Adapting to Retail Consumer Behavior

I will block any political commentary instantly. This is not about politics…This is about not ignoring the elephant in the marketing room. Here are SPECIFIC tactics to use because of the impact of the Tariff discussion…. It doesn’t matter if tariffs directly affect your business because they directly affect your prospects and customers. No matter what industry – business or consumer. Here are some very specific tactics to consider ensuring your marketing is doing as well as possible as these economic changes occur… When costs rise (or people think they will rise) it’s the marketer’s job to: ✔️ Message it ✔️ Protect brand trust ✔️ Retain conversions ✔️ Do more with less Here’s how to tactically adjust your marketing in response, with strategies broken down for both Business and Consumer audiences: Business to Business: Communicate Pricing Adjustments Transparently Use phrases like “Price Transparency” or “No Surprises” in subject lines, landing pages and websites. EVEN IF PRICING DOESN’T CHANGE you should tell everyone that. They don’t know what you know about your business. Use “Price Adjustment Transparency” Messaging Promotional Email Subject lines: -No Surprises: Here’s Why Pricing Is Changing -How We’re Managing Rising Costs—So You Don’t Have To STAT:🧠 Edelman: Transparent brands are 22% more likely to retain loyalty in economic downturns. Focus on ROI + Cost Consolidation Promotional Email Subject lines: -This replaces 3 other platforms -Spend smarter, not more -Same output. Lower cost. Make the CFO your marketing partner. STAT: 💡Kantar found that value-driven messaging during the 2008 recession boosted response rates by up to 15%. Annnnd - MUST DO! Prioritize Case Studies + Social Proof When stakes are high, buyers seek safety. For CONSUMER Marketers: Align With Search Behavior: Google shows spikes in search terms like “best value,” “trusted brands,” and “most reliable” during downturns. Use these phrases in subject lines and CTAs to match consumer intent. Show You’re on Their Side: STAT: McKinsey notes that 57% of consumers actively look for “value packs” and “fair pricing” during tough times. Be explicit in messaging: “Bundle & Save”, “Price Lock Guarantee”, etc. This isn’t about politics. This is about not ignoring the elephant in the marketing room. People want to feel comfortable when things get uncomfortable. 

In retail, many chase the next big thing—a new style, a new way to reach consumers—triggering a frantic race to adopt. But most trends fade as fast as they appear. The real game-changers are curated habits that prove they can stand the test of time. I’ve championed social commerce as the future of retail for over a decade. In hindsight, that barely scratches the surface. It’s now a deeply ingrained consumer behavior. The imperative isn’t just to adopt it, but to evolve with it—constantly and intentionally. At HSN, social commerce was core to our strategy. We pioneered the blend of shopping and entertainment. That’s the essence: finding the sweet spot where entertainment, connection, and commerce converge. Soon after, platforms like Twitch began enabling users to both game and shop in real time, blending entertainment with commerce. Fanatics has successfully leaned into this model as well, immersing fans in live experiences while showcasing gear in action, often worn by their favorite athletes and community, turning fandom into a powerful trust signal. More recently, TikTok Shop collapsed the purchase funnel into a single scroll. It's no longer discover, then buy. Now, it’s see it, want it, buy it—seamlessly, in-platform. So, as we look ahead, how do I see this "social commerce habit" evolving? Here's what I expect: 🔹 Creator Integration is Non-Negotiable. For Gen Z, in particular, TikTok Shop has become a primary discovery engine. They trust their favorite creators to genuinely try products and offer honest feedback. The more brands lean into authentic partnerships with creators, the more trust they build in this integrated shopping experience. It’s about relationship-driven commerce. 🔹 Embrace a Zero-Click World. Speed and simplicity are paramount. Consumers need to be able to see, buy, and receive as fast as humanly possible. This means minimal clicks, minimal friction, and no moments for reconsideration. It's about instant gratification and removing all barriers between desire and ownership. 🔹 Elevate Live Shopping. This is a powerful return to the personal connection and real-time interaction that defined the best of traditional retail. Shoppable videos and live sessions transform social media into a personalized shopping aisle. Imagine experts demonstrating products, showing how they fit or can be styled, all in real-time, tailored to your interests. It brings humanity back to digital retail. 🔹 Unlock the Power of Virtual Try-Ons. A longstanding hurdle in e-commerce is "try before you buy." AI-enabled virtual try-on features solves that, making online shopping more immersive and convenient. This translates directly into higher conversion rates, deeper engagement, and customers spending more valuable time interacting with your brand digitally. It’s time to stop treating social commerce like a trend. This is commerce, full stop. It’s a fundamental consumer behavior that belongs at the center of every modern retail strategy.

