retail advertising case study

The 24 Best eCommerce Retail Case Studies Worth Reading

In the fast-paced world of retail and eCommerce, staying ahead of the game is not just a goal; it’s the lifeline of our industry. For seasoned retail executives, inspiration often comes from the experiences and successes of industry giants who paved the way with their innovative thinking and managed to thrive through thick and thin. That’s why we’re excited to bring you an exclusive collection of the 30 best eCommerce case studies meticulously curated to provide you with a wealth of insights and ideas to fuel your strategies. These case studies are more than just success stories; they are beacons of guidance for retail professionals navigating the ever-changing landscape of our industry.

In this article, we delve deep into the journeys of retail giants who have not only weathered the storms of disruption but have emerged as trailblazers in eCommerce. From adapting to shifting consumer behaviors to mastering the art of online engagement, this compilation offers a treasure trove of wisdom for the modern retail executive. 

Table of Contents

• > Case studies for grocery/wholesale eCommerce retailers
• > Case studies for fashion eCommerce retailers
• > Case Studies for home & furniture eCommerce retailers
• > Case Studies for health & beauty eCommerce retailers
• > Case studies for electronics and tools eCommerce retailers
• > Case Studies for toys and leisure eCommerce retailers

Case studies for grocery/wholesale eCommerce retailers

Retail case study #1: tesco .

Industry : Grocery stores

Why worth reading: 

• Historical evolution: Understanding Tesco’s rise from a group of market stalls to a retail giant provides valuable lessons on growth and adaptation to market changes​.
• Customer service focus: Tesco’s long-term emphasis on customer service, which is consistent across their physical and online platforms, showcases the importance of customer-centric strategies.
• Innovation in eCommerce: The case study covers Tesco’s pioneering of the world’s first virtual grocery store in South Korea, a testament to its innovative approach to digital retailing.
• Crisis management: Insights into how Tesco handled the Horse Meat Scandal, including efforts to tighten its supply chain, contributing to its logistical success​.
• Financial integrity: The study discusses the Accounting Scandal, offering a sobering look at financial transparency and the repercussions of financial misreporting.

Read the full Tesco case study here .

Retail case study #2: Walmart 

Industry : Discount department and grocery stores

• Data-driven success: The case study provides a wealth of data, showcasing Walmart’s remarkable achievements. With an annual revenue of almost $570 billion, a global presence in 24 countries, and a customer base exceeding 230 million weekly, it’s a testament to the effectiveness of their strategies.
• Marketing strategies: The case study delves deep into Walmart’s marketing strategies. It highlights their focus on catering to low to middle-class demographics, the introduction of the Walmart Rewards loyalty program, and their commitment to environmental sustainability, all of which have contributed to their success.
• eCommerce transformation: As eCommerce continues to reshape the retail landscape, this case study details how Walmart shifted significantly towards omnichannel retail. Readers can learn about their innovative technologies and approaches, such as personalized shopping experiences and augmented reality, that have helped them adapt to changing consumer behavior.
• Supply chain innovation: Walmart’s proficiency in supply chain management is a crucial takeaway for retail executives. Their decentralized distribution center model , in-house deliveries, and data-driven optimization exemplify the importance of efficient logistics in maintaining a competitive edge.

Read the full Walmart case study here .

Retail case study #3: Sainsbury’s 

Industry : Grocery stores

• Omnichannel success amidst pandemic challenges: With the fastest growth in online shopping among major retailers, the study illustrates how Sainsbury’s adapted and thrived during unprecedented times.
• Dynamic brand positioning: The analysis delves into Sainsbury’s strategic shift in brand positioning, demonstrating a keen responsiveness to changing consumer preferences. This shift showcases the brand’s agility in aligning with contemporary health-conscious consumer trends, supported by relevant data and market insights.
• Supply chain and quality assurance: The study highlights Sainsbury’s commitment to a stellar supply chain, emphasizing the correlation between high product quality, ethical sourcing, and customer loyalty. With data-backed insights into the extensive distribution network and sourcing standards, retail executives can glean valuable lessons in maintaining a competitive edge through a robust supply chain.
• Innovative technological integration: Sainsbury’s implementation of cutting-edge technologies, such as Amazon’s “Just Walk Out” and Pay@Browse, demonstrates a commitment to providing customers with a seamless and convenient shopping experience. 
• Diversification beyond grocery: The case study unveils Sainsbury’s strategic partnerships with companies like Amazon, Carluccio’s, Itsu, Leon, and Wasabi, showcasing the brand’s versatility beyond traditional grocery retail. 

Read the full Sainsbury’s case study here .

Retail case study #4: Ocado 

• From startup to industry leader: The Ocado case study presents a remarkable journey from a three-employee startup in 2000 to becoming the UK’s largest online grocery platform.  
• Omnichannel excellence: The study emphasizes Ocado’s success in implementing an omnichannel approach, particularly its early adoption of smartphone technology for customer engagement. 
• Operational efficiency: From automated warehouses with machine learning-driven robots to digital twins for simulating order selection and delivery processes, the data-rich content sheds light on how technology can be leveraged for operational efficiency. 
• Navigating challenges through innovation: Ocado’s strategic response to challenges, particularly its shift from primarily a grocery delivery service to a technology-driven company, showcases the power of innovative thinking. The case study details how Ocado tackled complexities associated with grocery deliveries and embraced technology partnerships to stay ahead.  
• Strategic partnerships: The study sheds light on Ocado’s strategic partnerships with grocery chains and companies like CitrusAd for advertising opportunities on its platform. 

Read the full Ocado case study here .

Retail case study #5: Lidl

Industry : Discount supermarkets

• Longevity and evolution: The article provides a detailed overview of Lidl’s origins and evolution, offering insights into how the brand transformed from a local fruit wholesaler to a global retail powerhouse. Understanding this journey can inspire retail executives to explore innovative strategies in their own companies.
• Global success: Retail executives can draw lessons from Lidl’s international expansion strategy, identifying key factors that contributed to its success and applying similar principles to their global ventures.
• Awards and recognitions: The numerous awards and accomplishments earned by Lidl underscore the effectiveness of its marketing strategy. Marketers and eCommerce professionals can learn from Lidl’s approach to quality, innovation, and customer satisfaction. 
• Comprehensive marketing components: The article breaks down Lidl’s marketing strategy into key components, such as pricing strategy, product diversification, and target audience focus. Readers can analyze these components and consider incorporating similar holistic approaches in their businesses to achieve well-rounded success.
• Omnichannel transformation: The discussion on Lidl’s transformation to an omnichannel strategy is particularly relevant in the current digital age. This information can guide executives in adopting and optimizing similar omnichannel strategies to enhance customer experiences and drive sales.

Read the full Lidl case study here .

Retail case study #6: ALDI

Industry : FMCG

• Omnichannel approach: Aldi’s growth is attributed to a robust omnichannel strategy that seamlessly integrates online and offline channels. The case study delves into how Aldi effectively implemented services that can overcome the intricacies of a successful omnichannel approach in today’s dynamic retail landscape.
• Target market positioning: Aldi’s strategic positioning as the most cost-effective retail store for the middle-income group is explored in detail. The case study elucidates how Aldi’s pricing strategy, emphasizing the lowest possible prices and no-frills discounts, resonates with a wide audience. 
• Transparency: Aldi’s commitment to transparency in its supply chain is a distinctive feature discussed in the case study. For retail executives, understanding the importance of transparent supply chain practices and their impact on brand perception is crucial in building consumer trust.
• Differentiation: Aldi’s successful “Good Different” brand positioning, which communicates that low prices result from conscientious business practices, is a key focus of the case study. Effective differentiation through brand messaging contributes to customer trust and loyalty, especially when combined with ethical business practices.
• CSR Initiatives: The case study highlights Aldi’s emphasis on social responsibility to meet the expectations of millennial and Gen-Z shoppers. By consistently communicating its CSR efforts, such as sustainable sourcing of products, Aldi creates a positive brand image that resonates with socially conscious consumers and builds brand reputation.

Read the full Aldi case study here .

Retail case study #7: ASDA

Industry : Supermarket chain

• Omnichannel implementation: The case study details how ASDA seamlessly integrates physical and virtual channels, offering customers a diverse shopping experience through in-store, digital checkouts, Click & Collect services, and a dedicated mobile app. 
• Market segmentation strategies: The incorporation of partnerships with young British designers and influencer collaborations, coupled with socially progressive messaging, reflects a strategic shift that can inspire marketers looking to revitalize product lines.
• Crisis management and ethical branding: The study highlights ASDA’s strong response to the COVID-19 crisis, with ASDA’s actions showcasing a combination of crisis management and ethical business practices. This section provides valuable insights for executives seeking to align their brand with social responsibility during challenging times.
• Product and format diversification: ASDA’s product categories extend beyond groceries, including clothing, home goods, mobile products, and even insurance. The case study explores how ASDA continues to explore opportunities for cross-promotion and integration.
• Website analysis and improvement recommendations: The detailed analysis of ASDA’s eCommerce website provides actionable insights for professionals in the online retail space. This section is particularly beneficial for eCommerce professionals aiming to enhance user experience and design.

Read the full ASDA case study here .

Case studies for fashion eCommerce retailers

Retail case study #8: Farfetch

Industry : Fashion retail

• Effective SEO strategies: The Farfetch case study offers a detailed analysis of the company’s search engine optimization (SEO) strategies, revealing how it attracted over 4 million monthly visitors. The data presented underscores the importance of patient and dedicated SEO efforts, emphasizing the significance of detailed page structuring, optimized content, and strategic backlinking.
• Paid search advertising wisdom and cost considerations: The study delves into Farfetch’s paid search advertising approach, shedding light on its intelligent optimization tools and the nuances of running localized advertisements. Moreover, it discusses the higher cost of visitor acquisition through paid search compared to organic methods, providing valuable insights for marketers navigating the paid advertising landscape.
• Innovative LinkedIn advertising for talent acquisition: Farfetch’s unique use of LinkedIn advertising to attract talent is a standout feature of the case study and highlights the significance of proactive recruitment efforts and employer branding through social media channels. 
• Strategic use of social media platforms: Exploring the brand’s highly consistent organic marketing across various social media channels, with a focus on visual content, highlights Farfetch’s innovative use of Instagram’s IGTV to promote luxury brands. The emphasis on social media engagement numbers serves as a testament to the effectiveness of visual content in the eCommerce and fashion sectors.
• Website design and conversion optimization insights:   A significant portion of the case study is dedicated to analyzing Farfetch’s eCommerce website, providing valuable insights for professionals aiming to enhance their online platforms. By identifying strengths and areas for improvement in the website’s design, marketers, and eCommerce professionals can draw actionable insights for their platforms.

Read the full Farfetch case study here .

