| Good morning, Marketer, are you thinking about retail? And for marketers working in a retail organization, are you thinking about brands? The digital landscape shortens the traditional consumer buying journey, and this brings each point in the journey into closer contact with the others. The slow spread of brand awareness activated by, for instance, CPG products, is quickened by the many possible endpoints in the journey, whether they are traditional brick-and-mortar grocers, or e-commerce stores like Amazon. These journeys are often quicker and digitized. Brands keep hold of the digital experience by upping their digital ad spend. Retailers, online and traditional, maintain their relevance by providing opportunities for brands to serve these ads and cut through and expand awareness in front of customers. But whose customers are they really? They are in many ways empowered free agents, less loyal to specific product and retail brands, more intent on saving money and participating in meaningful causes outside of the strict sale. This makes customer experience a highly contested journey between brands, retailers and publishers. In the digital realm, the lines between these three cohorts are blurring. Chris Wood,
Editor | 