As AI reshapes how consumers discover, evaluate, and purchase, that model is quietly breaking down. At a recent roundtable of senior marketing and customer leaders in Sydney, a clear consensus emerged: loyalty is not dead, but it has fundamentally relocated. The focus has shifted towards trust.

This white paper distills the discussion into the key themes of redefining loyalty as an outcome; the collapsing customer journey, where AI compresses the path to purchase; the rising primacy of trust and growing intolerance of friction; the ongoing challenge of proving return in an increasingly invisible funnel.