Marketing

The rise of commerce (or retail) media and the collapse of the attention economy go hand in hand. Case in point: The 2010s were good to direct-to-consumer (D2C) commerce. Most retailers experienced low customer acquisition costs (CAC) afforded through low-cost social media ads (mostly via Meta products like Facebook and Instagram). At the time, these…

When BCG researched commerce media, it sized an industry expected to reach $10 billion in ad spend by 2025. Major retailers like Amazon.com have normalized retail media networks (RMNs) and are already maximizing their income potential, but smaller RMNs are also growing fast. Why do RMNs continue to gain traction and grow in value? It’s…

Amazon.com did it again. Prime Day, which took place for 48 hours on July 11 and 12, generated record sales and a 6 percent year-over-year increase, wooing customers with steep discounts. With inflation hitting customers this year, a lot of retailers are looking to Prime Day to help guide their own discounting approach for the holiday…

Rather than make readers wait for the punchline, I want to lead with the fact that the 2023 back-to-school shopping experience will be omnichannel. According to data from Nielsen IQ, 41 percent of consumers are planning on an omnichannel shopping experience for back-to-school, while 35 percent will be buying in physical stores, and 25 percent…

Retail media networks (RMNs) are expanding rapidly, and retailers of all sizes are joining the race, offering ad placements on an ever-widening variety of channels. The opportunity here is enormous, as these ads are shown to people who are already looking to make purchases — which isn't necessarily the case when compared to ads on…

Successful marketers adapt. They adapt to changing customer behaviors, to new technologies, to shifting markets. And great marketers learn new skills to keep up with these changes. Today’s newest skill to learn? Artificial intelligence. Nearly every industry is learning how AI can improve their business. In 2018, McKinsey predicted that AI will bring the greatest…

The job of a retail marketer is to adapt. Adapt to new trends and changing customers behaviors. Adapt to declining channels that were once effective. Adapt to customers' high expectations. Adapt to changing data privacy regulations. But instead of being reactive to trends, why not be proactive? Look to where consumer marketing is headed, and…

Brands and agencies right now are eager and increasingly willing to take advantage of rapidly maturing artificial intelligence. Obviously the use of AI and machine learning is nothing new in business. However, advances such as generative AI tools have opened up new applications and use cases for the technology. AI is now being used in…

The retail industry is in the midst of a seismic shift: an era defined by heightened customer privacy concerns, increasing privacy regulations, and the impending demise of third-party cookies. With major platforms like Apple (iOS and Safari) and Firefox leading the charge to abandon cookies, third-party identifiers have dropped 50 percent to 60 percent in…

In episode 411 of Total Retail Talks, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan interviews Jake Lestan, senior director of consumer engagement at Valvoline, an American retail automotive services company. During the interview, Lestan provides an overview of his role (0:35), how Valvoline is future-proofing its marketing with empathy (1:60), and an example of an empathetic marketing campaign in…