When news broke earlier this year about Amazon’s courtship of some of the world’s biggest consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands, it touched off a wave of speculation. Was the e-commerce giant engaged in a long game to alter the relationships between consumer goods makers and their brick-and-mortar retail partners?
How Consumer Brands Can Connect with Customers in a Changing Retail Landscape
There is a digital divide in the consumer products world. On one side is brands’ growing interest in direct-to-consumer models. On the other side are persistent worries about conflict — not just with traditional distribution channels but also with retailers carrying the brand. To bridge this gap, brands can use seven tactics to arrive at an effective digital strategy: Understand how digital serves different consumer segments as opposed to one-size-fits-all websites; use the right digital channels that include a mix of of landing sites, social media, and YouTube channels; add value to the consumer, as opposed to simple vanity sites; look for analytics measures that matter and feed social listening back to product developers; make room for new technologies such as virtual reality; keep the online conversation going by hiring social media influencers if necessary; and find a way to work with third-party retail channels.