Digital Innovation

When the COVID-19 pandemic began, in-home eating demand surged. On cue, PepsiCo launched two direct-to-consumer websites — PantryShop.com and Snacks.com — to meet the shift in demand enabling buyers to order PepsiCo and Frito Lay products directly from the company. This feat was accomplished in barely four weeks with a minimalistic site design and a…

Experience maturity is about how sophisticated, consistent and connected your customer experiences are as a whole. It’s centered around your organizational structure and how rapidly you can affect changes and updates to those experiences. If your organization is “experience mature,” it's offering distinct omnichannel experiences that are tailored and as regular as you want them…

The 2020 holiday shopping season challenged retailers more than any previous peak season. As safety-conscious consumers cautiously flocked to previously less utilized methods that included online shopping; buy online, pick up in-store (BOPIS); curbside pickup; home delivery; and more for their seasonal gift-giving needs, retailers had to adapt quickly and scale these capabilities to meet…

Online retail is on a steady climb as consumers shift to digital channels for the convenience of using any device, anywhere, at any time to complete purchases. According to eMarketer, worldwide retail e-commerce sales are growing from $4.28 trillion in 2020 to $6.39 trillion in 2024, which is forecasted to correspond to 21.8 percent of total…

We’ll discuss key findings from Merkle’s 2020 retail media research and share actionable tips for retailers and brands.

As a result of the pandemic, consumers have gotten particularly stringent on what they expect from stores as well as what they consider “retail deal-breakers.” According to a report, The Resiliency of Retail in a Changed Landscape, by IDC and global cloud communications company Infobip: 25 percent of consumers will only shop at retailers that offer…

In episode 316 of Total Retail Talks, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan interviews Giovanni Monti, senior vice president of healthcare services at Walgreens Boots Alliance, a global leader in retail pharmacy. Listen in as Monti discusses his role and team at the company, how the COVID-19 pandemic increasingly blended healthcare and retail together, and what that dynamic…

Digital commerce has emerged as a winning business strategy since 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic swept the globe. While a number of retailers such as Nike and Williams-Sonoma successfully reached consumers without being able to physically interact with them, most retail brands had to find new and innovative ways to connect with their customers. A…

The pandemic made for one of the most organic and authentic tests of the world’s progress towards digital innovation, demonstrating how resilient all businesses were. One of the greatest, long-lasting effects of COVID-19 on the retail industry is the digital movement it accelerated.

We’re now well into 2021, and we can say with certainty that retail’s rebound is legitimate. By continuing to invest heavily in in-location experiences, retailers have bounced back admirably from unprecedented adversity. As of early June, the National Retail Federation (NRF) forecasts retail sales to continue growing between 10.5 percent and 13.5 percent throughout the remainder…