THE RACE TO

RESILIENCE
RETAIL TRENDS THAT WILL SHAPE 2023
 TABLE OF

LOOKING AHEAD:
REALISTIC RETAIL
SUSTAINABILITY
IN 2023
By Nicole Leinbach Reyhle / RETHINK Retail Top Retail Influencer

PG. 12

04 INTRODUCTION 06 SHORT STAFFED

Building a Sustainable Frontline Workforce
By Alex Lindstrom / Managing Editor, to Drive In-Store Productivity
RETHINK Retail
By Alex Lindstrom / Managing Editor,
RETHINK Retail
CONTENTS
16 MAXIMIZING
MERCHANDISING WHY THE INTERNET’S
Overcoming Merchandising Challenges
With Digital Technology
GENERATIONAL
LEAP IS A LEAP FOR
By Gabriella Bock / Head of Content & Pro-
duction, RETHINK Retail
MERCHANDISING
AND COMMERCE
By Alex Lindstrom / Managing Editor,

20 MAJOR MEDIA
The Store Why Retail Media Networks
RETHINK Retail
PG. 32
Need to Harness Offline Channels

By Ethan Chernofsky / VP of Marketing,

Placer.ai

28 A.I. APPLICATIONS OF
TODAY TO BOOST THE
SHOPPING EXPERIENCE
OF TOMORROW
By Michelle Grant / RETHINK Retail Top
Retail Influencer

36 SERVICE, ON-DEMAND
Engaging Shoppers Through Interactive
40 PUSHING PAST THE HYPE
Leveraging Tech Trends for True
Customer Service Transformation

By Fritz Finlay / Production Manager, By DeeAnn Campbell / RETHINK Retail

RETHINK Retail Top Retail Influencer

Design by Diane Zeise / Creative Director, RETHINK Retail

 2022 was a year that felt the long-term impacts of
previous economic rescue policies in the form of
acute inflation. When coupled with central bank
inflationary policies, ongoing environmental impacts,
supply chain struggles (particularly around computer
chips), and a tight labor market, the year had its
challenges.
However, it was also a year of growth, an opportunity
for many to rebound as vaccines created the
consumer confidence necessary to get out and shop
again en masse. It was a year where the innovations
of 2020 and 2021 helped to pave a clearer path
forward for the industry and focused the conversation
around smart investments and innovations.
In this report, we will cover a variety of topics that
help to do just that in 2023 via the perspectives of
industry leaders and varying SMEs, from demand
forecasting to AI and automation to merchandising
and everything in between.
complex algorithms, macro data sets, and artificial
intelligence/machine learning to estimate customer
demand levels to new levels of precision.
We will look at ways to drive in-store productivity
while building and sustaining your frontline
workforce, particularly through the use of mobile
technologies that create in-store IoT infrastructures
which both inform and connect your store associates
with the fluctuating needs of today’s omnichannel
customers.
Similarly, we will examine how to captivate
customers with curated and engaging store
experiences via technologies that drive the customer
journey, creating the kind of tailored shopping
experience in-store that was once only possible in
the e-commerce space.

We will examine how LiveCommerce and Web3

facilitate the kind of personal interaction and
relationship building once only the purview of brick-
and-mortar sales via live video that any eCommerce
brand can utilize.

We also take a look at how modern data-driven

merchandising can be optimized through the sort
of data collection and automation that weren’t—
until recently—both available and cost-effective.
By identifying a brand or outlet’s specific needs and
setting measurable goals, new visual merchandising
technologies and store monitoring techniques (such
as heat mapping) allow for unprecedented visibility
of store conditions and customer preferences.

