Thought Leadership: E-commerce

Breaking research reveals that retail media networks are vital, not niche

We recently conducted a survey of 200 retail professionals about their existing or planned retail media The retail professionals we surveyed overwhelmingly indicated an increased commitment to, and investment in, their RMNs in 2021. The main reason? They see those networks as crucial vehicles to drive sales and create new revenue streams. Retailers without an RMN are moving quickly to get one in place.  

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Social Commerce's Impact on the Modern Shopper Journey

Social commerce, in the simplest terms, is the process of selling products directly through social media. However, it’s so much more than just completing a transaction on a social platform. The growth of social commerce signifies a much larger shift in consumer behavior — one that has been happening over the last five years but accelerated rapidly due to COVID-19. 

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DRIVE USAGE OCCASIONS AND INSPIRE PURCHASES USING SOCIAL COMMERCE

Social commerce has revolutionized the shopper’s journey, with a direct connection from influencer content to your e-commerce platform. The number of US social commerce buyers accelerated 25.2% to 80.1 million in 2020, and will grow another 12.9% to 90.4 million in 2021. Brands that are integrated from content to commerce are able to drive purchase intent from social platforms, while others are missing out. 

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Are you prepared for the social commerce revolution?

Social commerce is the alliance between social media and e-commerce, and it’s creating new opportunities for retailers to engage with customers. In fact, this new e-commerce platform is becoming a privileged resource for customer engagement and customer loyalty.  When done effectively, messaging on social media creates a unique opportunity for retailers to hone in on small customer segments, make accurate forecasts of customer behaviors, and get a detailed understanding of how customers form emotional links with brands.

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5 Ways to use SMS in your Social Commerce Strategy

After the e-commerce explosion in 2020, consumers are ready to communicate with brands through new channels like SMS. As the percentage of consumers who shopped “heavily or exclusively” online grew 133% between September 2019 and September 2020, so did the need for consumers to quickly communicate with brands and retailers virtually. Companies that start employing an SMS marketing strategy today will be well-positioned to win customer loyalty for years to come.

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ARE YOU READY TO JUMPSTART SHOPPER LOYALTY? EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW IS RIGHT HERE.

In this omnichannel world, customer loyalty is hard to earn and maintain. The secret is personalization, not technology.

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Consumers and brands are getting chatty. Big time.

In November 2019, we surveyed 1,500 consumers and found that less than 10% -- only 9.1% -- had ever interacted with a brand via a website pop-up/chatbox, SMS, social media messaging or other direct-to-consumer communications channel. But, that’s all changed. Just over a year later our latest survey finds that 40% of consumers have now chatted online with a brand. That’s a 4.4x increase in consumer conversations with brands. 

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Valentine’s Day: Shoppers Still Plan to Celebrate, Just Quarantine Style

Consumers are playing it COVID-safe by ordering takeout, but still plan to celebrate their loved ones as they have in years past.

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IN A PANDEMIC, PEOPLE WANT PROMOTIONS.

With additional stimulus still a question mark, and likely a “2021 thing,” the economic pressure consumers are already feeling is growing -- alongside increased consumer demand for brands and retailers to help them stretch their grocery budgets. Promotions have not been a priority for many trading partners during these past months but data from our latest shopper survey shows that needs to change.

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