1. Firms will adopt ‘composable’ tech to maximise profitability
“The economic situation will force companies to focus their budgets on technology that directly benefits customer experience and brings in more revenue. This will drive more companies to adopt a ‘composable’ approach to their tech stack, which allows them to blend best-of-breed technologies that keep pace with consumers’ expectations.
“Website content management is no longer enough to keep customers engaged. Organisations are investing in digital experience platforms (DXPs) that encompass content, CRM, personalisation, analytics, transactions, digital asset management and product information management. This too is benefiting from a composable approach which makes use of APIs to quickly integrate technologies that meet immediate business requirements.”
Kim Sneum-Madsen, CEO, Umbraco
“Blending in-store tech with online will be a big area for investment to offer consistent, intelligent, elevated customer experiences. Seamless shopping experiences will be enabled through customer data capture and intelligent applications for personalisation, enabling cross-selling, upselling and recommendations based on AI.”
Sarah Friswell, CEO, Red Ant
2. Marketers will be forced to pivot in a cookieless era
“The imminent death of cookies, coupled with the already witnessed end of Apple’s IDFA last year, is changing the world of mobile marketing forever. This also comes while governments and consumers are becoming increasingly wary of how their data is used.
“The resulting situation is so cataclysmic, that many have dubbed it ‘The App-ocalypse’, with app marketers lacking the data to provide relevant promotions or boost user acquisition. In fact, research suggests almost two thirds (59%) of app marketers now struggle to expand their user base.”
“No doubt it’s a difficult circumstance, but app marketers can’t afford to look back when their industry has changed for good. They need new audiences for their apps, which means new targeting strategies that don’t rely on cookies or IDFA. They need to look to innovative methods like Purchase Behaviour Targeting.”
Anil Malhotra, CMO, Bango
“The spectre of a cookieless future has been haunting our industry for some time now, and 2022 will go down as the year that we faced the challenge head on by developing privacy-first identity-based solutions, which have proved just as effective, if not more so, than traditional cookie-based solutions.
“They offer major benefits to advertisers, driving more effective targeting through more relevant and current data, and reducing the reliance on frequently out-of-date and inaccurate third-party cookies. This improves the data ecosystem, while also giving consumers the confidence that their data is being used in an ethical, trustworthy way.”
Freddie Turner, EMEA managing director, MiQ
“Think of it this way: if you’re not finding new ways to reach and engage cookieless audiences, then your competitors can do so uncontested. Not only will they take market share, but they’ll also learn how to thrive in a post-cookie future at an ever-increasing rate. When the dust settles, those who were slow to dip their toes in – the late majority – will find themselves at a substantial competitive disadvantage.”
Matt White, VP EMEA, Quantcast
Retail
1. Retail will continue to invest in M&A to add value, despite the economic crisis
“Even with talks of a recession, I expect to see continued activity in M&A market over the next year at least, with many B2B corporations looking to scale and many smaller businesses looking for the support that larger businesses’ balance sheets will provide. And even with smaller budgets, I believe private equity firms will continue to significantly contribute to M&A as well.
“Customers want vendor consolidation and will pay for that if it drives differentiated value, plus, it makes business operations easier and can significantly boost financial performance. It’s not only good for clients, but also for vendors who are looking to consolidate their platforms because it results in differentiated, more meaningful and long-lasting relationships with brands and retailers.”
Keith Nealon, CEO at Bazaarvoice
2. Linear and digital unification for seamless advertising
“The shift of traditional channels into the digital space, which began to pick up pace in 2022, will accelerate further as the new year progresses. The opportunities for targeting, measuring, and activating solutions across CTV and traditional TV in the programmatic space will grow, as will those for gauging the incrementality of linear TV, which are already highly sophisticated.
“This is great news for brands, which for the first time will be able to coordinate the planning and execution of programmatic TV advertising campaigns seamlessly and simultaneously across all linear and digital channels, regardless of platform, through a single point of access.
“Continuing to unify the fragmented world of programmatic TV advertising, where previously campaigns had to be run separately across different linear, OTT and digital platforms, enables advertisers to reach highly targeted audiences across the whole TV and video landscape. Critically, this ensures the same consumers are not being reached across different platforms. (unless a brand wants them to be). A campaign run on YouTube, for example, will bring incrementalities against its linear TV reach, something that’s high on every brand’s agenda.”
Freddie Turner, EMEA Managing Director, MiQ
3. Customer experience will drive retail
“When pushed, customers will look for experience value over purchase value. The research phase of a purchase is critical for retailers to focus on, and personalisation is key to this. Clienteled customers that are supported through their browsing and buying experiences by data-empowered store associates in store or online, via WhatsApp or email will generate the greatest value for brands. Clienteling results in consumers making larger and more frequent purchases, with lower returns.”
Sarah Friswell, CEO, Red Ant
4. Hybrid client/tech partner teams will build global partnerships
“New ways of working have opened the door for international retail tech collaborations. The accelerated development of communications technology now allows businesses to work efficiently together even if they’re on different continents. The ‘Think global, act local’ approach allows for speedy development and deployment in ways that are relevant to each territory, with expert team members on call – no matter what the timezone.”
Sarah Friswell, CEO, Red Ant
5. Making human connections will matter more
“Increasingly, retailers must consider the network them and their environment to be seen as an attractive retailer. This means sharing information about ethical trading and sustainability. Retailers must empower customers and store associates with the right data and be ready for more focused buying.”
Sarah Friswell, CEO, Red Ant