We’ll examine demand forecasting, another area

that has benefitted from recent tech that can leverage

4
We will analyze the factors in driving customer
loyalty in an age when consumers seem as well-
informed and fickle with their hard-earned money as
ever, including methods to make more cost-effective
and stable investments into customer retention such
as finding ways to add value to purchases or the
return process.
We will provide an overview of the impacts both
present and predicted of AI and automation, two
rapidly evolving technologies set to shake up the
world as we know it (and business) in a way perhaps
greater than any other single innovation. Whether
providing critical support to customer relations
agents or guiding customers through their questions
in real-time via interactions far more natural and
nuanced than any automated directory, the potential
can’t be understated.
Lastly, we will take a look at present practices
in sustainability, including the ongoing impacts
of package waste (as well as the opportunities
there are to curtail it for major sustainability gains).
Retailers can rest assured that by practicing astute
sustainability policies, they can not only better secure
the future of their business but assuage the concerns
of customers who are increasingly concerned for the
environment.
In brief, there’s a lot for retailers and brands to
chew on going into 2023, but new solutions and
opportunities range from wise long-term investments
to cost-effective, short-term process changes and
technological adoptions that can make a real impact
on your business today, not tomorrow.
6
SHORT STAFFED
Building a Sustainable Frontline Workforce
to Drive In-Store Productivity
By Alex Lindstrom // Managing Editor, RETHINK Retail
For businesses, 2022 was a year of both hopes and
challenges. The story remains a well-known one,
however: to deal with supply chain shortfalls, tighter
consumer budgets, poor economic forecasts, and
a squeezed labor market, retailers need to do more
with less.
The year quickly came to be defined by high inflation
that struck every part of the economy. The cost of
doing business went up and the cost of living for
the employees and customers who make up retail’s
bread and butter saw historic increases.
These trying economic conditions have resulted in
an estimated 64-87% of consumers ‘trading down,’
(McKinsey) which is to say bargain hunting, across
all age groups and especially for low-to-middle
income ranges.
Yet, hope was abound over an impending ‘return
to normalcy’ following the lifting of mandates and
lockdowns, and indeed, consumer life largely
returned to ‘normal,’ indicated strongly by the
impressive rebound brick-and-mortar has seen
since the lockdowns.
LOOKING AT THE CHALLENGES FACING
THE LABOR FORCE
The retail industry’s workforce is perhaps the largest
part of the story of the last few years, however.
Economic pressures have contributed to a labor
force that has, in general, seen a significant shift in
attitudes when it comes to how job opportunities and
remuneration is evaluated, a change spurred by the
events of the last several years.
“What we’re hearing consistently is people have either
retired, left and not come back, or been frustrated
with the risks and pay,” notes Kalon Welch, EVP
of Business Development with FastSensor.
“Inflationary pressures are exacerbating an issue
that already existed with the labor force coupled
with the growth in work-from-home opportunities,”
he continues.
Yet, storefronts and support staff need to be full of
well-trained, longer-term associates, something that
is simply essential to the higher-quality, omnichannel
customer experiences that are now in demand for
brick-and-mortar stores to keep pace.
“The customer experience suffers when you are
regularly rotating employees,” notes Welch. “The
lack of [employee] training makes customers say they
shouldn’t bother to show up in-store, at which point
they will ask themselves ‘why not buy online?’”
While investigating increased remuneration is an
obvious consideration, businesses can also look
to new, mobile network-powered technologies to
not only support existing staff in their jobs (so as to
take stress and frustration off their backs), but also
automate some other critical store functions that will
help contribute to a more productive—and digitally
advanced—storefront.
The Race to Resilience: Retail Trends That Will Shape 2023
“ I think that what we experienced was
aggressive rebounds coming out
of the pandemic, and probably didn’t
have the right lens of thinking about the
inflation and the impact on customers.”
Paige Thomas // Saks OFF 5th President and CEO at NRF 2023
PRODUCTIVE WORKFORCES ARE
CONNECTED WORKFORCES
Steven Crowley, a Director of Solutions Engineering
with T-Mobile, is optimistic about the opportunities
presented by 5G mobile networks that are now
easily competing with (and besting) traditional,
wired solutions.
These new mobile networks, Crowley notes, can
perform at 10-20x the speeds of older T1 networks
at a significantly lower cost while being ready for
operations within a single day.
“We are seeing everyone looking into cost savings.
The top trend is cutting cords and enabling wireless
connectivity, getting speeds that are better than their
current solution while enabling things like ‘Day 1’
network-powered pop-up stores,” the latter a boon
around the holiday (and tax) season in particular,
he notes.
To boot, these networks are now seeing widespread
coverage after decades of investment. While
low-band 5G coverage now reaches 323 million
Americans (98% of the population), mid-based, faster
coverage has reached over 260 million.
So, these networks have become fast, cost-effective,
and, just as importantly, widely available. What does
it mean for your workforce?
8
The answer lies in 5G-powered ‘IoT’ ecosystems that
help grease the wheels of your store’s productivity.
IoT devices are ubiquitous and, best of all, most
employees are already fairly well versed in most of
the common ones.
The implications of getting such an ecosystem set up
are broad, argues Crowley. Video conferences and
remote training applications, for one, are in demand
at every modern workplace, but an unreliable
(or slow) legacy system often makes these tasks
frustrating and unreliable. 5G networks are now fast
enough to facilitate video conferencing both in and
out of stores at a high-quality level.
While that has clear benefits for training, more
advanced training techniques that leverage Virtual
Reality and Augmented Reality technologies also
work better wirelessly (for reasons that are perhaps
obvious if you’ve ever seen a VR headset; the weight
and size can be significant, though recent headsets
are now wireless).
In fact, the benefits of VR/AR integration extend
to customers and inventory management as well,
allowing potential buyers to ‘try on’ outfits in digital
changing rooms wherein they can immediately
assess different styles, colors, and so on without
moving (or disassembling the packaging of) inventory,
in turn helping to facilitate greater efficiency in how
that inventory is managed.
The Race to Resilience: Retail Trends That Will Shape 2023
 In general, mobile-powered IoT devices are
transformative in the management of inventory from
warehouses to trucks to storefronts, facilitating
everything from up-to-the-moment procurement
updates to the detailed tracking of delivery vehicles.
Additionally, through store floor innovations such
as digital signage, IoT devices in the hands of
store managers and associates can assist in the
development of marketing strategies that are on
the fly yet driven by data rather than gut feelings,
responding instantly to stock updates (particularly
important in a consumer age that is still often defined
by chip shortages and social-media driven product
frenzies).
MEASURING THE CUSTOMER JOURNEY
MAKES FOR BETTER INFORMED—AND
ENGAGED—EMPLOYEES
There are also the myriad opportunities presented
by modern storefront monitoring technology so
comprehensive and versatile that many in the industry
are likely caught yet unaware.
FastSensor, a customer journey-tracking software
company working together with T-Mobile, offers
sensor-based technologies that leverage ‘radio
frequency trilateration and AI’ to monitor store
environments, capturing customers’ store journeys by
locating personal devices in a privacy-friendly way.
By leveraging AI, the system can filter out non-
consumer groups (e.g., employees, delivery
“
This environment will remain
dynamic; it will remain full of
changes, full of challenges, and
it’s a unique time for all of us
to serve customers as the wants
and needs continue to change.”
John Furner // US president and CEO of Walmart
at NRF 2023
10
professionals) to identify the most salient data,
allowing a store to learn what customers are
interested in, when, and why in real-time via
anonymous measurement of their aggregate IoT
device locations.
“The customer journey has changed. What they show
up for is different,” explains Welch. “Even if you were
an expert before, you are almost starting again from
scratch. I know this because our technology allows
us to see the data. We can see how things change.”
“FastSensor, in other words, does customer journey
measurement. We have taken what was once gut
feelings and hunches and turned it into actionable
data,” continues Welch, going on to explain that (e.g.)
point-of-sale data doesn’t tell the whole story, and
that to understand today’s customers, you need to be
able to see (i.e., measure) the ‘entire’ journey and A/B
test for preferences just like you do on your website.
With this knowledge in hand—coupled with the
information-sharing capabilities of a mobile-powered
IoT ecosystem that your employees are trained for—
employees can feel both better equipped to respond
to customer needs and better connected to newly
measurable outcomes.
It’s a necessary step forward in establishing what the
storefronts of tomorrow look like. Employees want to
know they’re invested in, and giving them
the tools they need to do their jobs—particularly
in line with the technologies they know are widely
available today—will both reduce stress and help to
increase engagement.
Truly, retailers need every tool they can get to
respond to the challenges of today and tomorrow;
the 21st century remains set to be an interesting one.
However, mobile-connected, IoT devices powering
both your staff and the customer experience will go
a long way to get you there by providing employees
the tools they need to create greater connections
with customers who will have a personalized, digital
shopping experience available to them in-store in a
way once only imagined by science fiction.
Capable device required; coverage not available in
some areas. Some users may require a certain plan
or feature; see T-Mobile.com.
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Performance with T-Mobile’s Fixed
Wireless Business Internet
At T-Mobile for Business, we’re focused on providing your business with the connectivity solutions
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Visit our website to further explore how Business Internet from T-Mobile for Business provides
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Capable device required; coverage not available in some areas. Some uses may require certain plan or feature; see T-Mobile.com.
 LOOKING AHEAD
Realistic Retail Sustainability in 2023
By Nicole Leinbach Reyhle // RETHINK Retail Top Retail Influencer/Founder of RetailMinded.com

Sustainability in retail is an impactful influencer on consumer behavior in

addition to the impact it has on our Earth. This impact extends beyond
treating Mother Nature with respect and extends to economic impact, as
well, which any business should appreciate.

Keeping this in mind, retail decision makers should prioritize how

sustainability can better serve their businesses–especially since so many
consumers already have. So much so that a recent Nielsen Home Scan
survey revealed that 88% of shoppers said retailers should do more to
reduce the amount of plastic packaging used in products, reinforcing that
sustainable actions do, in fact, matter to customers.