Retail case study #9: ASOS

Industry : Fashion eCommerce retail

• Mobile shopping success: eCommerce executives can draw inspiration from ASOS’s commitment to enhancing the mobile shopping experience, including features such as notifications for sale items and easy payment methods using smartphone cameras.
• Customer-centric mentality: ASOS emphasizes the importance of engaging customers on a personal level, gathering feedback through surveys, and using data for continuous improvement. This approach has contributed to the brand’s strong base of loyal customers.
• Inclusive marketing: ASOS’s adoption of an ‘all-inclusive approach’ by embracing genderless fashion and featuring ‘real’ people as models reflects an understanding of evolving consumer preferences. Marketers can learn from ASOS’s bold approach to inclusivity, adapting their strategies to align with the latest trends and values embraced by their target audience.
• Investment in technology and innovation: The case study provides data on ASOS’s substantial investment in technology, including visual search, voice search, and artificial intelligence (AI). eCommerce professionals can gain insights into staying at the forefront of innovation by partnering with technology startups.
• Efficient global presence: ASOS’s success in offering a wide range of brands with same and next-day shipping globally is attributed to its strategic investment in technology for warehouse automation. This highlights the importance of operational efficiency through technology, ensuring a seamless customer experience and reduced warehouse costs.

Read the full ASOS case study here .

Retail case study #10: Tommy Hilfiger 

Industry : High-end fashion retail

• Worldwide brand awareness: The data presented highlights Tommy Hilfiger’s remarkable journey from a men’s clothing line in 1985 to a global lifestyle brand with 2,000 stores in 100 countries, generating $4.7 billion in revenue in 2021. This strategic evolution, exemplified by awards and recognitions, showcases the brand’s adaptability and enduring relevance in the ever-changing fashion landscape.
• Adaptation and flexibility to changing market trends: The discussion on how the brand navigates changing trends and overcame market saturation, particularly in the US, provides practical insights for professionals seeking to navigate the challenges of evolving consumer preferences.
• Successful omnichannel marketing: Tommy Hilfiger’s success is attributed to a brand-focused, digitally-led approach. The analysis of the brand’s omnichannel marketing strategy serves as a map for effective promotion and engagement across various channels. 
• Decision-making and customer engagement: The case study emphasizes the brand’s commitment to data-driven decision-making with insights into customer behavior, leveraging data for effective customer engagement.

Read the full Tommy Hilfiger case study here .

Retail case study #11: Gap

• Overcoming challenges: The case study provides a comprehensive look at Gap Inc.’s financial performance, and growth despite the challenges. These insights can offer valuable takeaways into effective financial management and strategies for sustained success.
• Strong branding: Gap’s journey from a single store to a global fashion retailer reveals the importance of strategic brand positioning. Understanding how Gap targeted different market segments with unique brand identities, can inspire retail executives looking to diversify and expand their brand portfolios.
• Omnichannel adaptation: The case study delves into Gap’s omnichannel strategy, illustrating how the company seamlessly integrates online and offline experiences.
• Unique use of technology: By exploring the technologies Gap employs, such as Optimizely and New Relic, retail executives can learn about cutting-edge tools for A/B testing, personalization, and real-time user experience monitoring. This insight is crucial for staying competitive in the digital retail landscape.
• Inspiring solutions: The case study highlights challenges faced by Gap, including logistical, technological, financial, and human resource challenges. 

Read the full Gap case study here .

Retail case study #12: Superdry

• Success story: The case study emphasizes SUPERDRY’s successful transition to an omnichannel retail strategy, with in-depth insights into their adaptation to online platforms and the integration of technologies like the Fynd app. 
• Mobile-first and social-first strategies: As mobile internet usage continues to rise, understanding how SUPERDRY leverages videos and social media to engage customers can offer valuable takeaways for optimizing digital strategies.
• Sustainable fashion focus: Executives looking to appeal to environmentally conscious consumers can gain insights into how SUPERDRY navigated the shift towards sustainable practices and became a leader in eco-friendly fashion. 
• Data-driven marketing strategies: The case study delves into SUPERDRY’s social media marketing strategies, showcasing how the company uses targeted campaigns, influencers, and seasonal keywords. 
• Global market understanding: By exploring SUPERDRY’s experience in the Chinese market and its decision to exit when faced with challenges, the case study offers valuable insights into global market dynamics. 

Read the full SUPERDRY case study here .

Retail case study #13: New Look 

Industry : Fast-fashion retail

• Strategic pivots for profitability: A decade of revenue contraction led New Look to adopt transformative measures, from restructuring credits to withdrawing from non-profitable markets.
• Omnichannel strategy: Marketers and eCommerce professionals can study New Look’s journey, understanding how the integration of physical stores and online platforms enhances customer experience, reduces costs, and improves profitability.
• Social media mastery: The case study underscores the pivotal role of social media in engaging audiences, showcasing how New Look leverages user-generated content to build brand loyalty and maintain a positive brand perception. 
• Effective partnerships for growth: New Look strategically partners with major eCommerce platforms like eBay & Next to expand its brand presence, and tap into new audiences and markets.

Read the full New Look case study here .

Retail case study #14: Zara

• Rapid international expansion through innovative strategies: Zara’s unique approach to continuous innovation and quick adaptation to fashion trends fueled its global success. Marketers can learn how to build brand narratives that resonate across diverse markets, and eCommerce professionals can glean strategies for seamless international expansion.
• Revolutionary eCommerce tactics: The case study provides a deep dive into Zara’s eCommerce strategy, emphasizing the importance of agility and responsiveness. The brand can be a bright example of implementing supply chain strategies for a swift market adapting to rapid fashion cycles. 
• Visionary leadership: Amancio Ortega’s low-profile persona and visionary leadership style are explored in the case study, aiding retail executives to learn about leadership strategies that prioritize customer-centric business models. 
• Omnichannel marketing and integrated stock management: Zara’s successful integration of automated marketing and stock management systems is a focal point in the case study. With insights into implementing integrated stock management systems to meet the demands of both online and offline channels, Zara can inspire professionals to improve their operations.
• Co-creation with the masses: Zara’s innovative use of customer feedback as a driving force for fashion trends is a key takeaway. Marketers can learn about the power of customer co-creation in shaping brand identity, and eCommerce professionals can implement similar models for product launches and updates.

Read the full Zara case study here .

Case Studies for home & furniture eCommerce retailers

Retail case study #15: john lewis.

Industry : Homeware and clothing retail

• Omnichannel perspective: The data-driven approach, especially in tracking orders and customer behavior, serves as a blueprint for any retail business aiming to enhance its omnichannel experience.
• Strategic growth factors: This case study offers concrete data on the strategies that contributed to the company’s sustained success, inspiring similar endeavors. 
• Innovative customer engagement: John Lewis’s take on customer engagement showcases the brand’s agility and responsiveness to evolving consumer needs, supported by data on the effectiveness of these initiatives.
• eCommerce best practices and pitfalls: The analysis of John Lewis’s eCommerce website provides a data-backed evaluation of what works and what could be improved. The critique is grounded in data, making it a valuable resource for those looking to optimize their online platforms.

Read the full John Lewis case study here .

Retail case study #16: Argos 

Industry : Homeware catalog retail

• Adaptation to the changing retail landscape: Argos’s journey from a catalog retailer to a retail giant demonstrates its ability to successfully adapt to the evolving retail landscape. 
• Omnichannel success story: The case study provides a detailed analysis of Argos’s omnichannel strategy, showcasing how the company effectively integrated online and offline channels to achieve a seamless shopping experience across multiple touchpoints.
• Market share and financial performance: The inclusion of data on Argos’s market share and financial performance offers retail executives concrete metrics to evaluate the success of the marketing strategy. Understanding how Argos maintained a robust market share despite challenges provides actionable insights.
• Technological advancements: The case study delves into the technologies employed by Argos, such as Adobe Marketing Cloud, New Relic, and ForeSee. 
• Overcoming obstacles: By examining the challenges faced by Argos, including logistical, technological, financial, and human resources challenges, retail executives can gain a realistic understanding of potential obstacles in implementing omnichannel strategies. 

Read the full Argos case study here .

Retail case study #17: IKEA

Industry : Home & furniture retail

• Data-driven evolution: This detailed case study offers a data-rich narrative, illuminating the brand’s evolution into a leader in omnichannel retail.
• Pandemic response: This exploration delves into the integration of eCommerce strategies, online expansions, and the balance between physical and digital customer experiences.
• Advanced mobile apps and AR integration: A deep dive into IKEA’s innovative applications, notably the AR app “IKEA Place,” showcases how the brand leverages technology for a seamless customer experience.
• Democratic design approach: The study meticulously breaks down IKEA’s success factors, emphasizing the brand’s holistic approach through the lens of “Democratic Design.” 
• DIY mentality and demographic targeting: A detailed analysis of how IKEA’s affordability is intertwined with a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) mentality. The case study explores how IKEA strategically tapped into a shift in consumer behavior, particularly among younger demographics, influencing not only purchasing patterns but also reshaping industry norms.

Read the full IKEA case study here .

Retail case study #18: Marks & Spencer

Industry : Clothing and home products retail

• Valuable lessons in eCommerce: The Marks & Spencer eCommerce case study offers a profound exploration of the brand’s journey from a latecomer to the online scene to a digital-first retailer.
• Real-world application of effective solutions: By diving into the history of Marks & Spencer, the case study provides tangible examples of how a retail giant faced setbacks and strategically pivoted to revitalize its eCommerce platform. 
• Data-driven analysis of eCommerce failures: The case study meticulously analyzes the pitfalls Marks & Spencer encountered during its eCommerce journey, offering a data-driven examination of the repercussions of a poorly executed website relaunch. 
• Multichannel customer experience: Marks & Spencer’s shift towards a multichannel customer experience is dissected in the case study, emphasizing the significance of a seamless user journey for increased customer satisfaction and loyalty.
• Embracing technology: Exploring Marks & Spencer’s technological innovations, such as the introduction of an intelligent virtual assistant can enhance the customer shopping journey, foster engagement, and contribute to revenue growth.

Read the full Marks & Spencer case study here .

Retail case study #19: Macy’s 

Industry : Clothing and homeware retail

• Resilience and adaptability: The case study showcases Macy’s ability to navigate and triumph over obstacles, especially evident during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite hardships, Macy’s not only survived but thrived, achieving $24.4 billion in net sales for 2022.
• Omnichannel innovation: Macy’s successful transition to omnichannel retailing is a standout feature. The case study delves into Macy’s implementation of a seamless omnichannel strategy, emphasizing the integration of physical and digital retail channels. 
• Private label strategy: The introduction of new private brands and the emphasis on increasing the contribution of private brands to sales by 2025 provides a strategic lesson. Retailers can learn from Macy’s approach to enhancing control over production and distribution by investing in private brands, ultimately aiming for a more significant share of profits.
• Groundbreaking retail media strategy: Macy’s innovative approach to retail media and digital marketing is another compelling aspect. For marketers, this presents a case study on how to leverage proprietary shopper data for effective advertising, including entry into connected TV (CTV).
• Community engagement and social responsibility: The case study explores Macy’s “Mission Every One” initiative, highlighting its commitment to corporate citizenship and societal impact, integrating values into business strategies.

Read the full Macy’s case study here .

Case Studies for health & beauty eCommerce retailers

Retail case study #20: the body shop .

