Given this unusual and unpredictable holiday season, it will be difficult to benchmark success this year. During the most recent CN webinar, we asked Jason “Retail Geek” Goldberg from Publicis to share his analysis on Cyber 5 Weekend aggregate sales data, the issues shaping Holiday ‘22 and what’s in store for 2023. In addition, a panel of senior-level executives from Abercrombie & Fitch, Savage X Fenty by Rihanna, commercetools and Avensia discussed lessons learned and offered advice for what’s ahead.
WHAT WE LEARNED:
- It is crucial to stay focused on controlling the controllable.
- More and more brands continue to make large investments in customer loyalty.
- Meaningful and unique content is crucial to break through the promotional noise.
SPEAKERS:
- Jason Goldberg, Chief Commerce Strategy Officer at Publicis
- Samir Desai, EVP, Chief Digital + Technology Officer at Abercrombie & Fitch
- Stefani O’Sullivan, Vice President at Savage X Fenty by Rihanna
- Kelly Goetsch, Chief Strategy Officer at commercetools
- Johan Liljeros, Partner/GM, Senior Commerce Advisor at Avensia
- Moderated by Scott Silverman, Co-Founder at CommerceNext
Watch the full recording below or read on for the webinar’s key takeaways.
Controlling the Controllable
The current state of the United States economy has brought nothing but stress and distraction to retailers in 2022. Marketers are having to yield impressive results regardless of budget cuts and unwanted circumstances. To stay afloat in this challenging environment, Savage X Fenty by Rihanna is focused on controlling the controllable. While there is a laundry list of problems a retailer has to worry about going into 2023, the team has concluded that spending time focused on those anxieties will only hinder any possible success. Instead, they will concentrate on the factors of business they can control, including their promotional strategies, user experience, creative content and overall manufactured marketing strategies.
Abercrombie & Fitch is adopting this mindset as well. The brand feels optimizing the customer journey is one project they can focus on to keep customers coming back during these trying times. A&F’s reasoning for this strategy is they believe people are prioritizing positive experiences as budgets become tighter. The team has revamped the customer journey to precisely match what the target audience truly needs while shopping the brand’s products. The various optimizations have helped keep Abercrombie & Fitch successful, and they plan on continuing to focus on what they can control throughout the new year.
Investing in Your Loyal Customers
During a period where acquiring customers is so expensive, it’s more important than ever to keep your current customers returning happily. Avensia has noticed this trend, seeing larger investments in building customer loyalty. This includes optimizing current programs and technology or creating them from scratch.
With a strong loyalty system in place, your target audience will not be swayed to chase the better price or easier access to goods. Instead, your customers will continue to shop your brand because they understand the value your products and services bring to them, time and time again.
We do not know the problems we will have to face come 2023, but if your brand can continue building its roster of loyal customers, you have a better shot at success, no matter the economic state.
Cutting Through the Promotional Noise
For a lot of businesses, their approach to success with the looming recession has been discounting and price changes. According to Publicis, discounting has been extensive this holiday season due to slow discretionary spending and high inventory. Because of this, marketing messaging has been heavily focused on prices and promotions.
Savage X Fenty by Rihanna has tried to stay away from heavy discounting, but it has not been easy to “break through the promotional noise.” However, the brand has found some strategies and tactics that are able to grab the attention of consumers, despite having no promotional messaging attached. For example, they have relied on creative content featuring their impressive campaigns and limited edition capsule collections. This has differentiated the brand’s content from those around them and kept customers engaged.
2022 brought an immense amount of unexpected challenges and retailers have worked relentlessly to stay alive throughout it all. While planning for 2023, it is important that brands balance staying cautious for what’s ahead and experimenting with new strategies to remain relevant.
Want to learn more marketing tips for 2023 and beyond from 100+ of the industry’s top executives? Register for the CommerceNext Ecommerce Growth Show today!
