Technology continues to reshape shopping in unexpected ways, but retail marketing is also circling back to humans.
Speakers at the Brand Innovators Future of Retail & Commerce Summit defended the role of physical retail, which is being transformed by technology into more personalized and unique experiences. But with more demanding shoppers who use multiple channels in their journey, marketers have to refocus on their consumer. Retail today is less “omnichannel” than “omnishopper,” said insiders.
“You’re a marketer. You have to understand the consumer,” said Arthur Sylvestre, vice president of digital commerce at Danone. “At the end of the day, let’s work on more strategies and less shiny objects.”
Speakers at the conference, held during the annual National Retail Federation Big Show, noted omnichannel commerce, data and artificial intelligence are all complicating the labor of retail marketers.
Eighty percent of retail sales are still being rung up in store, noted Lauren Chesley, Head of Industry, Retail, SiriusXM Media. But at the same time 33% to 40% of consumers are using artificial intelligence at some point in their purchase path, noted Jason Colon, executive vice president, commerce media at Horizon Commerce.
Nick Antoniades, vice president of data and analytics at FullBeauty Brands
Balancing the growing use of technologies such as AI by consumers—including the adoption of agentic shopping—with the consumers’ hunger for experiences and curation will continue to challenge retail marketing in the near future, speakers said. Many speakers noted how only a day before the conference started, Google introduced a number of new tools to enable agentic commerce at the NRF show.
Even though AI is a new channel, it’s now part of the customers’ journey and it needs to be optimized as such, adding to the complexity of the journey, said Nick Antoniades, vice president of data and analytics at FullBeauty Brands. Marketers need to make sure AI brings their brand front and center with the customer, he said. They will need to make sure the data guiding AI models is correct and shows the brand as the marketers would like it to be seen, said Colon.
““It’s clear that pure agentic commerce is not here yet, but agentic-enabled commerce and brand discovery is changing at a profound rate,” said Colon. “The brands that are not thinking about preparing… are going to lose out.”
Amanda Bailey, vice president of customer marketing and loyalty at Lowe’s
“It’s all about storytelling”
But many speakers noted how marketers have recently doubled down on humans in the face of increased AI adoption. Influencer marking, social shopping and loyalty programs are all being integrated into the overall brand communications, said speakers.
Amanda Bailey, vice president of customer marketing and loyalty at Lowe’s, recalled how when she joined the home improvement retailer two years ago, she noticed how “we sell stuff” was the ethos of the brand, even a chant repeated by store staff. But eventually, “I kinda had this moment where I said: ‘We sell stuff to people and we have to understand people,’” she said.
Bailey noted some unexpected insights included the fact that kids were a potential audience, so Lowe’s added a kids’ club to the loyalty programs and launched kids’ workshops in-store. This helps build a continuing relationship with families and bridges into the next generation of customers, she said.
Lowe’s is using its Mylow AI app to deliver a better in-store experience and used the launch of its MyLows Rewards loyalty program to understand customers who before “were just a transaction,” said Bailey. Lowe’s wants to learn “interesting things about our customers” to find new ways to communicate with them, she said.
“Omnichannel is no longer just in store and online,” said Bailey. Communicating with customers now involves retail media networks, social media creators and more. “We have to be in a lot of places,” she said.
The store is increasingly an important part of the rise of omnichannel retail. Many speakers noted the in-store experience is getting more attention as less of a last-mile location to make a sale and becoming instead a storytelling medium for loyalty- and brand-building.
“It’s not that stores are disappearing. They’re being reinvented,” said Chesley.
Gigi Guerra, vice president of marketing at Target
Stores are brand showcases and channels for building community, said Gigi Guerra, vice president of marketing at Target. She noted how the crowds waiting in line to buy Taylor Swift’s recent album turned stores into party venues and a place to gather communities.
Functionality is now table stakes for stores, and the ability to find items is a given, so curation and experience become more important to retail brands, said Guerra. Stores should deliver what shoppers come for, but should also surprise them, she said. Target’s research shows 78% of people want discovery in their shopping, she noted.
“The store is really a brand expression, it’s not just a channel,” she said.