This is the most underrated shift in marketing, and no one is talking about it. - We talk about brand vs. performance - We talk about whether demand can be created or tapped into - We talk about zero-party data and the death of cookies But there's a bigger conversation we're missing: the fundamental SHIFT in consumers themselves. The internet's novelty has faded. It used to feel like a small town where everyone knew each other. Today, it's more like New York City, and everyone has to find their version of Cheers. (The bar where everybody knows your name!) Scrolling short-form videos is the new normal, but comments and public engagement are declining. In every keynote, I bring this up, and the audience nods collectively because they know it to be true. We consume publicly but engage privately – in Slack channels, LinkedIn DMs, Team calls, and good old email forwards. Marketers, wake up! We need to adapt to this new reality: 👉🏽 Focus on creating content that resonates deeply. Establish a POV, not just chase trends. Make viewers stop and think, even if they don't leave a comment. 👉🏽 Infiltrate the "private spaces." Find ways to reach consumers in their preferred communities through targeted messaging, earned media, and influencer marketing. 👉🏽 Rethink what engagement means. Likes and shares are just the tip of the iceberg. Focus on brand loyalty, third-party credibility, and positive word-of-mouth, knowing this happens behind closed doors. This fundamental shift in consumer behavior is the marketing game-changer we've all overlooked. To address it, we must embrace new rules of influence. #marketing #b2b #consumerbehavior #socialmedia #contentmarketing

If your CX Program simply consists of surveys, it's like trying to understand the whole movie by watching a single frame. You have to integrate data, insights, and actions if you want to understand how the movie ends, and ultimately be able to write the sequel. But integrating multiple customer signals isn't easy. In fact, it can be overwhelming. I know because I successfully did this in the past, and counsel clients on it today. So, here's a 5-step plan on how to ensure that the integration of diverse customer signals remains insightful and not overwhelming: 1. Set Clear Objectives: Define specific goals for what you want to achieve. Having clear objectives helps in filtering relevant data from the noise. While your goals may be as simple as understanding behavior, think about these objectives in an outcome-based way. For example, 'Reduce Call Volume' or some other business metric is important to consider here. 2. Segment Data Thoughtfully: Break down data into manageable categories based on customer demographics, behavior, or interaction type. This helps in analyzing specific aspects of the customer journey without getting lost in the vastness of data. 3. Prioritize Data Based on Relevance: Not all data is equally important. Based on Step 1, prioritize based on what’s most relevant to your business goals. For example, this might involve focusing more on behavioral data vs demographic data, depending on objectives. 4. Use Smart Data Aggregation Tools: Invest in advanced data aggregation platforms that can collect, sort, and analyze data from various sources. These tools use AI and machine learning to identify patterns and key insights, reducing the noise and complexity. 5. Regular Reviews and Adjustments: Continuously monitor and review the data integration process. Be ready to adjust strategies, tools, or objectives as needed to keep the data manageable and insightful. This isn't a "set-it-and-forget-it" strategy! How are you thinking about integrating data and insights in order to drive meaningful change in your business? Hit me up if you want to chat about it. #customerexperience #data #insights #surveys #ceo #coo #ai

