We look forward to our time at eTail West every year. This event brings together over 1200 retailers from 600 different retail companies to discuss the future of ecommerce and how retailers can take advantage of the latest technologies and innovations.
Criteo’s VP, Head of Data Science and Analytics, Jaysen Gillespie took the stage for a 25-minute talk on how consumers are shopping in 2017. We’re sharing some of his key takeaways below.
Consumers are all about convenience.
Jaysen kicked off his talk with one of the most impactful findings from our recent State of Cross-Device Commerce Report: Consumers want to research and purchase items online via the device that’s most convenient for them at that moment. They’re no longer waiting until they’re near a computer to purchase the sweater they’ve been eyeing or take advantage of the sale email that just came to their inbox.
What’s a retailer to do?
This new consumer shopping trend heavily impacts retailers. Many have long-relied on cookies to identify shoppers and used that information to inform their marketing strategies. But as consumers move across devices and platforms to browse the same sites and products, retailers are faced with the question: “How do we transition from tracking devices to tracking human beings?”
After all, retailers tie many KPIs to how they track shoppers. But if consumers aren’t accurately tracked across devices, retailers may find that conversion rates and ROI could change dramatically and that they’re missing out on key opportunities to retarget and upsell.
Understanding shopping behavior is key.
The key lies in a performance marketing engine like Criteo’s that can collect insights from over 14,000 advertisers. This helps each individual organization understand cross-device actions across sites and retailers much better than tracking alone, and they can then optimize accordingly.
Jaysen presents data we’ve collected that helps clarify these points in his presentation, which you can watch in full below.
The cross-device world is a function of how users want to shop today and this trend is found across all industries and verticals. Retailers who adjust their strategies accordingly will be better positioned to understand their consumers. And, as Jaysen says, “Understanding your customers powerfully impacts your ability to reach consumers at the right time and drive more sales.”
