Digital marketing has today become an indispensable part of any media mix as shoppers are increasingly showing their preference for online purchases. At the same time, social media has grown at a fast pace and it is playing a leading role in replacing the old tradition of shopping at brick-and-mortar stores with online shopping.
Retailers are quickly adding digital stores in addition to physical stores and spending more money in developing smart websites to make it easier for online shoppers. Brands these days are also procuring tools to analyze informal chat on social media although not all brands are adjusting to the shift as easily as they would have liked.
Despite that, brands are realizing the fact that they need to move towards digital media in order to keep pace with technological advancement. For brands, digital media serves as a vehicle for connecting, selling and engaging their prospective customers as studies reveal that 51% of Americans prefer to shop online. CMO Emily Culp, of Keds had focused on treating the company as the number one store in the world. She therefore, worked towards digital transformation of the company by bringing in ecommerce, marketing, social media and public relations as one team. She had good reason to mix the culture because Amazon and other shopping sites were scrambling to move from physical to digital storefronts and putting more and more money into smart websites.
In the beginning of this year, Pernod Richard, the maker of brands like Absolut, Malibu and Jameson – started hiring their own internal manpower and using software tools to become more digital. It began working with its sales force to collect and analyze data as part of bigger customer relationship efforts. Manager of data analytics at Pernod Ricard, Evan Huggins, said “Amazon is an easy, consummate example, and they’re just going to eat everyone’s lunch. If it’s not them, it’s businesses that emulate their model of convenience and personalization and accessibility to potentially disrupt our business.”