Martech Trends 2022: 48 industry experts share their insights

retail trends 2022

The last couple of years has been at least challenging for most industries around the world. The pandemic’s impact has caused fundamental shifts in consumers’ behavior and brands’ strategy, decision-making, and mentality. For sure this forced companies across all industries and sizes, to adapt or even pivot, in order to survive the market changes but also the cybersecurity challenges the pandemic brought. But although Google recorded a +30% YoY growth in eCommerce sales in 2021, the World Bank predicts global growth to “decelerate markedly” from 5.5% in 2021 to 4.1% in 2022, due to factors such as the rise in inflation, debt, and income inequality.

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How to choose the ideal retail customer engagement platform

customer engagement platform

Let’s allow the importance of retail customer engagement to sink in: When it comes to making a purchase, 64% of people find the customer experience to be more important than the price, according to Gartner Research. In a digital world where online shoppers are overwhelmed with choices, it is more important than ever to use a retail customer engagement platform that will convert potential clients into returning shoppers.  This rings even more true in the post-COVID-19 era when more people are opting to shop from the safety of their own homes, and, luckily,  in 2022, very few businesses do not have online

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Gartner Trends 2022: What Do They Mean for Retailers?

Gartner Trends 2022

When Gartner’s Top Strategic Technology Trends for 2022 report came out, the whole world hastened to read it. The report identifies Gartner’s trends for 2022 that are poised to change industries and business practices. Retail executives and other decision-makers need to focus their efforts on the trends that are most likely to impact their company and implement them strategically. This overview provides a primer and a plan for action. It’ll take you through all 12 Gartner trends, setting you up to take full advantage of the report’s insights. Heard it? We asked 101 experts to predict the top emerging retail trends

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21 chatbot retail use cases to replicate for your brand

chatbot retail use cases

Adding a chatbot to your website can significantly improve your ability to service customers. That is a fact since chatbots are quickly becoming standard practice in different retail categories, and not having one could see you falling behind the competition. According to Hubspot, as of 2020, messaging apps had over 5 billion active monthly users. These numbers are completely understandable, considering that a chatbot is a direct and efficient way to resolve both complex and simple issues.  It’s a win-win situation, as both the customers and the brands will benefit from the interaction. The customers get immediate answers, without waiting

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The 25 Best Valentine’s Day Campaigns We Have Ever Seen

Best Valentine’s campaigns

Even in the most trying times, love always finds a way to flourish and be celebrated. Statistics show that rising costs and inflation were not enough to prevent the holiday’s revenue from reaching sky-high numbers. Last year, in 2024 consumers spent approximately $25.8 billion in Valentine’s Day-related purchases, stating that haters gonna hate and lovers gonna… spend, despite the circumstances. Marketing-wise, Valentine’s Day campaigns were again at the forefront, with brands giving everything they got to leverage the day of lovers. Retailers should take advantage of this momentum seeing that 2025 will also be a year that love and hardships go

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20 Customer Engagement Strategies for the Tourism Ιndustry

customer engagement strategies for tourism

Similar to retail, customer engagement extends to every sector that entails meaningful interactions between a brand and its customers. With customer retention being always crucial, numbers show that a robust omnichannel philosophy is vital for any business. On average, 89% of customers remain loyal to brands that invest in customer engagement, whereas for companies that lack such aspects, the retention rate dramatically decreases to 33%. Normally, the tourism industry could not be omitted from that long list of enterprises dedicated to making consumers feel appreciated and taken care of.  New technologies brought profound competition to the tourism providers, thus making

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The best 6 dynamic image generators for eCommerce

dynamic image generators

Quality product images are a key deciding factor for 93% of retail customers when considering the purchase of a product. Clearly, the way they visually represent the wares online — whether that’s through email marketing campaigns or in an online retail store — matters to customers. Dynamic images improve the online experience, allowing customers to have a complete view of products and feel more engaged in the buying process. This article takes a look at how that works, as well as some of the best dynamic image generators to use in 2022.  Table of Contents > What is a dynamic