Sustainability, very simply, needs to be a priority. It’s not a trend that has
risen up and will fade away like other factors that have historically influenced
consumer behavior. Instead, it’s a value that customers either embrace or
possibly overlook. Yet a recent Blue Yonder / JDA survey identified that
over half of participating consumers are more likely to purchase products
that are considered environmentally friendly or sustainable. This extends
opportunities into a variety of ways for retailers, including:

• Rental services of items including soft goods such as fashion to hard

goods such as baby strollers
• Packaging of inventory
• Supply chain efforts to produce and ship inventory
• Merchandising of inventory, including vendor displays
• Store packaging of inventory once purchase made
• Materials of the natural world (resources)
• Choice of human-made materials vs. mass produced products
• Natural habitat impact of inventory production
• Impact of human manufacturing
• Recycled V. New
• In-store lighting
• In-store merchandising
• Shipping of goods to consumers

12
The Race to Resilience: Retail Trends That Will Shape 2023
 88%
of shoppers said retailers
should do more to reduce the
amount of plastic packaging
used in products, reinforcing that
sustainable actions do, in
fact, matter to customers.
according to a recent Nielsen Home Scan survey
SUSTAINABLE ACTIONS CAN HELP LEAD
TO REVENUE
Kerry Bannigan, Founder of the Conscious Fashion
Campaign, believes that being sustainable and
socially conscious is healthy for businesses, offering
revenue opportunities and customer engagement
alike.
“The uptake of consumer interest in sustainability
welcomes business opportunities that help drive
an increase in revenue and customer engagement,”
explained Bannigan. “When actively opting for
practices that transform everything from supply
chain to manufacturing to packaging and more,
retailers position themselves to support conscious
consumerism–which I believe is the path of the future
for commerce focused businesses.”
Continued Bannigan, “Optimizing this growing trend
provides forward-thinking approaches for retailers to
strengthen their businesses while doing good for the
planet and people along the way.”
The catch, of course, is making sure that consumers
know sustainability has been prioritized. Retailers
need to communicate these actions, helping to
ensure that customers who value this will understand
the actions that have been taken and likewise,
14
consumers just discovering brands can begin to
know sustainability is a priority for them, as well.
But let’s face it: not all brands and businesses will
be equal when it comes to prioritizing sustainability.
Choosing to embrace a lot or even just a little of
sustainable best practices still makes a difference to
our Earth and to consumers, as well, with every detail
adding up with value.
Effectively offering clear explanations of sustainable
actions on store packaging, via social media, in
marketing campaigns, on inventory when applicable
and being a part of experiences that are intended
for sustainable minded companies can all help
businesses boost their awareness to consumers
about their sustainable actions. These efforts can
then help drive more sales in direct response to
aligned values over sustainable best practices, and
thus help retailers boost revenue. Additional efforts
include:
• In-store signage
• Social media
• Email blasts
• Local media
• Store website
• Vendor messaging
• Vendor visits
• In-store events
Looking at leaders such as Patagonia and REI who
have leveraged communication to help share their
sustainable efforts to the media and customers alike,
it’s an important consideration to prioritize to help
support brand growth—plain and simple—which any
business can respect.
THE NOT-SO-OBVIOUS SUSTAINABLE
BEST PRACTICES FOR RETAILERS
Global energy solutions provider Schneider Electric
claims that retail buildings are the largest consumers
of energy among non-residential buildings. By
reducing their carbon footprint and emissions,
retailers can lessen their impact on the planet
and improve their brand image, while also saving
significant costs. But how can retailers achieve this,
especially as physical retail remains a critical part of
customer experiences?
Convenience is key for customers, which is why
online shopping has made such an impact on
commerce-at-large since it first was introduced.
It’s for these same reasons, however, that brick-
and-mortar is a must for businesses to meet their
customers where they want and need to be. There
is no better example of this than the trend of
e-commerce merchants such as Amazon and Warby
Parker—who both originated as online merchants
only—opening physical stores across the nation.
When aiming to reduce your carbon footprint from
physical store environments, it’s essential to look
at every corner of the business. Key factors that
can help reduce spending and improve sustainable
efforts include:
• Electric bills, including lighting
• Store waste & packaging
• Store marketing efforts
• Store displays
Yet the list doesn’t need to end here. A report by
thredUP, the largest online thrift store, found that in
the past three years, the overall market of used and
re-sold products has grown 21 times faster than the
retail apparel market.
This tells us a lot of things, but one of the main
factors to consider is that inventory in stores do not
always need to be new, freshly packaged or even
put in a disposable bag once purchased. As we look
ahead into 2023, retail leaders need to get creative
with what they can do to welcome efforts that may
not have been traditional for their stores that also lean
into the sustainable-minded consumer.
LOOKING AHEAD: WHAT CAN RETAILERS
REALISTICALLY DO
Finally, with a 2022 Treasure Data survey revealing
that 78 percent of customers said they take the
environment into consideration at least occasionally
when making a purchase, up 7 percent from the
previous year’s survey, it’s important to recognize
sustainability is not a growing trend but rather a
growing priority for merchants. Good news, though.
Nearly 80% of retailers surveyed by analyst firm
Capgemini believe their sustainability work keeps
customers loyal.
Sustainable actions are not just good for Mother
Nature, they are good for business. As you look
ahead into 2023, consider how your leadership can
help direct stronger sustainable actions and as a
result, even boost store sales.
Among the check points to consider as part
of your store evaluation on sustainability
include the following:
ຉ Identify where you can find economic savings
for your retail store that are also sustainability
focused. Consider physical and online store
efforts.
ຉ Review all vendors currently working with and
identify their sustainable intentions and current
actions of sustainable efforts. Do they align
with your store goals? If not, consider making
changes.
ຉ Review all supply chain efforts. Are there more
sustainable best practices to help ensure a
reduced carbon footprint?
ຉ Incorporate marketing efforts that share your
sustainable actions with your customers.
Include in-store, digital and local media efforts.
ຉ Set realistic 3,6, and 12 month goals to
improve your sustainable efforts. What are
they? Attach them to your calendar with
reminders to ensure they get completed.
ຉ Apply deadlines to each point on your to-do-
list. As needed, also apply who the tasks are
to be completed by.
The Race to Resilience: Retail Trends That Will Shape 2023
 MAXIMIZING
MERCHANDISING
Overcoming Merchandising Challenges
With Digital Technology
By Gabriella Bock // Head of Content & Production, RETHINK Retail

The ongoing labor crisis has impacted every sector of the economy, and the pain has been felt more acutely
in retail than anywhere else. Simply put, businesses are finding it difficult—if not impossible—to maintain
staffing levels that are sufficient to serve customers.

