Sarah Travis

Our team talked through the differences in physical retail vs. digital this week. Cole Walker presented some great insight in the differences in Instacart behaviors and typical store patterns. The big underlying theme? Visibility means something entirely different when you’re talking digital vs. physical in retail. One of my favorite things to do in store is tidy up the shelf (most CPG folks I’ve found do this 😆). The physical shelf requires price tags, inventory, some decent packaging, and merchandising to look good. It also is seen by the human eye, which has a wide lens and can capture a lot of info at once. The digital shelf largely relies on inventory, reviews, and an algorithm paired with searches. It has a very narrow lens for viewership (1 listing per 1 inch of screen essentially) and is noisy in its own way. As the two worlds grow more intermingled, it’s imperative to remember the core ingredients that fuel each medium, and the recipe need for success.

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After 25 incredible years consulting with giants like Kohl's, Walmart, and Scheels, I've genuinely appreciated the dynamic world of retail marketing. Every day presents a new challenge and a fresh opportunity to connect with consumers. In retail, marketing isn't just a part of the business—it's the heartbeat. The need for constant innovation keeps us on our toes, and if we don't adapt quickly, the consequences are immediate. This high-stakes environment is the ultimate training ground for any marketer looking to hone their skills and make a real impact. #RetailMarketing #MarketingLife #BusinessGrowth

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Retail is not just about "experiences" in 2024—it's about connected experiences, says #RetailMediaSummit keynote Jessica Hendrix, EVP and CMO of Hy-Vee, Inc.. And that's where #retailmedia comes in—expanding the relationship between shopper and retailer to also include brand advertisers. As a regional chain, Hy-Vee has always been deeply integrated into communities, offering regional insights beyond national chains. Demonstrating the evolution of experiences, Hy-Vee has installed food courts in stores (inspired by Eataly)—Chinese, Italian, and American fare. Shoppers have shown time and again they will spend more money at a location if they connect to the experience. Capturing shopper attention is harder than ever, but delivering relevancy is about diving deeper into the shopper data—beyond demos to psychographics and behaviors. Also, kid influence is much stronger now with parent shoppers than in the past. But there are challenges in measuring relevance—what did the shopper communicate all the way to the register? Biggest trends for the next 12 months: • In-store media will become more important. • Brands/agencies will build centers of excellence to maximize their retail media spend/campaigns. • Value of 1st-party data will continue to evolve. And the big question going forward: how will AI fit more specifically into #retailmedia? How will it become integrated into our needs? Path to Purchase Institute

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Is your e-commerce strategy ready for the holidays? 🎁 While many shoppers are enjoying their summer, nearly a quarter of them will also be holiday shopping by August, highlighting the importance for retailers to start preparing now. Join our upcoming Growth Gurus session with Christine Lee from Bazaarvoice and Robelle Mancilla from Sam’s Club as they discuss boosting traffic, increasing conversions, and strengthening customer relationships during the peak season. 🎯 In this session, you'll learn: → Key insights into global holiday shopping trends → Effective tactics for targeting online holiday shoppers → Strategies for using video content to capture shoppers’ attention 🔗 Sign up now: https://my.ugc.bz/WoEbnx #ecommerce #retail #peakseason #retailtech

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Since 2019, Kohl's sales have shrunk by $2.3 billion. That’s a pretty terrible number given consumer spending on retail rose by a dramatic $1.3 trillion over the same period.     The Kohl’s losses are a combination of existing customers spending less and the complete defection of some shoppers. Over the past five years, Kohl’s has lost 1.3 million customers: people who used to visit Kohl’s, but now they don’t. Most of these folks still buy things so it’s interesting to see where they’re now shopping, or shopping more at, instead of Kohl’s. The diagram below traces the defections. The most notable thing is the gains being made by off-price retailers. TJX – with its TJMaxx, Marshalls, and HomeGoods banners – is picking up a lot of trade. Ross, Nordstrom Rack, and Burlington are also in the mix. It’s no wonder off-price is doing so well when it’s gaining so many customers from chains like Kohl’s. What’s also notable is that online specialists don’t dominate. Amazon has picked up some trade, as has Wayfair, but neither are the main beneficiaries of Kohl’s woes. This underscores that the very simplistic narrative of ‘online killed…” is often far from the truth. It is also significant that Costco makes an appearance. Costco is a silent assassin. Many retailers don’t have it on the radar for non-food; but the reality is that Costco has a formidable non-food business. Retailers like Kohl’s don’t underperform because one large enemy comes in and swoops away all the custom. Their substantial loss of trade comes from many players nibbling away at their sales and market share. #retail #retailnews #departmentstores #wholesale #shoppers

