Piper Blog

The changing landscape of Retail

During these latest holidays it was well and truly confirmed to me that the retail landscape has changed.

…I got a heavily discounted family pass to take the kids to Hoyts Cinema – by becoming a fan of Hoyts on facebook. To get a discount on school shoes I became a ‘fusion’ club member and provided my email address for future newsletters and offers. And we dined at a few fabulous restaurants - courtesy of some great buys on Groupon, which had offers too good to refuse. My email inbox seemed to explode with personalized offers to save money, time and try new things.

Of course email marketing isn’t new. Neither are offers, promotions and discounts. They are very much the mainstay of retail activity, but it is apparent that businesses are getting savvy about using methods so that they don’t give away the discounts for ‘free’. They are being ‘paid for’ in the currency of email names and mobile phone numbers. And everyone is doing it. 

Traditionally a retailer would advertise “20% off. Now, customers have to provide an email address or a mobile phone number (through facebook likes or club membership) to secure this 20% off. The kicker for the business is that it is cheaper to advertise to the same customer the next time. What has changed significantly is the connection point between the retailer and the customer is happening far earlier in the sales cycle. Ie: Not at the point of redemption, but at the point of the voucher being offered. For the customer, they are quite willing to provide contact information - so long as the offer is truly valuable to them.

So while the methods may have changed, the marketing rules are still the same: Content is king. There must be significant value in the information and offers provided for consumers to accept them. And that is our challenge at PiperDM. To find ways to energise content and maximize the value in the information and messages we create. It has never been more important - as the competitive space for the email inbox is truly heating up. 

Mani Sahihi, Account Director
Piper Digital Marketing