Industry : Beauty, health, and cosmetics

• Activism and ethical values: The Body Shop has pioneered promoting eco-friendly, sustainable, and cruelty-free products. The brand’s mission is to empower women and girls worldwide to be their best, natural selves. This strong ethical foundation has been integral to its identity.
• Recycling, community fair trade, and sustainability: The Body Shop initiated a recycling program early on, which turned into a pioneering strategy. It collaborates with organizations to create sustainable solutions for recycling, such as the Community Trade recycled plastic initiative in partnership with Plastics for Change.
• Product diversity: The Body Shop’s target demographic primarily focuses on women, but it has expanded some product lines to include men. Its products include skincare, hair and body treatments, makeup, and fragrances for both men and women.
• Omnichannel strategy, technology, and eCommerce best practices: The Body Shop has embraced an omnichannel approach that incorporates personalization, customer data and analytics, and loyalty programs. The Body Shop utilizes technology, including ContactPigeon, for omnichannel customer engagement, personalization, and data-driven decision-making.

Read the full The Body Shop case study here .

Retail case study #21: Boots

Industry : Pharmacy retail

• Long-term success: Boots’ rich history serves as a testament to the effectiveness of the brand’s strategies over time, offering valuable insights into building a brand that withstands the test of time.
• Strategic omnichannel approach: The Boots case study provides a deep dive into the marketing strategy that propelled the brand to success, with valuable insights into crafting effective omnichannel growth. 
• Impactful loyalty program: Marketers can glean insights into designing loyalty programs that resonate with customers, fostering brand allegiance. 
• Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as a pillar: The case study sheds light on how Boots addresses critical issues like youth unemployment and climate change, showcasing how a socially responsible approach can positively impact brand perception.
• Adaptive strategies during crises: Boots’ proactive role during the COVID-19 pandemic, offering vaccination services and supporting the National Health Service (NHS), demonstrates the brand’s agility during crises. 

Read the full Boots case study here .

Retail case study #22: Sephora

Industry : Cosmetics

• Authentic customer experience-focused mentality: Backed by an impressive array of data, the case study meticulously outlines how Sephora transforms its in-store spaces into digital playgrounds, leveraging mobile technologies, screens, and augmented reality to enhance the customer shopping experience. 
• Exceptional omnichannel business plan: The early adoption of an omnichannel strategy has been pivotal to Sephora’s ascendancy. The case study delves into the mobile app’s central role, acting as a comprehensive beauty hub with data-driven insights that drive the success of groundbreaking technologies. 
• Omnichannel company culture: The case study illuminates this by detailing how this amalgamation allows a holistic view of the customer journey, blurring the lines between online and in-store interactions. This unique approach positions Sephora as a global leader in turning omnichannel thinking into a robust business strategy.
• Turning data into growth: Sephora’s adept utilization of mobile technologies to harness customer insights is a beacon for retailers in an era where data reigns supreme. The case study dissects how a surge in digital ad-driven sales, showcases the power of data-driven decision-making.

Read the full Sephora case study here .

Case studies for electronics and tools eCommerce retailers

Retail case study #23: screwfix.

Industry : Tools and hardware retail

• Innovative omnichannel approach: The case study highlights how the company strategically implemented online ordering with in-store pickup, creating a seamless shopping experience that contributed to a significant sales growth of 27.9% in just one year.
• Customer-centric strategies: Marketers can gain insights from Screwfix’s emphasis on customer experience. By studying customer feedback and incorporating personalized shopping experiences, Screwfix achieved success in the competitive home improvement sector. 
• Supply chain management for rapid growth: The company strategically opened distribution centers to keep up with demand, ensuring efficient inventory management for both online and in-store orders.
• Mobile-first approach for trade professionals: With a customer base primarily consisting of trade professionals, the company’s mobile app allows for easy inventory search, order placement, and quick pickups, catering to the needs of time-sensitive projects.
• Commitment to employee well-being and community: Retail executives and marketers can draw inspiration from Screwfix’s commitment to building a positive workplace culture.

Read the full Screwfix case study here .

Case Studies for toys and leisure eCommerce retailers

Retail case study #24: lego.

Industry : Toys and leisure retail

• Global reach strategies: LEGO’s case study meticulously outlines LEGO’s focused approach, investing in flagship stores and understanding the local market nuances.
• Diversification and licensing brilliance: LEGO’s commitment to diversification through licensing and merchandising emerges as a beacon for marketers. The collaboration with well-established brands, the creation of movie franchises, and themed playsets not only elevate brand visibility but also contribute significantly to sales. 
• Social media takeover: The case study unveils LEGO’s unparalleled success on social media platforms, boasting over 13 million Facebook followers and 10.04 billion views on YouTube. LEGO’s adept utilization of Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube showcases the power of social media in engaging customers. 
• User-generated content (UGC) as a cornerstone: LEGO’s innovative use of digital platforms to foster a community around user-generated content is a masterclass in customer engagement. This abundance of UGC not only strengthens brand loyalty but also serves as an authentic testament to LEGO’s positive impact on users’ lives.
• Education as a marketing pillar: LEGO’s unwavering commitment to education, exemplified by its partnerships and $24 million commitment to educational aid, positions the brand as more than just a toy. Aligning brand values with social causes and leveraging educational initiatives, builds trust and credibility.
• Cutting-edge mobile strategy: Sephora’s foresight into the mobile revolution is dissected in the case study, presenting a playbook for retailers aiming to capitalize on the mobile landscape.

Read the full LEGO case study here .

Tons of eCommerce retail inspiration, in one place

In the realm of business, success stories are not just tales of triumph but blueprints for aspiring executives to carve their paths to growth. The case studies explored here underscore a common theme: a mindset poised for evolution, a commitment to experimentation, and an embrace of emerging trends and technologies are the catalysts for unparalleled growth.

For any executive eager to script their growth story, these narratives serve as beacons illuminating the way forward. The dynamic world of retail beckons those ready to challenge the status quo, adopting the strategies and technologies that promise scalability. The key lies in constant optimization, mirroring the agility demonstrated by industry leaders.

As you embark on your growth journey, consider the invaluable lessons embedded in these success stories. Now is the time to experiment boldly, adopting new trends and technologies that align with your brand’s ethos. If you seek personalized guidance on navigating the intricate landscape of growth, our omnichannel retail experts at ContactPigeon are here to assist. Book a free consultation call to explore how our customer engagement platform can be the linchpin of your growth strategy. Remember, the path to scaling growth begins with a willingness to innovate, and your unwritten success story awaits its chapter of transformation.

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9 Case Studies That Prove Experiential Retail Is The Future

Table of Contents

What is a pop-up shop? Everything you need to know to try short-term retail  > 23 Smart Pop-Up Shop Ideas to Steal From These Successful Brands > 9 Case Studies That Prove Experiential Retail Is The Future

What is experiential retail, and how can experiential retail benefit your business?

Experiential retail is a term used to define a type of retailing that aims to provide customers with a unique and memorable experience. Experiential retail is typically characterized by one or more of the following features: the use of unique and interesting spaces, objects, or experiences; high levels of customer engagement; and the use of technology to enhance customer interactions.

One key aspect of experiential retail is the ability to create an attractive and welcoming environment for staff and customers alike. This can be achieved through a combination of factors, including good design, cleanliness, and lighting . Another important factor is how well the store reflects its brand identity.

Although there are many different types of experiential retail outlets, they all share certain common elements: they are designed to provide a memorable experience for their customers; they are focused on creating an enjoyable atmosphere for staff members as well as the public; they offer an appealing mix of products and services, and they use technology to enhance customer interactions.

Finally, experiential retail is not just about selling products or services. It is also about building strong relationships with customers that go beyond transactions.

Experiential retail is the future. For years we’ve heard about the decline of physical retail and the rise of the internet. However, the desire for retail experiences is on the rise with 52% millennials saying of their spending goes on experience-related purchases. This introduces the concept of ‘retailtainment’.

Enter: retailtainment

Because of this, retailers have evolved their offerings. By focusing on so-called ‘ retailtainment’ and immersive retail experiences, brands are able to provide customers with fun, unique and in-person experiences that elevate shopping to new heights.

With retailtainment, the retail industry is shifting attention from a features-and-benefits approach to a focus on immersive shopping and customer experience . To be successful, retailers must offer consumers a desirable retail experience that in turn drives sales.

What is meant by Retailtainment?

The term “retailtainment” is used to describe the trend of retailers using entertainment to attract customers and encourage them to spend more time – and money – in their stores. This can take the form of in-store events, interactive displays, and even simply providing a comfortable and enjoyable environment for customers to shop in. The goal of retailtainment is to create a unique and memorable shopping experience that will keep customers coming back.

With the rise of online shopping and brick-and-mortar retailers have to work harder than ever to compete. By offering an enjoyable and entertaining shopping experience, retailers can attract customers who are looking for more than just a transaction. Retailtainment can be a powerful tool to build customer loyalty and drive sales.

How does retailtainment fit in today’s retail experiential strategy?

As shoppers’ expectations become more demanding, retailers are turning to retailtainment to create a more engaging and memorable shopping experience. By incorporating elements of entertainment into the retail environment, retailers can create a unique and differentiated customer experience that will help them stand out from the competition.

There are a number of ways that retailtainment can be used to improve the customer experience. For example, retailers can use interactive technology to create an immersive shopping experience that engages shoppers on a personal level. Additionally, retailers can use entertainment to add excitement and energy to their store environment, making it more inviting and enjoyable for shoppers.

Ultimately, retailtainment can play a key role in helping retailers create a customer experience that is unique, differentiated, and memorable.

What is the difference between retailtainment and experiential retail?

Both retailtainment and experiential retail are designed to make the shopping experience more enjoyable and engaging. However, experiential retail goes a step further by creating an emotional connection with customers. This emotional connection can lead to brand loyalty and repeat business.

Thus, while both retailtainment and experiential retail are important trends in the retail industry, experiential retail is more focused on creating a lasting impression and emotional connection with customers.

Here are our 8 favorite examples of Experiential Retail and retailtainment in action:

Marvel: Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N provides fans with interactive brand building experience

The Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N. is an immersive exhibit that has toured the world since the first Avengers film. It has appeared in key retail areas such as New York Seoul Paris , Beijing, London and Las Vegas, and always pulls in huge crowds. Based on the global box-office film franchise, Marvel’s The Avengers, the store features real life movie props and interactive displays.

There are Marvel-branded items for sale but the goal of the project is not to shift T-shirts and mugs. It is about delivering an in-person experience to fans and bringing the brand to life.

The Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N. is a great example of retailtainment and experiential retail in action. Visitors are fully immersed in the fictional world they adore, further cementing their affiliation and love for the Marvel brand.

For a brand as strong and iconic as Marvel, it would be easy to sit back and take popularity for granted. However, through the use of retailtainment they are continuing to delight their customers beyond the screen.

Farfetch: Creating a retail experience of the future

Image via Bloomberg

Farfetch is as an e-commerce portal for luxury boutiques. It’s successfully positioned itself as a technology provider for brands; combining technology and fashion to provide unique in-store experiences.

José Neves, CEO of Farfetch, has spoken about his concern that physical retail is diminishing; it accounts for 93 per cent of sales today, but by 2025 is predicted to account for just 80 per cent.

