The Future of Commerce Podcast

Evolution of Shopping + Engagement

Episode Summary

The evolution of shopping has created consumers who expect buying to be simple, no matter when or where they start or resume their journey. New consumer research reveals the preferred ways people want to shop and engage in 2022.

Episode Notes

Host:
Jen Bailin, Chief Revenue Officer, SAP

Guest:
Joanna Milliken, CEO at Emarsys, an SAP company

Rather than taking down physical stores, huge investments in e-commerce over the past two years have empowered customers to pursue their perfect shopping experience. 

New consumer research by Emarsys shows that shoppers switch between a huge variety of channels as they need – so brands can’t skimp on preferred channels at the expense of smaller ones.

To deliver a consistent and engaging experience, retailers must treat digital and physical retail as branches of the same strategy. 

Their marketers need to centralize data from every channel to understand their customers as individuals – that’s the key to delivering personalized campaigns that engage shoppers on a one-to-one level, and that stay with them across channels.

Some insights covered:

  1. Consumer shopping has changed dramatically throughout the decades – while shoppers are enjoying aspects of the new digital options, they're also missing some elements of shopping from years gone by.
  2. Some shopping trends have accelerated dramatically during the pandemic and today consumers expect brands to understand them more than ever before.
  3. There's a big need for marketers to keep up with evolving demands, since it's engagement that draws consumers in. 
  4. Emails are more popular than ever as part of an omnichannel marketing campaign.
  5. Rather than demanding customers adopt a ‘digital only’ approach, marketers offer them the best of all worlds.

Links you might be interested in: 

Omnichannel versus multichannel: What's the difference, and who is doing it?

Omnichannel examples: Brands creating their own luck

The future of commerce: 3 trends shaping how we buy and sell