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I've just published a new blog on the DIGITS site, where we delve into the recent Target Circle relaunch and its significant impact on the retail landscape. In this post, we explore:   - 1M New Signups since the relaunch  - A 20% increase in weekly offers  - 2.5X higher offer utilization with auto-apply  - Key insights on promotional spend and incrementality Plus, I share strategic tips on how to leverage these changes for maximum success. https://lnkd.in/g9PwNCMx

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BRILLIANT RESEARCH: Five 2024 Holiday Shopping Predictions https://lnkd.in/emwXStw7  Holiday shopping will look different for retailers this year.  After remaining largely resilient throughout four years of economic uncertainty, consumers are finally feeling the pinch.  Nearly a third of global shoppers (32%) reported using alternative credit services like buy now, pay later (BNPL) more frequently this year #retail Digital Commerce 360

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Measurement is key to maximize (and prove) marketing impact. Kroger shares how they hold traditional reach mediums like CTV accountable to actual conversion outcomes. Explore more from LiveRamp's #RampUp24 here: https://lnkd.in/gEfnYkfz

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Disney Advertising and Walmart Connect are joining forces to formulate a more effective strategy around their retail shopping data. With first-party data slowly but surely becoming the standard operating procedure for brands, they’ll continue to work hard on these partnerships. Just prior, “Instacart and NBCUniversal struck a similar deal whereby NBCU advertisers will be able to target and measure campaigns using Instacart’s first-party data.” Welcome to the future approach to data in advertising. #AdTech #Data #Advertising #Technology #Walmart #Disney

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Why is contextual advertising gaining so much attention? 👀 Brian Danzis, President of North America at Seedtag, joins the MarTech Podcast for a two-episode series. In this second episode, he walks us through the renaissance of contextual advertising and explains how recent innovations have made it a powerful, privacy-first solution for advertisers. “[Contextual advertising] works because you're leveraging AI to cut through biases. You're getting more granular on different interests, and you can spot trends in the interconnectedness of key categories,” Brian explains. Listen to the full episode here: 🎧 https://lnkd.in/dfiirsMt #contextualadvertising #privacyfirst #contextualAI

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Political campaigns are increasingly shifting ad dollars to streaming but inventory shortages and high CPMs are creating new challenges. Jaime Vasil, Group Vice President of Candidates + Causes at Basis shares insights on this complex landscape in #FastCompany 👇 #DigitalAdvertising #PoliticalAdvertising #Advertising #Streaming

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Retail media is the fastest-growing ad channel we track in the US, driven by new innovations, inventory growth, and new players launching media networks. Here’s a look at some of the biggest retail media moves from the first six months of 2024. #retailmedia #digitalmarketing

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Excited to head to the 2024 Snowflake Summit in San Francisco this week! 🏙️ I can't wait to share insights on how retailers are leveraging Snowflake and Vantage to launch and accelerate their Retail Media Networks. 🚀 If you’re attending or in SF, let’s connect and discuss the future of retail tech. What are you most excited about at the summit? Drop your thoughts below! 👇 #SnowflakeSummit #RetailTech #Innovation

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A couple months ago, I noted Target's launch of the Store Companion GenAI model, designed to help employees get the answers they need. From late June to last week, Target's associates have already used the chatbot 50,000 times. That doesn't seem like a lot, but remember, the chatbot was only rolled out to some stores, not all of them. What I'm more interested in is how interactions only last a minute on average. That tells me two things in particular: 🎯 The chatbot is good at recognizing different ways questions may be asked, so employees don't have to reword their queries to get the responses they want. 🎯 Store Companion also likely has a high accuracy rate (essential for giving employees the right information, meaning the employee doesn't have to ask again or come back to the chatbot). As Store Companion makes its way to all Targets, I'll be watching closely to see if Target leadership shares more usage data like this. Stay tuned for their next earnings call. CX Dive has the story: https://lnkd.in/g54YfWz8 #retail #genai #generativeai