16
 “ We’re simplifying the work the
employees need to do, seeing
how our tech can support them
and empower them to connect
with customers.”
Jason Buechel // CEO of Whole Foods at NRF 2023
These reasons for these ongoing shortages are
complex. The COVID-19 pandemic surely played a
role in shaping the current environment, but as those
effects wane in most places, retailers continue to
struggle with staffing stores and retaining talent.
This ‘Great Attrition’ (the rise in resignations among
workers in every sector, but particularly frontline
workers) hasn’t been helped by that rise in the cost
of living, increasing pressures on retailers to boost
wages.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics,
over half of all U.S. retail employees left their jobs in
2021, leaving retailers to fill specialized roles, such
as merchandising, with fewer skilled new hires or
employees from other departments.
In an interview with RETHINK Retail, Tom Erskine,
CEO of One Door, a leading visual merchandising
platform provider, addressed the significance labor
shortages have made on the retail industry.
“I think everybody around the world is struggling to
one degree or another as a result of inflation and ‘big
quit’ trends,” Erskine said. “Hourly retail wages have
gone way up, and turnover remains extremely high,
right around 100% a year”
According to Erskine, the current situation is not
sustainable for many retailers. Operating a physical
store is a labor-intensive process, with employees
needed to stock the shelves, keep the store clean,
assist customers and much more.
What’s more, a high rate of turnover and low
employment levels will have a compounding effect
over time: the workers who are left are required
to take on a greater workload, which in turn either
results in them becoming less motivated and more
likely to jump ship, too.
And the impact of the labor crisis hasn’t just been a
nightmare for shift managers and store teams—it’s
also trickled down to customers, too, particularly
when it comes to the store experience.
The Race to Resilience: Retail Trends That Will Shape 2023
 Staffing shortages means less time available to
focus on overall experience, and some areas within
the store will be neglected. According to Erskine,
maintaining in-store experience is typically a function
that requires specialized training.
“Processes that require extensive specialization or
training become very expensive to implement where
the average turnover rate is 100%,” he said. “And
that often shows up in merchandising quality.”
Visual merchandising is a critical component of
any retail business and plays a pivotal role in how
products are discovered and ultimately selected for
purchase.
According to a recent report by Coresight, visual
merchandising can have a significant impact on the
customer shopping experience, affecting everything
from how much time shoppers spend in a store to
how much money they spend. It is the means by
which a retailer can create a visually appealing and
shopper-friendly environment that will encourage
customers to browse and purchase products, thus
elevating the customer experience.
And ineffective visual merchandising, on the other
hand, can yield dire consequences for a retailer.
Eskine told RETHINK Retail that poor or mismanaged
merchandising can have a negative impact on
the shopping experience, leading to customer
dissatisfaction and decreased sales.
“The quality of the merchandising in the store has
declined and the overall experience for consumers
Two-thirds
of retailers lose an average
of 10% of total sales or more
due to ineffective merchandising
execution
according to Coresight Research
18
is not as good as it would be otherwise,” Erskine
revealed. “Products they’re looking for aren’t where
they’re supposed to be, there are a lot of missing
teeth in the store in terms of shelves having big holes
in them and that has a subtle impact on you as a
consumer, which is that your sort of appreciation for
the retail brand declines.”
For retailers facing this new reality, finding a
solution to strategically plan and execute their visual
merchandising efforts should become a primary
objective.
Fortunately, today’s merchandising challenges arise
at a point in history when digital technology and
AI are coming to the forefront of many industries,
making it easier to automate more tasks than ever
before.
And although we aren’t at a point where retailers can
deploy an army of robots to staff a store properly—
nor would most consumers want them to—there are
digital solutions available to help stores improve their
merchandising efforts without the help of an on-site
specialist.
Take the One Door platform, for example, which
provides store teams with simple, turn by turn
directions that enable any associate or new hire to
become a skilled merchandiser. According to Erskine,
by using digital tools that assist—and even prompt or
guide—the employee, it creates a much shorter path
for each individual employee to get up and running
on the job.
“Digital [merchandising] technology should make
life easier for store team members by supplying
them with information in a way that’s accessible and
easy to use,” Erskine said. “The digitization of the
employee experience in-store is incredibly valuable,”
Erskine revealed. “And deploying the right digital
tools can make store teams more productive, which
in turn, pays off huge ROI for retailers.”
Turning to digital tools to play a more active role
in retail merchandising may not completely solve
the staffing crisis, by enabling employees with the
technology to do their jobs more effectively, the high
rate of turnover in the industry may not continue to
be so costly.
 MAJOR MEDIA
Why Retail Media Networks Need to
Harness Offline Channels
By Ethan Chernofsky // VP of Marketing at Placer.ai

20
Retail Media Networks (RMNs) are hardly a new concept, but the
growing attention that brick-and-mortar networks are receiving
is among the most notable trends to watch for 2023. We dove
into the offline and online data to understand why these offline
channels are generating so much excitement.

WHAT ARE RETAIL MEDIA NETWORKS?

Retail media networks, or RMNs, refer to the set of retailer-

owned online and offline channels that retailers can repurpose
as third-party advertising space. RMNs allow retailers to put their
digital sites and brick-and-mortar venues to a use that increases
revenue and profitability by capitalizing on the immense levels of
traffic visiting their stores, websites, and mobile apps every day.

For advertisers, RMNs with a brick-and-mortar component

provide a particularly exciting platform in physical retail that
helps them reach high-intent shoppers at the point of purchase
while the customer is still in ‘discovery’ mode.

RMNs got their start in the digital world, with companies like
Amazon letting advertisers tap into first-party customer data to
target specific customer segments and showcase their products
and services to these segments directly on Amazon’s owned
platforms. But in recent years, retail media networks have
expanded into the brick-and-mortar space, with companies such
as Best Buy, Walmart, Target, and Albertsons leveraging their
massive offline presence to establish a truly omnichannel retail
media network.

RETAIL MEDIA NETWORKS GO OMNICHANNEL

Expanding retail media networks into the brick-and-mortar world

offers multiple benefits both to retailers and advertisers. As the
role of the brick-and-mortar store shifts, retailers can leverage
their presence to create a significant and high-margin revenue
stream, and increase returns on their real-estate investments.
And marketers can tap into offline retail media networks to
advertise to consumers at the point of purchase.

Most importantly, turning physical stores into advertising

platforms allows retailers to significantly expand the reach
of their media network. Despite the sharp increase in online
shopping, e-commerce sales still make up only a small share of
total US retail sales, and visitors to a retailer’s brick-and-mortar
stores generally far outnumber visitors to that retailer’s online
platforms.

