Read on Retail in Asia

Shopping is now a truly multi-screen experience with desktops, smartphones, and tablets all playing a major role in the path to purchase. However, it’s not about where the final purchase is executed – the majority of revenue is still transacted through physical stores – but how purchase considerations are made. Shopping is now a multi-stage activity where the consumer uses digital platforms to gather information before committing to purchase.

To avoid missing significant commercial opportunities, retailers must have a strong multi-faceted digital marketing strategy to capture consumers across all devices. So what are the key considerations for retail marketers planning an engaging multi-screen campaign?

Reach consumers through mobile

With over half (56 percent) of the world’s mobile phone users located in Asia-Pacific, it’s crucial brands adopt a mobile strategy that engages consumers through this powerful channel. As well as prospecting campaigns, mobile can be used effectively to re-engage existing customers, and advances in mobile tracking means it is now possible to collate meaningful customer data across all channels and devices. Activating this data allows marketers to accurately re-target key audience segments, placing relevant ads in front of the right consumers.

Engage with rich media

Rich media equals a rich consumer experience and marketers will benefit from incorporating ad formats such as video into their strategies. Rich media ads provide interactivity and a high level of sensory engagement, which create a more memorable consumer experience and deliver higher conversion rates than traditional ad formats such as display. Native is also a flourishing ad format, especially in social environments. Marketers can incorporate native video ads into platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to encourage social sharing and recommendations.

Get social

Social media is a key influencer for the modern consumer. In China, over 95 percent of consumers use social media to evaluate products and make purchasing decisions. While social interactions may not lead directly to conversions, they are key touchpoints in the path to conversion and should play an integral role in campaigns. Marketers can ensure they target and reach the right consumers by undertaking their social media campaigns programmatically through a marketing operating system, which enables them to identify where and when brand affinity resonates most strongly.

In addition to these three considerations, retailers should consider the following across their entire campaigns:

  • Be consistent – ensure the brand messaging is uniform across all channels
  • Be concise – keep content simple, informative, and easily sharable
  • Be considerate – reward consumers with discount codes and loyalty schemes across all devices

Retailers can be fully prepared for the year ahead with a comprehensive multi-screen marketing strategy in place. By leveraging mobile and social media channels – and incorporating rich media formats such as video – brands can benefit from a mobile marketing strategy that places the right ad in front of the right customer, on their choice of digital device.