Enter: Farfetch’s Augmented Retail Solution

Neves’ vision for retailtainment includes advancements in technology to make the consumer experience more human. He produced Farfetch’s Store of the Future, an augmented retail solution that “links the online and offline worlds, using data to enhance the retail experience.” In its retail store in London, Farfetch provided connected clothing racks, touch-screen-enhanced mirrors and sign-in stations that pulled data collected online to use in-store.

Farfetch provided customers with a sign-in screen to search their purchase history and wish list, which provided valuable customer insight for the sales assistants. There was also a smart mirror to request different sizes, alternative products or pay without leaving the dressing room.

This innovation led them to be labeled as “ The Retailer of the Future ”, allowing customers to enjoy an effortless in-person experience that harmonizes the best parts of boutique shopping with the speed and convenience of online shopping.

Read More: Excess Inventory Post-Holiday? Open a Pop-Up Shop

Huda Beauty: Cosmic experience in Covent Garden

Huda Beauty , one of the world’s fastest-growing beauty brands, ran an immersive retail experience pop-up store right in the centre of Covent Garden, London, to launch a new product range and reach new customers.

Huda used the location ( sourced by Storefront pop up space rental ) to deliver a sci-fi themed experience in support of their new eye-shadow palette Mercury Retrograde.

The entire exterior of the pop-up resembled a multi-faceted, metallic mass of geometrical shapes. This was echoed inside with various ‘galactic’ elements, all manner of mirrored surfaces and shimmering fixtures and elements.

As part of the event, visitors could sit on the throne Huda used in her launch material, all set up to encourage as much social media activity and engagement as possible.

Huda Beauty caught the eye and wowed its visitors. Introducing a whole swathe of new customers to the Huda Beauty brand.

Read More: 4 Beauty Brands Who Successfully Launched A Pop-Up Store

Vans: A shopping experience to remember

Image via Skateparks

The House of Vans in London lives up to the company motto of being “off the wall”. A location where art, music, BMX, street culture and fashion converge, you can find almost everything you can imagine across the 30,000 square feet building. Amongst a cinema, café, live music venue and art gallery, the bottom floor holds the most unique feature of the building: the concrete ramp, mini ramp and street course.

Nothing better epitomizes the Vans brand than a space where young people can not only shop but spontaneously socialize. The House of Vans is the perfect example of how experiential retail can be used to empower a shopping experience.

Read More: How The Music Industry Is Making The Most of Pop-Up Stores

Ikea: Using social media to power a unique retail experience

Ikea brought 100 Facebook competition winners to one of its warehouses and let them stay the night. They were able to select the mattress, sheets and pillows to fully give them a fully tailored experience. A sleep expert was on hand with tips for getting a good night’s rest, including how to find the perfect mattress for any sleeping style.

This was a clever and unique way to obtain visibility and get fans to focus on what Ikea has to offer and try it out for themselves.

This idea came from understanding their consumer insights on social media. Lois Blenkinsop, Ikea’s U.K. PR and internal communications manager, said: “Social media has opened up a unique platform for us to interact directly with our customers. Listening to what they want is what we do best, and the Big Sleepover is just one example of how we’re using such instant and open feedback to better inform our marketing activity.”

From using social media they were able to apply experiential marketing to their retail strategy and provide their customers with a memorable event that brought the brand a ton of visibility and engagement.

Space Ninety 8: showcasing the art of retailtainment

Image via @Space90

As a spin-off from Urban Outfitters, Space Ninety 8 is a shared retail space that spans 5 floors, hosting retailers, galleries and even a rooftop restaurant and bar.

Scanning their Instagram, you can see the variety of what Space Ninety 8 offers beyond solely retail. Advertised next to yoga classes is an album signing by Big Boi, alongside pictures of art classes and Lady GaGa merchandise. By reflecting the flexible nature of modern life, the brand created a versatile store that emphasizes experience, perfecting the art of retailtainment.

TOMS: creating an immersive experience through VR

Experiences don’t have to be a permanent feature of a store in order to make an impact on customers. In 2015 TOMS’ placed VR headsets into 100 stores, enabling them to virtually transport players to Peru to see the impact of their One for One giving campaign on local people.

As you walk through the village stores with locals smiling and waving at you, it is impossible not to feel warmed by the friendly atmosphere. Not only did this retail experience improve awareness of their social corporate responsibility and promote their giving campaign, it also gave customers an unforgettable and immersive experience they were unlikely to forget.

[Check out Toms’ continued focus on immersive retail experiences here]

How to Provide Retailtainment that Drives Traffic and Sales

These case studies all stress the importance of providing an in-store experience. By exceeding expectations you drive emotional reactions. There are five consistent elements each use in their stores to ensure a remarkable customer shopping experience:

• Interactiveness: All of these retailers ensure that the senses are connected – memories of what we feel, hear, see, smell, and touch, may last a lifetime.
• Originality: These ideas were all authentic and natural, making the customer feel as if they entered a different world.
• Connectedness: Customers must feel that the experience has been created for them.
• Unexpectedness: These unique experiences are critical to ensure your brand is remembered.
• Reliability: The experience is executed through tested methods to achieve consistency and excellence.

The future of experiential retail

As the world of retail continues to evolve, so too must the way brands create memorable experiences for their customers. With the rise of digital and mobile technologies, consumers now have more choices than ever before when it comes to how they shop and what they buy. To stay ahead of the curve, brands must find new and innovative ways to engage with their customers and create unforgettable shopping experiences.

One way to do this is through experiential retail – using physical spaces to create immersive, one-of-a-kind experiences that cannot be replicated online. This could involve anything from in-store events and workshops to augmented reality and virtual reality experiences.

Experiential marketing isn’t about spending millions on fancy gadgets for your retail store. Sure it can help, but it’s mostly about a personalized shopping experience and providing an unparalleled retail experience for your guests and customers. The brands that delight their customers are the brands that drive loyalty and advocacy. Couple this with excellent customer service and you’re on to a winner. These case studies all demonstrate how it is possible to follow similar steps to overcome the challenges eCommerce has brought.

The brands that use their physical stores to focus on the customer experience are the brands that will do the best. The dynamic between physical and online retail has shifted and the impact of the Covid 19 pandemic has only accentuated this.

Planning your own experiential retail project and need some help? Drop us a note and we’ll help you out.

For more on launching temporary retail stores and one-off events, download our Ultimate Pop-Up Guide and make your ideas happen.

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28 Case Study Examples Every Marketer Should See

Published: March 08, 2023

Putting together a compelling case study is one of the most powerful strategies for showcasing your product and attracting future customers. But it's not easy to create case studies that your audience can’t wait to read.

In this post, we’ll go over the definition of a case study and the best examples to inspire you.

What is a case study?

A case study is a detailed story of something your company did. It includes a beginning — often discussing a conflict, an explanation of what happened next, and a resolution that explains how the company solved or improved on something.

A case study proves how your product has helped other companies by demonstrating real-life results. Not only that, but marketing case studies with solutions typically contain quotes from the customer. This means that they’re not just ads where you praise your own product. Rather, other companies are praising your company — and there’s no stronger marketing material than a verbal recommendation or testimonial. A great case study is also filled with research and stats to back up points made about a project's results.

There are myriad ways to use case studies in your marketing strategy . From featuring them on your website to including them in a sales presentation, a case study is a strong, persuasive tool that shows customers why they should work with you — straight from another customer. Writing one from scratch is hard, though, which is why we’ve created a collection of case study templates for you to get started.

Fill out the form below to access the free case study templates.

Free Case Study Templates

Showcase your company's success using these three free case study templates.

• Data-Driven Case Study Template
• Product-Specific Case Study Template
• General Case Study Template

You're all set!

Click this link to access this resource at any time.

There’s no better way to generate more leads than by writing case studies . But without case study examples to draw inspiration from, it can be difficult to write impactful studies that convince visitors to submit a form.

Marketing Case Study Examples

To help you create an attractive and high-converting case study, we've put together a list of some of our favorites. This list includes famous case studies in marketing, technology, and business.

These studies can show you how to frame your company offers in a way that is both meaningful and useful to your audience. So, take a look, and let these examples inspire your next brilliant case study design.

These marketing case studies with solutions show the value proposition of each product. They also show how each company benefited in both the short and long term using quantitative data. In other words, you don’t get just nice statements, like "This company helped us a lot." You see actual change within the firm through numbers and figures.

You can put your learnings into action with HubSpot's Free Case Study Templates . Available as custom designs and text-based documents, you can upload these templates to your CMS or send them to prospects as you see fit.

1. " How Handled Scaled from Zero to 121 Locations with the Help of HubSpot ," by HubSpot

What's interesting about this case study is the way it leads with the customer. That reflects a major HubSpot cornerstone, which is to always solve for the customer first. The copy leads with a brief description of why the CEO of Handled founded the company and why he thought Handled could benefit from adopting a CRM. The case study also opens up with one key data point about Handled’s success using HubSpot, namely that it grew to 121 locations.

Notice that this case study uses mixed media. Yes, there is a short video, but it's elaborated upon in the other text on the page. So while your case studies can use one or the other, don't be afraid to combine written copy with visuals to emphasize the project's success.

Key Learnings from the HubSpot Case Study Example

• Give the case study a personal touch by focusing on the CEO rather than the company itself.
• Use multimedia to engage website visitors as they read the case study.

2. " The Whole Package ," by IDEO

Here's a design company that knows how to lead with simplicity in its case studies. As soon as the visitor arrives at the page, they’re greeted with a big, bold photo and the title of the case study — which just so happens to summarize how IDEO helped its client. It summarizes the case study in three snippets: The challenge, the impact, and the outcome.

Immediately, IDEO communicates its impact — the company partnered with H&M to remove plastic from its packaging — but it doesn't stop there. As the user scrolls down, the challenge, impact, and progress are elaborated upon with comprehensive (but not overwhelming) copy that outlines what that process looked like, replete with quotes and intriguing visuals.

Key Learnings from the IDEO Case Study Example

• Split up the takeaways of your case studies into bite-sized sections.
• Always use visuals and images to enrich the case study experience, especially if it’s a comprehensive case study.

3. " Rozum Robotics intensifies its PR game with Awario ," by Awario

In this case study, Awario greets the user with a summary straight away — so if you’re feeling up to reading the entire case study, you can scan the snapshot and understand how the company serves its customers. The case study then includes jump links to several sections, such as "Company Profile," "Rozum Robotics' Pains," "Challenge," "Solution," and "Results and Improvements."

The sparse copy and prominent headings show that you don’t need a lot of elaborate information to show the value of your products and services. Like the other case study examples on this list, it includes visuals and quotes to demonstrate the effectiveness of the company’s efforts. The case study ends with a bulleted list that shows the results.

Key Learnings from the Awario Robotics Case Study Example

• Create a table of contents to make your case study easier to navigate.
• Include a bulleted list of the results you achieved for your client.

4. " Chevrolet DTU ," by Carol H. Williams

If you’ve worked with a company that’s well-known, use only the name in the title — like Carol H. Williams, one of the nation’s top advertising agencies, does here. The "DTU," stands for "Discover the Unexpected." It generates interest because you want to find out what the initials mean.

They keep your interest in this case study by using a mixture of headings, images, and videos to describe the challenges, objectives, and solutions of the project. The case study closes with a summary of the key achievements that Chevrolet’s DTU Journalism Fellows reached during the project.