The Race to Resilience: Retail Trends That Will Shape 2023

 Unique Visitors Across Leading Retail Chains
October 2022
212.1 M
152.9 M
115.3 M
Millions
83.0 M
64.0 M
35.6 M
Target Walmart Costco
*Online unique visitors data source: www.similarweb.com
Take, for example, Walmart. Similarweb, which tracks
digital traffic, ranked the company’s e-commerce
website as one of the top five shopping websites
in the world thanks to the numerous visits the
superstore giant’s website sees every month. But
despite the company’s highly successful e-commerce
channel, Walmart’s brick-and-mortar stores still
receive many more visits more every month.
In October, Walmart’s US website received 83M
unique visitors, while the company’s brick-and-mortar
stores welcomed 212M visitors–almost three times
more. Visit duration also tends to be longer than
offline–between December 2021 and November
2022, the median offline visit length for Walmart
was 32 minutes, significantly more than the average
e-commerce visit duration.
By including its brick-and-mortar channels in its retail
media network, Walmart can create an advertising
platform that reaches hundreds of millions of
captive eyeballs a month over extended visit periods.
And this is before taking into account physical
retail’s higher conversion rate, the wider range of
opportunities for experiential engagement within
the store, and the greater role the channel plays in
product discovery.
22
82.9 M
71.0 M
64.3 M
55.4 M
50.8 M
47.6 M
40.2 M
11.2 M
6.8 M
4.5 M
Home Depot Lowe’s Dollar General Kroger Publix
IMPROVING MEASUREMENTS
One of the reasons that retail media networks first
developed in the digital world is that online visits used
to be easier to measure and segment than offline
traffic. As a result, difficulties in assessing the reach
of offline ad impressions posed a major obstacle
to incorporating brick-and-mortar venues into retail
media networks.
But thanks to improvements in location analytics, it is
now possible to assess physical ad impressions far
more effectively. For example, location data can now
reveal the number of unique visits a chain sees every
month, which can be treated as equivalent to the
digital advertising metric of unique impressions.
This means that retail media networks that harness
the reach of brick-and-mortar store fleets enable
advertisers to think about physical store visits and
their unique impressions through a similar lens as
that used to think of standard online or television
placements. The advances in offline traffic metrics
makes for a better apples to apples comparison and
allows advertisers to more effectively measure impact
across all advertising channels.
 “ For us, [the store] is a place
where we will engage and
meet with our fans. We see
[our stores] as another
communication channel
or another media channel
to be able to present our
products and interact
74.7 M

Online
63.4 M

with our guests.”

40.7 M

Offline
35.3M

Martin Urrutia // Global Head of Retail Innovation

CVS Walgreens & Experience at Lego at NRF 2023

Source: Placer.ai

The Race to Resilience: Retail Trends That Will Shape 2023

 CVS Unique Monthly Visits: In-Store & Online
June 2022 - November 2022

63.4 M

62.8 M
61.3 M

61.3 M
61.1 M

59.2 M
35.0 M

60M

40.7 M
39.3 M
50M

37.7 M
34.7 M

34.7 M
40M

30M

20M

10M

Jun. ‘22 Jul. ‘22 Aug. ‘22 Sep. ‘22 Oct. ‘22 Oct. ‘22

Web Unique Visits In-Store Unique Visits

*Online traffic data courtesy of www.similarweb.com Source: Placer.ai

USING BRICK-AND-MORTAR CHANNELS

TO OPTIMIZE AUDIENCE SEGMENTATION

Looking at physical stores for their marketing and

advertising value allows retailers and the product
companies that advertise through them to think about
audience segmentation in fundamentally different
ways. As opposed to thinking only in terms of regions,
brands are now capable of rapidly indexing stores
based on a range of demographics, psychographic or
even behavioral factors.

For example, cross-visitation between a grocer and

a fitness chain could be a far better indicator of the
performance of protein bar promotions than standard
demographic analyses. And the ability to cluster
stores along those lines, as opposed to thinking only
in terms of specific geographic boundaries, could
help brands better reach key audiences.

24
Differences in Consumer Profiles, Nearby Publix Locations
10% 9.9%

9%

8%

7% 7.0%

6%

5%

4%

3%

2%

1%
0

Publix, 2000 Cheney Hwy, Titusville, FL Publix, 2000 Cheney Publix, 3275 Garden
Hwy, Titusville, FL St, Titusville, FL

Publix, 3275 Garden St, Titusville, FL Share of Publix visitors who also visited Planet Fitness
and/or Workout Anytime in November 2022

Source: Placer.ai

The Race to Resilience: Retail Trends That Will Shape 2023

 TAKING ADVANTAGE OF OFFLINE TRAFFIC
PEAKS
Incorporating brick-and-mortar channels into retail
media networks also enables marketers to take
advantage of offline shopping peaks to advertise
products and services to particularly high-intent
audiences.
For example, August tends to be a major retail month
as parents stock up on school supplies and new
clothes for their growing children. And much of this
shopping takes place in-person, so marketers looking
to promote back-to-school specials may be more
successful advertising directly in-stores through
Target Monthly Visits: In-Store & Online
December 2021 - November 2022
130M
120M
110M
100M
90M
80M
70M
Apr. ‘22 May. ‘22 Jun. ‘22 Jul. ‘22
Online Unique Visits
*Online traffic data courtesy of www.similarweb.com
OFFLINE MEDIA ON THE RISE
With the online space becoming increasingly costly,
and shifts in first-party data collection making
targeting specific consumer segments increasingly
difficult, advertisers are once again tapping into the
marketing potential of the brick-and-mortar space.
Offline media and advertising has seen a resurgence
in 2022, and the space is expected to continue
developing rapidly.
26
the brick-and-mortar component of retail media
networks.
Black Friday, on the other hand, seems to have
generated significant online engagement this year–
while Target’s offline visitors still exceeded the
brand’s digital visitors in November, the jump from
October to November was steeper online.
So marketers wanting to reach Black Friday shoppers
may want to split their media spend more evenly
between the two channels. The apples-to-apples
perspective also allows brands to understand
how traffic surges to nearby retailers could create
unexpected boosts in visits or at off-peak periods.
Aug. ‘22 Sep. ‘22 Oct. ‘22 Nov. ‘22
In-Store Unique Visits
Source: Placer.ai
As marketing continues to look for new ways to
promote to specific audiences, improve conversions,
and increase consumer engagements, the demand
for offline advertising is likely to continue growing fast.
Omnichannel retail media networks that harness the
full potential of retailers’ online and offline reach are a
critical force in this resurgence.
 A.I. APPLICATIONS
OF TODAY
to Boost the Shopping Experience
of Tomorrow
By Michelle Grant // RETHINK Retail Top Retail Influencer
Amid economic uncertainty and fierce competition
for consumer attention, retailers are expected to
do more with less while also delivering consistently
stellar customer experiences.
Fortunately, AI can help retailers who want to deliver
top-notch digital customer experiences on every step
of the path to purchase. When used correctly, AI is
the oil that keeps a retailer’s customer experience
engine running smoothly across everything from
marketing to site experience to service requests.
Here are three ways retailers are using AI today to
drive successful shopper experiences.
USE AI TO POWER PERSONALIZED
SHOPPER MARKETING
Nearly 73% of customers expect brands to
understand their unique needs and expectations.
Marketing, in turn, has shifted from a “one-to-many”
approach to a “one-to-one” approach, allowing for
greater personalization and custom engagement with
potential and existing customers.
However, enacting and orchestrating this level of
personalization is often complex and time consuming.
28
When leveraged correctly, AI helps retailers create
smarter shopper segments, unearthing shopper
archetypes previously unknown to marketers.
Retailers can then target newly identified segments
with an automated and personalized path to
purchase, complete with customized content sent
through preferred channels for each customer,
whether it’s an email or a social ad. By matching the
right message to the right person at the right time,
marketers drive customer engagement, loyalty and
ultimately, revenue.
On the backend, AI also powers the insights to
optimize marketing performance. AI can determine
the appropriate send time and frequency for
messages. It can also deliver insights into the impact
of messages, campaigns and marketing spend to
ensure marketing resources are allocated efficiently.
IMPROVE YOUR DIGITAL SHOPPING
EXPERIENCE WITH ARTIFICIAL
INTELLIGENCE
Speed matters to ecommerce shoppers, so it’s
important to surface the most relevant products to
shoppers as quickly as possible.
Nearly

73%
of customers
expect brands to
understand their
unique needs and
expectations.
according to a 2022 Salesforce report

The Race to Resilience: Retail Trends That Will Shape 2023

 The personalized website experience is augmented
by personalized product recommendations. Through
the power of AI technology, online retailers can ingest
data such as past orders, preferred brands, browsing,
and external data (such as the weather) to surface
the most relevant product recommendations for the
shopper—almost instantaneously.