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Retail is powered by data. The future of retail is digital. Retail success is dependent on positive customer engagement (digital and physical). If you believe the above statements, why - if you are a retailer - would you deliberately hand over to a third-party your customer engagement, a growing revenue stream, and a source of ever more important first-party data? Yet that’s just what retailers and wholesalers have done by signing on to Instacart’s retail media network. If I’m a retailer or wholesaler, I get it. Instacart is the ‘Easy Button’. A one-stop shop for outsourcing online shopping, digital shopper engagement, and retail media. Choosing a third-party like Instacart removes major headaches and resource commitments for retailers. So I don’t blame retailers and wholesalers for partnering with third-parties like Instacart. But at what cost? As Instacart and other third-party marketplaces grow their influence, traditional retailers will increasingly be delegated to simply putting products on the shelf. CPG marketing funds are rapidly evolving towards digital solutions. How long do you think it will be before traditional trade promotion dollars will be dependent on digital capabilities like sophisticated targeting, digital engagement in the store, and digital offer delivery managed across a growing number of channels? All things Instacart is able to provide. So I get it. Grocery retail is incredibly tactical, the need to obsessively control operating expenses to eke out a profit. Thinking strategically and longer-term is a luxury that many retailers and wholesalers do not have. And I have to give Instacart credit. They saw a market opportunity and went after it, pivoting along the way to provide a growing array of tech solutions to retailers in addition to creating and growing their retail media network. Yet as we accelerate up and out technology’s exponential growth curve, that historical tactical focus, putting out the brush fires to survive another day, becomes increasingly dangerous. And understanding that we now live in a world that has never before existed, a world of exponential change, is now imperative for survival. That’s why I wrote Bionic Retail, my latest book. To help the retail industry understand that it is now in a new world and many of the old rules no longer apply. Succeeding in the exponential world requires new thinking and deliberately letting go of many past practices, processes, and beliefs that increasingly constrain retail and innovation. Maybe the ‘Easy Button’ isn’t going to be so easy after all. The Shelby Report ROFDA Instacart #grocery #groceryretail #grocerystrategy #grocerytech #groceryinnovation #retail #retailtech #retailstrategy #retailinnovation #CPG #CPGinnovation #retailmedianetworks #RMN #supermarket Center for Advancing Retail & Technology (CART) https://lnkd.in/gH93nm3A

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April's retail landscape presented a varied picture, with consumers selectively investing in areas like home improvement and online shopping. These trends underscore the ongoing resilience of U.S. consumers. Read my latest blog to discover more about the evolving patterns across different retail sectors.

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Retail media will make up one-fifth of worldwide digital ad spend this year. Take a moment to digest that number. That's 20% of all worldwide ad spend - or in other words - a $293 Billion market by 2029! I've already written about retail media before, but in this article I went more in depth to explore what retail media is and how it is reshaping retail as we know it - from online to physical stores, which retailers are already offering their own retail media platform (and some companies who are not traditional retailers, such as T-Mobile and PayPal as well!) and of course - who are the Israeli startups shaping the future of retail media - weR, Catch, buywith and Mabaya which has already been acquired by giant ad tech company Criteo. Read the full article in the comments below, and let me know your thoughts!

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The second point here is one I’ve long thought is a challenge for all retailers, not just department stores. Consumers have more pulls on their time, and options as to how to spend that time, than ever before. Retailers need to think in terms of share of day, not just share of wallet. What makes a shopper want to invest the one resource they can never create more of (time) with that retailer?

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Sam’s Club had a deal on Gen Z baloney last week. And CNBC was buying. The warehouse club CEO took to the air to tout its “68% growth in Gen Z members” over the past two years, citing Sam’s Club digital engagement as the primary driver. Of course, he didn’t mention the real reason for the Gen Z growth (which everyone seems to ignore these days): Gen Z has grown up. Two years ago, the eldest members were wrapping up college, and since then, become adults with all of the fun trappings of adulthood like leases, insurance, and, of course, warehouse club memberships. They were going to see explosive Gen Z growth no matter what because Gen Z aged into the buyer demo--and they love values. A big percentage spike was guaranteed because they were essentially starting at zero two years ago. (That isn’t to say Sam’s digital engagement is not enjoyed by its young members, however, it's in no way driving membership. If anything, it's increasing merchandise sales and retention.) You’ve heard me say it before and you’ll hear me say it again: 💡 Lifestage is FAR more insightful and actionable than generation. Always be sure you’re factoring it into to any youth marketing decisions. -- Also, as an avowed Costco and data stan, I did get a little ruffled when he inferred that Sam’s Club was becoming a Gen Z favorite over Costco. YPulse data pegs Costco’s total mindshare nearly 2x as high as Sam’s Club — and Gen Z thinks its 3x cooler (yes, we track coolness). Why? Costco’s public perception is far more in-line with Gen Z’s values than Sam’s (re: Walmart). Additionally, whether intentional or not, Costco crossed into youth cultural zeitgeist years ago. Young people have embraced the Costco memes, dupes, TikToks, and more from passionate fans. Just a simple hashtag search reveals TikTok’s # costco content is 4x higher than # samsclub. BRB - Craving that $1.50 hot dog rn. -- (H/T Joel Ponce for sharing the interview. You should check out his original post on it for great ideas on expanding on the club's digital efforts -- Roblox, anyone?)

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