Stay ahead of the curve with these essential 2017 retail trends
There are lots of exciting new digital technologieis for retail marketers to explore next year, including: chatbots, social commerce, Google Beacons and virtual/augmented reality.
Retail marketers have had to be patient over the last few years. We all know the future lies in creating a seamless shopping experience between online and offline consumer habits. And we know personalised, targeted messages are the way to guide users from one habit to the next.
The problem is, we don’t really have the technological means to do all of this in an integrated way yet. Despite all the talk and ambition, the necessary technology isn’t readily available, affordable or practical enough for retailers to implement on a wide scale.
However, 2016 has felt like a genuine turning point for retail marketers. We’re almost there. 2017 could finally be the year retail marketing comes of age.
Chatbots are…
Chart of the Day: An example of the 'Critical few' KPIs
To coincide with the release of an enhancement to our RACE digital marketing dashboard, today's Chart of the Day isn't published research around digital marketing. Instead, it's what I think is a nice, practical example of achieving focus through a marketing dashboard:
The visual dashboard above is a well-known dashboard example, taken from the well-regarded source of sharing approaches to managing Digital Business - the UK government's digital service.
Their article explains that when they're building a digital-by-default service like Carer’s Allowance, their team is continuously designing, testing and releasing changes to the live service to improve it and better meet user needs against critical KPIs of which standard usability measures like completion rate, user satisfaction and time to complete are…
Use our new Digital Marketing metrics Google Docs reporting Spreadsheet to see your key marketing metrics at a glance
For Marketing, Digital marketing or e-commerce managers, the first week of the month is always a frantic one launching new campaigns, monthly dashboard reviews and on top of that you need to report the performance of your marketing to the internal stakeholders (the boss). Hopefully, it's a good news story, but if it isn’t, that just adds to the workload, identifying what went wrong and putting plans in place to turn things around.
This is where you need to practice the art of analytics, to quickly create a report or dashboard with a subset of key metrics covering all marketing activities in an easy to understand format for rapid review and recommendations for upcoming activities?
But how do you create a dashboard for reviewing digital marketing performance to compare different…
Key Findings from a survey of 500 European fashion retailers
Retailers are undoubtedly enthusiastic about innovation, with more than half viewing it as a priority for their business. But when it comes to actually delivering innovation, retailers face a variety of challenges.
To find out how retailers are approaching innovation in 2017 and beyond, we surveyed 500 retailers from across Europe. Here, in a summary of our full report, we share five key findings.
9 in 10 retailers take innovation seriously
Almost all retailers surveyed recognise the value of innovation, highlighting the growing importance of innovating in order to stay ahead in an increasingly competitive market. UK retailers in particular, place great emphasis on innovation, with 76% of respondents saying that it is a priority for their business.
A lack of time is the #1 barrier to innovation
Fashion retailers cite several barriers to…
Digital marketing models to provide useful frameworks for digital audits, planning and strategy
If you are a marketing manager needing to create a digital marketing plan or conduct an audit or review online communications, models provide a helpful flow as to what to include and to ensure nothing is missed.
Previously, in 2013, we created a free guide to support students using models in their assignments or when creating plans - Essential Marketing Models. Based on feedback from studying professionals and their lecturers, we thought it would be useful to have a specific guide to Digital Marketing Models.
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Smart Insights Free Members can also download an editable digital marketing plan template featuring our popular RACE Growth System, a simple structure to…
Chart of the Day: iOS captures 45% of US Smartphone market in Q3 2016, but Android leads with 51% of users
Us marketers are used to hearing our ilk banging on about the need to optimize for mobile. If you are thinking about going that step further with mobile marketing and developing your own mobile app, you'll want to know which mobile operating system you should build your app for. The latest third quarter results from the US market point to a more or less equal divide between Android and iOS operating systems, with a slightly larger market share going to Android but iOS capturing a healthy 45% of the market.
This shows the immense popularity of Apple's iPhone, which tends to be purchased by higher income demographics and thus visitors using them tend to have higher average order values than visitors using other devices. The chart is also interesting in showing how the market is almost…
3 of the most important marketing trends shaping the travel sector in 2017
It is estimated that during 2016, total retail travel sales across the globe will reach $22.049 trillion, up 6.0% from the previous year. According to Statista, by 2019, the online travel industry is forecasted to grow to 762 billion U.S. dollars.
Today, the majority of people use different websites during the travel purchase journey, either to find information about a destination, read reviews or to book travel online. August 2016 research published by the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) found that 76% of UK internet users had booked holidays digitally in the past 12 months. In the US, Emarketer estimates that 52% of travel bookers use online platforms to make their bookings. That makes digital marketing techniques like SEO, UX and Social Media Marketing absolutely critical to success in the travel industry. Keeping up with the…
The key trends all Travel Marketers should be aware of
2016. What a year. We've had Brexit, Trump and all manner of celebrity fatalities. It just makes you want to jet off somewhere nice and forget about your troubles for a week or two doesn't it?
Well, I'm sure the same can be set for travel marketers. In the UK the falling pound has smashed margins and raised prices for holidaymakers heading abroad, whilst for marketers promoting European destinations the disturbing spate of terrorist attacks this summer may have encouraged some holidaymakers to stay at home.
But take a step back and you'll be surprised to hear the picture is actually looking rather good for travel marketers, despite the challenges. Tourist numbers have increased in 2016 by over 3%, and 33% of travelers say they will be willing to spend more on a holiday this year than they were last year. What's more, 49% of…
Retail Industry is set to spend a record 15 billion on digital ads this year
The retail industry spends more on digital ads than any other vertical. It outstripped automotive, travel, financial services, pharma and media this year. It is predicted to smash it's 2015 record of spending $13 billion on digital ads by $2 billion, racking up an impressive $16 billion in digital ad spend this year.
That's the good news. The even better news is that these trends are only getting started. e-marketers 2016 predictions forecast digital spending increasing still further to a massive 23 billion by 2020, as you can see from the chart below.
Separate data from CMO survey also confirms this big shift to digital. Their data shows consistent double digital rises in digital ad spend since 2012. This is showing no sign of…
Automating your marketing is key in such a busy marketing period, find out how RedEye’s Head of Future email suggests it is done
Summer is long gone and the Bank Holidays have been exhausted for the year. While ‘normal’ people start to stress about when to put their central heating back on, us marketers are in full planning and panic mode. Two key events loom before us: Black Friday Weekend, and of course the run up to Christmas. It’s all become rather stressful.
With more and more focus on the few weekends left of the year before sales season takes over, it’s more crucial than ever for brands to implement perfectly executed, strategic marketing experiences for shoppers on the approach to Christmas. Brands are not only at war with their competitors, but with the expectations from previous years’ performances and their customer’s expectations (all searching for the next big bargain).
Take a little…
