The pace of change in recent years has been one of the most challenging factors to deal with. Normally, consumer trends gradually evolve over time. Yet, the pandemic caused such intense disruption that consumer actions were transforming weekly, daily and, sometimes, by the hour.
Now, we have an ongoing pandemic colliding with a cost of living crisis, economic downturns, environmental disasters and mounting geopolitical tensions around the world. This makes it increasingly difficult for retailers (and all companies) to keep up with the pace of change.
For a time, the pandemic made historical consumer data
Almost useless beyond the scope of telegram number database comparison. The changes were simply too frequent and extreme. The companies that thrived during the pandemic (especially during lockdowns) were the ones who adapted quickly.
Search was the only reliable source of real-time data capable of showing how consumer habits were changing on a day-by-day basis. Retailers that tapped into this data were able to respond to emerging demands, adapt their marketing strategies and redistribute their budget to keep investing in high-ROI strategies throughout the pandemic.
This allowed retailers to identify emerging trends as obscure as balloon deliveries but also pull back on promoting items people were less interested in.
As we move from pandemic to permacrisis, the uncertainty continues to pile up and search data will be even more important in 2023. Insights from consumer studies are often out of date before they’re even published but search data provides a live view of what consumers are looking for and what they’re doing right now.
This will be key for retailers looking to make sense of the uncertainty ahead.
We’ve covered this topic in plenty of detail recently and you’ll find more in the following articles:
- Why search data is a marketer’s biggest asset
- Google Trends data reveals UK search habits throughout lockdown
- Google search data reveals the latest consumer priorities
- The power of recombinant data in search
Takeaways
Based on the trends we’ve discussed disadvantages of selling the wrong product in this article, here’s a quick summary of marketing priorities for retailers in 2023:
- Search data: Use search data to keep up with consumer demands and inform key marketing decisions.
- Discovery: Consumers are increasingly trying new brands and products so make yourself discoverable.
- ‘Window’ shopping: Create worthy (online) windows for consumers to find your product and learn more about them.
- Relevance: Double down on being relevant to your target audiences – don’t try to be everything to everyone.
- Omnichannel experiences: Build omnichannel customer experiences that cover every stage of the buying process (online and offline).
- Local search: If you have physical stores, use local SEO to bring potential customers to your doorstep.
- Retention: Work harder than ever to hold onto existing customers as they become more fickle.
Here to help
If you have any concerns about your usa lists retail marketing strategy for this year or managing anything on the list above, our team can help.
Our search experts can unlock the data you need to clear up the uncertainty and create an adaptive marketing strategy to invest your budget where it makes the biggest impact, no matter how much consumer habits change.
Call us on 02392 830 281 or send us your details and we’ll call you.