 |
| 7,500 | ±1.1 | ±1.0 | ±0.7 | ±0.5 |
| 10,000 | ±1.0 | ±0.9 | ±0.6 | ±0.4 |
| 20,000 | ±0.7 | ±0.6 | ±0.4 | ±0.3 |
| 50,000 | ±0.4 | ±0.4 | ±0.3 | ±0.2 |
