Post-pandemic consumers want smooth experiences, but new data privacy rules complicate things

In 2020, retailers encountered an extraordinary obstacle as they navigated a pandemic that fundamentally altered the industry. Many businesses have successfully transformed their operations and evolved their business practices, providing consumers with new methods of product acquisition and online interaction. This is commendable.

While some of this behavior is expected to persist in the post-pandemic era as restrictions are relaxed and the economy returns to its pre-pandemic state, others may not. However, one thing is certain: consumers have encountered a new level of convenience that they would like to see persist.

Nevertheless, in order to gratify consumers’ desire for convenience, marketers may need to devise novel methods of implementing their strategies in 2021 and beyond. New data privacy regulations, such as the California Consumer Privacy Act and Virginia’s Consumer Data Privacy Act, have initiated a series of events that will have a significant impact on retail marketers. Third-party data that was previously utilized to facilitate specific user targeting will no longer be accessible on advertising platforms such as Facebook and Google. Instead, retailers will be required to investigate novel methods for incorporating first-party data into their digital marketing strategies.

The 2020 holiday season saw a shift in consumer behavior toward in-store and online purchasing.
Between Christmas and New Year’s Day, Silverback Strategies, a digital performance marketing agency in Washington, D.C., conducted a survey of more than 1,000 consumers to investigate the extent to which the pandemic had an effect on their holiday purchasing habits. A physical store location was visited by 76% of consumers during the pandemic, according to the survey’s research report. Nearly 80% of this cohort made an in-store purchase. Optimizing the in-store experience and increasing foot traffic should continue to be a marketing priority.

In general, retailers were successful in providing consumers with a positive in-store experience during the holiday season. More than 50% of consumers reported that hand sanitizers, mask policies, and social distancing reminder signs contributed to their sense of security.

Although more than 83% of consumers purchased gifts online, a remarkable number of shoppers visited physical stores during the pandemic. Nearly 72% of these consumers conducted product browsing on e-commerce platforms such as Amazon. Consumers are accustomed to this type of user experience and anticipate it on all websites. This behavior can be exploited by retailers by providing comparable digital experiences online. The second most prevalent location for online consumers to browse for gifts was retail store websites, with 51% of respondents reporting that they had visited a store website. In 2021 and beyond, retailers who are capable of establishing a seamless user experience across both digital and in-store platforms will possess a marketing advantage.

Alternative collection methods are expected to persist in the aftermath of the pandemic.
Numerous methods were employed by shoppers to interact with retail establishments. The study discovered that 37% of consumers utilized buy-online-pick-up-in-store (BOPIS) to circumvent lines and preserve a comfortable social distance, in addition to traditional in-store purchases. An additional 30% reported that they utilized curbside pickup to acquire favors.

Curbside and BOPIS were perceived by certain consumers as secure and more expedient alternatives to conventional in-store purchases. For instance, a Brick Meets Click survey revealed that alternative pickup methods accounted for nearly half of all online grocery sales in February and are becoming increasingly significant. 58% of consumers reported that they would be “extremely likely” to order from the same pickup service within the next 30 days.

This behavior is likely to persist, as it enables consumers to circumvent the inconvenience of visiting a store. In some instances, stores that experience high volumes of recurrent purchases may establish a “logged in state” to enhance the customer experience and provide marketers with a means of collecting first-party data.

In order to ensure a consistent consumer experience across all channels, marketers will need to modify their data strategy.
Advertising platforms have already undergone substantial modifications that will necessitate marketers to modify their acquisition strategies. For example, the iOS 14.5 update that was released on April 26, 2021, automatically disallows users from being tracked for advertisements. Instead, users must explicitly opt-in to ad monitoring. The efficacy of campaigns on platforms such as Facebook has been negatively impacted due to the fact that advertisers have limited insights and lesser audiences to work with.

Another consequence of the implementation of new data privacy legislation is the deprecation of third-party tracking pixels, which are more commonly referred to as “cookies.” It will be challenging for retailers to retarget consumers who had perused in-store but did not make a purchase as a result of this change.

A remarkable 45% of consumers acquired a product online subsequent to viewing it in a retail store, as indicated by the Silverback Strategies study. In order to maintain this approach to retargeting consumers, retailers must develop novel methods for obtaining customer contact information during their in-store experience and subsequently communicating with them via channels such as SMS text and email.

In conclusion,
The retail industry’s customer experience is intricate due to the multitude of channels that must be managed. However, the fundamental principle is straightforward: facilitate the purchasing process for consumers.

Given that consumers have encountered novel experiences, retailers have the chance to distinguish themselves by demonstrating operational proficiency and digital sophistication. This can be accomplished by implementing a marketing strategy that is driven by first-party customer data and a profound comprehension of customers.