Consent, in shop marketing, is a customer's agreement to receive messages from your business. Australia's Spam Act requires it before any commercial email or text is sent. The Act recognises two kinds. Express consent is a clear, active yes: the customer ticked a box themselves, signed up to a list, or confirmed their number to join a club that says it will send news. Inferred consent can arise from a person's conduct and an existing relationship, but where it begins and ends is a matter of judgement, and ACMA, which enforces the Act, has said a one-off purchase is unlikely to be enough.
For a small shop the practical answer is simple: rely only on express consent, and be able to show how each person gave it. ACMA's guidance also says not to use boxes that are ticked in advance. Consent is given to your business, for the kind of message described when the person agreed, and it ends when they unsubscribe.
In practice
A florist has three sets of mobile numbers. There are 310 on delivery orders, given so the driver could call if nobody was home. There are 45 on slips from a raffle at a school fair, which said only that the winner would be contacted. And there are 120 from customers who joined the shop's loyalty club, where the join page said members would hear about new stock.
Only the 120 have given consent to marketing texts. The other 355 numbers were handed over for something else, and using them to promote a Mother's Day range would be sending without consent. The florist texts the 120, puts a sign on the wrapping bench, and asks delivery customers to join when they next call in. A year later the club has 290 members, and every one of them chose to be there.
When unsure whether a number counts, treat it as no, and check with ACMA.
In Counter Club
Consent is the six-digit code a customer confirms on your join page: the number belongs to them and they chose to join. The shop cannot add numbers, and email goes only to addresses the member confirmed from a link. See join at the counter.