The New Retail Playbook:

"Faced with a growing array of channels and increasingly complex customer journeys, retailer marketers from different disciplines are becoming more collaborative. Data and analysis are being used more strategically, providing a clear overview of customer behaviour and campaign effectiveness. Armed with meaningful insights on how and when customers interact with physical, digital and social channels, marketers can optimise activity to ensure that customers receive the right messages at the right time and move them down the funnel. While sales remain the priority for marketers, the shape of the market and changing consumer attitudes means that their focus is shifting towards brand equity, preference and loyalty. Consistency throughout the experience plays a vital role in building trust, not only in terms of product quality, price and service, but also in promotions and presentation across channels. Increased collaboration also aids effectiveness in this regard, with teams forming a united front based on a single vision to present a clearly defined offering and identity that aligns with consumers’ needs and values across channels. Over the past decade, strong digital channels have become paramount for commercial success, but we may be starting to see a shift in direction. Digital oversaturation and overwhelm are seeing many brands divert budgets towards inperson engagement to boost effectiveness. In-store displays, pop-ups and trained sales staff that offer human touchpoints are increasingly seen as a way to cut-through some of that digital noise, increase footfall and drive preference through memorable interactions. The desire for virality is also contributing to increases in event and PR budgets. On-brand, on-trend activations - especially those with humour - are highly shareable. Boosted with influencer partnerships and coupled with social selling, which remains a significant growth area, marketers are finding that the earned advocacy and word-of-mouth can translate into sales almost immediately, making it doubly effective: short-term sales with a long-tail of brand equity.”

To read the full published comment by Daniel Todaro, CEO, Gekko Group, please visit A1 Retail