Canadian Retailer - Spring 2016 - 39

DIGITAL REVOLUTION

9 out of 10 retailers reported
using digital media in 2015

86%
86% of retailers expect
to increase their digital
spend for 2016

42%
42% of retailers expect to
decrease their traditional media
budgets (print, TV, and radio)

65%

65% of retailers
expect to maintain
their current PR
budget (promotions
and events)

1 IN 5

1/5 of retailers don't measure their
digital performance at all

50%

1/2 of all retailers
don't integrate their
analytics data

1 in 3
1/3 of retailers don't have
a direct mail strategy
Source: Leger

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Katie Drechsel, Saje Natural Wellness and Scott Cho, Leger

from disparate internal systems to a lack of in-house tech expertise, to simple organizational issues.
"Traditional media is still king in our businesses," explained
Overwaitea's Ian Ricketts. "We're getting good activation off of
TV, so we're investing more and more there. I think overall what's
happening in our industry is that we're not backing off on traditional at all."
However, he noted, the pressure from the digital marketplace
has been pushing Overwaitea further and further into the online
realm, as part of an increasingly omnichannel approach that requires seamless integration of everything from social media, to
the online storefront, to the brick-and-mortar shops themselves.
"It's 2016, and we have to change how we think about retail,"
Saje's Katie Dreschel noted. "We need to consider the box that
used to be the retail store, and the box that used to be the website.
For us, we're looking at doing whatever we can, integrating the
POS, the website-everything, built with the vision of it being one
company, and one brand."
"The customer doesn't care," agreed Michelle Harper of Purdy's.
"They just want to buy what they want when they want it. If we
have internal silos, that's not their problem. The digital storefront
for us-it's the out-of-towners' equivalent to our brick-and-mortar.
So we have to make sure that the digital experience and the social
media piece is just as relevant and exciting for our customers who
can't visit us in person."
"The future is going to be cool," Dreschel chuckled, "but getting
there is going to be a process."
Yet, despite all of the talk about attribution and digital spend,
retargeting pixels and data-based decision-making, all the panelists agreed that the most important trend of 2016 should be one
that's already tried and true: a continued focus on the customer.
"When was the last time you were in the store, talking to your
customers asking them what they want?" asked Harper. "I was in
one of our stores around Valentine's Day, talking to our team and
talking to our customers, and they're the ones who are going to
tell us what they want. We really want the customer to be able to
have a seat at the boardroom table."
"At the end of the day," Housley concluded, "understanding the
consumer's needs and figuring out a way to exceed those needs,
that's number one."

SPRING 2016 | CANADIAN RETAILER

| 39
http://www.retailcouncil.org/cdnretailer
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Canadian Retailer - Spring 2016
