Criteo S.A. (NASDAQ: CRTO), the commerce marketing technology company, today shared the findings of its ‘Commerce and Digital Marketing Outlook 2018’ report. The analysis explores the world of commerce and how large scale customer data, both online and offline, has become a core asset for retailers and brands to understand and connect with today’s omnichannel shopper.

“With the increasing importance of offline innovations and data collaboration, Criteo is is looking forward to what can only be defined as a very exciting year. Data collaboration initiatives and offline-online integrations have led to the need to develop innovations at a rapid pace, providing a big opportunity and growing necessity for retailers and brands to pool data. As members of an experience-based economy, businesses need to create innovative customer experiences across both online and offline platforms to stand out and build brand loyalty through optimizing their data strategy,” said Dirk Henke, Managing Director of EMEA at Criteo.Changing consumer behavior forces retailers to adapt

As shoppers and travelers become more empowered, their expectations from retailers is creating a rapid shift in their behavior with an emphasis on speed an convience.

• Consumers are researching and shopping for retail and travel services across a variety of devices, with 80% of all transactions in the GCC involving a mobile device on the path to purchase (doubling since 2016).
• Shopper attention span has become shorter, with 50% of consumers jumping from one retailer site to another, prior to making a final purchase.
• More than 80% of shoppers are taking their shopping journey online and offline, for example through showrooming and webrooming.
• Customization of products and services are now available for the masses where it was once a premium purchase

A retailers website is one of the key places where consumers go to search for product information and pricing. The demand for fast delivery of products purchased and convenient services, such as click online and collect in store, as well as seamless returns has led to companies creating easy, no-fuss payment options.

Originally pure-play online niche retailers and brands, such as Warby Parker and Bonobos, have now opened brick-and-mortar showrooms that bring their online tech into the offline world, while providing the same high levels of personalized shopper service and choice. Smart stores are incorporating AR and VR to engage shoppers in new ways within stores

Shoppers are adapting to global shopping events

Black Friday is no longer a US phenomenon. In 2017, GCC retailers witnessed an increase of 179 per cent buying in comparison to a regular week, which has been an icrease of 94 per cent from Black Friday in 2016.

The line between social media and commerce is blurring

As major social networks create walled gardens of customer data, brands and retailers will need to find ways to own the customer relationship – and the data that goes with it.

• Amazon is moving into social with the launch of Amazon Spark. Like Instagram and Pinterest, Spark showcases product images and allows for instant purchases.
• Social messaging services like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp will integrate as chatbots for more companies.

Offline-to-Online Sales

Retailers will seek partnerships that enable them to better use in-store CRM data to find and reach consumers online, with personalized campaigns for re-engagement and upsell. There will be an increasing emphasis on driving offline foot traffic to online interactions.

• Major retailers will continue to offer better ways to collect products purchased online from their stores, including dedicated parking and in-store lockers.
• Smartphones connect the typical UAE mall culture with the digital world. Webrooming and showrooming are becoming standard.
• Offline retailers are seeking for ways to continue customer interaction online.

The data collaboration imperative

To stay competitive and innovative, retailers and brands will continue to pool data assets to personalize content and build better customer relationships.

• Three-fifths of brands and retailers are already part of a data collaboration initiative and are pooling non-personally identifiable data to better connect with shoppers. 
• 72% of marketing execs believe data collaboration will lead to increased revenue, increased profits (65%), and increased customer satisfaction (56%)*.   

The growth of acquisitions and partnerships

More pure players will proactively look for opportunities for strategic acquisitions and partnerships to bridge offline and online worlds and generate crucial value from it. In the race to compete with Amazon, for many retailers, the discussion is not about “build”, it’s about “buy”.

• Big retail acquisitions and partnerships have taken place in the last six months: Amazon and Whole Foods, Walmart and Google’s Express service or Amazon and Souq.
• In 2018, many other retailers and brands will look for strategic acquisitions and partnerships to stay competitive, and to expand and strengthen their operations.

For a complete look at the 2018 Global Trends Report, view the report at: https://www.criteo.com/insights/commerce-trends-2018/