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Building a 360° Christmas marketing strategy in retail

Christmas marketing strategy retail

Throughout the year, seasonal marketing campaigns can be a great way to engage your audience and achieve higher revenue for your products. There’s no time this rings more true than during the Christmas season. On average, retailers count on approximately 20% of their annual sales to take place in November and December. If you want to make the most of the holiday season and increase traffic in both your physical and online stores, you’ll need a strong Christmas marketing strategy — and we can help. Table of Contents > Why a Christmas marketing strategy is critical for retailers > The components

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Retail customer experience best practices in the post-COVID-19 era

customer experience best practices

Providing an assistive customer journey and foretelling customer needs is a catalyst for exponential growth, as 89% of profitable companies say. To thrive in retail, you must continually improve customer touchpoints throughout the purchase journey to earn and keep loyal customers. Building on customer experience best practices will fortify the customer journey and refine your overall customer experience quality. ‌Considering that 73% of customers prioritize customer experience over price and product quality when making a purchase decision, it’s clear that a successful customer experience is the lifeline of retail brands. To keep turning profits, you need to implement and maintain

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How Videos Can Improve Customer Experience in Retail

videos improve customer experience

Videos are an excellent tool for companies in the retail industry to improve their customer experience. There are plenty of video creation tools and devices to use, so even small retail stores can get their videos done in-house without much hassle.  Before the internet was a big thing, companies only used videos primarily for advertising. Nowadays, you can share a video with the whole world with just one click. Therefore, the availability and the benefits of using videos to improve a customer’s experience, leave no excuse for small or large-scale retailers to not implement it.  Aside from improving the overall

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80 Black Friday Statistics Every Retailer Should Know (2024)

Black Friday Statistics

Although Thanksgiving in November is unique to the United States, the Black Friday shopping frenzy has caught on worldwide, especially with the rise in online shopping. Once a one-day-only event, Black Friday has changed into season-long promotions and deals designed to draw in customers. Retailers have often relied on this shopping surge, and the term “Black Friday” refers to their ability to recoup year-long losses in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Therefore, we have gathered everything you need to take into account and be ready for another year of shopping craze. Table of Contents > Black Friday 2023 in

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The new Apple MPP and its impact on Email Marketing

Apple MPP

In September 2021, Apple launched its new privacy functionality embedded in iOS 15, iPadOS 15, macOS Monterey, and watchOS 8. This update includes the notorious Apple MPP (Mail Privacy Protection), a feature destined to alter Email Marketing practices as we know them. In this article, we will analyze thoroughly the changes this new development brings and propose alternative ways to adapt your email marketing strategy to the new reality. What does the new Apple MPP include and how will it work In order to fully understand how this policy will define email marketing, first, let’s take a deep dive into

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The 28 Best Customer Experience Examples in 2024

customer experience examples

The focus of retail businesses has shifted in recent years from traditional “customer service” to learning how to create memorable customer experiences. Increasingly, the emphasis is on expanding omnichannel interactions across platforms, mobile devices, online checkouts, brick-and-mortar locations, and anywhere else customers and businesses interact. ‌ eCommerce’s trajectory brought about new and improved ways of conducting business and enhancing the omnichannel experience. Statistics have a funny way of showing retailers and marketers the right way, proving what we already know. That a good customer experience is mandatory for the nurture of brand-consumer relationships; brand loyalty may be hard to come by,

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ContactPigeon wins nine awards by G2, thrice for High Performer

ContactPigeon-wins-nine-G2-awards

Everybody loves kind words and a pat on the back, but we really did not expect to be awarded nine times for Summer 2021 by G2, one of the most trusted peer-to-peer review software!!! A big thank you to all the people that made this happen 😀 Everybody knows and trusts G2 because it’s reliability lies in unbiased, real-time customer reviews, providing a database of verified testimonials on multiple operating systems and services. ContactPigeon’s Omnichannel Customer Engagement platform has received stellar reviews, both for its advanced features and the crown jewel of our company, our Customer Success Team. ContactPigeon is