Target has singled out its new store in New York’s Soho as a laboratory for this approach, Guerra noted. The company engaged a design firm to rethink the store experience and reorganized the assortment to curate the items and encourage shopper exploration.
“It’s very, very experiential,” said Guerra. “It’s all about storytelling.”
It’s hard for a large corporation like Target to react quickly to trends and culture movements, so this works as an incubator to tap into cultural moments, Guerra explained.
“This isn’t about sales,” said Guerra. “It’s about marketing.”
Kat Kim Choroco, senior vice president of e-commerce and marketing at apparel brand Vince
It is critical for retailers to think about holistic messaging in-store, said Kat Kim Choroco, senior vice president of e-commerce and marketing at apparel brand Vince. Branding doesn’t need to “hit the consumer over the head” but shoppers should see a theme run across the store experience, online and in all brand expressions, because the way consumers shop is fragmented as well, Choroco said.
From left to right: Chris Epple, vice president of marketing Americas for Harman/JBL; Jamie Feuss, director of retail store experience, Harman/JBL; Gillian Roth, Head of Enterprise Sales, FERMÁT
“It’s basically having a billboard 365 days a year,” said Chris Epple, vice president of marketing Americas for Harman/JBL. “It has real value as a brand builder.”
JBL’s flagship in New York has become a tourist attraction in its own right. Jamie Feuss, Harman/JBL’s director of retail store experience, recalled hearing from a mother who told him her son had passed on a birthday in Disney World in favor of a trip to New York so he could go to the store.
The average dwell time in a JBL store is 7 minutes. That’s a lot of engagement, said Epple. “Find me another medium where you can get someone to watch 14 commercials,” he said. “That’s what our flagship does for us.”
The speed of culture
This does not mean other channels should be disregarded, said speakers. Social commerce such as TikTok Shop and affiliate marketing all continue to be a force in retail, they noted.
“Basically our job is having a presence wherever people are buying,” said Epple.
Several speakers noted social commerce is increasingly a factor in their sales, especially with the younger Generation Z. Brands are forming creator partnerships and retailers are increasingly partnering with the brands they sell, all to comply with the trope of “moving at the speed of culture.”
Creators and partnerships bring about their own complexities, said speakers. Many noted that partnerships require a mindset shift among organizations. After an initial rush to form partnerships and embrace social marketing, many brands are trying to pause and take more measured steps, said speakers.
From left to right: Deepa Gandhi, Co-Founder and COO, Dagne Dover; Jennifer Peters, director of DTC, Martech + digital compliance at the nutritional supplement brand OLLY PBC; Andrea Iannantuono, enterprise account executive, FERMÀT
Working on partnerships is still a work in progress at most organizations, said Jennifer Peters, director of DTC, Martech + digital compliance at the nutritional supplement brand OLLY PBC. A lot of partnerships are “very fly-by-night, seat of the pants,” she said. There needs to be “an honest level that a lot of brands are trying to figure out.”
Operational compatibility—the logistics, expenses and decision making involved—Is a big factor, said Peters. These are all things that are often talked about last because they’re not exciting, she said.
“Truly valued partnerships are not something that you throw together,” said Peters.
Putting the brakes can help sometimes, especially for an emerging brand that needs to make sure it can fulfill products and position the brand in the right way, said Deepa Gandhi, co-founder and COO of handbag company Dagne Dover. Somebody from each part of the business that touches that partnership needs to stay involved past the initial discussions, to make sure it can be executed effectively, she said. “We need to be confident that it’s going to be worth it,” she said.
Peters said she anticipates brands doing fewer partnerships in terms of quantity, but investing more in high-quality ones. Gandhi agreed that partnerships will keep perking in the next couple of years, but beyond that, the market will see “fewer but better.”
Carina Ertl, chief marketing officer of luxury watch retailer Bucherer USA
It’s important to work with creators that are part of the brand culture, said Carina Ertl, chief marketing officer of luxury watch retailer Bucherer USA. Even luxury brands that rely on the upscale store experience have to spread their brand image across many touchpoints today and make them all work together, she said: “Obviously digital is no longer a nice-to-have.”
