RETAIL 2015The biggest hits from this year ’s transforming retail landscape.

December 2015

December 2015 | Retail 2015. 2

TABLE OF CONTENTS

2015: the year of mobile and customer experience.

Mobile maturity: separating the good from the best.

Mobile web and apps: everyone’s riding the mobile wave.

Mobile consumers: the new generation of digital shoppers.

Beacon technology: emitting the right message at the right time.

Digital merchandising: putting innovation on display.

Shoppable rich media: bringing the in-store experience home.

Strategies for a standout 2016.

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2015: the year of mobile and customer experience.

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From futuristic technology in brick-and-mortar stores to growing consumer confidence in mobile payments, 2015 was a landmark year for retail marketers. The wearable market grew more interesting as Apple Watch debuted not once, but twice—and conversation sparked around its ability to track biometric data. Brands experimented with beacons in their physical locations to entice customers with personalized promotions and installed interactive touchscreens to heighten senses and make shopping more immersive. But the most noticeable theme in 2015 was the mounting shift toward mobile.

Certainly, the momentum toward a truly mobile consumer base has been growing for years, but 2015 may have been the tipping point. Consider, for example, last year’s holiday traffic: Walmart saw 70 percent of their holiday online traffic come from mobile devices, while other top retailers like Target and Amazon witnessed 60 percent from mobile.1 This is a purchasing power that can’t be ignored, and many companies that have prioritized mobile—like coffee juggernaut Starbucks—are already seeing a return on investment. The Seattle-based company reported that their mobile app is responsible for 16 percent of all transactions—more than any other brick-and-mortar retailer.2

IN NORTH AMERICA, SHOPPING APP LAUNCHES HELD THE HIGHEST YEAR-OVER-YEAR GROWTH OVER MEDIA AND FINANCE APP LAUNCHES.3

But this mobile shift goes deeper than simple online transactions. It’s literally changing the way we do business. When Google changed their search algorithms to prioritize mobile-friendly sites, “Mobilegeddon” unleashed havoc on thousands of websites, with some seeing a decrease of up to 10 percent in organic traffic.4 “This event was a call to action for brands,” said Ray Pun, head of strategic marketing for mobile at Adobe. “Brands have spent a lot of money on search. But now Google says you need to be mobile-first.”5

Companies can no longer see mobile as an afterthought. Already, it’s an expected element in customer experience—and innovative retailers like Nordstrom have taken note. The world-class retailer recently launched a text-to-buy feature that allows customers to make purchases via text. “As customers continue to want a more integrated shopping experience, we view mobile as a long-term priority to provide a richer experience for our customers,” said Blake Nordstrom, co-president.6

If you’re going to make the best decisions in 2016, you need to understand these 2015 trends like mobile. Because Adobe is in a position to observe marketer and consumer behavior across many angles, we see key trends affecting companies and retailers at large. With that insight, we’ve prepared this report, which offers an at-a-glance view of the year’s top highlights from Adobe studies and partner research. You’ll get a recap of the six biggest trends that faced retail marketers along with best practices and strategies your organization can take to prepare for 2016.

Mobile is an important enabler of convenience as customers increasingly desire a more seamless shopping experience.7

BLAKE NORDSTROM

Source: Adobe Mobile Services and Adobe Analytics

December 2015 | Retail 2015.

Staffed with mobile gurus.Deploying the right talent to tackle your mobile strategy is one of the first steps in cultivating your brand’s mobile maturity. This year, 86 percent of all marketers surveyed for the report and 95 percent of IT respondents said they had a central leadership team dedicated to mobile. Among retailers specifically, 87 percent confirm they have some sort of center of excellence. Consider as well these insights from the same report:

• Most marketers said they have teams committed to creating and publishing mobile apps; for retail marketers, this figure is 75 percent

• More than two-thirds of retail marketers indicated that their companies had plans to increase the number of employees on their mobile app teams

At least 40 percent of marketers said that all of their mobile teams have mobile-specific objectives, with retail marketers reporting the highest percentage (46 percent) out of the other industries surveyed.11

In the ever-changing world of retail, marketers are all over the map when it comes to mobile. On one end, companies like Flipkart are shifting their entire business model into a mobile-only enterprise.8 But on the opposite side of the spectrum, there are brands who have yet to build their first mobile site. Since every company is unique, the goal isn’t so much about becoming mobile-only, but to be mature in your mobile strategy. The new digital consumer wants to touch brands through multiple channels—and with mobile usage increasing and augmenting in-store purchases, now is the time to ramp up your mobile maturity.

