News & Views

Updates to this research will be published monthly to track the impact and response to COVID-19. View Previous Wave.

Senior marketers are planning to boost their spend and adoption of technology-assisted tools even after many have experienced hits to their revenues and budgets over the past year.

Updates to this research will be published monthly to track the impact and response to COVID-19. View Previous Wave.

The Australian economy has faced significant challenges over the past 12 months. Given this (and the reality of an ongoing global pandemic), it's very pleasing to see a level of positivity re-emerging in the Australian business community. According to the March edition of the ACA Research COVID-19 SME Monthly Tracker, half of SMEs expect Australian economic conditions to strengthen over the next three months. This stands in stark contrast to their expectations of the global economy, with just one in four SMEs expecting to see this level of recovery outside of Australia.

Updates to this research will be published monthly to track the impact and response to COVID-19. View Previous Wave.

Following on from the disruption of 2020, many businesses are conducting structural reviews into their fleet, seeking initiatives that can increase efficiency, and reduce costs. From our perspective, telematics systems, and the insights they provide should play a key role in this process, grounding decisions in verifiable business intelligence.

But are telematics living up to this ideal? As can be seen in the table below, the proportion of Corporate Fleets using telematics has declined since 2018, with only the largest (250+ vehicle) fleets increasing usage. Alongside this, our small and medium-sized Corporate Fleets have seen significant increases when it comes to former telematics users.

Australia ended 2020 with over 100,000 fewer new vehicle sales than the year before. While this is understandable given the impact of COVID-19, we feel that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Australian new car sales (as at Feb '21) have now risen for the fourth consecutive month, with the market recording a 5% YoY jump in February off the back of almost 85,000 new vehicles sold. Encouragingly, this growth is almost entirely driven by consumers (YoY sales up 16%), as they regain the confidence to start spending on big-ticket items.

The Australian economy is poised for recovery as we leave behind a traumatic 2020. The combination of an extended period without new community cases, and the start of the vaccine rollout have brought a note of optimism to the community, driving increased confidence among both consumers and businesses as we look to the year ahead.

Updates to this research will be published monthly to track the impact and response to COVID-19. View Previous Wave.

Updates to this research will be published fortnightly to track the impact and response to COVID-19. View Previous Wave.