In addition to serving speedy product

recommendations, AI can be instrumental in
powering more efficient searches on a shopper’s
behalf. According to Salesforce’s Shopping Index,
8% of all visits to websites involve search. AI can
help turn this into a greater revenue-generating
opportunity by tracking common searches performed
on the website, automatically generating reports on
missing search terms, and making recommendations
on how to add the terms to the search dictionary—
expanding the opportunity for conversion.

By logging and analyzing a shopper’s interactions

with the website, AI can also rank relevant products
higher in the product grid and customize search

AI’s capabilities can collectively provide an

incredible end-to-end shopper experience,
but the success of AI application ultimately
depends on three things – the quantity,
quality, and ingestion speed of data.

results for the shopper, catering to their anticipated LEVERAGE AI FOR STREAMLINED
preferences and needs. CUSTOMER SERVICE

Similar to marketing, artificial intelligence powers
analysis to improve a website’s experience. The
technology collects shopper, order and product data,
which helps merchandisers make decisions around
creating product bundles, deals, and “complete the
look” suggestions, which all drive revenue for the
website.
With 45% of service leaders reporting that they are
using AI in 2022—up from just 24% in 2020—the
benefit of AI for customer service is clearly gaining
traction.
AI can power self-service capabilities for shoppers
through live chat and intelligent bots, allowing

30
shoppers to make returns or ask questions about
orders without experiencing long call wait times.
For shoppers that do need to reach an agent
directly, AI can automatically route the case to the
appropriate agent with all the appropriate customer
data needed. The agent then receives personalized
recommendations for the shopper and next best
actions to resolve the case quickly.
TYING IT ALL TOGETHER THROUGH THE
POWER OF DATA
AI’s capabilities can collectively provide an incredible
end-to-end shopper experience, but the success of
AI application ultimately depends on three things—the
quantity, quality, and ingestion speed of data.
Recommendations and personalized content become
more nuanced with more data to identify and
replicate specific consumer patterns and preferences.
And today, retailers can ingest that data in real
time instead of waiting for data to be loaded into
the company’s database in batched intervals. This
capability unlocks the real-time execution of artificial
intelligence use cases, such as a shopper receiving
a discount on coffee inside a gas station’s retail
operation immediately after they’ve finished fueling.
Because the data is real time, customer profiles are
continually updated with new information, enabling
artificial intelligence to update the personalization in
marketing, websites, and customer service.
As we look to the future of shopping and the
experiences customers expect, harnessing the
value of data and AI will be critical to consistently
delivering on the utmost levels of personalization and
engagement.
The Race to Resilience: Retail Trends That Will Shape 2023
 WHY THE INTERNET’S
GENERATIONAL
LEAP IS A LEAP FOR
MERCHANDISING
AND COMMERCE
By Alex Lindstrom // Managing Editor at RETHINK Retail

32
The internet is continuing to evolve, but to understand
where it is going it behooves one to understand
where it has been, what it has meant for retailers
along the way, and what it means now.
Web 1.0—which for the public’s purposes is
considered the ‘beginning’ (it was and wasn’t)—
consisted of elements we’d now consider very static
and not much more complex than the body of today’s
average Reddit post. It is referred to by some as the
era of ‘read-only web,’ a more descriptive moniker.
Of course, this was still a revolution for businesses.
Once a daily-mentioned household name, it was a
time quickly dominated by America Online (AOL).
It was also when Amazon was first launched as a
marketplace for books in 1994 (similarly, the NYT
reported on the first eCommerce transaction in
1994). Static product descriptions, hyperlinks, and
(comparatively) basic banking were enough, after all,
to sell.
Web 2.0 introduced a greater level of interactivity and
presentation around 2003. Social media, blogging,
and fast video—including YouTube, which now, along
with other streaming services, serves as ‘television’
for new generations who abandoned cable—defines
this era.
As the public still largely inhabits Web 2.0, it requires
little explanation today as it is, generally, where the
eCommerce space rests even in 2023. It is between
1.0 and 2.0 that eCommerce saw the growth it is now
famous for, growing from 0.8% of all commerce in
2000 to 3.4% by 2008 (according to Pew).
By 2014, that figure had grown to 6.5%, and today is
set to rise to nearly 22% by 2025.
Web 3.0—first articulated for most by the New York
Times in 2006 (and later given the name ‘Web3’ by
Gavin Wood in 2014)—is continuing to emerge and
seek definition in part because it refers to a sea-
change in how the web is used much as Web 2.0 did.
Yet, how exactly does the web evolve beyond its
complexity today, a network that is already so robust,
compelling, and widespread? We will examine some
of the major use cases.
One of the main identifiers of Web3 thus far includes
decentralizing technologies such as blockchain
and cryptocurrency (whereas Web 2.0 is defined by
centralized authorities). Cryptocurrency—an often
controversial economic practice—is already accepted
by about 2,300 businesses (as of 2020).
Common advantages include “access to new
demographic groups [and] capital and liquidity pools”
as well as an “effective alternative or balancing asset
to cash” according to a report by Deloitte. Crypto
generally involves peer-to-peer trading (P2P), another
defining feature of Web3.
However, crypto’s major malus—incredible volatility—
continues to be its defining trait in the public
eye to say nothing of its wide use in fraud or the
environmental concerns of ‘crypto mining.’
You may have also seen and heard terms such as
‘edge computing’ in relation to this decentralization,
referring to a “distributed computing framework that
brings enterprise applications closer to data sources
such as IoT devices” according to IBM.
This rather sci-fi-sounding moniker is less confusing
than it might sound; smartphones and other IoT
devices already facilitate this computing every day via
the ‘local’ collection and processing of data.
However, for retailers, edge computing is a less-
often-named yet profoundly significant aspect
of Web3, helping to bring data collection and
algorithmic computing to everyday IoT devices
customers have with them throughout their brick-and-
mortar shopping experiences.
Edge computing-facilitated processes carry deep
implications for omnichannel personalization and
sales, including the in-store maximization of fixed
wireless access and 5G services by customers.
More popularly known (especially with the advent of
GPT-3 and AI-generated content in 2022), Web3 is
further defined by ‘autonomous’ technologies such
as AI and machine learning, a yet-uncertain-yet-
exciting future.
Indeed, if it isn’t clear why edge computing is
important, consider that IoT devices allow for the
The Race to Resilience: Retail Trends That Will Shape 2023
 All of these technologies come together
in varying ways to help facilitate the next
generation of customer interactivity.
utilization of AI and ML technologies in a local retail purchase in real-time (e.g., an influencer walking
environment, a large part of why edge computing through a store with a live audience).
is a foundational concept in the ongoing digital
transformations of traditional retailers in particular. Dubbed by Fortune magazine in 2021 as ‘the next
big thing in retail’ by the chair of the National Retail
The potential for retailers here is so great as to be Federation, livestream shopping “has its roots in
overwhelming. AI and ML can help answer customer China in the mid-2010s, when influencers began
questions, address safety concerns by reminding using live video apps to take their fans with them as
and advising of protocols (autonomous customer- they [shopped].”
interactive AI was rapidly deployed throughout the
pandemic), and introduce previously impossible It’s because people perceive influencers as less
levels of personalization. biased than a retailer (a perception that may not
hold forever) that they’re effective marketers, and
These AI assistants can help to supplement the work
of floor personnel and frontline salespeople, and
that’s really only scratching the surface; AI can also
be leveraged to maximize supply chain efficiency, a
need that the global economic downturn triggered by
lockdowns punctuated as greatly as ever in the 21st
century so far.

