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Marketing Trends

NVISION Insights and Innovation Team
In Marketing Trends, Marketing Strategy

Future Focus: How Brick-and-Mortar Retailers Can Shift for Success

arrow with success

Far from making brick-and-mortar retail spaces obsolete, the explosion of e-commerce has simply reshaped, and repurposed, the ideal deployment and leverage of retail spaces. That’s according to Alexandra Sheehan on Shopify, who explains that despite the looming challenges of evolving technology, increasing competition, and changing consumer behaviors, smart brands can plan for these changes and create opportunities from them by “future-proofing” their businesses. Let’s take a look at a few key areas poised for forward-looking success.

In-Store Experiences: Driving More Sales

In-store experiences – that is, creating fully immersive multisensory displays that engage with your customers – are becoming increasingly important for multichannel retailers.

“Unique store experiences give shoppers a compelling reason to visit a location and engage with a brand,” Sheehan explains. Beyond the normal value-adding propositions of promotional marketing materials, unique in-store experiences help drive traffic to your brick-and-mortar stores and more revenue through your physical channels. They are a clever way to diversify your revenue streams across a multichannel business model.

What’s more, they create an immersive “identity” for your brand, one that sticks with customers and contributes enormously to brand loyalty. The ability to quickly create dynamic in-store experiences that change to fit your marketing messaging and brand identity will set retailers apart.

three female shoppers-retail

In-Store Events: A Marketing Bonanza

Hosting in-store events are becoming an increasingly popular – and effective – way to increase foot traffic and buzz around brick-and-mortar stores. Fitness apparel retailers, such as Lululemon, have begun hosting yoga classes, complete with branded giveaway mats and water bottles. Anthropologie, the apparel and home goods retailer, hosts pop-up “markets” in its stores and provides shoppers with free, branded tote bags.

The key to the future of physical retail is creating value that online shopping can’t offer. With an agile and reliable marketing supply chain to make sure everything arrives on time, on price, and goes off without a hitch, in-store events are a great way to do just that.

New Customer Behaviors, New Possibilities

One of the most unique phenomena of the age of digital commerce is the rise of “showrooming.” Showrooming is the practice of visiting a brick-and-mortar store to see or interact with a product with the intention of buying it online later.

This requires a fundamental re-thinking of best practices for in-store marketing materials and displays. Before e-commerce, with physical as the only or primary channel, it was important to devote floor space to as many of your available products as possible, and to make that space easily navigable. Now, with digital analytics, creating high-conversion, engaging, narrative in-store displays for the most in-demand, best-selling, or highest profit-margin products can lead to greater revenue and marketing ROI. Brands must invest the time, effort, and resources towards understanding these new and changing marketing best practices, because they truly are an investment in ongoing future success.

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Why NVISION?

For more than three decades we’ve partnered with Fortune 500 companies to deliver marketing operations solutions. Led by a strategic account management team, we’ll help you develop, procure, fulfill and distribute printed collateral, signage, point-of-purchase displays, direct mail, branded merchandise and much more.

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NVISION Insights and Innovation Team
In Marketing Trends, Digital Marketing

Retailers and Consumer Brands: The Digital Divide

man holding tablet -digital

The rise of ecommerce giants like Amazon has begun to shake up the way retailers think about their relationships with consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands, and with their customers.

That’s according to L.E.K. Consulting, who explains that there is a growing “digital divide” in the consumer products world, wherein brands wish to adopt a direct-to-consumer (D2C) model, but are hesitant to do so because of concerns about their digital strategy and retail channels. Here are some of the most important areas of focus for brands looking to establish an effective digital strategy.

Different Consumers, Different Strategies

Not all advertising is effective for all buyers. Similarly, not all digital experiences appeal to all consumers or are right for all brands. Brands shifting to digital are wise to apply the same granular level of segmentation to their digital target audiences that they would to in-store shoppers. The marketing efforts that appeal to certain demographics will still appeal; they simply need to be “digitized.”

For example, Huggies, the diaper brand, designed its online rewards club to heavily feature educational materials for first-time parents, who comprise a large portion of its buyers. Burberry, the luxury fashion label maintains online communities where customers can share chic pictures of themselves sporting the iconic coats.

Similarly, home remodeling and interior design brands have begun to leverage virtual and augmented reality apps to allow customers to more fully visualize the brand’s products in their own homes. Digital should be responsive to your customers. It should fit who they are, and what they want.

woman shopping on tablet - CPG

Digital Should Add Value

Digital is about more than just ecommerce. It’s about adding a unique twist to your brand’s offerings that add substantial value for your customers.

To generate a new revenue stream from the resale of its used goods, for example, clothing company Patagonia created a stand-alone website where loyal customers can swap secondhand gear at a discount, and trade-in used gear back to the brand for gift certificates. Automaker Subaru, on the other hand, closely monitors its consumer lifecycles, and coordinates the delivery of highly-targeted promotions and advertisements that speak directly to their owners’ needs, whether it’s time for an oil change, or to renew a lease.

