'Cookiepocalypse' Countdown: Preparing Retail Marketers for a New Data Landscape

Retailers rely on up-to-date customer data to keep a pulse on consumer shopping habits, understand trends, and create targeted campaigns for very specific audience segments. Third-party cookies have long been a critical method of gathering that data.

And while Google once again postponed its phaseout of third-party cookies, the extension doesn’t mean that marketers can put this out of their minds. They've been granted a little more time, but the "cookiepocalypse" is coming.

Now is the time for retail marketing teams to begin implementing solutions and tools that can help them navigate the retail landscape of the future.

Based on what I’ve learned from some razor-sharp retail marketers I’ve worked with and my personal experience in this space, I think three strategies are crucial for teams to start working on now to get — and stay — ahead of the competition.

1. Prioritize first-party data collection.

First things first: if retailers aren’t getting data from third-party cookies, they have to get it from somewhere. The best option is a retailer’s owned channels, including its website, mobile app, and email communications. The information collected about current and potential customers across these channels is known as first-party data, encompassing behaviors, preferences and demographic details.

Marketing teams — and entire retail organizations — need to take a fresh look at their current strategy for collecting and housing first-party data, considering every touchpoint with customers and prospects as an opportunity to gather valuable insights.

From there, teams need to ensure that data collection methods are sustainable and consumer-friendly. For instance, retailers should look into creating new or optimizing existing loyalty programs to encourage data sharing or prioritizing customer surveys to collect insights. Both methods help marketers gather key information while providing value to the consumer — a win-win.

2. Manage data consent and capture with transparency.

Consumers care about how their data is collected and used, and data privacy should be at the top of every marketer’s mind. Retailers must establish clear, transparent systems to gain customer consent regarding data usage. This practice not only adheres to privacy regulations but also builds trust, all while enabling marketing teams to effectively use customer data for campaigns.

3. Enable data activation across teams.

As it stands today, many marketers have to go through the data team at their company to access important metrics. These silos can seriously slow down campaigns, and in retail, where trends and preferences move at lightspeed, this can be especially detrimental. Retailers should invest in solutions that enable cross-functional collaboration, allowing marketing teams to access and leverage unified data autonomously. Using a cloud data warehouse paired with a composable customer data platform (CDP) can streamline processes while providing a single source of truth, empowering marketers to launch impactful cross-channel campaigns much more efficiently.

When third-party cookies disappear, retailers will inevitably face some challenges in the short term. For instance, many marketing teams might see a dip in match rates (i.e., a correlation between their owned customer data and what’s housed on advertising platforms). However, prioritizing the strategies I detailed above can help teams overcome this, especially as social media and other advertising outlets must also evolve their data collection practices.

Prioritizing the collection and effective use of first-party data can help retail marketers put their best foot forward, allowing them to stay agile in this constantly evolving landscape while creating more personalized, targeted campaigns. The road ahead may seem daunting, but retailers that proactively prepare for the cookiepocalypse will emerge stronger and more resilient — and there’s no time like the present.

Anthony Rotio is the chief data strategy officer at GrowthLoop, a composable customer data platform.