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The 30 Best Black Friday Campaigns of All Time (2024 Update)

Best Black Friday Campaigns

Black Friday, the quintessential shopping extravaganza, is more than just a day of unbeatable deals and long checkout lines. It’s an annual retail spectacle that serves as a litmus test for the industry’s creativity and innovation. In the world of retail and eCommerce, the best Black Friday campaigns have emerged as a playground for brands to showcase their prowess in marketing, capturing the hearts, minds, and wallets of consumers. As retailers gear up for Black Friday 2023, it’s paramount to reflect on the campaigns of yesteryears, to understand what made them iconic and how they continue to inspire and resonate.

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20 Creative Halloween Retail Promotion Ideas

Halloween retail promotion ideas-2021

In 2020, even amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, Halloween expenditure held its ground proudly with the overall spending in the United States alone reaching the amount of 8 billion USD.  Statistics continue to impress even across the Atlantic, with 49% of the UK population being invested in Halloween, spending every year their hard-earned money on holiday paraphernalia. Impressively, these numbers make it abundantly clear that neither the apocalypse nor any other hardship is enough to keep customers from celebrating their favorite holidays. As a result, taking into consideration every retailer’s need for inspirational campaigns, we took the time to gather for

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54 eCommerce Homepage Best Practices That WORK [2024]

Homepage Best Practices

Much like a brick-and-mortar retail storefront, an eCommerce homepage acts as a web user’s first impression of a brand. An Adobe report found that nearly 40% of online users will leave a homepage that is poorly designed, just like real-life shoppers will leave a store if it is unorganized, poorly presented, and unhelpful. By following the homepage best practices listed below, website creators can inspire visitors to engage with their site, leading to more conversions, higher customer satisfaction, and greater customer retention in the long term. In fact, on average, according to a 2015 B2B Web Usability report, 86% of

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Best Personalized Shopping Experiences in Retail

Best-personalized-shopping-experiences-in-retail

eCommerce and online shopping didn’t only change the fundamentals of retail, they also changed consumer behavior. Modern customers are evolved, informed, and have extremely high standards. Moreover, supply is abundant, so if a brand does not meet the desired demands, customers will find another company that does. 75% of customers say that they prefer brands to use their advertisements and offers to create a personalized shopping experience. Additionally, customers will agree to have phone apps track their activity to receive targeted ads, specific to their interests. Therefrom, it is safe to deduce that a lasting personalized shopping experience is preferred

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20 Brick and Mortar Marketing Strategies That (Actually) Work

brick and mortar marketing

The pandemic-infused, sudden growth of eCommerce brought intense and fierce competition to brick-and-mortar shops, with giants like Amazon accounting for nearly 20% of all retail purchases. Now this might seem like physical retail is seriously threatened but do not be alarmed, because, thankfully, customer behavior never ceases to amaze. Despite the preference for the digital, 55% of online shoppers remain strong advocates of classic stores, as they can directly interact with a product. Traditional retail practices seem to be returning to their former glory as social distancing restrictions diminish. Customers will always appreciate the benefits of some old-school shopping, like

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Product page best practices: The 38 most efficient tactics to replicate in 2024

Product-page-best-practises

Retail in 2023 doesn’t look quite like it did before COVID took over eCommerce. Online shopping is at an all-time high, even after lockdowns have eased. In the modern digital era and the sudden development of eCommerce due to recent events, a brand’s conversion rate is greatly affected by its website and therefore its product page design. A company’s digital image speaks volumes to the consciousness of the consumers, with regard to trust, quality, and overall experience. As a result, businesses need to make the most of this by implementing product page best practices and conversion rate optimization (CRO) campaigns

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