Each year, Adobe surveys marketers across several industries to gauge where they’re at in their mobile maturity. This year’s report—Mobile Is the Strategy—summarized marketer behavior across five industries and also included responses from IT professionals for a more complete picture. Here are this year’s highlights along with retail-specific benchmarks for you to compare to.9 Already, we’re seeing many retail marketers mastering the people, process, and technology behind mobile strategy.

MOST MARKETERS AND IT DECISION MAKERS BELIEVE MOBILE APPS AND WEBSITES ARE EITHER VERY OR EXTREMELY IMPORTANT TO THEIR ORGANIZATION’S MARKETING STRATEGY.10

4

1 Mobile maturity: separating the good from the best.

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No strangers to technology.While teams fuel the ideas, and processes keep those ideas going, it’s technology that powers brands to make more creative and meaningful interactions with customers in their moment of need. For example, around half of marketers surveyed for the report, including retail marketers, use push notifications and re-launch campaigns to keep customers engaged. However, there are plenty of other technologies in the mix as well:

• Nearly half of all marketers surveyed engage in location services marketing, with 56 percent of retail marketers using GPS location data to personalize mobile experiences

• Almost a quarter of marketers use iBeacon technology, with retail marketers reporting the highest usage

IN 2015, RETAIL MARKETERS LEAD THE PACK IN ACTIVE IBEACON USAGE.14

Perfecting the process.There’s more to it than simply having the right people, however. For mobile strategy to be successful, brands must have the processes in place to ensure the effectiveness of mobile channels. For example, according to our Mobile Is the Strategy report, almost half of retail marketers reported using A/B testing to improve app monetization. Similarly,

• Retail marketers reported that almost one-third of their total technology spend went to creating, measuring, and optimizing both mobile apps and mobile websites

• Nearly three-quarters of marketers—retail included—said they measure customer engagement and usage over time once a customer downloaded an app

About 58 percent of retail marketers measure customer engagement at least weekly.12

PERCENTAGE OF MARKETERS WHO PLAN TO INCREASE THEIR SOFTWARE BUDGET FOR MOBILE WEB DEVELOPMENT BY AT LEAST 50 PERCENT.13

We all do it. When we’re searching for the best deals or we’re looking for more info about a product, we reach for our phones. With cellphone carriers doing everything from aggressively targeting customers with free upgrades to the latest iPhone and Android models to offering cheaper data plans, the stage has been set for an additional influx of mobile users. And with wearable devices and the new 12.9-inch iPad Pro offering micro- and macro- interactions with your brand, it won’t be long before mobile browsing hits critical mass. According to the Adobe Digital Index’s Mobile Benchmark study, mobile browsing is set to replace desktop browsing in 18 months or less.15

The top 20 percent of sites are already passed the tipping point where more than half of their traffic is mobile.16

Most companies want in on this mobile wave—and we’re seeing many brands doubling down. Last year, 30 percent of U.S. companies overall spent upward of $10 million on apps and mobile Web.17 And according to the information published in Mobile Is the Strategy, 42 percent of retail marketers alone are spending between $500,000 to 5 million annually, while 33 percent are spending over 5 million on mobile web development.18

Two-thirds of consumers prefer using mobile web for researching and comparing products and prices. When ready to purchase, 57 percent of U.S. shoppers prefer using apps.20

Essential touch points along the journey.This mobile web includes both the mobile app and the mobile web, but each channel is equally important and plays a complementary role along the customer lifecycle. While they’re both necessary touch points, customers turn to mobile web and apps for specific tasks. According to the 2015 Adobe Mobile Consumer Report, for researching, consumers prefer to use mobile web, especially if they’re not brand-loyal yet.19 Mobile web appeals to the masses because it provides high value in exchange for little or no personal information. But as consumers grow more confident in their relationship, this becomes that magical point in the customer journey where advocacy is born—and app usage tends to increase.

ADOBE DIGITAL INDEX RESEARCH FOUND THAT MOBILE BROWSING AND APP USAGE TEND TO COMPLEMENT ONE ANOTHER, WITH BOTH GROWING YEAR-OVER-YEAR.21

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2 Mobile web and apps: everyone’s riding the mobile wave.