Key Learnings from the Carol H. Williams Case Study Example

• If you’ve worked with a big brand before, consider only using the name in the title — just enough to pique interest.
• Use a mixture of headings and subheadings to guide users through the case study.

5. " How Fractl Earned Links from 931 Unique Domains for Porch.com in a Single Year ," by Fractl

Fractl uses both text and graphic design in their Porch.com case study to immerse the viewer in a more interesting user experience. For instance, as you scroll, you'll see the results are illustrated in an infographic-design form as well as the text itself.

Further down the page, they use icons like a heart and a circle to illustrate their pitch angles, and graphs to showcase their results. Rather than writing which publications have mentioned Porch.com during Fractl’s campaign, they incorporated the media outlets’ icons for further visual diversity.

Key Learnings from the Fractl Case Study Example

• Let pictures speak for you by incorporating graphs, logos, and icons all throughout the case study.
• Start the case study by right away stating the key results, like Fractl does, instead of putting the results all the way at the bottom.

6. " The Met ," by Fantasy

What's the best way to showcase the responsiveness and user interface of a website? Probably by diving right into it with a series of simple showcases— which is exactly what Fantasy does on their case study page for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. They keep the page simple and clean, inviting you to review their redesign of the Met’s website feature-by-feature.

Each section is simple, showing a single piece of the new website's interface so that users aren’t overwhelmed with information and can focus on what matters most.

If you're more interested in text, you can read the objective for each feature. Fantasy understands that, as a potential customer, this is all you need to know. Scrolling further, you're greeted with a simple "Contact Us" CTA.

Key Learnings from the Fantasy Case Study Example

• You don’t have to write a ton of text to create a great case study. Focus on the solution you delivered itself.
• Include a CTA at the bottom inviting visitors to contact you.

7. " Rovio: How Rovio Grew Into a Gaming Superpower ," by App Annie

If your client had a lot of positive things to say about you, take a note from App Annie’s Rovio case study and open up with a quote from your client. The case study also closes with a quote, so that the case study doesn’t seem like a promotion written by your marketing team but a story that’s taken straight from your client’s mouth. It includes a photo of a Rovio employee, too.

Another thing this example does well? It immediately includes a link to the product that Rovio used (namely, App Annie Intelligence) at the top of the case study. The case study closes with a call-to-action button prompting users to book a demo.

Key Learnings from the App Annie Case Study Example

• Feature quotes from your client at the beginning and end of the case study.
• Include a mention of the product right at the beginning and prompt users to learn more about the product.

8. " Embracing first-party data: 3 success stories from HubSpot ," by Think with Google

Google takes a different approach to text-focused case studies by choosing three different companies to highlight.

The case study is clean and easily scannable. It has sections for each company, with quotes and headers that clarify the way these three distinct stories connect. The simple format also uses colors and text that align with the Google brand.

Another differentiator is the focus on data. This case study is less than a thousand words, but it's packed with useful data points. Data-driven insights quickly and clearly show how the value of leveraging first-party data while prioritizing consumer privacy.

Key Learnings from the Think with Google Case Study Example

• A case study doesn’t need to be long or complex to be powerful.
• Clear data points are a quick and effective way to prove value.

9. " In-Depth Performance Marketing Case Study ," by Switch

Switch is an international marketing agency based in Malta that knocks it out of the park with this case study. Its biggest challenge is effectively communicating what it did for its client without ever revealing the client’s name. It also effectively keeps non-marketers in the loop by including a glossary of terms on page 4.

The PDF case study reads like a compelling research article, including titles like "In-Depth Performance Marketing Case Study," "Scenario," and "Approach," so that readers get a high-level overview of what the client needed and why they approached Switch. It also includes a different page for each strategy. For instance, if you’d only be interested in hiring Switch for optimizing your Facebook ads, you can skip to page 10 to see how they did it.

The PDF is fourteen pages long but features big fonts and plenty of white space, so viewers can easily skim it in only a few minutes.

Key Learnings from the Switch Case Study Example

• If you want to go into specialized information, include a glossary of terms so that non-specialists can easily understand.
• Close with a CTA page in your case study PDF and include contact information for prospective clients.

10. " Gila River ," by OH Partners

Let pictures speak for you, like OH Partners did in this case study. While you’ll quickly come across a heading and some text when you land on this case study page, you’ll get the bulk of the case study through examples of actual work OH Partners did for its client. You will see OH Partners’ work in a billboard, magazine, and video. This communicates to website visitors that if they work with OH Partners, their business will be visible everywhere.

And like the other case studies here, it closes with a summary of what the firm achieved for its client in an eye-catching way.

Key Learnings from the OH Partners Case Study Example

• Let the visuals speak by including examples of the actual work you did for your client — which is especially useful for branding and marketing agencies.
• Always close out with your achievements and how they impacted your client.

11. " Facing a Hater ," by Digitas

Digitas' case study page for Sprite’s #ILOVEYOUHATER campaign keeps it brief while communicating the key facts of Digitas’ work for the popular soda brand. The page opens with an impactful image of a hundred people facing a single man. It turns out, that man is the biggest "bully" in Argentina, and the people facing him are those whom he’s bullied before.

Scrolling down, it's obvious that Digitas kept Sprite at the forefront of their strategy, but more than that, they used real people as their focal point. They leveraged the Twitter API to pull data from Tweets that people had actually tweeted to find the identity of the biggest "hater" in the country. That turned out to be @AguanteElCofler, a Twitter user who has since been suspended.

Key Learnings from the Digitas Case Study Example

• If a video was part of your work for your client, be sure to include the most impactful screenshot as the heading.
• Don’t be afraid to provide details on how you helped your client achieve their goals, including the tools you leveraged.

12. " Better Experiences for All ," by HermanMiller

HermanMiller sells sleek, utilitarian furniture with no frills and extreme functionality, and that ethos extends to its case study page for a hospital in Dubai.

What first attracted me to this case study was the beautiful video at the top and the clean user experience. User experience matters a lot in a case study. It determines whether users will keep reading or leave. Another notable aspect of this case study is that the video includes closed-captioning for greater accessibility, and users have the option of expanding the CC and searching through the text.

HermanMiller’s case study also offers an impressive amount of information packed in just a few short paragraphs for those wanting to understand the nuances of their strategy. It closes out with a quote from their client and, most importantly, the list of furniture products that the hospital purchased from the brand.

Key Learnings from the HermanMiller Case Study Example

• Close out with a list of products that users can buy after reading the case study.
• Include accessibility features such as closed captioning and night mode to make your case study more user-friendly.

13. " Capital One on AWS ," by Amazon

Do you work continuously with your clients? Consider structuring your case study page like Amazon did in this stellar case study example. Instead of just featuring one article about Capital One and how it benefited from using AWS, Amazon features a series of articles that you can then access if you’re interested in reading more. It goes all the way back to 2016, all with different stories that feature Capital One’s achievements using AWS.

This may look unattainable for a small firm, but you don’t have to go to extreme measures and do it for every single one of your clients. You could choose the one you most wish to focus on and establish a contact both on your side and your client’s for coming up with the content. Check in every year and write a new piece. These don’t have to be long, either — five hundred to eight hundred words will do.

Key Learnings from the Amazon AWS Case Study Example

• Write a new article each year featuring one of your clients, then include links to those articles in one big case study page.
• Consider including external articles as well that emphasize your client’s success in their industry.

14. " HackReactor teaches the world to code #withAsana ," by Asana

While Asana's case study design looks text-heavy, there's a good reason. It reads like a creative story, told entirely from the customer's perspective.

For instance, Asana knows you won't trust its word alone on why this product is useful. So, they let Tony Phillips, HackReactor CEO, tell you instead: "We take in a lot of information. Our brains are awful at storage but very good at thinking; you really start to want some third party to store your information so you can do something with it."

Asana features frequent quotes from Phillips to break up the wall of text and humanize the case study. It reads like an in-depth interview and captivates the reader through creative storytelling. Even more, Asana includes in-depth detail about how HackReactor uses Asana. This includes how they build templates and workflows:

"There's a huge differentiator between Asana and other tools, and that’s the very easy API access. Even if Asana isn’t the perfect fit for a workflow, someone like me— a relatively mediocre software engineer—can add functionality via the API to build a custom solution that helps a team get more done."

Key Learnings from the Asana Example

• Include quotes from your client throughout the case study.
• Provide extensive detail on how your client worked with you or used your product.

15. " Rips Sewed, Brand Love Reaped ," by Amp Agency

Amp Agency's Patagonia marketing strategy aimed to appeal to a new audience through guerrilla marketing efforts and a coast-to-coast road trip. Their case study page effectively conveys a voyager theme, complete with real photos of Patagonia customers from across the U.S., and a map of the expedition. I liked Amp Agency's storytelling approach best. It captures viewers' attention from start to finish simply because it's an intriguing and unique approach to marketing.

Key Learnings from the Amp Agency Example

• Open up with a summary that communicates who your client is and why they reached out to you.
• Like in the other case study examples, you’ll want to close out with a quantitative list of your achievements.

16. " NetApp ," by Evisort

Evisort opens up its NetApp case study with an at-a-glance overview of the client. It’s imperative to always focus on the client in your case study — not on your amazing product and equally amazing team. By opening up with a snapshot of the client’s company, Evisort places the focus on the client.

This case study example checks all the boxes for a great case study that’s informative, thorough, and compelling. It includes quotes from the client and details about the challenges NetApp faced during the COVID pandemic. It closes out with a quote from the client and with a link to download the case study in PDF format, which is incredibly important if you want your case study to be accessible in a wider variety of formats.

Key Learnings from the Evisort Example

• Place the focus immediately on your client by including a snapshot of their company.
• Mention challenging eras, such as a pandemic or recession, to show how your company can help your client succeed even during difficult times.

17. " Copernicus Land Monitoring – CLC+ Core ," by Cloudflight

Including highly specialized information in your case study is an effective way to show prospects that you’re not just trying to get their business. You’re deep within their industry, too, and willing to learn everything you need to learn to create a solution that works specifically for them.

Cloudflight does a splendid job at that in its Copernicus Land Monitoring case study. While the information may be difficult to read at first glance, it will capture the interest of prospects who are in the environmental industry. It thus shows Cloudflight’s value as a partner much more effectively than a general case study would.

The page is comprehensive and ends with a compelling call-to-action — "Looking for a solution that automates, and enhances your Big Data system? Are you struggling with large datasets and accessibility? We would be happy to advise and support you!" The clean, whitespace-heavy page is an effective example of using a case study to capture future leads.

Key Learnings from the Cloudflight Case Study Example

• Don’t be afraid to get technical in your explanation of what you did for your client.
• Include a snapshot of the sales representative prospects should contact, especially if you have different sales reps for different industries, like Cloudflight does.

18. " Valvoline Increases Coupon Send Rate by 76% with Textel’s MMS Picture Texting ," by Textel

If you’re targeting large enterprises with a long purchasing cycle, you’ll want to include a wealth of information in an easily transferable format. That’s what Textel does here in its PDF case study for Valvoline. It greets the user with an eye-catching headline that shows the value of using Textel. Valvoline saw a significant return on investment from using the platform.

