New CommerceNext Study Reveals Growing Gap in Ecommerce Marketing Priorities Between Digital Native and Traditional Retailers
Report notes significant differences in investment priorities between direct-to-consumer and incumbent brands in areas such as acquisition marketing, personalization, promotions and customer data
NEW YORK, May 30, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- As digital-first direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands continue to grow and reshape the ecommerce competitive landscape, their marketing priorities vary significantly from traditional brands, according to a new benchmark report from CommerceNext, a community and conference for retail and e-commerce marketers. The full results of the survey, conducted by CommerceNext and sponsored by Oracle Customer Experience (CX) Cloud, are now available in a new report, "How Leading Retailers and Direct-to-Consumer Brands Are Investing in Digital."
"The data in this report provides an eye-opening snapshot of how the new generation of DTC brands are up-ending conventional digital marketing spending. These challenger brands are investing more heavily in solutions that are helping them acquire new customers and retain the ones they have—such as AI for personalization and chatbots, customer data platforms, and programmatic television advertising—especially when compared to their brick-and-mortar counterparts," explained Scott Silverman, co-founder of CommerceNext. "This survey of marketing and ecommerce decision-makers provides a benchmark by which retailers can compare their investment priorities to those of their peers, especially as we head into the holiday shopping season."
As retailers across all business models struggle to create a unified view of the customer to aid in personalized, data-driven experiences, investment in customer data platforms (CDP) is on the rise. A full 65 percent of all survey respondents named CDP as the top emerging technology investment for 2019. However, DTC brands are investing in this technology at a higher rate: 70 percent indicated that their 2019 budgets have increased for CDP, compared to 63 percent of traditional retailers. While 60 percent of ecommerce marketers surveyed have increased spending in 2019 on personalization, DTC brands are allocating more of their budget towards this technology. Heading into the 2019 holiday retail season, 67 percent of digital-first DTC brands surveyed have increased personalization budgets, compared to 58 percent of incumbent brands.
Other insights from the report include:
- Which ecommerce marketing investments in 2018 met, exceeded and fell below expectations
- Why acquisition marketing transcends business models as a top priority for all ecommerce marketers
- Why DTC brands are putting their own programmatic twist on television advertising
- How the approach to ecommerce holiday marketing varies depending on business model
- What traditional retailers can learn from digital native brands, and vice versa
- Which operational and technological barriers held ecommerce marketers back from achieving their goals
"To compete for brand loyalty, customer experience leaders must get inside the heads and hearts of shoppers like never before and craft extraordinary online experiences that are uniquely personalized," said Katrina Gosek, vice president, Product Strategy at Oracle CX Cloud. "The results of this survey show that ecommerce marketing professionals are taking steps in the right direction by increasing their investments in personalization and customer data platforms. Making a unified view of the customer a top priority will help them create these experiences and maximize the potential of the 2019 holiday retail season."
Methodology
CommerceNext polled 100 senior-level digital retail leaders, including Chief Marketing Officers, Chief Digital Officers, Chief Customer Experience Officers, and Heads of Ecommerce at retailers with greater than $10 million in annual revenue. A majority of the respondents make marketing decisions for retailers generating $100 million to $500 million annually. The business models of the respondents were a mix of the following:
- Digital-first DTC brands - 27%
- Traditional DTC brand with brick-and-mortar outlets - 22%
- Wholesale manufacturer selling direct - 25%
- Traditional multi-brand retailers - 14%
-Digital-first multi-brand retailers - 12%
Access the full CommerceNext report, "How Leading Retailers and Direct-to-Consumer Brands Are Investing in Digital," and gain further insights into the current landscape of ecommerce marketing investment priorities, the growing chasm between DTC and traditional retailers, and what's ahead for the 2019 holiday shopping season. Go to https://commercenext.com/research/ to download the free report.
About CommerceNext
CommerceNext was founded by three experienced digital marketing veterans who are committed to building communities that help people grow their businesses and careers. Now in its second year, CommerceNext has grown to include an advisory board of the industry's most accomplished and innovative brand marketers and the esteemed "CommerceNexty's" Awards program. To learn more about the 2019 CommerceNext event, scheduled for July 31-August 1, 2019 at the Grand Hyatt New York, visit https://commercenext.com.
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SOURCE CommerceNext
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