Source: Adobe Mobile Services and Adobe Analytics

Quality, not quantity.When it comes to these mobile apps, today’s mobile marketer has it covered. The average number of apps that businesses have available for download is about 18, with the apps being designed for both smartphones and tablets.22 But don’t be intimidated or even motivated by quantity. The 2015 Adobe Mobile Consumer Report found that customers haven’t downloaded very many apps in the past three months. Regardless of how many apps your company has deployed, customers seek the best quality experience every time they interact with you—so it’s mandatory that your apps deliver high value and utility.

These struggles come from a unique set of challenges:

Connectivity—customers need to keep apps open and running in the background in order for brands to market to them

Abandonment—compared to the finance and media industries, retail has the highest rate of app abandonment at 26.8 percent24

Acceptance—consumers must opt-in to privacy policies before apps can deliver value. This is already a difficult task in regions where privacy laws are getting tougher

Personalization—every company desires it, but achieving personalization is far from simple. And there is always the debate on what’s “creepy” and what’s not

But some retailers are getting it right. Popular recreation store REI sends brand evangelists on mobile-minded expeditions to their stores so they can educate employees on how apps work. REI also deploys in-store mobile selling assistance with apps to help customers as they shop. The brand is so committed to ensuring their mobile experience is a positive one for customers that they also offer a call center where customers can ask questions on how to use their app.25

Walgreens simplifies the need for consumers to call-in their prescriptions. Using remote device capture (RDC), a customer can take a snapshot of their prescription bottle through their app and have it automatically scheduled for re-filling.26

31%downloaded between

three to five apps

21%downloaded no

new apps

Customers downloaded fewer apps in 2015.23

And of course, there’s more to it than simply getting people to download. Customers are notorious for downloading apps and deleting them if they don’t live up to consumer expectations. Just one browse through a set of retail app reviews, and you’ll see some of the common issues consumers face: random crashes due to apps not being updated, getting “kicked out” of the app and having to re-login, and key features no longer available. Consumers have little tolerance for flaws in their mobile web and app experience—and poor ratings in app stores don’t entice new shoppers searching for the best apps.

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Your customers are the ultimate subject matter experts when it comes to content. They choose when, where, and what content they need to have. And today’s digital shoppers are more connected than ever before, designating their mobile devices as the ultimate source of information. Ninety-two percent of consumers consider their smartphone as their primary mobile device, an increase from 2014.27 Retailers know that they need to satisfy the mobile consumer. But as the 2015 Adobe Mobile Consumer Report found, understanding consumer behavior is far from easy—and steadfast attention and segmentation is mandatory.

There is a great deal of complexity behind the mobile consumer. For starters, consumers don’t spend as much time engaging with retail-related mobile web and apps when compared to other industries, such as finance or media and entertainment. There’s variation between age groups, with customer segments like Millennials behaving differently than Baby Boomers. Younger generations are typically more attached to their devices, but that doesn’t mean you should write off Boomers. Despite how segmented the market is, consumers expect retail marketers to not miss a beat in delivering the content they want.

3 Mobile consumers: the new generation of digital shoppers.

This year’s mobile consumer report highlighted responses from mobile elites, your most proficient mobile customers, who contribute 80 percent of your business. For deeper insight, the survey also highlighted behavior from key generational groups, including Millennials, Generation X, Baby Boomers, and consumers over age 70. The study found that Millennials prove to be an influential customer segment and tend to behave similarly with Gen Xers.

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RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF VARIOUS ELEMENTSTO THE OVERALL MOBILE RETAIL EXPERIENCE

DIGITAL COUPONS OR OFFERS

PRICE CHECKING

EARN LOYALTY POINTS REWARDS

PERSONALIZED CONTENT

ACHIEVE GOALS IN A FEW STEPS

CONVENIENCE

Satisfying their mobile appetite.There are so many apps competing for a consumer’s attention, so you need to work hard to give them a reason to download yours. If not, one out of four will abandon an app after the first use.28 When engaging in retail-related mobile web and apps, the most important thing consumers are looking for is convenience. Consumers have high expectations, so mobile experiences must provide high functionality and perform seamlessly.

Online retailer—Fab—facilitates the shopping experience for customers by removing clutter, limiting navigation, and including “buy now” buttons with every product image.30

9December 2015 | Retail 2015.

Digital coupons Price checkingConvenience

MOST IMPORTANT ELEMENTS TO RETAIL MOBILE EXPERIENCE:29

Mini shopping companions.Today’s connected consumers turn to their mobile devices much like a shopper would turn to a sales associate. Customers refer to their devices when they have questions and to research and compare products. And when they’re ready to make a purchase via mobile, most shoppers use a tablet to seal the deal. In today’s inter-connected world, it’s not uncommon for consumers to use their mobile device to augment their in-store experience. Apps like Cartwheel from Target allow consumers to scan items in the store to receive coupons. And many consumers engage in webrooming—checking out a product online and then purchasing it at a physical store later.

