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Digital media leaders discuss ecommerce marketing innovation on stage at CN2019.

How Facebook’s Digital Media Can Connect The Customer Journey

Some would say that we’re going through a  “retail apocalypse.” Others say, “That’s a little dramatic,” and that the only retailers struggling to survive are those failing to engage in forward-thinking ecommerce and marketing innovation. In order to thrive, brands must implement technology and a digital media strategy that results in seamless experiences across channels. Frictionless omnichannel experiences, while perhaps a buzzy phrase from seasons past, still proves a major obstacle—and a major opportunity—for most retailers. At CommerceNext 2019, Conor Ryan (Co-founder and CIO at StitcherAds) and Kevin St. John (Industry Manager at Facebook) outlined how retailers can adopt Facebook’s retail-focused tools to

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Fueling Ecommerce Marketing Growth With A Customer Data Platform

It’s the technology that’s on every direct-to-consumer (DTC) and retail marketer’s mind: the customer data platform (CDP). Vendors make big claims about its ability to revolutionize your marketing. Analysts are more cautious. The reality is, the CDP space is still evolving, and companies are still working out how to make the most of the new tech. But those that have found a place for the platform are seeing some good results. Before you decide if a CDP is right for your company, it’s important to do some groundwork. You need to understand what sets a CDP apart from other martech solutions, how a

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The Comeback Of TV: How Direct To Consumer Brands Can Win Big

With the cost of Facebook and Google advertising continuing to increase, television advertising might just be back in style. Until recently, TV ads may have been perceived as outdated by growth marketing leaders given the limited measurability of the platform. Instead of planning robust TV budgets, growth marketers invested the majority of their ad spend into digital—Facebook and Google, the comfortable ground zero of scalable digital advertising, where brands can reliably target key audiences, measure, analyze and optimize. Unfortunately, that means nearly every direct to consumer brand eventually winds up advertising—and spending increasingly more to achieve efficiency—on Facebook and Google. Many brands struggle

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Balancing Brand and Performance Marketing At Scale

It seems that these days, every marketing team’s goal is to create a unified view of their customer in order to help them market most effectively. From creating brand awareness with the brand story in mediums like TV and podcasts to finding high value customer segments for targeting on platforms like Facebook, brand and performance marketing are deeply intertwined when it comes to the overall return on spending. Perhaps the most dextrous in the art of balanced brand marketing and real performance metrics are the direct-to-consumer brands. Two notable digitally-native companies playing in today’s digital marketing sphere are thredUP and Chubbies. At CommerceNext

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STORY Demonstrates Customer Experience is The Future of Retail

How does offline customer experience impact retail in the digital age? In 2011, Rachel Shechtman aspired to bring exciting customer experience back to the physical retail space. Since then, STORY has brought its editorial eye to a host of rotating retail themes, curating a collection of inspired and on-theme items for a truly memorable shopping experience. At CommerceNext 2019, Shechtman gave us a glimpse into the inception and growth of STORY, from its founding in 2011 to the recent permanent installation at 36 Macy’s stores. Nine years ago, ecommerce was on the rise and digitally-native brands were starting to popup. Stores were still

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Are You Prioritizing Affiliate In Your Marketing Strategy? You Should Be.

Despite it being the height of the holiday shopping season, this is a challenging time for many retailers. Many are encumbered by debt loads, overstored in the face of declining mall traffic and struggling to maintain margins in a highly competitive environment. To make matters more challenging, over that past several years there has been a discernible shift in the retail marketing landscape—a shift in power from marketer to consumer—and if you’re a marketer who wants to thrive in this relationship dynamic, you will need to adapt sooner rather than later. With the consumer calling the shots, it has become incumbent upon you

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How Retailers And Direct to Consumer Brands Are Investing In Marketing This Holiday Season

The holiday shopping season is upon us. Last year, we saw a staggering 19% increase in ecommerce sales compared to the previous year, for a total of $22.5 billion in sales according to the National Retail Federation. This year, the Digital Commerce 360 projected an estimated 3.8% increase in sales over last year. In anticipation of this busy holiday period, traditional retailers and direct to consumer brands turn to their marketing teams to focus on customer experience and customer acquisition to elevate their holiday sales. To understand how these holiday trends correlate with marketing investments for 2019, we partnered with Oracle to survey

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How to Use Customer Service to Grow Sales this Holiday

Support requests increase from customers by 65% during Black Friday/Cyber Monday.  And 74.5% of large merchants are “concerned” or “very concerned” about customer service during the holidays. It was their number two concern overall. It can overwhelm your customer support, but it’s also an opportunity to use support interactions to promote sales & specials that you’re having! Number of support requests during the holiday season from Gorgias customers. 20 retailers told us how they handled the Black Friday / Cyber Monday and we’re sharing 4 tips that you can use with your support team for the holiday season. Promote Your Holiday Specials in

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Personalizing Your Full-Funnel Customer Acquisition Strategy

We all love a brand that makes us feel special. We feel like we’ve reached the jackpot when we find a brand that delivers exactly what we were thinking about or looking for. Moreover, when that brand fits seamlessly into our lives from discovery to delivery, we’re more apt to rave about it. A smart customer acquisition strategy takes all of this into consideration.   Improvements in data and tracking for ecommerce-based brands has created a competitive marketplace for catching the hearts and attention of lifetime customers. Getting a new customer into the customer acquisition funnel can feel like half the battle, and

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How Walmart Adapts Customer Experience for the Digital Shopper

Walmart.com is anything but basic. The retailer is perhaps best known for their sprawling stores across the US, a one-stop shop for everything you could ever need. Denise Incandela, Head of Fashion for Walmart.com sat down with Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reporter Sarah Nassauer to talk about her team’s efforts to expand beyond the realm of basics and establish Walmart as a fashion destination as well as a catch-all for your day to day needs. By overhauling their digital channels to create a more editorial and explorative customer experience, the team at Walmart develops a customer acquisition strategy fueled by testing new brands

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Important Notice: Avoid Unauthorized Housing Providers

Connections Housing is the exclusive housing partner for CommerceNext and the only trusted source for booking accommodations for our event. Be cautious of third-party companies posing as official housing providers. These entities may attempt to mislead you into booking through them, often resulting in non-refundable deposits or invalid reservations that we cannot assist with.

To ensure a secure and seamless booking experience, always reserve your accommodations directly with Connections Housing. If you are approached by anyone claiming to offer housing for CommerceNext outside of Connections Housing, please report this immediately to commercenext@connectionshousing.com.

For assistance or questions, you can contact the Connections Housing team at commercenext@connectionshousing.com or by phone at 725.201.7302.