New Technology in Marketing

New technologies mean new opportunities to create engaging, compelling experiences for customers.

In addition to the interior design examples listed above, retailers and consumer brands are using in-store technology in dynamic ways. Fashion label Rebecca Minkoff, for example, uses wireless communication to send clothing items to dressing rooms, help customers locate different sizes and styles, and show stock availability in nearby stores. Some cosmetics retailers, meanwhile, are using apps that allow clerks to scan customers’ skin tones and deliver perfect makeup recommendations. These brands are using technology to provide better customer experiences.

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Digital is rapidly evolving from a luxury to a core competency for most brands. By partnering with a trusted expert, you can leverage the promise of a new digital future to create compelling customer experiences and realize a greater return on your marketing investments.

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Why NVISION?

For more than three decades we’ve partnered with Fortune 500 companies to deliver marketing operations solutions. Led by a strategic account management team, we’ll help you develop, procure, fulfill and distribute printed collateral, signage, point-of-purchase displays, direct mail, branded merchandise and much more.

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NVISION Insights and Innovation Team
In Marketing Trends, Retail Trends

Retail Marketing Trends to Watch in 2018

2018 is set to be a big year for the retail industry. New tax laws mean many brands are reinvesting in their marketing efforts and looking for ways to stand out from their competition this year.

By keeping a few select trends in mind, and properly prioritizing the efforts that add value for their customers, retail marketers can stay ahead of the pack and realize more revenue. That’s according to Pamela Danziger of Forbes, who shares the most important marketing trends that retail experts have predicted for 2018.

Shifting Roles for Brick-and-Mortar

Brick-and-mortar stores for decades were by default the main revenue source for retailers, and online and e-commerce avenues supplemented these operations. “In the early days of the internet, retailers incentivized shoppers to spend money online by offering lower prices at their websites,” says Danziger.

Now, customers simply expect to find lower prices online, as well as a more convenient point-and-click shopping experience. “To justify the expense of their brick-and-mortar stores, retailers need to start giving time-starved consumers a reason to travel and shop in-person,” writes Danziger. These “reasons” now often include gifts with purchase and special in-store promotions.

Further, brick-and-mortar stores are poised to continue shifting towards becoming “experience” centers, with “experiential” marketing booming in importance. “Giving customers a deeper and more differentiated brand experience,” writes Danziger, is the new big value proposition for brick-and-mortar retailers. Using eye-catching displays, print and promotional materials, and special point-of-sale branding will help draw customers back into brick-and-mortar stores.

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The Rising Role of Marketing Logistics

As Danziger describes them, logistics are “not the sexiest topic in retail, but logistics will be a defining issue in 2018.” She explains that “as shoppers come to expect that all of the best stores are omnichannel, the ability for brands to deliver products quickly and painlessly will separate the strong from the weak.”

Well-managed marketing logistics, made possible by a highly-optimized marketing supply chain, allow brands to be truly responsive to customer demands and proactive about upcoming trends.  It also enables them to offer their customers value-adding perks, like in-store pickup, promotions, and branding mirroring what they’ve experienced online, and engaging, easy-to-navigate displays. “Nobody wants to revisit a brand that makes shopping feel like work,” Danziger writes.

By partnering with a trusted marketing logistics expert like NVISION, your brand can consistently deliver these high-value retail experiences on-time, within budget, and in a way that builds loyalty among your customers. That’s one 2018 trend that everyone can get behind.

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Why NVISION?

For more than three decades we’ve partnered with Fortune 500 companies to deliver marketing operations solutions. Led by a strategic account management team, we’ll help you develop, procure, fulfill and distribute printed collateral, signage, point-of-purchase displays, direct mail, branded merchandise and much more.

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NVISION Insights and Innovation Team
In Marketing Trends, Marketing Strategy, CPG

The Omnichannel Future of CPG

How CPG brands can prepare for changing customer expectations.

Digital disruption has already begun to come to food retailers, and smart brands are adapting to these new realities.

That’s according to Julia Russell at SmartBrief, who states that today’s consumers, many of them digital natives, want on-demand, omnichannel access to their food that mirrors the level of responsiveness they’ve come to expect from other industries. Many of them prefer to look up a product online, then go find and purchase it in the store. Similarly, many of today’s consumers prefer to check out a product in person in the store, then buy it online at their convenience.

As Bobby Marhamat puts it, “Consumers want to be able to have access to merchants and information on their terms. It’s a matter of being available where the consumer wants to access that information and/or purchase from that merchant.”

But while many CPG brands count omnichannel transformation among their top priorities, there are important steps they must take to have a truly effective approach looking to the future.

A Uniform Foundation

One of the most important things a CPG brand can do to prepare for omnichannel success is ensure their customer experience is uniform across all channels.

