The modern shopper is a multi-device consumer. While they may view ads and discounts on their smartphone, the actual purchase can take place on a tablet, on a desktop, or even in-store. With all this device-hopping, retail marketers need to run multiple campaigns to reach consumers across all digital channels.
Retail Dive had the opportunity to speak with Avi Spivack, director of product marketing at digital marketing company Adroit Digital, at the eTail East conference. Boasting over a decade of experience in the marketing realm, Spivack shed some light on the ever-changing world of multi-channel marketing.
1. Not everyone ‘has caught up’ to the technology
While there are some retailers charging head-first into the multi-channel marketing realm (such as Kimberly Clark and Walgreens), Spivack said, “the reality is that the adoption of the tech is happening at a slower rate than insiders realize.” Some of this has to with the strategy, or the lack thereof, that retailers have for implementation of a digital advertising campaign.
“Getting businesses to evolve and adapt at the rate that the technology is evolving is not realistic. We are still years away from deeper adoption,” said Spivack. “While they want to get there, there are so many pieces that have to fall into line to get there.”
Spivack was surprised that even relatively-accepted approaches like programmatic marketing were considered “innovative” by some big-name companies. “I was at a conference and asked how many people thought that they were using programmatic marketing well, and almost no one said they thought they were,” said Spivack. “And there were big names in the room, [such as] GM and eBay.”
2. Retailers need to adopt a ‘renegade’ mindset
Why are businesses having trouble adopting these new technologies? It's part internal structure and part mindset, according to Spivack. “It’s very hard to get any business aligned with adopting something new,” he said. “You’ve been doing something for years, and this Internet thing comes along and you have to pivot.”
Some success, Spivak noted, can come out of adopting a “renegade” mindset, looking at something and simply diving right into it. Walgreens, for example, has done an “exceptional” job in creating a mobile app that is both interesting and has good integration, Spivack said.
Online-only retailers are typically more innovative, he added, as they are more nimble to experiment. This could put retailers with physical stores at a disadvantage, as brick and mortar “is holding them back a bit,” Spivack said. To move forward, retailers “have to bridge the old and new school.”
3. Mobile marketing is a ‘slippery slope’
Just about every large retailer needs a mobile strategy, but companies should address it as a separate entity, detached from other marketing efforts, Spivack cautioned.
“Fundamentally the biggest mistake is assuming that a mobile strategy should be an extension of whatever else they are doing,” said Spivak. “For mobile, you have to account for so many factors that impact how and why the customer is using their device.”
Customers look at mobile and even tablets in different mindsets, Spivack explained, thus calling for separate strategies for both. “The core thing would to be to treat each channel as part of a continuum, while recognizing the differences,” he said.
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