Walgreens found that customers who both use mobile devices and shop in the store spend four times more than store-only customers do.31

As much as 83 percent of consumers find that mobile wallets are easier to use than traditional credit cards.32

This pocket-sized shopper’s assistant does more than just research. Perhaps the most compelling trend from the 2015 Adobe Mobile Consumer Report shows that a large number of U.S. consumers feel comfortable with making purchases from their mobile wallets. With Android Pay enabling shoppers to pay without launching an app—making mobile payments that much more convenient for Android users—retailers should see an increase in purchases made from mobile devices.

Researching product and price information

Performing keyword searches

Reviewing online promotions

TOP MOBILE ACTIVITIES FOR RETAIL:33

December 2015 | Retail 2015. 10

Frequency of retail activities

Purchasing a product using your mobile device

Comparing product and price by different retailers

Registering online for offers and promotions using your mobile device

Receiving online promotions, specials, or coupons

Sharing product information with friends

Checking order status

Using keyword search for products

Browsing for products using sorting or filtering options to

narrow search

Daily Weekly Monthly Every other month or < Never

Viewing visual information

ACTIVITIES ON MOBILE DEVICE PREFERENCE FOR MOBILE WEBSITE VS. APP

Researching specific product and price information

Reading customer information with friends

Checking in-store features

December 2015 | Retail 2015. 11

4 Beacon technology: emitting the right message at the right time.

“Beacons are being used, considered, or tested by nearly every major retail, hospitality, and sports brand internationally,” says Alex Bell, CEO of Signal 360, a New York-based beacon technology firm.34 And according to the Location, Location, Location paper, 35

• Beacon installations will expand from 30,000 active units at the end of 2014 to a projected 4.5 million by 2018, with 3.5 million in use by retailers

• Sixty percent of shoppers opened messages from beacons. Thanks to positive beacon experiences, over half of those surveyed said they would do more holiday shopping

Top retailers like Macy’s and American Eagle Outfitters have already rolled out beacons in most of their stores.36 With the competition inching in, retailers must act quickly to deliver relevant messages, recommendations, and promotions to customers while they shop in stores. Beacons are on the rise, and the Location, Location, Location paper explored how this emerging technology is beginning to make waves among retailers:37

Mondelēz International, a snack food company based in Illinois, recently completed a pilot program that placed beacons at either end of the cookie and cracker aisles in supermarkets. As shoppers walked near the display, the beacons sent a special offer on Ritz Crackers. Customers who received the notification spent three times more on Ritz Crackers than those who didn’t.39

45%IT decision makers plan to implement beacons next year.38

Companies who participate in beacons are already seeing a strong response from customers.

December 2015 | Retail 2015. 12

Pocket-powered marketing.Often, smartphones can be the ultimate distraction for shoppers. If customers are preoccupied with other activities on their smartphones, retailers miss out on pushing them relevant offers and experiences. One way around this situation is to install in-pocket beacons. Instead of relying on customers to check their phones for in-store offers, beacons near video displays initiate the conversation by automatically detecting the approaching shopper. Within seconds, the customer’s profile, recent purchases, and special offers populate on display screens—all without the customer’s phone ever leaving their pocket.40

The question shouldn’t be ‘Will beacons be a part of our strategy? But ‘How will beacons be used to support our long-term, integrated marketing strategy?’42

ALEX BELL SIGNAL 360 CEO

Big data, big possibilities.When customers opt-in to share their information, beacons can collect mountains of behavioral data such as traffic flow patterns and “dwell time”—the amount of time people spend in a specific location. But it’s up to retailers to churn that data into visible improvements to customer experiences.

“There’s a growing population of retailers who are testing beacons,” said Michael Klein, director of industry strategy for Adobe Marketing Cloud. “The question is: am I using the data simply to communicate to my customer or to inform my internal team?”41 By digging into the data, retailers can get a more strategic understanding of shopping behavior and use those learnings to improve the buyer’s journey and, ultimately, improve their bottom line.

As with most cutting edge technologies, however, beacons and other location-based technologies do require some caution. Because of their ability to provide companies with intimate details from a customer’s shopping behavior in stores, these technologies often force marketers to walk a fine line between value and intrusion. It’s up to brands to clearly communicate the terms of use and to work diligently at making the experience one that customers happily look forward to.