Your brand’s mobile, online, and in-store experience should be set up the same way, so consumers can shop exactly how they’re used to, regardless of channel. This establishes a consistent brand experience and builds brand familiarity.

people looking up-crowd

Determine Your Brand Target

Brands should take the time to conceptualize their target buyer, and let that determine whether to pursue a mobile or online experience first. Further, ensuring that each channel is deeply embedded with the same experiences brands cultivate on their shelves is critical.

Russell says, “This is essential for allowing the brand to track their customers all the way throughout their buying experience.” As she explains, brands that let their customers make purchases via the channel they naturally prefer have a much higher occurrence of brand loyalty.

What’s more, brands that have a strong, uniform omnichannel strategy can allow their customers to purchase online, as well as in-store, and they can track those shoppers, analyze their behaviors, and market to them more effectively.

Partner With a Trusted Expert

CPG logistics are complex, and that complexity is increased tenfold when pursuing an omnichannel strategy.

But with complexity comes a multitude of opportunities to optimize, trim costs, and eliminate waste. A trusted partner with experience facilitating CPG marketing efforts can find those opportunities, and work with you to continue to improve critical flows, save you time, costs, and give you the ability to be responsive and ready for whatever your customers demand.

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Why NVISION?

For more than three decades we’ve partnered with Fortune 500 companies to deliver marketing operations solutions. Led by a strategic account management team, we’ll help you develop, procure, fulfill and distribute printed collateral, signage, point-of-purchase displays, direct mail, branded merchandise and much more.

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NVISION Insights and Innovation Team
In Marketing Trends

Digital Transformation: Turning Marketing Challenges into Opportunities

finger touching device

The marketing industry is being disrupted. You can see it everywhere you look, from apps that can deliver personalized experiences across various channels to the reconsideration of tried-and-true legacy processes and the restructuring of reliable silos.

As a result, many CMOs feel like they’re constantly being forced to play catch-up. That’s according to a new report by the American Marketing Association, which spoke with top marketing executives at IBM, Nasdaq, Microsoft, and Deloitte to better understand just what challenges digital transformation is presenting, and how savvy brands can keep with – and stay ahead of – these changes.

No Process is Sacred or Beyond Critical Audit

“Every company is structured 1980s-style,” says Microsoft USA CMO Grad Conn. And while these complex processes and robust silos have been built out with care over years or decades, “We’re waking up to a new dawn in business – and we’re all realizing that we need to operate in a non-siloed way.”

As Conn explains, an organizational re-imagining of its siloed structures, and the areas within those silos that can and should better interact with one another to realize new revenue streams and capture emerging opportunities should be a top priority for all brands. Especially as customers’ expectations of online shopping and in-store experiences continue to shift – with more customers wanting to shop online but purchase in-store, and vice versa – savvy companies are enlisting trusted partners to help them critically evaluate where their long-standing silos and structures could be better optimized for interaction.

shop with digital network graphics - retail continuity

Personalized Experiences, for Everyone

The more you know about your customers, the better you can appeal to them. That’s why personalized customer experiences are so valuable to marketers. However, as Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Nasdaq Jeremy Skule explains, “CMOs must build strategies for listening to these customers, documenting their conversations, and following up with personalized interactions.”

Digital transformation has now come along and, for the first time, truly made this a viable possibility for companies of all sizes. Brands must not only listen to their customers’ feedback, but be responsive to it, and deliver on customer desires in a timely fashion in order to best capitalize on that feedback and realize the revenue opportunities it presents. Customers may tell you exactly what they want to buy over the holidays, for example, but if your marketing department can’t react to those changing expectations quickly and thoroughly enough, you may be stuck delivering in February what would have worked in December.

Customer Profiles Across Channels

Michelle Peluso, Chief Marketing Officer at IBM, doesn’t mince words when it comes to the importance of creating persistent customer profiles: “Having a thoughtful approach to customer identification and customer profiling is critical.” This isn’t necessarily a surprise to savvy marketers, but the digital transformation is changing the reason why.

The ability to track customers across various channels, whether on mobile apps, online, or in-store, creates a far more holistic 360-degree view of your clients and reveals insights that traditional siloed tracking misses out on. For example, the ability to understand which areas of your website customers spend the most time on before completing a purchase in-store, or which areas of your store offer the most compelling in-person experience by measuring which in-stock items the customer eventually seeks out online reviews of, provides priceless insight into which areas of your marketing efforts you should beef up with additional investment, and which are no longer the revenue-drivers that they once were in years past.

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Digital transformation is opening up worlds of opportunity for organizations willing to crack open their marketing activities, examine them with a flashlight, and peer inside to see what they can improve. Trusted partners can help facilitate that process.

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Why NVISION?

For more than three decades we’ve partnered with Fortune 500 companies to deliver marketing operations solutions. Led by a strategic account management team, we’ll help you develop, procure, fulfill and distribute printed collateral, signage, point-of-purchase displays, direct mail, branded merchandise and much more.

LEARN MORE