If more of your store sales start on TikTok lately, you might wanna read this. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘦. The checkout happens in-store. But the sale happens everywhere else. Here's the reality: This year 60%+, and in 2027, 70% of retail sales will be digitally influenced. I can't emphasize this enough; here's what most brands miss—digital influence isn't just about online sales. It's about shaping every moment before the customer even walks into your store. L'Oréal cracked this code: 100M+ AR try-on sessions driving real conversions. 31 brands orchestrating seamless experiences across 72 countries. No.1 in beauty influencer marketing (29% market share), 20-80% higher conversion rates through enhanced digital experiences. The new customer journey isn't linear—it's layered: - They discover you on social - Research you through reviews and UGC - Try your product virtually through AR - Get retargeted with personalized content - Finally purchase in-store (feeling confident they're making the right choice) Every touchpoint matters, and every interaction influences the final decision. The brands winning today aren't just selling products—they're orchestrating experiences across owned, paid, and earned media that guide customers from curiosity to checkout. Digital discovery is increasingly pay-to-play and shoppers are paying attention. ++ Tactical Recommendations for CPG / FMCG Brands ++ 1. Beyond just having perfect, high SOV product pages, create discovery ecosystems. - Optimize for "zero-moment-of-truth" searches. - Activate shoppable content at scale. - Leverage user-generated content as social proof. Brands that do these see a 35% higher conversion rate from digital touchpoints to in-store purchases. 2. Connect digital engagement directly to retail execution. - Geo-target digital campaigns to drive foot traffic - Create "store-specific" digital content CPG brands using geo-targeted social ads see a 23% higher in-store sales lift in targeted markets. 3. Most important one; stop flying blind—measure digital influence on offline sales. - Implement unique promo codes for each digital touchpoint to track conversion paths. - Use customer surveys at point of purchase. - Partner with retailers on shared data insights Brands with proper attribution see 15-25% improvement in marketing ROI within 12 months. 𝗧𝗼 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 ecommert® 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗷𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝟭𝟰,𝟲𝟬𝟬+ 𝗖𝗣𝗚, 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝗲𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝘀𝘂𝗯𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗯𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘁® : 𝗖𝗣𝗚 𝗗𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵 𝗻𝗲𝘄𝘀𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿. #CPG #FMCG #AI #ecommerce Procter & Gamble PepsiCo Unilever The Coca-Cola Company Nestlé Mondelēz International Kraft Heinz Ferrero Mars Colgate-Palmolive Henkel Bayer Haleon Kenvue The HEINEKEN Company Carlsberg Group Philips Samsung Electronics Panasonic North America

Understanding your customers’ behaviors and responding accordingly is key to sustained business success. In yesterday’s post, I introduced the Recency-Frequency Matrix, a powerful tool for customer segmentation that helps businesses identify and prioritize their most valuable customers. Today, I want to take it a step further by showcasing how this analysis can inform targeted marketing strategies to drive engagement and growth. Strategic Actions Based on the Recency-Frequency Matrix: Champions: These are your top-tier customers who purchase frequently and recently. To maintain their loyalty, consider offering early access to new products or services, implementing a robust loyalty rewards program, and sending highly personalized communications. Loyal Customers: Customers in this segment are consistent buyers but with slightly less frequency. Encourage more frequent purchases through special incentives, reminders of your product or service benefits, and targeted re-engagement campaigns. Needs Attention: These customers have shown steady engagement but may need a prompt to stay active. Reactivation campaigns with tailored offers, requesting feedback, and exclusive deals can help prevent potential churn. Churn Risk: These customers are at risk of disengagement. Win them back with significant incentives, reminders of positive past experiences, and personalized offers designed to reignite their interest in your brand. Already Churned: For customers who have not engaged for a while, occasional check-ins or updates, targeted ads for reintroduction, and a focus on acquiring new customers might be the most efficient use of resources. Leveraging a Recency-Frequency Matrix not only provides a clear view of where your customers stand but also empowers you to implement highly tailored strategies that maximize both engagement and ROI. Art+Science Analytics Institute | University of Notre Dame | University of Notre Dame - Mendoza College of Business | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign | University of Chicago | D'Amore-McKim School of Business at Northeastern University | ELVTR | Grow with Google - Data Analytics #Analytics #DataStorytelling

Here is how I would build my influencer strategy to hit pipeline goals if I were a GTM leader. There are some great posts on the WHY, but let's talk about the HOW to make this a new GTM channel. 1. I would identify 1-3 Subject Matter Experts to be the face of my content. How you find SMEs is to start asking people in your space who they follow and respect. These can be your customers, internal leaders and external experts. The biggest mistake brands will make in the next 6-12 months is not identifying SMEs who can speak to their brand values and products. If you have people talking about your brand who don't align with your values and product, it won't be a good look in the long term. Find 1-3 people you find very credible and assign them to specific products or roles. For example, with Cognism I am integrated as their SME for sales. Gaetano Nino DiNardi 🇺🇦 does the marketing side. It's very specific, clear and the business gets way more value from this. Bonus points if you can create a program where they are rewarded for helping your customers. 2. Find the content delivery mechanisms that the SME is best at. This is the BIGGEST fail most people will have on this one. You will tell everyone they need to do a video when half the SMEs you have prefer to use something other than video. That's going to flop for your brand and flop for their audience. Identify which medium they can best deliver on and make sure they produce their content there. Multiple content avenues will hit multiple audiences which will lead to more inbound flow and awareness for the business. 3. Find ambassadors for specific product announcements. Now you might be like hold up, Morgan. You told us to get 1-3 SMEs, not 20-30 creators. Yes, SMEs for long-term partnerships and ambassadors for short-burst campaigns create some noise. Use many creators to announce a product update alongside your SMEs. This should create an amplification effect for your team. I think we need to start leaning more towards SMEs when we think about influencer marketing. It is a clear distinction we must start thinking about. What is your take on this? 

