Inside the Lockdown Performance of 100+ Brands, State of Retail May vs March 2021🤨| Xenopulse 70th edition

Good Friday Morning,

How’s the June heat treating you? Not too good I am sure🙃

For me, I am loving the mangoes, the sunshine and of course not going out in the scorching heat.😋 I would've probably been lying in a swimming pool if COVID wasn't there. Well, sipping ice tea & chilling at home isn't that bad either. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Anyway, it is what it is now. Let's just dive in🏊

In today’s edition:

• The Future Of Fashion: Apparel And Luxury Brand Marketing In Post-Corona Times
• How Brands Have Optimized Their E-Commerce Efforts to Survive the Pandemic
• What Can the Lockdown Performance of 100+ Brands Teach You? 🤔
• Hand-picked tool for the week: Typeform

Digital Marketing

🛍️The Future Of Fashion: Apparel And Luxury Brand Marketing In Post-Corona Times

According to Boston Consulting Group, revenue generated by the fashion industry dropped by more than one-third in 2020, which is equivalent to around $640 billion in lost sales. This is tremendous.

The fashion industry is very fast-lived, and customers are not as willing to buy the latest product offerings if they have to contend with monetary uncertainty.

As a response to the coronavirus pandemic and its effects, many fashion brands are moving toward digital solutions. For example, Inditex SA invested $3 billion to boost the e-commerce operations of chains like Zara and Bershka.

How fashion marketing will change in 2021?

• A 2018 Gartner survey showed that 46 percent of retailers already planned to deploy either AR or VR solutions by 2020.
• According to Gartner, about 25 percent of companies are planning to deploy AI technology like chatbots in the next 12 months.

Dior launched a 360-degree view virtual store where customers can walk through the whole store and look at items, just like in a regular retail store.

• “In this day and age, social media marketing is hands down the best way to drive sales revenue,” said Jason Modemann, Managing Director at Mawave Marketing.
• Nowadays, most customers are browsing stores or social media apps on their phones, and it is essential to make mobile shopping as smooth as possible to ensure that customers who are willing to buy something are able to do so without a hassle.

Another good way to gain consumer trust during this global pandemic is to make retail shopping feel safe. While the focus is definitely going to shift toward online shopping, retail stores will still be a huge part of the fashion industry, so it’s important to make retail customers feel comfortable while they are out shopping.

Learn more here

E-commerce

🤑How Brands Have Optimized Their E-Commerce Efforts to Survive the Pandemic

Some of the ways brands have optimized their e-commerce efforts to do the unthinkable: thrive in the middle of a pandemic are:

1. Provide a Superior Omnichannel Experience: The challenge for retailers and luxury brands is ensuring that their customers experience the same level of service online as they’ve come to expect from brick-and-mortar stores. Part of that means finding the right balance between brand experience and ease of shopping, which is where UX comes in
2. Personalized CRM Software: Personalized marketing tactics drive more sales. Transparent, personalized contact builds trust with your brand. Personalized product recommendations and store coupons keep your customers coming back for more. This level of personalization is how brands breathe new life into their sales when a virus shuts down their storefronts.
3. Digitizing Product Development: Digital showrooms, 3D product viewing capabilities, and virtual sampling are just a few of the innovations that give retailers and luxury brands the ability to stay on top of market trends and cut costs. However, they are also changing the way customers prefer to interact with online products before making a purchase.

Thanks to e-commerce, the retail industry can come out on the other side of this pandemic, maybe brighter than ever.

More about the digital transformation here

Retail Industry

📊What Can the Lockdown Performance of 100+ Brands Teach You? 🤔

2021 started on a positive note. Things were finally getting better & customers were back in store. Until the 2nd wave of COVID-19 hit us & we were once again locked down. However, the good news was we had already gone through this stage once, so retailers were more certain and more prepared this time.

The retailers who transformed & made themselves customer-ready in the past year were able to maximize their revenue during this second wave. Trust us when we say this, the transformation has just begun

Here’s what you can expect in the report:

• How Industries performed during the second lockdown?
• How E-commerce investment played a role in multiplying the sales efforts?
• The breakdown of repeat sales contribution from March to May.
• Digital conversion uplift over SMS & industry results.
• How are brands at Xeno winning during the lockdown?

Download the report here

🔎Hand-picked tool for the week: Typeform

Your chance to discover some of the most unknown & helpful tools to make marketing easy.

Typeform is a sleek tool for marketers looking to create attractive, minimalist forms.

Unlike more traditional pop-ups, Typeform’s intake forms are seriously stylish and don’t feel like ads at all. The platform’s simple editor and easy embeds are a nice added bonus, as is the ability to create quizzes and interactive forms.

Check it out here.

🤗Brand & Marketing News

1. YouTube Leaderboard: Ads that created a buzz in May 2021
2. Pride 2021: 8 LGBTQ-Themed Collaborations We Can Actually Get Behind
3. How can consumer brands keep the app growth engine running despite Apple’s privacy updates

That’s all for today folks. Hope you liked today’s edition.

Stay in & stay safe :”)