Digital Innovation

Retailers continue to adapt to meet changing customer demands. Many of those changes are driven by technology. The pandemic has changed consumer buying habits, driving more shoppers online and forcing retailers to emulate their in-store shopping experience in a digital world. Now, customers expect more from their online shopping experience, and technology is also shaping…

Recent research by HubSpot revealed that 39 percent of media planners who use NFTs say they have the best return on investment of any channel in their media mix. Yet, for many marketers, NFTs are still an undiscovered territory, with 16 percent surveyed saying they plan to use NFTs for the first time this year.…

This video features a panel discussing brand strategy in the metaverse from Total Retail Tech 2022 in Nashville. Speakers include Mimi Ruiz, Vice President, E-Commerce, PacSun; Justin Hochberg, CEO and Founder, Virtual Brand Group; Ekta Chopra, Chief Digital Officer, e.l.f. Beauty; and moderator Ron Offir, Managing Director, Retail and Consumer Products, Deloitte Consulting. While the metaverse may not be…

This video features a panel discussing emerging retail technology and trends from Total Retail Tech 2022 in Nashville. Speakers include Carol Schuster, Technology and Business Information Advisor, Lafayette 148 New York; Omer Iqbal, Senior Vice President, Digital Strategy and Enterprise Architecture, Shiseido; Alan John, Vice President of AI and Data, StockX; and moderator Kathy Kimple, Executive Director, OSF…

For years e-commerce sites enjoyed an “unfair advantage” over their brick-and-mortar competition. The combination of click tracking, behavioral analytics, and customer journey planning provided a wealth of data that was simply unavailable in a physical retail environment. Loyalty programs, where customers scanned a plastic card at checkout, provided stores with shopper purchasing habits, but only…

In episode 368 of Total Retail Talks, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan interviews Brendan Lokes, brand media manager at Carhartt, a manufacturer of premium clothing and workwear known for exceptional durability, comfort, quality and fit. Lokes discusses why Carhartt has formed a partnership with Snapchat and Bitmoji (0:48), how the brand listened to customer demand for Carhartt…

A looming recession. Supply chain struggles. Household budgets under pressure. For retailers, it's shaping up to be a challenging holiday season. As stores begin to execute their all-important fourth-quarter plans, they’re having to adjust, anticipating logistical hiccups and changing shopper behaviors. Amazon.com is even rumored to be planning a second Prime Day holiday, partially to…

The pandemic was an extraordinary time for the retail community and, in 2022, retail marketers are still adjusting to the post-pandemic marketplace and the major, lasting shifts in consumer behavior. For example, with brick-and-mortar outlets forced to close during lockdown, the popularity of online shopping rose significantly during the pandemic. Another trend that has outlasted…

The pandemic pulled forward a decade’s worth of digital innovation into a single year. As a result, retailers and brands scrambled to shift their customer experiences online and set up new capabilities to reflect a multichannel approach to sales that seeks to provide customers with a seamless shopping experience — online from a desktop or…

Starbucks will unveil its web3 initiative, which includes coffee-themed NFTs, at next month’s Investor Day event. The company earlier this year announced plans to enter the web3 space, noting its NFTs wouldn’t just serve as digital collectibles, but would provide their owners with access to exclusive content and other perks. At the time, Starbucks provided little…