Another smart decision in this case study is highlighting the client’s quote by putting it in green font and doing the same thing for the client’s results because it helps the reader quickly connect the two pieces of information. If you’re in a hurry, you can also take a look at the "At a Glance" column to get the key facts of the case study, starting with information about Valvoline.

Key Learnings from the Textel Case Study Example

• Include your client’s ROI right in the title of the case study.
• Add an "At a Glance" column to your case study PDF to make it easy to get insights without needing to read all the text.

19. " Hunt Club and Happeo — a tech-enabled love story ," by Happeo

In this blog-post-like case study, Happeo opens with a quote from the client, then dives into a compelling heading: "Technology at the forefront of Hunt Club's strategy." Say you’re investigating Happeo as a solution and consider your firm to be technology-driven. This approach would spark your curiosity about why the client chose to work with Happeo. It also effectively communicates the software’s value proposition without sounding like it’s coming from an in-house marketing team.

Every paragraph is a quote written from the customer’s perspective. Later down the page, the case study also dives into "the features that changed the game for Hunt Club," giving Happeo a chance to highlight some of the platform’s most salient features.

Key Learnings from the Happeo Case Study Example

• Consider writing the entirety of the case study from the perspective of the customer.
• Include a list of the features that convinced your client to go with you.

20. " Red Sox Season Campaign ," by CTP Boston

What's great about CTP's case study page for their Red Sox Season Campaign is their combination of video, images, and text. A video automatically begins playing when you visit the page, and as you scroll, you'll see more embedded videos of Red Sox players, a compilation of print ads, and social media images you can click to enlarge.

At the bottom, it says "Find out how we can do something similar for your brand." The page is clean, cohesive, and aesthetically pleasing. It invites viewers to appreciate the well-roundedness of CTP's campaign for Boston's beloved baseball team.

Key Learnings from the CTP Case Study Example

• Include a video in the heading of the case study.
• Close with a call-to-action that makes leads want to turn into prospects.

21. " Acoustic ," by Genuine

Sometimes, simple is key. Genuine's case study for Acoustic is straightforward and minimal, with just a few short paragraphs, including "Reimagining the B2B website experience," "Speaking to marketers 1:1," and "Inventing Together." After the core of the case study, we then see a quote from Acoustic’s CMO and the results Genuine achieved for the company.

The simplicity of the page allows the reader to focus on both the visual aspects and the copy. The page displays Genuine's brand personality while offering the viewer all the necessary information they need.

• You don’t need to write a lot to create a great case study. Keep it simple.
• Always include quantifiable data to illustrate the results you achieved for your client.

22. " Using Apptio Targetprocess Automated Rules in Wargaming ," by Apptio

Apptio’s case study for Wargaming summarizes three key pieces of information right at the beginning: The goals, the obstacles, and the results.

Readers then have the opportunity to continue reading — or they can walk away right then with the information they need. This case study also excels in keeping the human interest factor by formatting the information like an interview.

The piece is well-organized and uses compelling headers to keep the reader engaged. Despite its length, Apptio's case study is appealing enough to keep the viewer's attention. Every Apptio case study ends with a "recommendation for other companies" section, where the client can give advice for other companies that are looking for a similar solution but aren’t sure how to get started.

Key Learnings from the Apptio Case Study Example

• Put your client in an advisory role by giving them the opportunity to give recommendations to other companies that are reading the case study.
• Include the takeaways from the case study right at the beginning so prospects quickly get what they need.

23. " Airbnb + Zendesk: building a powerful solution together ," by Zendesk

Zendesk's Airbnb case study reads like a blog post, and focuses equally on Zendesk and Airbnb, highlighting a true partnership between the companies. To captivate readers, it begins like this: "Halfway around the globe is a place to stay with your name on it. At least for a weekend."

The piece focuses on telling a good story and provides photographs of beautiful Airbnb locations. In a case study meant to highlight Zendesk's helpfulness, nothing could be more authentic than their decision to focus on Airbnb's service in such great detail.

Key Learnings from the Zendesk Case Study Example

• Include images of your client’s offerings — not necessarily of the service or product you provided. Notice how Zendesk doesn’t include screenshots of its product.
• Include a call-to-action right at the beginning of the case study. Zendesk gives you two options: to find a solution or start a trial.

24. " Biobot Customer Success Story: Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida ," by Biobot

Like some of the other top examples in this list, Biobot opens its case study with a quote from its client, which captures the value proposition of working with Biobot. It mentions the COVID pandemic and goes into detail about the challenges the client faced during this time.

This case study is structured more like a news article than a traditional case study. This format can work in more formal industries where decision-makers need to see in-depth information about the case. Be sure to test different methods and measure engagement .

Key Learnings from the Biobot Case Study Example

• Mention environmental, public health, or economic emergencies and how you helped your client get past such difficult times.
• Feel free to write the case study like a normal blog post, but be sure to test different methods to find the one that best works for you.

25. " Discovering Cost Savings With Efficient Decision Making ," by Gartner

You don't always need a ton of text or a video to convey your message — sometimes, you just need a few paragraphs and bullet points. Gartner does a fantastic job of quickly providing the fundamental statistics a potential customer would need to know, without boggling down their readers with dense paragraphs. The case study closes with a shaded box that summarizes the impact that Gartner had on its client. It includes a quote and a call-to-action to "Learn More."

Key Learnings from the Gartner Case Study Example

• Feel free to keep the case study short.
• Include a call-to-action at the bottom that takes the reader to a page that most relates to them.

26. " Bringing an Operator to the Game ," by Redapt

This case study example by Redapt is another great demonstration of the power of summarizing your case study’s takeaways right at the start of the study. Redapt includes three easy-to-scan columns: "The problem," "the solution," and "the outcome." But its most notable feature is a section titled "Moment of clarity," which shows why this particular project was difficult or challenging.

The section is shaded in green, making it impossible to miss. Redapt does the same thing for each case study. In the same way, you should highlight the "turning point" for both you and your client when you were working toward a solution.

Key Learnings from the Redapt Case Study Example

• Highlight the turning point for both you and your client during the solution-seeking process.
• Use the same structure (including the same headings) for your case studies to make them easy to scan and read.

27. " Virtual Call Center Sees 300% Boost In Contact Rate ," by Convoso

Convoso’s PDF case study for Digital Market Media immediately mentions the results that the client achieved and takes advantage of white space. On the second page, the case study presents more influential results. It’s colorful and engaging and closes with a spread that prompts readers to request a demo.

Key Learnings from the Convoso Case Study Example

• List the results of your work right at the beginning of the case study.
• Use color to differentiate your case study from others. Convoso’s example is one of the most colorful ones on this list.

28. " Ensuring quality of service during a pandemic ," by Ericsson

Ericsson’s case study page for Orange Spain is an excellent example of using diverse written and visual media — such as videos, graphs, and quotes — to showcase the success a client experienced. Throughout the case study, Ericsson provides links to product and service pages users might find relevant as they’re reading the study.

For instance, under the heading "Preloaded with the power of automation," Ericsson mentions its Ericsson Operations Engine product, then links to that product page. It closes the case study with a link to another product page.

Key Learnings from the Ericsson Case Study Example

• Link to product pages throughout the case study so that readers can learn more about the solution you offer.
• Use multimedia to engage users as they read the case study.

Start creating your case study.

Now that you've got a great list of examples of case studies, think about a topic you'd like to write about that highlights your company or work you did with a customer.

A customer’s success story is the most persuasive marketing material you could ever create. With a strong portfolio of case studies, you can ensure prospects know why they should give you their business.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in August 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

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Case Study: Retail Store Maximizes Success With Multi-Channel Advertising

April 11, 2023

In today’s competitive retail market, multi-channel advertising is essential for success. Consumers are increasingly turning to digital channels to find the products they want and need. As such, retail stores must use digital advertising across the right channels to reach their target audiences and drive sales.

Google, Facebook and YouTube are three of the most popular digital advertising channels for retail stores. Google allows businesses to reach customers through its search engine, display network and shopping ads. Facebook provides the opportunity to create targeted ads and reach new audiences. And, YouTube is an incredibly popular platform.

Using these channels, retail stores can reach potential customers with targeted ads and increase brand awareness. With targeted ads, retailers can create ads tailored to their target audience, ensuring that the right people see the right message. This can help retailers attract more customers and increase sales.

Ultimately, digital advertising is an essential part of any retail marketing strategy. By leveraging the right channels, retailers can reach their target audiences and drive sales.

Local retail store drives success with multi-channel advertising

One local retailer — a lighting and decor store — learned just how powerful the right multi-channel advertising can be.

Over the past six months, they’ve driven millions of impressions, tens of thousands of clicks and hundreds of conversions.

Compared to their advertising performance over the previous 6-month period, they saw a 111% increase in impressions, a 130% increase in clicks and a 256% increase in conversions.

How did they do it?

The first step toward success for this retail store was to identify the advertising channels most popular with their target audience — Google, Facebook and YouTube.

They ran a variety of campaigns across popular channels to reach many different goals, from building their brand to reconnecting with leads and customers and driving sales.

With shopping ads on Google, they were able to get their products in front of people actively searching for relevant keywords online.

By bidding on brand-related keywords, they were able to secure the top spot in brand searches and take up more real estate on page one.

Facebooked targeting allowed them to get their products in front of the people most likely to be interested.

They also ran retargeting ads on Facebook and Google, which helped them reconnect with leads who previously visited their website.

Finally, they ran shopping ads on YouTube, allowing them to showcase their products on the second-largest search engine.

Digital advertising is a key part of any modern retail marketing strategy, but in order to make the most of it, it’s essential to use the right channels. With a smart multi-channel advertising strategy, retailers can build their brands, drive leads and maximize success.

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More than ever, retailers need to understand and quickly adapt to evolving shifts in consumer shopping behavior. With scaling and automation, machine learning and AI , segmentation, and personalization, retailers find new and innovative ways to increase brand awareness, change perception, improve web traffic, and grow revenue.

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Case Study: Can Retailers Win Back Shoppers Who Browse then Buy Online?

• Thales S. Teixeira
• Sunil Gupta

A brick-and-mortar retailer searches for a response to “showrooming.”

Bertice Jenson couldn’t believe how shameless they were. Right in front of her in the Benjy’s superstore in Oklahoma City, a young couple pointed a smartphone at a Samsung 50-inch Ultra HD TV and then used an app to find an online price for it. They did the same for a Sony and an LG LED model, as the Munchkins from The Wizard of Oz danced across all three screens.

• TT Thales  S. Teixeira  is the co-founder of Decoupling.co, a digital disruption and transformation consulting firm. He is the author of  Unlocking the Customer Value Chain: How Decoupling Drives Consumer Disruption  and a panel judge in CNBC’s Disruptor 50 annual startup competition. Previously he was a professor at Harvard Business School for ten years and now teaches at the University of California.
• SG Sunil Gupta is the Edward W. Carter Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.

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Round Up: Get Inspired by These 9 Digital Shopper Marketing Examples (with Sales Results)

We’ve rounded up the most inspiring digital shopper marketing case studies from brands and agencies that have boosted sales at in-store and ecommerce retailers.

