Watch: How retailers have pivoted in the pandemic
Watch the replay below—and follow the conversation on Facebook, Periscope, LinkedIn, Twitch and Twitter.
The retail industry is in more need of revitalization than ever before. While the pandemic resulted in a huge shift to online shopping, stores need to re-evaluate their physical strategies. E-commerce spending will increase 18 percent this year as U.S. consumers spend $709 billion digitally, though brick-and-mortar spending, by comparison, is expected to fall 14 percent, according to eMarketer. Trends like "buy online, pickup in store" are on the rise. A recent report from TPN Retail, a creative commerce agency, found that 60 percent of shoppers who use "buy online, pickup in store" services do so to avoid lines and crowds; 52 percent use it to decrease the amount of time they spend inside a store.
At Ad Age Next: Retail, we take a look at such trends that were already underway well before the pandemic, and explore how COVID-19 has accelerated their progress. We also look at new strategies brought on solely by the coronavirus. Speakers from Ulta Beauty, Verizon and Mastercard discuss the store of the future, re-imagined with touchless interfaces, while representatives from Dick's Sporting Goods, Walmart and Work & Co. talk about the new challenges that come with an e-commerce experience. We look at changes at existing brands, and touch on how consumer behavior will be altered post-coronavirus.
The one-day virtual program also included a case study on successful brand marketing during the pandemic, and one-on-one chats with brand executives who are leading the charge into the post-coronavirus retail world.
AGENDA (all times in EDT)
11:00 a.m. Welcome remarks
11:05 a.m. Walgreens' digital transformation
Patrick McLean, Walgreens
11:30 a.m. Ecommerce essentials
Miche Dwenger, Dick's Sporting Goods; Stephen Howard-Sarin, Walmart Media Group; Dever Thomas, Work & Co.
11:55 a.m. Why "buy now, pay later" is here to stay (sponsor session)
David Gendell, PayPal Credit
12:05 p.m. Store of the future
Krista Bourne, Verizon; Karla Davis, Ulta Beauty; Stephane Wyper, Mastercard
2:00 p.m. Welcome back
2:05 p.m. Case study: Car buying goes digital
Joseph A. Agresta Jr., Benzel-Busch Motor Car Corporation; Debbie Looney, Looney Advertising; Sean Looney, Looney Advertising
2:30 p.m. Meeting the customer where they are (sponsor session)
Julian Mintz, Roku
2:40 p.m. Building a community online
Sarah Cunningham, TPN; Bill Watkins, Pinterest; Steven Tristan Young, Poshmark
3:05 p.m. Marketers' playbook post pandemic
Kian Bakhtiari, The People; Barbara Kahn, The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania
