Ecommerce Quarterly: Q2 2021
This edition of the Ecommerce Quarterly covers the impact of Brexit, increasing demand for hybrid fulfilment options and innovations in ambient commerce.
How Clarks is using email to create a “one-to-one connection” with customers
Email has been a marketing and communications staple for brands for decades. While recent years have seen the rise of channels that have arguably greater reach or targeting capacity – from social media marketing to search advertising, programmatic display to digital video – the use of email has remained steadfast, particularly among retailers. Not only […]
Apple blocks open rate tracking: what will it mean for marketers? We asked the experts
Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference, or WWDC, took place last week with all of the expected excitement and speculation about announcements, new releases, and product developments. But one development from the first day of the conference has alarmed many email marketers and newsletter publishers: Mail Privacy Protection, which Apple has billed as one of the […]
HSBC, Benefit, and Zoopla on restructuring marketing teams to be future-focused
According to Marketing Week’s Career and Salary Survey 2021, 46.3% of marketers have experienced the introduction of a new team structure over the past 12 months, while 22.6% have seen their teams merge with other departments or functions. At the Festival of Marketing, Marketing Week’s Deputy Editor, Lucy Tessaras, chaired a panel featuring Lou Bennett, […]
Direct Line Group’s Mark Evans on the three phases of digital transformation
Speaking at the Festival of Marketing on a panel about digital transformation in finance, Mark Evans, Managing Director of Marketing and Digital at Direct Line Group, told delegates, “The limit is our own beliefs about what customers are prepared to do, so expect ever more complicated journeys… to be done digitally.”
GSK on employee experience and office culture in the age of remote work
Few organisations in 2021 would deny the importance of customer experience, or CX, to business performance and the bottom line. Over the past several years, the role played by CX in allowing companies to stand out and leave a lasting positive impression on consumers has become widely acknowledged, as have strategies for improving CX. But […]
Admiral’s Head of Marketing on humanising first-party data and a return to marketing’s roots
Marketing has always been about building relationships with customers; but how do you do that when the customer is digital-first?
Quick Guide to Storytelling for Marketers
1. Introduction Storytelling is essential to the human condition and has always been a part of persuasion and selling. According to one of the experts interviewed for Econsultancy’s Storytelling for Marketers Best Practice Guide, storytelling is central to humanity. It was those who learned – through stories – that survived, and as a result, we […]
Wunderman Thompson CSO Sid McGrath on repairing fractured retail brands
On day two of Festival of Marketing’s Fast Forward event, Wunderman Thompson’s Chief Strategy Officer, Sid McGrath, emphasised the increasing need to identify fractured brands in retail and the reasons why such fracturing is occurring. Perhaps most importantly, he shared his tips on how to make these brands whole again to deliver a first-class, coherent experience that will keep customers returning.
Ecommerce Quarterly: Q2 2021
This edition of the Ecommerce Quarterly covers the impact of Brexit, increasing demand for hybrid fulfilment options and innovations in ambient commerce.
Ecommerce Trends
This report identifies, analyses and evaluates emerging ecommerce trends and considers how brands can navigate them.
Building a Digital Culture
1. Introduction Digital technologies have brought significant shifts in customer behaviour and competitive dynamics. This, in combination with the greater levels of unpredictability in customer, societal and market contexts as a result of the pandemic, mean that many businesses are facing unprecedented challenges. Thriving in this new environment requires an organisational culture that is both […]
Digital Transformation Monthly – June 2021
1. Introduction Each month, Econsultancy’s Digital Transformation Monthly report highlights the most important transformation stories arising from sectors from retail and grocery to finance, healthcare and travel. This month, we look at two new studies that present different perspectives on organisations’ digital aptitude: one from The Economist and Microsoft, which reveals that most companies were […]
AirAsia is building the airline industry’s first super app. Should other travel businesses follow?
A super app is the name given to a type of app that allows the user to accomplish a number of different things in a single ecosystem, by housing a range of ‘mini’ applications under one roof. The format was pioneered by chat app WeChat (Weixin in China), which introduced a feature called ‘mini-programs’ in […]
Tech’s privacy war makes it more important than ever to prioritise customer experience
Rob Burton, Senior Experience Consultant at Capgemini Invent, explains where businesses that rely on digital targeting and customer segmentation need to invest in light of the tech privacy war.
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The future of CX is what the customer can’t see
The ambition to deliver great customer experiences is universal, eternal and often feels unattainable – no matter what you do, there is more to be done; no matter how on-trend you are, the next trend is already calling. Improving your CX capability is not the answer, writes Engine Transformation CEO Emma Robertson, it’s what you do next internally that will count.
