Marketing

We’re almost two years into the pandemic, and the global supply chain is still a mess. Nike is warning of shipping delays until next year; Costco has started to limit purchases again; Ikea, Walmart, and Home Depot are buying their own containers and chartering vessels to combat shipping bottlenecks. Everywhere they look, consumers are being inundated with headlines warning of…

Every year, from October to December, a war for consumers’ attention ramps up significantly as businesses roll out their holiday campaigns. For about eight weeks, brands and retailers will boost advertising to drive sales in hopes that “Black Friday” converts ledger ink from red to black. Throughout all that, media rates for buying ad space…

With pressure to optimize sales in the wake of the pandemic, retail marketers are looking to real-time customer, commerce and market data to accommodate changing buying behaviors and capitalize on growth opportunities. A recent study collected insights from leading retail brands to determine how well they gather, integrate and leverage data to personalize marketing and…

In this episode of Total Retail Tech Insights, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan interviews Jennifer Lee-Harrison, vice president of demand generation at Carter's, and Youna Kim, senior director of integrated performance media at Merkle. Lee-Harrison and Kim discuss their backgrounds and current roles, their takes on the state of the retail industry heading into another COVID-impacted holiday season, and…

The supply chain challenges couldn't come at a worse time for businesses. After a slower-than-average holiday season last year due to the pandemic, suddenly businesses are faced with supply chain slowdowns that make it difficult for them to deliver their products to customers in a timely fashion. These challenges are particularly salient for the medium-sized…

In case you missed it, the holidays are in full swing. Media outlets have started reporting on the top toys for the season, Amazon.com is moving up Black Friday to start now (!), and the threat of supply chain snarls and shipping delays are prompting consumers to get out their credit cards early this year.…

The holidays are right around the corner, and with 60 percent of consumers reporting they will mainly shop online this season, brands will need to get creative with their digital marketing campaigns to stay competitive. The pandemic has changed consumer behavior, both in regard to how they shop and what brands they trust. In fact,…

In episode 324 of Total Retail Talks, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan interviews Sarah Philips, vice president of marketing, and Tim Pitt, former senior vice president of marketing and merchandising, at Rent-A-Center, a rent-to-own industry leader. Philips and Pitt discuss how consumer behavior has shifted among Rent-A-Center customers in the last year-plus, how the business has reacted to those…

It’s clear that customer expectations are changing, with almost 90 percent of consumers wanting more meaningful relationships with brands. This has meant marketers are moving away from traditional marketing tactics to prioritize a customer-centric approach as failing to build relationships with consumers can be a costly mistake. To do this, marketers need to understand their…

2020 was full of surprises, but perhaps the biggest surprise of all was that despite a global recession, a worldwide pandemic, supply chain headaches, and a zillion other headwinds, including giant swarms of locusts, it was also the biggest shopping season ever. That’s right, last year’s Cyber Monday was the biggest online shopping day in…