Simply having a direct-to-consumer site was still a novelty in certain categories, and the rise of Instagram and Facebook allowed these players to acquire a huge swath of customers at low costs. Since then, the way people search and shop for products has evolved beyond simply discovering a brand through Instagram and rushing to its DTC site to hit "buy."
Shifts in consumer behaviour play a pivotal role in shaping the retail landscape. Today's consumers anticipate seamless shopping experiences that blend the best of online and offline worlds. Having that in mind, successful businesses must consider several factors as they navigate the ever-changing retail landscape-from reimagining omnichannel tactics to assessing the evolving value equation. Here's why tracking consumer spending trends is crucial for London businesses today.
Marketing teams executed an average of 209 campaigns in the past year (a 30% jump over the prior year), while B2C marketers ran an average of 541 campaigns. This explosion of activity reflects an omnichannel reality: the customer's path to purchase is no longer a straight line but a complex web of on-demand interactions across digital and physical channels. But the surge in activity hasn't solved the problem. In many cases, it highlights how poorly the funnel aligns with today's buyer behavior.
Walmart's digital business exploded 27% in Q3, driven by store-fulfilled delivery, marketplace expansion, and aggressive investments in digital infrastructure. The company spent $18.6 billion on capital expenditures this year, much aimed at logistics and technology supporting same-day delivery and pickup. CFO John David Rainey emphasized "enhancing the digital customer experience" during the earnings call. Costco's e-commerce grew 13.6% in F4, solid but far slower than Walmart's pace.
The Trade Desk, a leading technology company headquartered in the US, has unveiled its operations in India. Former Truecaller marketer Tejinder Gill has been hired as the company's India general manager to lead the business and growth strategy. Even as the India plan is being cobbled together, the programmatic advertising specialist company's chief exec and founder Jeff Green is also getting ready for the launch of its overhauled platform Solimar next month.
If you've been relying solely on email marketing to reach your customers, you're missing out on the channel they actually check most - their text messages. While emails sit unopened in overflowing inboxes, text messages boast sky-high open rates and immediate attention. Mailchimp SMS Marketing brings text messaging capabilities to the platform known primarily for email campaigns. As an add-on to Mailchimp's paid plans, SMS marketing lets you reach customers directly on their phones while managing everything from one unified dashboard.
While there are plenty of brands that knock traditional retail out of the park (Sephora, Drunk Elephant, Huda Beauty), the throughline is the understanding that every channel needs to connect, ensuring customers can find your brand wherever they are in the shopping journey. That means ensuring brands are searchable on Google, discoverable on TikTok, reinforced with reviews on Amazon, tangible at Sephora, and community-led with engaging content on YouTube.
Many marketers are curious about omnichannel advertising, but often settle for multichannel, where multiple channels are activated but not orchestrated into a cohesive strategy. In reality, most campaigns are still a patchwork of siloed tactics, but in a fragmented media landscape, simply showing up across channels isn't enough. Access is no longer the challenge. Coordination is. As identity signals fade and consumer journeys become increasingly challenging to track, marketers must shift their approach.