What innovations in 3D and AR technology could mean for ecommerce
New technology is opening up further opportunities within ecommerce, as AR and 3D sizing solutions help online retailers to solve challenges around size and fit. Consumers are already shopping online more than ever before, of course, but these solutions could further accelerate the shift to ecommerce – particularly within fashion. The EY Consumer Index recently […]
Four trends in omnichannel beauty retail for 2021
It’s been a long and difficult 18 months for the beauty industry, but with retail stores and salons re-opening in May, the focus is now on getting back to business, and engaging consumers whose habits might have changed during lockdown.
Ecommerce Trends
This report identifies, analyses and evaluates emerging ecommerce trends and considers how brands can navigate them.
Data governance is key to healthcare companies competing on CX and innovation in 2021
Healthcare and pharmaceutical companies have ambitious plans to provide new services and tailored experiences in 2021, according to Adobe’s Digital Trends 2021 report. But how effectively they can achieve this may rely on their approach to data.
Why search data doubles as valuable market research
Björn Darko, VP of product at Searchmetrics, explains the power of search data, which some brands are exploring, and how it can be added to your market research armoury to support insight and decision making
An overview of the third-party cookie crackdown
In March 2021, Google announced on its Ads & Commerce blog that it was “Charting a course towards a more privacy-first web”. The blog post was a re-affirmation of Google’s commitment, first revealed in January 2020, to remove support for third-party tracking cookies in Chrome from 2022, and contained further details about how it plans […]
Adopting a test-and-learn approach
The ability of an organisation to leverage data – either for singular marketing campaigns or wider business strategy – points to a degree of data maturity. It indicates that the process of becoming ‘data driven’ or undergoing ‘data transformation’ as part of a wider digital transformation programme – is underway. Engaging in testing and optimisation […]
Building a Digital Culture
1. Introduction Digital technologies have brought significant shifts in customer behaviour and competitive dynamics. This, in combination with the greater levels of unpredictability in customer, societal and market contexts as a result of the pandemic, mean that many businesses are facing unprecedented challenges. Thriving in this new environment requires an organisational culture that is both […]
Digital Transformation Monthly – May 2021
1. Introduction Each month, Econsultancy’s Digital Transformation Monthly report highlights the most important transformation stories arising from sectors from retail and grocery to beauty, travel and finance. This month brings tales of Bed Bath & Beyond’s soaring digital sales thanks to an accelerated omnichannel strategy, while The Hut Group has enjoyed significant revenue growth from the […]
Travel & hospitality companies plan to shift budgets to bridge the customer experience gap
Adobe’s Digital Trends 2021 report sheds light on how far travel and hospitality companies need to go to meet customers’ expectations for digital experiences – and how they plan to make up the ground.
Four brand extension strategy examples
Variety is the spice of life for certain brands these days.
How Johns Hopkins Medicine adapted its content strategy in the Covid-19 pandemic
To cater for rising public interest in Covid-19, Johns Hopkins Medicine quickly developed a search and content strategy early in 2020, changing the way it worked with experts across the organisation to make the most of its content architecture.
What brands need to know about NFTs
A suddenly hot segment of the crypto world has taken the internet economy by storm and created a potentially huge opportunity for brands.
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Lockdown search trends: How brands can maintain momentum with their SEO and content strategy
Hannah Mitchell, organic strategy director at Croud, looks at search trends during lockdown and offers some advice for marketers who are setting content strategy in the run up to some kind of return to normality.
Long live organic social media
Christina Ruby, digital marketing consultant at Capgemini Invent, advocates a broader definition of organic social media and a more strategic approach from brands.
The best social stories and campaigns from May 2021
It’s that time again when we look back on the best social stories from the last month.
Social Media Strategy Best Practice Guide
1. Introduction This guide has been written to complement Econsultancy’s Social Media Advertising Best Practice Guide, Social Media Platforms Overview, Social Media Platforms Trends Report, B2B Social Media Best Practice Guide and Social Selling Best Practice Guide. The purpose of this guide is to provide a framework for developing a social media strategy, as well […]
Social CX and Customer Service Best Practice Guide
1. Introduction The rise in both the number and popularity of social media channels in recent years has fuelled a parallel increase in customer expectations. The ‘always on’ nature of social media, coupled with its public forum nature, means consumers and audiences – in B2C and B2B spaces alike – expect to be able to […]
Who remembers networking? Why the future is collaborative learning online
Improved tech platforms give conferences and events the opportunity to reshape networking into something more productive.
Reopening requires a cross-channel comms strategy
At the beginning of 2020, no business could have been prepared for the challenges and uncertainty that the coronavirus pandemic has brought. The idea of closing down your business for a few days would have been unfathomable to most, never mind for several months at a time. Fast forward to June 2021 and that is […]