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Today, over 90 percent of sales happen in brick-and-mortar stores—and the forecast shows this trend continuing through 2018.43 Using cutting edge technology, companies are redefining the in-store experience and transforming it into an avenue of fun, creativity, and innovation. These days, merchantainment—where entertainment meets merchandising—is quickly becoming the de facto method for keeping customers engaged and empowered while shopping in stores.

The Canadian retailer Sport Check, for example, outfitted their 12,000-square-foot store in Toronto with 140 digital touchscreens, kiosks, and a bevy of devices aimed at allowing shoppers to design their own shoes, sunglasses, and hockey jerseys.44

The lines between physical and digital worlds are beginning to blur, creating opportunities for marketers to design their own “phygital” world with state-of-the-art technology. The most creative retailers are dabbling with all an inspirational realm of innovation, such as next-generation Kinect technology, 3D mobile cameras, interactive touch screens, and even augmented reality.45

Projecting the possibilities.In retail dressing rooms, digital mirrors with built-in touchscreens give customers futuristic control of their experience. With a few taps, shoppers can access online catalogs, see their previous order history, request additional items from sales associates—and even adjust their room’s lighting as they like.46

Implications for up-and-coming technology.Retailers can tap into a wide assortment of forward-thinking technologies to digitize their stores. Heatmapping allows companies to record traffic flow and make adjustments to merchandising displays. Radio frequency identification (RFID) chips, when inserted into products, not only help retailers accomplish more accurate inventory control, but can trigger interactive displays to present relevant product information to customers while they shop.

But it’s not just apparel or electronics that can benefit from RFID. By combining smart labels for perishable items like milk, eggs, and meat with smart appliances, customers can keep track of what’s fresh in their refrigerator or be notified when it’s time to go grocery shopping. While today’s technology is nothing short of sci-fi wonder, it’s up to brands to decide which tactics will resonate the most with their customers.

“Some retailers will invest in 40-inch panels and some will invest in tablets,” said Michael Klein. “With any technology, ask yourself, ‘How will I engage customers and provide them with immersive experiences? What does this look like for our brand—for the store associate working amongst this technology?”49 With any new initiative, retailers must decide which technology is right for their customer base and their business—and provide the necessary training and education for seamless execution.

In Tokyo, clothing store Vanquish

launched virtual digital models whose

outfits come to life when a customer

removes a hanger from a clothes rail.

Using simple projection technology,

shoppers can instantly find out what their

outfit ideas will look like on models.47

At select stores, Neiman Marcus is testing

a memory mirror—an interactive mirror,

comprised of a video screen and camera,

which allows shoppers to see themselves

in outfits from 360-degrees, and compare

outfits on split screens. It also stores

customers’ saved images, so they can

retrieve them during their next shopping

trip.48

Recently, Adobe partnered with Razorfish

to create a live demonstration of a

fully digitally-enhanced store. Using

customer information from the cloud,

retail associates could download relevant

information about their customers, such

as their shopping history, preferences,

and even upcoming appointments. Using

that same data, large display screens

reflect the customer’s unique style, while

interactive merchandise tables can detect

if products are in stock. With the right

technology, retailers can transform their

brands into a digital store of today, too.

5 Digital merchandising: where innovation gets put on display.

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Most shoppers have experienced it before. They see a beautiful lifestyle image and want to purchase every product in that ensemble. But when trying to locate all the individual pieces, they end up empty-handed and frustrated. Nowadays, retailers are offsetting that frustration by making it easier for customers to find the items they love. Brands are now offering look-books and style guides that allow customers to “shop the look” and buy promoted products directly from a banner or style guide—all with one click.50

Click and buy with shoppable hotspots.

