While ecommerce offers many opportunities, it has its challenges. Case in point, a large number of customers can be found abandoning their shopping carts before checking out. What’s more, retargeting them with ads may not be enough to get them to complete their purchases. If such a tactic were combined with say, a tantalizing promotion, a revisit may occur, which could lead to a search and eventual purchase.
Influencer marketing has grown more complex over a short period of time, and Covid has accelerated its development. Options have increased significantly while setting the right tone with consumers is perhaps more crucial than ever before. What consumers want to see is authentic relationships between brands and influencers. And the focus has shifted away from celebrities and towards niche, micro-influencers. The following Knowledge at Hand and CMO Brief cover a recent Knowledge Center report looking into the current state of influencer marketing, what the trends are, how Covid has affected this phenomenon and best practices when putting together an influencer strategy.
Food delivery service grew substantially during the COVID-19 pandemic, due to restaurant shutdowns. But new research shows that most of the growth actually came from pre-pandemic customers placing more frequent and larger orders. As restaurants reopen, consumers may revert back to pre-pandemic behaviors, challenging future growth in this category.
At SHOPPERxSCIENCE 2021, experts presented a framework to use to create a competitive retail environment. Attendees heard the latest research and insights to effectively maneuver the changing shopping landscape. Enjoy this brief recap of the event – including the latest research and insights to keep your business and brand successful.
Key takeaways, the full event video, and presentations are available for ARF members:
The latest enabling technologies, such as voice-based smart assistants like Alexa and Siri, along with intelligent shopping carts, make some consumers’ purchasing decisions easier. But they can also potentially lead to harmful outcomes. In this latest MSI working paper, researchers Iman Paul, Rumela Sengupta, Samuel Bond and Satadruta Mookherjee, examined the potential pitfalls of smart device usage in a series of online experiments with paid subjects.
A study on endorsers’ smiles in service-brand marketing brings new relevance to the slogan, “Service with a smile.” But which type is more effective, broad or slight? Researchers analyzed these two different types of smiles and found that they resonated differently, depending on how consumers relate to other people and the brand. Service marketers can use the study’s methods to more easily develop and test their spokesperson’s smile.
How do consumer’s latent sentiments about patriotism, nationalism, xenophobia and “economic patriotism” affect their willingness to pay for imports? This research shows that in cases of perceived economic, political or cultural conflict with the homeland, domestic products can shore up sales by emphasizing their connection a consumer’s country of origin. A “buy local” message helps defend against imports, even from allied nations.
At ARF’s May 12th Insights Studio, “Media Targeting: A Brave New World,” we heard what Real Chemistry, a healthcare-specialist technology and innovation company is doing to extrapolate consumer behavior data — along with de-identified health and drug data and other real-world information — into marketing insights and action. They were joined by Walgreens, who shared how they are reaching consumers responsibly and precisely.
This content is available to ARF members only. If you are interested in becoming a corporate member, please contact New-Member-Info@thearf.org.
