Future Retail Disruption For Brands

In our recent LinkedIn Newsletters, we discussed the emerging trends in Future Retail Disruption, focusing on its impact on shoppers and retailers.

Today, we are taking a closer look at future assumptions for brands. We will outline practical strategies they can implement to survive and thrive in this rapidly evolving retail landscape.

Winning digital influence with media networks

? Retail media partnerships and investments in unified messaging across digital and physical touchpoints ensure a cohesive brand experience through new media channels. By aligning marketing strategies with consumer behaviour and preferences, businesses can create personalised and impactful interactions.

?? The future will require collaborations within data clean room environments, securing insights, unique audience segmentations, targeting, and measurement metrics. To achieve success, organizations must embrace privacy-sensitive approaches to data analysis and leverage advanced technologies to extract meaningful and actionable insights from diverse data sources.

?? Anticipating the transformation of the shopper journey, immersive content through AR and VR can be leveraged for the digital shelf, as well as collaboration with content creators to build engagement on social platforms. By incorporating immersive experiences, brands can give consumers a deeper understanding of their products, increasing engagement and potential sales.

What it takes to win:

1. Identify the Retail Media Networks most relevant for upper-funnel and lower-funnel actions. These networks should be capable of building audiences to facilitate highly personalized advertising and drive conversions.

2. Discover the increasing opportunities for collaboration within data clean room environments. Build relationships with partners to experiment with data segmentation and targeting.

3. Utilize immersive content such as AR and VR to enhance digital shelf conversion. Engaging content driven through social platforms will also be crucial in driving conversions.

The requirement for digital shelf excellence across channels

? Third-party (3P) e-commerce continues to outstrip first-party e-commerce, with omnichannel retailers rapidly building their 3P platforms and assortments. Additionally, the growth of third-party e-commerce has prompted many retailers to invest in enhancing their 3P capabilities to stay competitive in the evolving market.

? Social commerce, eB2B, and on-demand commerce are expected to scale quickly, becoming significant digital channels and components of any brand’s e-commerce and omnichannel portfolio. Leveraging social media platforms for direct product purchasing, integrating B2B transactions into online marketplaces, and providing on-demand delivery options are anticipated to drive growth and enhance customer engagement in the evolving digital landscape.

? To connect with consumers online, brands must optimize their digital shelf strategies to engage with customers in various online environments. This involves ensuring a balance between profitability across different channels and the ability to drive conversions.

What it takes to win:

1. Investment decisions should prioritize global marketplaces and the increasing affluence in developing markets as consumer spending moves online rather than spreading resources across all e-commerce sub-channels.

2. In addition to social commerce, eB2B is considered a potential growth channel. Develop internal investment cases to take advantage of this opportunity and identify relevant platforms and operators.

3. New online-first brands are expanding their presence to compete with established brands in emerging markets, aiming to attract a new generation of young shoppers.

Omnichannel adaptation and supply chain agility

? In today's retail landscape, it's essential for brands to seamlessly integrate their physical and online presence to meet consumers' evolving needs. This requires remodelling stores to enhance the online experience and integrating technologies such as AR/VR for immersive experiences.?

? Speed is a key differentiator in the modern business landscape, necessitating the development of agile supply chains capable of supporting real-time fulfilment across various channels. In today's omnichannel environment, responding swiftly to consumer demands is paramount for staying competitive.

?? In the wake of escalating global tensions, organizations must bolster their upstream resilience to mitigate potential disruptions and shocks to the system. This proactive approach will be crucial in safeguarding supply chains and ensuring continued operations in the face of uncertainty.

What it takes to win:

1. Develop strategies for coordinating business plans and organizing the company's structure to support the seamless execution of goals and KPIs across all channels. Consider the wider retail environment and explore opportunities for sharing data to ensure a consistent presence across all relevant touchpoints.

2. With the increasing speed of middle-mile and last-mile deliveries, investing in agile supply chains to meet real-time fulfilment demands is essential.

3. Agile scenario planning is crucial for building resilience and navigating consumer spending downturns and supply chain disruptions.

As mentioned in these LinkedIn Newsletters, the retail industry is evolving quickly. Social networks, AI-powered technologies, and retail media networks significantly impact today's digital world. With changing consumer behaviours and expectations, retailers and brands must adapt to navigate this shift, boost sales, and capture market share.