A few months ago I was on call with the CMO of a $25M+ brand. They had just wrapped up a 100 person influencer campaign. Guess how many were ROI positive? Seven. Just seven. This wasn't a failure of the other 93 creators. This was a clear indication something was fundamentally broken in how they did influencer marketing. We went through a simple 5-step checklist to that could be applied immediately. If you're a brand in a similar situation, here's how to go from "influencer marketing doesn't work" to "we need more creators!" 1. Introduce New Data Most brands model off of CPMs, never looking at actual performance. Use social commerce platforms to include actual conversion performance. Display it all against rates to sort by projections we actually care about: CPA, CPC, etc... 2. Measure Alignment Use this data to now measure actual alignment with your brand. Things like AOV, content relevance, messaging... The surface level connection is not enough. 3. Focus on Audience A creator's demographic matters less than their audience demographics. Look at the age, gender, geography of their audience. Plenty of creators that fit your demographic but have an entirely different audience demographic and vice versa. 4. Generate Creative Outlines from Creators Bring creators into the planning stages, letting them shape your creative outline. The right messaging and style is more likely to come from them than you. Then turn this into a content brief that provides direction but is not a script. Let creators do what they do best. 5. Treat Content as the Asset The reach you get from a creator is valuable, but the content they've created is far more valuable when used correctly. Setup whitelisting, repurposing to your own socials - get the most utilization out of every single video. -- Creator marketing works. But it's not 2017 anymore - sending product and seeing what happens is not a strategy. Dig in. Build the right strategy. Find the right creators. Let them do their thing. Maximize their content.

There is a very powerful consumer behavior simulation tool emerging that will replace traditional A/B and multi-variate testing. Ever heard of a "digital twin?" A digital twin is a virtual replica of your customer that mirrors real-world conditions. Major enterprises create these digital twins to test into new pricing strategies, products, processes, or even marketing campaigns to see how they will affect real-world conditions. By creating these virtual environments, you can simulate different pricing models, merchandising strategies, and marketing tactics without the risk of negatively impacting revenue or customer trust in the real world. Here are a few-ways that leading consumer-facing businesses are using digital twins today: - Test pricing strategies by simulating how different customer segments would react to various price points. - When merchandising, digital twins make it possible to optimize product assortments and see which combinations drive the most engagement across different personas, all before implementing changes across an entire customer base. - Marketers can test various campaigns in these virtual environments, identifying the messaging that resonates best without the delays and costs associated with traditional A/B testing. According to a recent study by Gartner, organizations that invest in digital twins can improve decision-making processes by up to 30%. In a market where the margin for error is small, this kind of precision is a significant competitive advantage. Right now, for most consumer-facing brands, access to creating your own digital twin is cost-prohibitive, but I suspect this will change in the next 1-2 years as existing solutions which enable creation/adoption of a digital twin (such as IBM's Maximo) continue to become more powerful and accessible beyond the enterprise. Definitely worth keeping an eye on this concept as it will become readily available to the mid-market and SMB audience sooner than you might think.

The future of retail is more immersive and interactive than ever! Modern retailers are stepping up, integrating advanced materials like transparent cement and dynamic LED film screens into their store designs. This isn’t just about aesthetics - these innovations are about transforming how customers interact with brands and products. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐑𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧? >> Transparent Cement: This material allows for the construction of luminous spaces that blend natural and artificial light, creating an inviting and open atmosphere without sacrificing privacy. >> Dynamic LED Film Screens: These screens offer vibrant, changeable displays that can convert any glass surface into a digital billboard, providing real-time, customizable marketing directly on store windows or interior partitions. 𝐁𝐞𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐡𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐬, 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞: >> Interactive Touchscreens: Positioned throughout stores, these touchscreens offer customers a personalized shopping journey, allowing them to look up product information, check availability, or even visualize products in different colors or styles. >> Augmented Reality (AR): AR integrates digital information with the real world in real-time, enabling shoppers to see how a piece of furniture might look in their home or how a dress might fit without entering a fitting room. These technological advancements do more than just catch the eye - they create a seamless, engaging, and highly personalized shopping experience. Retailers that embrace these innovations are setting new standards in customer engagement, turning routine shopping trips into memorable, interactive events. 🤔 How do you see the integration of such technologies reshaping the retail industry? What other innovations could further transform the shopping experience? #innovation #technology #future #management #startups