And not just good-looking examples. All examples below have sales results showing how they moved the needle at retailers.

If you’re a shopper marketer or integrated marketing pro looking for inspiration for your next campaign, I hope this helps. Finding great shopper marketing examples out there, especially with results data, takes a good bit of hunting and sifting. I feel your pain. Gathering the info below took some time.

Moving More Budgets From In-store to Digital

You need good information to help you determine where best to put your shopper marketing budgets. This is especially true now as many shopper marketing budgets are moving in-store activities to digital activities.

And there are a lot of options out there. Paid social, display ads, rewarded video, influencer marketing, cross-promotion… To help make sense of this, I tried my best to tag each campaign with the type of marketing used. (If you think some of the tags could be better, give your suggestions in the chat on this page.)

So here is some inspiring work from a range of shopper marketing agencies and brands using a variety of digital shopper marketing activities and platforms.

I hope you find some inspiration.

1. Paid Social Media Ads for Shopper Marketing with Geo-targeting

Shopper Marketing Paid Social Media Geotargeting

Jun Group drove a 24% YOY increase in sales for a top sun care CPG brand at Walmart. Their campaign “geo-targeted the campaign to the brand’s key markets to reach outdoorsy families. We distributed summer-themed content across social media platforms and encouraged consumers to purchase the brand’s products at Walmart.”

2. Paid Social Media Ads for Shopper Marketing with Location, Behavioral and Purchase Data Targeting

Shopper Marketing Paid Social Media Geotargeting Behavioral Targeting Purchase Targeting Influencer Marketing

Another one from Jun Group. The program delivered a 35% in-store sales lift for featured tea products at Target.

“We leveraged location, behavioral and purchase data to reach the brand’s core shoppers at scale. We also partnered with food and lifestyle influencers to create and distribute recipes to inspire purchases.”

3. Retailer eCommerce Product Page Enhancements

Shopper Marketing eCommerce eCommerce Content

The Mars Agency helped sparkling water brand become a #1 new release on Amazon. They launched with enhanced content on Amazon to showcase different meal pairings and occasions.

4. Optimize Retailer eCommerce Channel

Shopper Marketing eCommerce eCommerce Optimization Paid Social Media

TPN helped a direct to consumer challenger brand in the luxury beauty space achieve a sustained growth rate of 30-50% MoM via optimizing an ecommerce channel and social media.

“TPN optimized the Amazon presence of Oars + Alps to raise brand awareness, grow overall sales, and further establish the brand story. The success of this strategy ultimately helped Oars + Alps gain significant shelf space at Target, a major retailer favored by this specific shopper.

“During the initial phase of our engagement, Oars + Alps enjoyed a sustained growth rate of 30-50% MoM. Today, the brand is a leader in the luxury beauty category, with a 4+ star rating on Amazon.”

5. Cross-Promotion Shopper Marketing Partnerships

Shopper Marketing Cross Promotion Partnerships In-store Shopper Marketing Out-of-store Shopper Marketing Banner Ads

Hangar 12 used cross promotion for a blue cheese brand to drive total sales increase in mid-single digits and both base and incremental sales increased over a 12-week period.

The goal was to drive brand awareness and increase trial.

Hangar 12’s solution included partnerships with both product (Frank’s Red Hot) and publisher (SeriousEats.com).

“After gathering appropriate shopper basket data to identify partners to help expand awareness, we collaborated with Frank’s Red Hot, a partner whose recipes would accentuate and complement blue cheese perfectly. Plus, it would bring our brand to the hot sauce aisle.

“We created an integrated marketing promotion for Treasure Cave to drive brand awareness and increase trial. Our campaign included online, in-store, and out-of-store elements as well as overlay additional media and support through a partnership with SeriousEats.com. Serious Eats helped with custom recipes, sponsored posts, and banner ads to encourage their Millennial audience to learn more about Treasure Cave cheeses.”

6. Video Marketing That Helps Shoppers Earn at Targeted Retailer

Shopper Marketing Video Marketing Mobile Marketing Rewarded Shopper Marketing Loyalty Card & Gift Card Marketing

NIVEA achieved a 5:1 return on ad spend for its promoted product line at targeted stores (15:1 brand-wide) with video marketing on Dabbl .

The brand experience included 2 videos, one that highlighted NIVEA’s “Rethink Soft” brand positioning and the second that focused specifically on the promoted product line. Consumers engaged further by giving their opinions on the products. All of these engagements took place within one continuous session averaging 76 seconds and used 100% of their screen.

NIVEA was able to get this high level of engagement by not interrupting consumers like traditional media ads. Instead, consumers chose to engage when it was right for them. In return, NIVEA helped their audience earn at the targeted retailer.

Brands and agencies reach Walmart, Target, Amazon, ShopRite and other retailer shoppers on Dabbl and help them earn the retailer’s gift cards or add to a loyalty card.

7. A Collection of Shopper Marketing Activities

Shopper Marketing Digital Advertising Retailer Partnerships Influencer Marketing Rewarded Shopper Marketing

Shoptology delivered 141% sales lift at Krogers with a mix of brand marketing and shopper marketing activities including digital advertising, retailer partnerships, influencer marketing and rewarded shopper marketing.

After defining the brand position and product differentiation of “pure convenience that make everyday desserts fun and easy”, Shoptology “took a multilayered approach, strategically choosing the media, partnering with retailer programs and bringing the “Layers of Fun” shopper campaign to life with everything from Shopkick to digital media to paid influencers and more.

“All retailers saw at least double-digit sales lifts for Friendly’s Sundae and Dessert Cups — even hitting triple digits at Kroger with a 141% sales lift””

8. Comprehensive Brand Marketing and Shopper Marketing

Shopper Marketing Paid and Organic Social Media Brand Strategy Experiential Marketing Website Grassroots Marketing Point of Sale Display Advertising Digital Display Advertising Integrated Promotions Paid Search SEO

The Amp Agency boosted sales +26% YOY for the Naked juice brand while maintaining its premium price. This, despite new competitors entering the space.

The Amp Agency delivered a comprehensive suite of brand marketing and shopper marketing activities for the brand including point of sale, integrated promotions and display ads.

Here’s how the agency summarized some of the key components:

Web Redesign Drives trial and weaves together Naked Juice’s beliefs, practices and products.

Display Ads Drives awareness and consideration by extending Naked’s values system communications into paid media.

Integrated Promotions Connects the community base while helping to sparking new product and flavor launches.

Grassroots Drives advocacy by delivering the Live Naked message to the doorstep of influencers and advocates.

Point of Sale Drives trial and repeat purchase by connecting brand values to consumers at retail.

Social Media Boosts advocacy and awareness via a curated editorial calendar that supplements authentic conversation with quality content.

9. Video Marketing That Helps Shoppers Earn at Targeted Retailer + Digital Coupon

Here’s another one using the Dabbl platform. Eight O’Clock Coffee saw their Barista Blends product line jump from 37% of sales to 87% of sales at the targeted retailer and delivered a 4:1 ROAS for the promoted products.

This was achieved via a single audience experience that combined both brand marketing and shopper marketing.

Retailer shoppers watched a product-line brand video, gave opinions on products and were offered a digital coupon that was instantly added to their retailer loyalty card with a tap of a button. Consumers spent an average 31 seconds with the experience which also delivered a 10.7% click through rate.

Like the NIVEA example above, these targeted retailer shoppers were not interrupted with ads. Instead, they chose when to engage with the brand and they earned value on their loyalty card for their time and attention.

I hope you’re as inspired by these digital shopper marketing case studies as I am. The common thread I’m seeing from these examples seems to be: choose a combination of marketing activities that achieve the simple formula of:

• Reach the right audience.
• Deliver brand marketing storytelling and engagement.
• Encourage shopper marketing activation.

Have a Case Study That Belongs Here?

Are you a brand or agency with a case study that belongs on this list? Tap the orange chat icon on this page and let us know for our next roundup.

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Case Study | Inside Nike’s Radical Direct-to-Consumer Strategy

• Chantal Fernandez

In October 2020, in the middle of a global pandemic that had infected 188 countries, causing record sales damage across the retail sector, Nike’s share price hit an all-time high.

Like other retailers, Nike had been forced to close most of its network of more than 900 stores across the world, as had its key wholesale partners like Nordstrom and Foot Locker.

But the American sportswear giant’s performance during the pandemic, when its online sales spiked, signalled to many that Nike had the competency to prosper long term, in a future that will be increasingly defined by e-commerce and digital brand connections.

It was a validation of a strategy that Nike prioritised three years ago, dubbing it “Consumer Direct Offense,” but the seeds of the approach go back almost a decade.

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Above all, Nike is a marketing company. It doesn’t just sell sneakers; it sells the brand aspiration that imbues those sneakers with meaning. But to achieve the reach required to scale its business, Nike’s distribution strategy had long-relied on third-party retailers to sell its products, even if the consumer experience offered by those partners diluted its brand.

But in a future increasingly defined by e-commerce, fast-moving trends and, above all, the rising power of branding to drive consumer preference when competitors are just a click away, Nike realised that in order to thrive, it needed to take control of its distribution to better manage its brand and deepen its connection with consumers.

It was definitely architecting a new retail, and a bold, retail vision for Nike.

Such an evolution is easier said than done, especially for a business as large as Nike in a category as competitive as sportswear. But by radically cutting back on its wholesale distribution and raising the bar for brand experience with the third-party partners that remained; expanding its focus on content, community and customisation to keep customers close; investing in its data analytics and logistics capabilities; and rethinking the role of the store as a brand stage, Nike drove a veritable direct-to-consumer revolution.

When the pandemic hit, these shifts went into overdrive.

“It was definitely architecting a new retail, and a bold, retail vision for Nike,” said Heidi O’Neill, Nike’s president of consumer and marketplace, and one of the most prominent executives leading the brand’s new strategy in recent years. “But it started with our consumer, and we knew that consumers wanted a more direct relationship with us today.”

In this case study, BoF breaks down Nike’s pioneering direct-to consumer strategy and how it has worked to the brand’s advantage, propelling its share price to new heights during the global crisis of 2020.

Click below to read the case study now.

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Optimal planning with AI

How a leading US retailer used AI to improve marketing spend.

3-minute read

Call for change

Every year, a top American retailer sees some $14-15 billion in marketing-driven sales, which means decisions on how to allocate marketing dollars—and specifically, media spend—aren’t taken lightly.

But using historical data to decide where to spend among the dozens of channels available—from traditional TV to Tik Tok—isn’t easy. The data is often stale by the time it’s available to analyze, and the number of new channels and platforms grows all the time.

With so much money at stake and the difficulty in getting quick answers, increased speed and agility were at the top of the retailer’s wish list, and the company issued a challenge to Accenture: To get more specific, actionable insights faster.

When tech meets human ingenuity

Accenture partnered with the retailer to design an AI-powered solution that would enable faster and better data collection and more precise modeling to optimize media spend. The first task was speeding up the existing data flow process, then aggregating and processing all the data from media channels, sales and spend that fed the measurement model. By customizing AIP+ , Accenture’s pre-integrated AI services and capabilities, to do the data aggregation, we helped cut the existing process by 80% using automation to accelerate processing and validation.