In contrast to social networking, Web3 is further

defined by the metaverse (and not necessarily the
one Facebook has branded).

VR and AR-based services are frequently discussed

in the fashion space, allowing for oft-mentioned
digital changing rooms that allow customers to ‘try
on’ products without disassembling inventory. These
technologies also carry deeper implications for the
future of employee training.

All of these technologies come together in varying

ways to help facilitate the next generation of
customer interactivity in the form of live commerce
or ‘livestream’ shopping, a method of marketing
that blends entertainment value with the ability to

34
this message has already been received by varying
business sectors (ask anyone how often they’ve been
advertised earbuds or a VPN on YouTube).
Notes a report by McKinsey, Alibaba’s Taobao Live
(launched in May 2016) was a true springboard. In the
first 30 minutes of presales for Singles’ Day, Alibaba’s
live commerce vent hit $7.5 billion.
This may prompt one’s jaw to drop. That’s a lot of
money in 30 minutes, and it was a 400% jump over
the previous year; it would not be controversial to
argue that, like with most eCommerce, the lockdowns
had a huge influence therein.
How exactly does it create value? According to
the McKinsey report, it both helps to ‘accelerate
conversion’ and ‘improve brand appeal and
differentiation’ via said influencers, helping “some
companies [to] see their share of younger audiences
increase by up to 20%.”
In other words, it is something of an Achilles heel
for otherwise often fickle and difficult-to-capture
young demos. Social media is the media of choice for
millennials and gen Z, and with that comes a boost
in trust that baby boomers came to associate with
modern televised advertising.
However, the report notes that it is also beginning to
“attract middle-aged and more-senior consumers,” so
it isn’t a one-trick.
All of this is but just a touch upon the potentiality of
Web3 commerce. We still haven’t ‘seen it all,’ far from
it. The good news is that a lot of it is already in the
hands of consumers, and the 5G services that can
help to power it in the brick-and-mortar space are
both increasingly available and fast.
What decision leaders need to do is keep it firmly
on their radar if it isn’t already a part of their retail
ecosystem, which at this point, it really ought to be.
Competition continues to be defined by innovation
in a business space defined by the adoption of new
technologies.
The Race to Resilience: Retail Trends That Will Shape 2023
 SERVICE, ON-DEMAND
to Boost the Shopping Experience
of Tomorrow
By Fritz Finlay // Production Manager at RETHINK Retail
Consumer purchasing habits have changed
significantly in recent years as e-commerce sales
flourished and shoppers opted for a hybrid approach
to buying online and in-store. For many, using a
variety of shopping channels was a direct result of
the pandemic, its lockdowns, and subsequent brick-
and-mortar closures.
Over two years later and retailers are grappling with
new challenges. From inflation to a turbulent supply
chain and a host of new consumer trends, retailers
are being forced to rethink the value they provide to
their customers.
MAINTAINING STRONG CUSTOMER
RELATIONSHIPS ISN’T SO EASY
Today, shoppers have returned to physical stores
in droves. In fact, over 60% of consumers will do at
least some of their holiday shopping in stores this
season, up 5% from last year. However, another 61%
of customers defect to a retail competitor after one
bad customer service experience, whether that’s in-
store or online.
For retailers, this is an indication that steps must be
taken to drive home customer loyalty.
“We’re seeing a number of things in the current
economic environment that are driving home the
importance of focusing on and maintaining consumer
relationships,” said Antonio Gonzalez, Head of
Industries Research and Insights at Talkdesk, a global
cloud contact center software provider.
36
Attracting and retaining strong customer relationships
doesn’t just mean lowering prices or stocking shelves
appropriately, either.
According to research conducted by Talkdesk, “a
customer service interaction is most likely to deepen
customer loyalty if an issue is resolved on first
contact,” and a customer service agent going “above
and beyond” is the second most significant driver in
building customer loyalty.
Now more than ever, customers need to feel both
connected to and engaged with a brand in order to
come back again and again.
“There’s a big risk if you don’t get it [customer service]
right and you’re making a customer feel like they’re
having to repeat themselves, you’re undermining
loyalty,” Gonzalez revealed. “Companies need
to think about how to maintain relationships and
deepen them while avoiding the things that actually
undermine them.”
What’s stopping retailers from better serving their
customers? For many, it comes down to learning how
to meet the needs of the individual shopper.
CREATING SOLUTIONS FOR THE FUTURE
If there’s one attribute we cannot ascribe to modern
shoppers, it’s uniformity. Personalization is key and
retailers are working overtime to break through the
noise and maintain relevance in the consumers’
minds. Customers want to feel seen, and that means
“ Because shoppers
have so much choice,
brands and retailers
need to take the
idea of connecting
with shoppers and
connecting on a one-
on-one basis to the
next level.”
Rachel Dalton // Director of E-Commerce and
Omnichannel Insights at Kantar at NRF 2023
 1/3
of retailers actively
provide interactive and
engaging service to
their customers across
interconnected channels
according to a report from Talkdesk
retailers need to shift away from solving needs at
scale and towards engaging with individual issues as
they arise.
And this doesn’t mean retailers should separate their
in-store vs. online customer service strategies, either.
In fact, retailers must learn how to bridge disjointed
channels to deliver truly seamless, omnichannel
services.
According to Talkdesk’s latest report, only one-third
of retailers actively provide interactive and engaging
service to their customers across interconnected
channels. However, highly interactive and engaging
technologies are making it easier for retailers to get
ahead of the competition.
“34% of retailers that we surveyed said they’re
investing in the Metaverse as a customer engagement
channel in the next two years,” said Gonzalez. “And I
think that represents the next evolution of interactive
engagement, where you can actually visualize a
product fitting into your life before you’ve stepped
into a store or before you’ve bought it.”
Each of these technologies, whether it’s the
Metaverse, live streaming, voice-based AI, or any
combination of AI and VR, holds immense promise
for retailers as they work towards updating more
traditional forms of customer interaction and service.
Notably, communicating with customers via
experiential platforms like the Metaverse separates
38
modern channels that offer deeper connections from
more traditional customer service channels.
INVESTING IN INTERACTIVE ENGAGEMENT
CHANNELS
One-size-fits-all blueprints for the above technologies
aren’t readily available for retailers across segments,
but that hasn’t stopped companies from investing
heavily in new channels. Two years from now, we
could see retailers investing up to 15% more in the
Metaverse, 14% more in voice-based AI, and 11%
more in live streaming than they currently do.
For Gonzalez, coupling the care and attention each
customer deserves with the opportunities granted by
modern technology is a recipe for success.
“In thinking about next-generation customer service
channels and making sure that you’re [the retailer]
doing everything right with the data, you’re not
getting ahead of yourself, [but rather] understanding
each person and what they need,” he said.
When every touchpoint affects the potential for a sale
and the shoppers’ relationship with a retailer, meeting
aggressive customer service goals isn’t so much an
option as it is a necessity. Traditional channels that
include both transactional and conversational forms
of customer service are still very much dominant,
but that’s going to change in the coming years and
retailers will need to fight to stay ahead of the curve.
 PUSHING
PAST THE HYPE
Leveraging Tech Trends for True
Transformation
By DeeAnn Campbell // RETHINK Retail Top Retail Influencer

