It’s that time of year again: time for trends. And, with the proliferation of technology (both consumer facing and for the enterprise) over the past year, marketers have made huge advancements in the way they execute digital marketing, and will continue to do so in 2015. With that being said, here is a compilation of retail marketing trends from MediaMath VP’s Edwin Lee, Eric Picard, and Commercial Director Romain Gauthier.
Edwin Lee, VP of Global Retail
Mobile and cross-device will become the new normal
Retailers will embrace the development and production of mobile and tablet optimized sites, and the process of purchasing retail goods on these devices will only continue to rise. People will research and buy whatever they want, when they want to. As a result, the data produced in these transactions will make retailers the mobile saavy marketers of 2015.
2015 will be the year of attribution
Retailers will advance their omni-channel measurement even further in 2015. They will be asking, and answering, questions like: What is the truth of my addressable media against my online and offline sales? It’s a question few have solved well.
Marketers will become techies
As more budget moves to digital, retail marketers will only become more tech saavy and tech-agile; meaning they will understand, implement and drive the technology needed to execute against their goals. Retail marketing departments will become reengineered for new business processes focused around technology. In 2015 people, process, and technology will all come together to drive marketing.
Eric Picard, VP of Strategic Partnerships
The wealth of data will only grow
Smart watches, new wearable technologies, data collection of human behavior, thermostats, interactive surfaces on kitchen appliances and other consumer devices will all extend the data footprint of consumers as well as create opportunity to develop advertising footprints.
Romain Gauthier, Commercial Director, France
Retailers will become even smarter about how they use that data
Simple strategies for programmatic media buying rely mostly on third-party data, but 2015 will see far better use of first- and second-party data, which will result in better-targeted campaigns. Right now, every player in the industry realizes that data has significant value in programmatic, and many retailers are recognizing the value of a solution with DMP and DSP capabilities to enable the implementation of more intelligent data strategies.
Will these trends play out? Only time will tell, but MediaMath is confident that retail marketers will remain on the cutting edge of digital marketing. Edwin and Eric’s predictions were featured in the article “What North America is Saying: 21 Experts in Marketing in 2015,” along with a prediction from MediaMath VP, Jenn Vlahavas. For that complete list of MediaMath predictions click here.
Learn more about MediaMath Retail here.