CEO INSIGHTS – Week Ending 15 March 2024

Households

“Now where does this leave us for meal kits for 2024? With new customer {acquisition} becoming relatively harder in times of low consumer confidence, elevated cost of living, and given the saturation levels we have, we are shifting our focus towards delighting existing customers” Dominik Richter, CEO, HelloFresh Group

Legal & Corporate

“The opportunity in front of DocuSign remains massive. Today's world runs on agreements, but agreement processes haven't changed in the last 100 years. Even with the evolution to digital documents, agreements and how we use their insights remain relics of antiquated, paper-based systems” Allan Thygesen, CEO, DocuSign Inc

“We see that employee well-being post COVID has become a massive issue for companies and offering employee benefits has become a big retention factor. So, the whole employee benefits side, proposing health solutions, proposing services around absentees and so on has become a big advantage and so being the largest corporate insurer and having access to these companies, we can serve those tools” Thomas Burberl, CEO, AXA Group

Digital Media

“Music, I think some would say was the canary in the coal mine on the transition from traditional to digital and really got through the other side” Bryan Castellani, CFO, Warner Music Group Corp.

“If our media goes the way of everybody being drawn onto the platforms [Google, Facebook, etc] with free content, unedited content, being put up on it, then you won’t have anybody investing in reputable media…it is a very, very important issue that I would say everybody in this room has an enormous interest in the outcome” Peter Costello, Chairman, Nine Entertainment Co Holdings Ltd

Banks

“I think as the interest rate cycle has settled, as the economy itself has become more stable, companies, especially banks are looking at their business models” C. S. Venkatakrishnan, CEO, Barclays Bank Plc

“Over the last decade, and particularly over recent years, we have seen a momentous shift in how customers choose to do their banking. The vast majority of customers now choose to bank digitally, with 97 per cent of Bankwest transactions now completed via digital channels. This trend will only continue in the years ahead” Angus Sullivan, General Manager, Commonwealth Bank of Australia Retail Banking

Technology, Regulation & AI

“One of the things that I find extraordinary is the lack of scrutiny, certainly insufficient scrutiny, across some of the tech companies, in particular, which have large businesses in Australia” Matt Comyn, CEO, Commonwealth Bank of Australia Ltd

“Any business that wants to remain static and just continue to do the things they’ve always done, they will be disrupted. If you’re going to expect to look the same in 10 years’ time, then I think you’re choosing to retire” Richard White, CEO, WiseTech Global Ltd

Retail & Hospitality

“Like all retailers, we continue to remain cautious about the macro-economic environment, however, we are encouraged with our results for the first six weeks of 2H” John King, CEO, Myer Holdings Ltd

“I am more excited about hospitality and development this year than I have ever been” Justin Hemmes, CEO, Merivale

Global Economy

“I think one of the good things is lots of people last year at this time were quite worried about the macroeconomic effect around the world…and so there was a lot of worry in our customers, remember, are at the lower end of the social and economic strata around the world. What's actually transpired is labour shortages and the continued demand for those occupations, whether it be in agriculture, whether it be in hospitality, whether it be in construction, have remained strong” Devn McGranahan, CEO, Western Union Company

Consumer Finances

“I think what we're seeing is generally, credit scores went up over the pandemic and they've stayed up and we really haven't seen them come down. So average scores remain high. The number of people that are prime versus subprime has shifted more toward more prime consumers, and it's stabilised there. It hasn't really moved substantially weaker” John Gamble, CFO, Equifax Inc

Youth Travel

“What has changed is some of the behaviours, some of the demand and the requirements of our guests. What they want to do is less party and active, and more cultural and sightseeing and a bit more chill” Adam Armstrong, CEO, Contiki Global

Content & Streaming

“If you think about other markets, like the two big Anglo markets, UK and Australia, our content travels extremely well…So the demand is there, and there’s unquestionably easy access because, ultimately, we don’t have a huge amount of local originals we have to invest in” Jean-Briac Perrette, Global Head of Streaming, Warner Bros Discovery Inc‍