Including shoppable media as part of your digital strategy becomes even more important when you account for the mobile shopper. With an on-the-go mentality—and not to mention, smaller screen sizes—it becomes even more crucial for brands to cut to the chase and make content shoppable on mobile devices. Customers should be able to see, click, and buy without a hitch—and “shoppable hotspots” are one way retail marketers are making this happen. Some retailers who have incorporated hotspots have already seen a correlation between customers who use them with increased conversion.51

This summer, Adobe surveyed a consumer panel to compare their tablet experience on a traditional product category page and one enhanced with shoppable hotspots created with Adobe Experience Manager. Both category pages were identical, except that one was enhanced with shoppable hotpots so that customers could tap on the product in the lifestyle image and be instantly directed to a quickview of product details, including zoom, alternative product views, pricing, size, and an “add to cart” button. This allowed shoppers to view product details without having to leave the page. The results shows that hotspots created a clear improvement in the customer experience.52

• 77% of shoppers reported that shoppable hotspots made navigation easier, a 29% improvement from the non-shoppable experience

• 66% found enough information to make a purchase decision, resulting in a 25% improvement from the non-shoppable site

• 60% felt that shoppable hotspots improved the shopping experience compared to the non-shoppable experience

6 Shoppable rich media: bringing the in-store experience home.

The power of .5 percent: a mini case for mobile.

Just how lucrative is .5 percent? The number sounds miniscule, but increasing your mobile conversion by just .5 percent can mean thousands or even millions of dollars for your company.

For example, let’s say your monthly revenue is 100 million and your average monthly mobile traffic is 40 percent of desktop, with desktop conversion at 2 percent and mobile conversion at .5 percent.

By increasing your mobile conversion by a conservative .5 percent, you can increase your monthly revenue by almost 8 percent. This translates into 8 million additional per month in revenue or about 92 million per year increase.53

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Rich media brings products to life.

While e-commerce stores can hold far more inventory than a brick-and-mortar, the biggest challenge they face is the physical barrier between consumer and product. It’s up to the consumer’s imagination to decide how a product truly looks and feels, and if there is any risk in purchasing. Yet customers continue to browse online to research products—placing extra pressure on retailers to deliver realistic and alluring experiences. Retailers are answering the call, however, and are making strides in bringing the in-store experience as close as possible to online and mobile shoppers.

To improve the shopping experience, more retailers are giving customers a 360-degree product view. By allowing shoppers to zoom in on product details, look at alternate views and colors, and watch video descriptions, brands build customer confidence—and enjoy higher sales. By adding rich media features, customers are experiencing higher conversion rates. For example, we see a correlation between consumers who watch all or even part of a video. When this happens, conversion increases up to 100 percent on average.54

Tumi: Zooming in on customer experience.

Tumi offers customers multiple photographs and videos of each bag on their website, showing products from different angles, inside and out. With a click, shoppers can zoom in on the images to get a closer look at colored plates, rugged zippers, and high-quality stitching. Short videos introduce the features of a bag while showing zippers, wheels, and telescoping handles in motion.

In addition to rich imagery and videos, Tumi’s online store provides a virtual look at personalized monograms. Using Adobe Experience Manager, Tumi overlays any three-letter monogram onto the image of a bag or luggage tag in real time. Shoppers can even experiment with font style and color to achieve the look they want.56

6 average images in an ImageSet—Show customers alternate images of a product or ensemble to build confidence

21 average images in a multi-axis SpinSet—Allow customers to rotate products and get a realistic picture for how they look at every angle

13 average pages in an eCatalog—Display products on fewer pages for faster navigation and better customer retention

65 average video duration in seconds—Use video to enhance product information, demonstrate usage, and allow for social media sharing

Compare the average 2015 rich media experiences against your data to see where you need to invest this year:55

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As you prepare for 2016, remember that every channel—from brick-and-mortar stores down to mobile apps—holds endless value and opportunities to engage your customers and build loyalty. To kick your new year off to an exciting start, here are five strategies you can implement now that will improve your mobile maturity, invigorate your in-store experience, and thrill the most tech-savvy shopper.

1 Focus on good data, not big data. While it’s good to measure customer data, not all of it is relevant or even worth collecting. Today’s marketers are shifting from focusing on big data to smart data—those small gems of information that translate into powerful action that propels your business forward. With smart data, you can learn things like where customers spend the most time in your store to where online shoppers tend to drop off—and respond with actions that are also fueled by smart data.

Aside from analytics, one way you can focus on smart data is to gather customer surveys. For example, the 2015 Adobe Mobile Consumer Report found that one of the top activities shoppers perform is searching for online promotions. With this data in hand, instead of focusing on how to sell more inventory or how to move products at full price, consider rewarding customers for their loyalty through mobile-only deals. However you collect data on your customers, make sure it’s useful and that you have the people and the platform to turn insights into action.

2 Look to innovate and digitize your organization. There’s a lot of overlap between the physical and digital worlds. And with mobile augmenting the in-store experience, it’s on the retailer to adapt to this new “phygital” world. When planning your own Digital Store of Today, it’s important to incorporate the right kind of technology for your customers. Whether your organization deploys beacon technology, high-tech sensors, or interactive merchandise tables, ensure that the cutting-edge technology you use enhances customer experience while being careful to respect your customer’s privacy.

