2014 Retail Predictions

CXM and Luxury Brands
Since CXM will dominate retail in 2014, luxury brands will rise to prominence in the CXM charge just as they promptly picked up and leveraged the benefits of social marketing. Luxury brands have traditionally been technology laggards, but times have changed. In an effort to appeal to a technologically savvier demographic, luxury brands like Burberry and Tori Burch have integrated technology into stores, apps, social outreach and loyalty programs. Luxury brands have positioned themselves well as their marketers have begun to focus on a younger and wealthier demographic, extending their brand's reach to where their prime consumers spend time and money.

Buzzwords either die as linguistic villains or live long enough to become industry standards. Time will judge whether CXM itself becomes another buzzword that will phase out in a year or two, or emerge as goal to which retailers aim. Before you decide, take a look at Salesforce.com and its rebrand as a "Customer Company." Smart money indicates that customers and the customer experience will be here for years to come. In this era of customer-centric retailing, CXM will reflect everything that a retailer coordinates behind the scenes, not just serve as a name for the web interface and experience.

Dan Darnell is vice president of marketing and product for Baynote, a provider of personalization software for major e-commerce brands. Dan can be reached at ddarnell@baynote.com.