蘑菇AV

Over 40% of direct marketers are concerned about declining response rates and budget constraints relating to printing, paper, and postage, according to Quad鈥檚 Direct Marketing Revolution 2023 report. And 32% are struggling to provide relevant, personalized, and customized messaging for consumers.

Constrained chip supply continues: The yearslong chip crisis isn鈥檛 getting any better, and some markets aren鈥檛 expecting relief until 2024. But dwindling consumer demand could lead to oversupply and stagnating innovation.

Whether shopping online or in physical stores, most US consumers prefer to use mobile devices to engage with loyalty programs, and less than half prefer email, according to Yotpo鈥檚 survey.

Shopping should be easy, according to Ryan Fagan, vice president of digital at Lowe鈥檚. 鈥淥ur job is to guide them through their shopping trip as seamlessly as possible.鈥� Fagan shared three ways Lowe鈥檚 is enhancing its ecommerce experience, from tailoring the digital experience to specific customer segments to surfacing other relevant products throughout the shopping journey.

Consumers care about sustainability, but often aren鈥檛 willing to buy environmentally friendly products if they鈥檙e deemed lower quality, especially if it costs more. One solution for retailers and consumers is resale, an industry worth $108.64 billion in 2024, per our December 2023 forecast. Not all environmental initiatives have to be at the consumer level, though.

Etsy鈥檚 sales have remained 鈥渆ssentially flat鈥� for two years: The niche online marketplace鈥檚 inability to broaden its reach led it to lay off about 225 employees.

Consumers鈥� appetite for quality, on-demand content has contributed to connected TV鈥檚 (CTV鈥檚) stronghold as the fastest-growing major ad format in the US. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot more for [advertisers] to weed through in terms of the opportunities and options of where to place our clients鈥� ad dollars,鈥� Jennifer Kohl, executive director and head of US media at VMLY&R, said of CTV during our virtual 鈥淎ttention!鈥� summit last week.

On today's podcast episode, in our "Retail Me This, Retail Me That" segment, we discuss how to define an impulse buy and some of the challenges in sparking them online. Then, for "Pop-Up Rankings," we rank three suggestions for inspiring online impulse purchases. Join our analyst Sara Lebow as she hosts analyst Arielle Feger and director of Briefings Jeremy Goldman.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss the unofficial list of the most interesting retailers in July, focusing on back-to-school initiatives for this episode. Each month, our analysts Arielle Feger, Becky Schilling, and Sara Lebow (aka The Committee) put together a very unofficial list of the top eight retailers they're watching based on which are making the most interesting moves: Who's launching new initiatives? Which partnerships are moving the needle? Which standout marketing campaigns are being created? In this month's episode, Committee members Arielle Feger and Sara Lebow will defend their list against vice president of content Suzy Davidkhanian and analyst Sky Canaves, who will dispute the power rankings by attempting to move retailers up, down, on, or off the list.

Nearly 4 in 5 people in the US own a smartphone, per our March 2023 forecast. US adults check their phones an average of 114 times each day, and usually do so within the first 10 minutes of waking, per a Reviews.org study.

2022鈥檚 outages increased and took longer to resolve: Wired and wireless networks continue to be under duress as Big Tech, streaming services, and cloud gaming proliferate while legacy infrastructure and overloaded systems buckled.

Rock-bottom valuations and regulators鈥� approvals give banks a green light on working with or acquiring fintech companies.

Andrew: Yeah, it feels more like a fulfillment center than a grocery store in many respects. Marcus: Right. And that's a different experience entirely. A final question here, Andrew, what are you paying closest attention to with Amazon in the coming months?

Out-of-home (OOH) campaigns in big cities need diversity in OOH formats so more of the target audience sees the ads without advertisers necessarily spending more, according to Brian Rappaport, CEO of OOH agency Quan Media Group.

As the cost-of-living crisis continues, the British Retail Consortium has warned there may be 鈥渕ore gloom than glitter鈥� this Christmas. With families preoccupied with making ends meet, what can retailers expect from the festive trading period? This Analyst Take will explore how shopping habits might change, what will happen to total spend this holiday season, and how retailers can maintain loyalty and attract new customers amid inflation.

Digital activity now plays a major role in product discovery, with younger generations driving sizable shifts in the way shoppers find new products.

Mercado Libre closed 2022 with record gains in sales: Strong performances in Brazil and Mexico drove the Latin American ecommerce giant鈥檚 gains.

China鈥檚 manufacturing expertise is difficult to compete with: That has led some retailers to rethink supply chain diversification even as India, Latin America, and Vietnam gain traction as production hubs.

PubMatic's strategic alliance with Instacart boosts programmatic advertising: The initiative merges retail media data with advanced targeting for improved ad impact.

Like last year, we expect deal-hunting consumers and mobile-forward brands to drive the 2024 holiday season, according to our US Holiday 2023 Recap and 2024 Preview report.

US digital media consumption and consumer spending growth are at a standstill. 鈥淚t's just getting really competitive to reach today's consumers,鈥� our analyst Jeremy Goldman said on an episode of the 鈥淏ehind the Numbers: Daily鈥� podcast. Here鈥檚 what advertisers need to know about the latest trends in digital, including fierce competition for ad dollars to ecommerce having room to grow.

US out-of-home (OOH) ad spend will total $9.51 billion next year, and grow past $10 billion in 2026, according to our forecast. One unusual place those dollars are headed is advertising on wheels. That includes transit, taxis and ride-hailing services, and one of the most fun brand marketing tools there is: machines like the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile.

Calendar context: With the invention of Prime Day, Amazon created an industrywide retail holiday consumers can now count on in the summer each year. Last year, Amazon also launched its Prime Early Access Sale in October. 鈥淲e now have three key tentpoles,鈥� said our analyst Andrew Lipsman on 鈥淏ehind the Numbers: Reimagining Retail,鈥� referring to Prime Day, the Prime Early Access Sale, and Black Friday. But spring remains untapped. 鈥淎 question I get is, 鈥業s Amazon going to do more of these?鈥� And I think the answer is yes, eventually,鈥� said Lipsman.