Consider using projection, beacons, video, and touch-enabled devices to give your store the edge it needs to deliver meaningful experiences for your customers. With multiple channels working together to create an immersive experience for shoppers, commit to creating a unified customer experience by streamlining things like customer profiles, so that wherever shoppers are on the journey, it’s innovation they’re experiencing—not hiccups.

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5 STRATEGIES for creating a standout 2016.

3 Start the migration toward rich

shoppable media. Mobile shoppers don’t have the luxury of touching or testing out a product in real life. So it’s up to marketers to paint as vivid a picture as possible. By increasing zoom and offering customers a 360-degree view of products with improved spin sets, you can bring the in-store experience as close to home as possible for shoppers. This is especially true for tablet owners, whose form factor allows for more context and viewing space than smartphones.

Retailers can make the experience even more realistic by allowing customers to “touch” products on their tablet and be immediately directed to that item’s product page. Using shoppable hotspots, marketers can save customers the headache of searching through multiple pages, ultimately landing shoppers closer to purchasing. This technology is still early, so you can take advantage of being one of the first to implement this feature.

4 Design mobile experiences with

convenience in mind. The best mobile experiences are fluid and elegantly simple to execute, allowing shoppers to get to the content they want quickly and easily. With consumers rating convenience as the most important element to their mobile web and app experience, it’s time to assess just how convenient your mobile channels are. While it’s tempting to shrink your desktop experience to mobile, customers will have far better interactions with your brand if you optimize content for mobile web and apps.

To prevent customers from having a poor user experience, reduce clutter and prioritize search functionality so it’s easy for customers to find what they’re looking for. Make sure that every product includes an “add to cart” or “buy” button next to the product to save shoppers one last click. In addition to convenience, it’s important that your app is highly functional and includes features that customers will use over and over again, such as coupons and price checking. To ensure consistency in customer experience, push app updates frequently to address operating system updates and issues.

5 Start entertaining mobile-first

shoppers. While most consumers fall into the category of regular mobile users, there will be a day when marketers see a notable segment of mobile-only consumers. Until we get there, retailers must accommodate the growing number of mobile-first shoppers. As more customers grow comfortable with using their mobile devices to make in-store payments, it’s important to start working toward accepting mobile payments.

As your organization grows in mobile maturity, you’ll need to continuously educate employees about your mobile channels so that customers receive an incredible mobile experience—even if they’re shopping in your physical store. Reward mobile shoppers for interacting with your brand’s mobile channels by offering discounts or other coupons. And last, always get feedback from your mobile shoppers to ensure that the mobile experience is one worth returning to time and time again.

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Adobe can help your brand become a flagship digital store of today through solutions that help you build relevant mobile experiences, consistent customer experience across channels, and interactive experiences that digitize the in-store experience and increase customer loyalty.

To learn more about creating high quality experiences for your retail and e-commerce customers, visit: adobe.com/industries/retail.html.

Adobe Target identifies your best content so you can deliver the right experience to the right customer. With a simple interface and access to best practices, you can quickly create A/B tests and confidently target content.

Adobe Audience Manager gives you a complete view of your audience by combining all of your data in one place. By building unique audience profiles, you can identify your most valuable segments and use them across any digital channel.

Adobe Analytics improves mobile app discovery and engagement, provides insight into the entire customer journey across multiple channels, and enables comprehensive data analysis and segmentation.

Adobe Experience Manager helps you deliver and manage consistent experiences that are responsive, relevant, and social across websites, mobile, and in-store. Adobe Experience Manager screens allow marketers to create and deliver innovative touchscreen experiences, online and offline.

Adobe Campaign simplifies marketing campaign management and empowers marketers to manage delivery of personalized experiences across online/offline channels to facilitate loyalty programs and offers.

Adobe Media Optimizer helps you forecast the best mix of search, display, and social ads based on your budget. It also automates the execution of your media plan and helps you find the best way to deliver relevant content to your high-value audiences.

December 2015 | Retail 2015. 20

1 “The Best of Mobile User Experience, 2015,” Forrester Research, Inc. August 10, 2015.

2 Ibid.

3 Adobe Digital Index, “Mobile Benchmark Report, 2015,” CMO.com. August 27, 2015. https://www.cmo.com/content/dam/CMO_Other/ADI/2015_Mobile_Benchmark/ADI_mobile_benchmark_report_2015.pdf, accessed September 16, 2015.