40

Each year brands and retailers kick off the new
year with hype around a new trend. In 2018 the
talk was direct-to-consumer and in 2021 was all
about the return of the physical store. In 2022,
the potentiality of the metaverse was one of the
hottest topics and this year the spotlight shone
brightly on programs like ChatGPT.
While new trends and technologies are useful
tools for improving customer experience and
profit margins, 2023 will be the year where
brands and retailers fully understand how critical
it is to address their outdated tech stacks and
core business models to survive the next decade.
The ability to flex fast and integrate will be the
most essential skills for the retail industry.
Much like my old iPhone 6 no longer supports
Apple’s current iOS, most tech solutions
emerging today can’t be integrated into the
existing systems and operational processes that
long standing companies have built over decades.
Until now Retailers have been able to find work-
arounds, such as keeping e-commerce data
separate from in-store data and only combining
data manually at the end of the collection
process.
But today’s shopper journeys move almost
schizophrenically across online and offline
channels. Viewing 360 degrees of data in real
time has become essential to keeping pace with
consumer demands and managing inventory and
marketing investments profitably.
LIONS, TIGERS AND BEARS–OH MY!
Three hot topics at NRF this year were loyalty,
merchandising and productivity. Brands and
retailers understand the importance of driving
loyalty. Loyal customers will spend 67% more in
year three of their relationship with a seller than
in year one.
The industry is also clear on the importance of
optimizing inventory and improving operational
efficiencies. Target’s investor downgrade by Wells
Fargo this January was due to fear of inventory
challenges and concerns over the complexity
of Target’s control systems. Their disparate in-
store and on-line systems aren’t yet integrated
sufficiently to offer the level of transparency that
investors demand.
Plenty of great tech products and partners are
being showcased at CES and NRF this year, but
looking at these offerings as part of an integrated
whole house system still remains one of the
most significant challenges to successfully
implementing almost any in-store or on-line
solution today.
As brands and retailers explore new technologies
and vendor relationships it will be important to
look for sources of expertise to help identify and
The Race to Resilience: Retail Trends That Will Shape 2023
 navigate any issues that present stumbling blocks
to integrating with existing in-house systems.
These issues include not only integrating a new
solution, but also identifying what might prevent
integration with other vendor solutions that a
retailer plans to adopt in future.
For example, the concept of “store as a medium”
is projected to gain significant traction this year
as more brands and retailers “follow the eyeballs”
to obtain first party data. Companies like Walmart
are paying attention after seeing nearly double
the number of shoppers visit their stores vs their
website in 2022.
But bringing the benefits of media advertising
into brick and mortar can add new complexity
to existing corporate systems. Personalizing ads
for both online and offline relevance, combining
multiple channels of real time data and aligning
decision makers and stakeholders across
diverse–and often competing–department
budgets is hard and time consuming.
Even harder is setting up meaningful
performance indicators and return on investment
measurements that matter to both revenue side
and expense side stakeholders. More often than
not even established Brands and Retailers are
inexperienced in making these kinds of decisions.
“Who owns the data” is the question I’m asked
most often by every stakeholder because this
concept is still so new. And the complexity is only
amplified when inventory control tools like RFID,
electronic shelf labeling or digital signage are
added to the mix, yet integrating all of these tools
with an in-store media program is a far more
valuable use of time and resources than a media
program alone, and will become a business
standard for retail within the next 2-3 years.
The best New Year’s resolution for retailers
in 2023 will be to start with designing a new
roadmap for updating existing technologies,
operating processes, and business models. It’s
essential to have clarity right now on where you
are today vs where you need to be to have the
flexibility and cross-functionality that is quickly
42
becoming a primary factor in financial success
in the retail industry. Once you establish your
roadmap, a timeline and budget be shaped so
the entire company can align around a planned
set of stepping stones.
This roadmap will be one of your most valuable
tools in identifying which technology tools and
partnerships can best help you today, which will
help you advance your roadmap plan, and which
investments should be postponed until you are
further along.
Consider that retailers were placing digital
screens into stores over a decade ago as a
replacement for static signage. But results for
these programs were weak, primarily because
they lacked the ability to fully integrate into both
brand and retailer marketing, operations and data
tracking systems, which limited their usefulness
and extended the payback window indefinitely.
On the flip side, Target has, until now, used only
a limited and very selective placement of digital
signage, such as for Apple product displays.
They are building on a clear set of steps, such as
updating data integration capabilities, increasing
cross-departmental collaboration, and even
setting up Roundel, their in-house media group.
All of these steps have positioned Target well to
reap the full benefits of an in-store digital media
network that enables integration across other
needs like inventory management, security and
customer experience.
As companies continue to search for better ways
to streamline, manage costs and connect with
customers, their biggest challenge this year will
not be in finding the right tools or vendor partners.
A far greater challenge will be in figuring out how
to integrate those tools and partners and how to
measure results in a way that is meaningful to all
stakeholders.
Apple at Target // Image Courtesy of Target

Loyal customers will spend

67% More
in year three of their relationship
with a seller than in year one
according to Invesp
 Contributors

www.t-mobile.com/business www.onedoor.com

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www.placer.ai www.talkdesk.com

The Race to Resilience: Retail Trends That Will Shape 2023

rethink.industries