Summit 2023 best of retail — power up digital strategies for shopping success

The unprecedented speed at which the landscape of retail marketing is changing is both exciting and astonishing. In a recent Adobe study, 61% of CX professionals predicted a 5-times increase in content demand by 2024. That’s a lot of content.

But volume demands are just the beginning. Increasingly customized experiences in every industry are raising the bar for retail customers who want to see this personalized touch reflected in every interaction, whether online or in store.

This rate of change is rich ground for retailers looking for opportunities to expand their market footprint — but it presents real challenges. To stay ahead, retailers need to offer deeply personalized experiences that win customer loyalty at every online and storefront touchpoint — all while respecting customer data privacy.

Retailers need to deliver intelligent, high-quality content with speed and efficiency. They need the help of powerful tools like generative AI (GenAI) to successfully create and deliver these highly personalized experiences at scale. And they need thoughtful, clear strategies around investment and operation within retail media networks (RMNs).

At Adobe Summit 2023, retail industry experts shared their insights and experience with audiences to guide strategies that build resilient, continued growth. Take a look at the session takeaways below for actionable insights to help your brand take personalization, productivity, and digital strategy to new heights.

Delivering real-time experiences to the athletes of today and tomorrow

In “Going for the Gold with Your Personalization Program,” Adobe teams up with DICK’S Sporting Goods to take a closer look at what it takes to deliver truly customized customer experiences.

Engaging, hyper-personalized customer experiences that connect smoothly across channels, devices, and locations are the new standard for discerning digital-first consumers. Retailers who deliver on these points must still find a way to stand out in a crowded digital marketplace.

The session underscores the vital importance of personalization. By building an integrated tech stack that securely unifies, centralizes, and analyzes customer information, DICK’S can surface clear customer insights in real time. This timely customer view allows them to offer online and offline recommendations that cater to each of their customers’ athletic passions — at the exact moment they’re ready.

Working smarter, not harder — the superpowers of a well-built content supply chain

“Do More with Less with an Intelligent Content Supply Chain” uncovers best practices for a healthy, humming content supply chain from an Adobe and Microsoft perspective.

Relevant, personalized content throughout the entire shopper journey is a challenge for everyone in the retail world. Even with a crystal-clear snapshot of a customer in real time, it’s impossible to keep up with the explosion of content demands without a streamlined system for creating, delivering, and scaling content.

The session addresses a three-fold AI-powered approach to producing great content at every step — planning, production, and delivery. The session provides tips for a future-proof content strategy in light of ever-increasing demands for higher quality and volume, as well as key insights from the retail and consumer goods industries that apply to every brand in the market today.

Addressing growing pains — retail media networks’ next steps to digital maturity

Retail media networks are a type of advertising platform that allows retailers to sell ad space on their digital channels to third-party brands. It's a topic that is quickly growing in importance as retailers are increasingly investing in RMNs to grow brand and product awareness and capture market share.

“Elevating the Game to Improve RMNs’ Digital Infrastructure” brings together digital strategy panelists from Adobe, Publicis Sapient, and Merkle for a discussion on the future of RMNs.

The topic is quickly growing in importance — retailers are becoming increasingly invested in RMNs to grow brand and product awareness and capture market share.

As retailers have been riding the powerful wave of RMNs to drive revenue and connect with interested customers over the past few years, the pace of RMN proliferation has left digital infrastructure standardization behind. As brands now look to spend advertising dollars wisely across multiple RMNs, it’s clear that RMNs need to work harder to provide the key capabilities and satisfy basic requirements that advertisers need for continued investment.

The session addresses the challenges of RMNs — the attraction of lower funnel conversion dollars, the launch frequency of new RMNs, the struggle to differentiate for unique audiences, and the lack of standardization. The session shares how awareness, engagement, and innovation can position retailers for success into the future.

Next steps

While challenges in the digital marketing landscape need attention, they simultaneously offer real opportunity for retailers who are intent on sustainable growth. Learn more from market-leading experts by taking a deeper dive into these three Adobe Summit 2023 retail sessions.:

• Going for the Gold with Your Personalization Program
• Do More with Less with an Intelligent Content Supply Chain
• Elevating the Game to Improve RMNs’ Digital Infrastructure

Learn more about how Adobe Experience Cloud can help retailers optimize processes and reach more of their customers with exceptional, personalized experiences.