4 Adobe Digital Index, “Digital Advertising Report, 2015,” CMO.com. 2015. http://www.cmo.com/content/dam/CMO_Other/ADI/ADI_Mobilegeddon/Q2-ADI-Digital-Ad-Report.pdf, accessed September 16, 2015.

5 Ray Pun, personal interview. September 3, 2015.

6 Christopher Murray, “Nordstrom President Announces Aggressive Mobile Enhancement Strategy,” RIS. September 22, 2015. http://risnews.edgl.com/retail-news/Nordstrom-President-Announces-Aggressive-Mobile-Enhancement-Strategy-102355, accessed September 23, 2015.

7 Ibid.

8 Nimish Sawant, “Flipkart to Become App-only Platform; to Shut Down Mobile Website,” Tech2. March 23, 2015. http://tech.firstpost.com/news-analysis/flipkart-to-become-app-only-platform-to-shut-down-mobile-website-259744.html, accessed September 17, 2015.

9 “Mobile Is the Strategy,” Adobe. September 2015. https://apps.enterprise.adobe.com/go/70114000002XE6q

10 Ibid.

11 Ibid.

12 Ibid.

13 Ibid.

14 Ibid.

15 “Mobile Benchmark Report, 2015.” https://www.cmo.com/content/dam/CMO_Other/ADI/2015_Mobile_Benchmark/ADI_mobile_benchmark_report_2015.pdf

16 Ibid.

17 Ray Pun, “Ten Mobile Marketing Trends For 2015,” CMO.com. January 19, 2015. http://www.cmo.com/slide-shows/_10_mobile_trends_fo.html, accessed September 20, 2015.

18 “Mobile Is the Strategy.”

19 “2015 Adobe Mobile Consumer Report,” Adobe. October 2015. http://apps.enterprise.adobe.com/go/70114000002XF7G

20 Ibid.

21 “Mobile Benchmark Report, 2015.”

22 “Mobile Is the Strategy.”

23 “2015 Adobe Mobile Consumer Report.”

24 “Mobile Benchmark Report, 2015.”

25 “Reinventing your organization around mobile first consumers,” Adobe Summit 2015. March 10, 2015.

26 Apple App Store, accessed September 17, 2015.

27 “2015 Adobe Mobile Consumer Report.”

28 Ibid.

29 Ibid.

30 “The Best and Worst of Mobile User Experience.”

31 Ibid.

32 “2015 Adobe Mobile Consumer Report.”

33 Ibid.

34 “Location, Location, Location,” Adobe, September 2015.

35 Ibid

36 “Mobile Is the Strategy.”

37 “Location, Location, Location,” Adobe. September 2015.

38 “Mobile Is the Strategy.”

39 “Location, Location, Location.”

40 Ibid.

41 Michael Klein, personal interview, September 3, 2015.

42 “Location, Location, Location.”

43 “The Future Is Today: A Guide to Become a Digital Retailer,” Adobe. September 2015.

44 “Retail Stores of the Future: Four Key Focus Areas for Building Them Today,” Adobe. 2015.

45 “The New Era of Marketing Magic.” http://apps.enterprise.adobe.com/go/70114000002XF7V

46 Ibid.

47 “The Future Is Today: A Guide to Become a Digital Retailer.”

48 “Retail Stores of the Future: Four Key Focus Areas for Building Them Today.”

49 Michael Klein interview.

50 Kerry Reilly, “Adobe Unveils Major Retail Marketing Innovations at NRF,” Adobe Digital Marketing Blog. January 12, 2015. http://blogs.adobe.com/digitalmarketing/campaign-management/adobe-unveils-major-retail-marketing-innovations-nrf/, accessed September 17, 2015.

51 “2015 Adobe Mobile Consumer Report.”

52 Ibid.

53 Vebeka Guess, personal interview. September 28, 2015.

54 “Adobe 2015 Rich Media Highlights,” Adobe. [date]

55 Ibid

56 “Tumi: Personalized Shopping Experiences,” Adobe. June 2015.

© 2015 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved.Adobe, the Adobe logo, Adobe Analytics, Adobe Audience Manager, Adobe Campaign, Adobe Experience Manager, Adobe Marketing Cloud, Adobe Media Optimizer, Adobe Mobile Services and Adobe Target are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

December 2015 | Retail 2015.