With data flow addressed, the team looked next to alter the underlying model that produced the measurement. Previously, these models were hypothesis-driven, i.e., people would painstakingly hypothesize every possible interdependency between different channels. New machine learning was introduced to the process, helping to proactively identify those interdependencies between channels that potentially drive sales. With the new monthly cadence, the team could refresh the models every month, iterating from the previous month’s model instead of starting from scratch. By hosting deep-dive training sessions for employees on the modeling methodology, the team offered them transparency that earned buy-in and trust in the solution.

A valuable difference

The results were significant..

The solution shortened the lag between the measurement period and performance insights from five months to five weeks, opening up a 10 and a half month planning runway for the same period the following year. Also, going from one annual measurement (where performance was expressed as an average) to monthly measurements meant that insights were more nuanced, so the team could see how one channel or another might vary in performance throughout the year.

Even more concretely, the team estimates that $300 million in media buying opportunities and value creation was unlocked by implementing the new tool. This meant the team could spend the same amount on media and generate an additional $300 million in sales.

Home › Case Studies › How Retail Marketing Analytics can help with rise in Sales Margin?

How Retail Marketing Analytics can help with rise in Sales Margin?

Written By: Sudeshna Ghosh

Key Takeaways of Retail Marketing Analytics

• Quantzig’s advanced retail analytics revolutionized the retail firm’s strategic marketing and resource allocation, leading to significant cost savings, optimized marketing expenditures, and 10% rise in sales margin. 
• The formulation of a comprehensive marketing plan template aligned the client’s marketing objectives with overarching business strategies, enabling a strategic allocation of resources and higher ROI. 
• Implementation of a new multichannel marketing strategy provided invaluable consumer insights into customer behavior and engagement patterns, facilitating the development of robust customer engagement strategies tailored to meet evolving consumers’ needs. 
• The analytics-driven approach provided unparalleled visibility into the impact of marketing spend across various channels, enabling more informed decision-making and continual optimization of marketing strategies for maximum effectiveness. 
• Quantzig’s solution empowered the client to quantify the effectiveness of different marketing channels and campaigns, optimizing resource allocation and reallocating resources to channels delivering the highest ROI. 

Introduction to Retail Marketing Analytics

The retail industry necessitates innovative strategies to drive growth, enhance customer engagement, and optimize profitability. A compelling case study underscores the transformative impact of Retail Marketing Analytics, wherein a retail client witnessed a remarkable 10% rise in sales margin. This success story exemplifies the power of leveraging data-driven insights, advanced analytics tools, and strategic decision-making to unlock untapped potential, streamline operations, and capitalize on market opportunities. By harnessing the capabilities of Retail Marketing Analytics, organizations can gain a competitive edge, foster customer loyalty, and achieve sustainable growth in an increasingly dynamic and competitive marketplace.

Book a demo to experience the meaningful insights we derive from data through our analytical tools and platform capabilities. Schedule a demo today! 

Quantzig’s Success Story

Client details:.

Quantzig collaborated with a prominent retail industry leader with a global presence to optimize their marketing strategies and drive sales growth. The client, renowned for its expansive network of retail outlets spanning across geographical locations, sought to enhance its market performance and profitability through data-driven insights and tailored marketing solutions. With a keen focus on leveraging advanced analytics to gain a competitive edge in the highly dynamic retail landscape, the client aspired to maximize the effectiveness of its marketing initiatives and strengthen its position as a leader in the industry. 

Challenges Faced by the Client  

The client wanted to leverage Quantzig ’s solution to develop a precise marketing plan template. The template was to be used as a roadmap to enhance customer reach and improve the organization’s profits. Additionally, the client wanted to devise the right marketing plan to identify target groups, devise strategies to reach them, and study the future of retail to retain maximum customers. 

A leading retail industry player with offices spread across the globe wanted to optimize the mix of short-term and long-term marketing activities to achieve sales growth and increase marketing effectiveness. Additionally, due to the relatively short life cycles for new electronics products, there was a significant dip in their sales. As a result, the retail industry player wanted to determine a proper mix of long-term brand building and short-term marketing activities to increase revenues. 

A data-driven, multichannel marketing approach is key to driving sales as a better understanding of customer interactions with your brand empowers you to optimize customer touchpoints and deliver the relevant message, which in turn, ensures the customers engage with your brand while they switch channels. The use of multiple marketing channels also helps you gain a better read on how your campaigns are performing, making sure you spend your marketing dollars efficiently. A multichannel marketing approach is critical to the success of any marketing plan as customers today use several channels to access products and services and often switch channels after a single transaction.  

Revolutionary Retail Marketing Analytics Solutions for the Client  

With the proper understanding of the problem, this is how Quantzig provided and strategised their soluton.

Client’s Success with Marketing Analytics:

After gaining the desired information about the retail industry, the client was able to assess and identify the impact of marketing on revenue and market shares. The client was also able to increase sales, decrease customer acquisition costs, and further increase the efficiency. Moreover, the client identified the robust marketing campaigns or channels, where the customers interacted before purchasing the products. Robust marketing analytics solution also helped the client identify the average value and quantity of items purchased per transaction to further measure the market performance. 

Utilizing Marketing Mix Modeling:

There are many factors that affect sales revenue. A marketing mix strategy helps to examine the major factors which are responsible for explaining the sales variation in a given period by categorizing them into- base factors, macroeconomic factors, and promotions. Constant sales variations due to several such factors prompted a retail industry player to leverage MMM techniques to examine the major factors affecting their sales over of period of time. The client also wanted to use Quantzig’s solutions to measure the impact of their marketing investments on sales and optimize marketing spend. 

Tailored Solutions for Specific Requirements:

The requirements of the retail industry client were quite specific, and to meet them our experts collaborated with the client’s team to evaluate the impact of their marketing strategies and develop ROI simulators for scenario analysis and planning. A detailed assessment of the marketing performance of different media platforms offered detailed insights into media contributions and insights. Also, by employing a team of experts with a clear understanding of the client’s industry we offered tailored solutions to help them gain accurate insights into the ROI of their marketing efforts, understand the impact of changing their marketing strategies, and to measure the effectiveness of their overall marketing campaigns. 

Insights for Strategic Decision-Making:

Based on their business requirements, the client joined forces with Quantzig’s team to yield a wealth of quantitative insights on the negative impact of competitor sales for products in the same category. The solution helped the client measure the effectiveness of activities by selling seasons. Also, we provided additional insights into how the retailer should reschedule manufacturing activities to support key selling seasons, leading to an increase of 12% in returns. 

Multichannel Marketing Solutions:

Quantzig’s marketing analytics experts offered an intelligent, integrated multichannel marketing solution that focused on combining multiple channel data streams to maximize the return on investment from specific customer groups and reduce the rate of cart abandonment. Apart from offering a seamless, consistent experience for their prospects the multichannel marketing strategy enabled the client to improve the customer experience, create targeted messaging, attribute revenue to specific marketing campaigns, and boost the overall MROI. By using a better multichannel marketing strategy the client was able to focus their marketing dollars on specific segments, which in turn, helped them recover nearly 10% of abandoned cart revenue and increase order value from these abandoned carts by over 20%. 

Data-Driven Strategic Decisions:

Quantzig’s data-driven marketing strategy helped the client use data to obtain actionable insights and drive strategic decisions. Quantzig’s industry specialists performed a marketing analysis to enhance their business efficiency. Our expertise in analyzing datasets helped this retail grocery chain giant improve the marketing channel’s transparency and enhance accountability and credibility of their marketing strategies. 

Retail Marketing Analytics for the Industry  

1. challenges in retail marketing:.

In today’s intensely competitive market, the retail industry is facing uncertainties in terms of rapidly changing demographics and frequent fluctuations in the economy. The retailers in the retail space are trying to understand the products and services that are most attractive to the customers. With the altering preferences and shopping trends behaviors of the customers, leading organizations in the retail industry are advocating the need for marketing analytics. This solution helps organizations identify potential customers, devise marketing strategies to attract, retain, and improve the value of the customers, and organize supply chain movement. Also, various retailers are shifting from a product-centric environment to a customer-centric environment to deliver better-targeted messages to specific segments of the retail industry. 

2. Shift to Customer-Centric Approach:

Effectively devising marketing analytics helps retailers identify the customer segments that represent the majority of the sales revenue and margin. To understand the assortments, pricing, service behaviors, and marketing communications, leading businesses are approaching organizations like Quantzig. With years of expertise in offering a plethora of solutions, Quantzig’s solution helps businesses shift toward a more customer-centric business model and determine the most effective marketing campaigns to address the target audience in the retail industry. 

3. Factors Driving Retail Evolution:

The retail industry is a continuously evolving one and the ongoing digitization is driving a new breed of retail that will offer newer experiences to its customers. Disruptions in the form of retail price inflation, customization, and digital disruptions are key factors that define the future of retail. These factors have further leveraged the need to examine the industry from every possible angle and develop a precise marketing plan template that acts as a roadmap to retail success. 

4. Roadblocks in Marketing Success:

A recent survey of several digital advertising decision-makers, including CMOs at some of the largest retailers in the U.S., found that despite the marketing mix being held accountable for growing sales and market share, roadblocks such as increased demands, organizational challenges, and external market forces are impeding success. 

5. Importance of Marketing Mix Modeling:

Marketing mix modeling acts as a decision-making tool that retail industry players can leverage to figure out an optimal spend allocation strategy. It is the process of quantifying the impact of each marketing vehicle in terms of its advertising effectiveness and ROI. Doing so can help create a roadmap for their future strategy by defining how to plan and adjust their marketing budgets, as well as other tasks such as pricing and distribution strategies. 

6. Quantzig’s Solutions in Marketing Mix Optimization:

Quantzig’s solutions assist clients in the retail industry space to increase and maintain market shares based on the optimization of marketing spends. Also, through a robust marketing mix model, businesses can evaluate and improve individual and granular ROIs across channels. 

Why Is Retail Marketing Analytics So Important?

Marketing analytics in retail refers to the use of data and statistical methods to analyze marketing efforts and customer behavior in the retail industry. It helps retailers optimize their marketing strategies, enhance customer targeting, and improve overall business performance. Retailers use various tools and techniques like data mining, demand and supply data analysis, predictive modeling, predictive algorithms, cloud computing, and machine learning to gain insights from vast amounts of customer and sales data. By analyzing customer purchasing patterns, retailers can personalize marketing campaigns, offer tailored promotions, and improve customer engagement. Marketing analytics in retail also enables retailers to evaluate the effectiveness of different marketing channels and allocate resources more efficiently for maximum return on investment. 

1. Enhanced Decision-making with Data Insights:

Retail marketing analytics empowers businesses to make informed decisions by leveraging data-driven insights. By analyzing purchasing patterns, demand predictions, and customer behavior through tools such as machine learning and business intelligence software, retailers can tailor their marketing campaigns, pricing strategies, and product allocations to meet the evolving needs and preferences of their target audience. This data-driven approach enables retailers to optimize their inventory management, enhance customer engagement, and improve overall operational efficiency.

2. Improved Customer Loyalty and Satisfaction:

Understanding customer behavior and preferences is essential for fostering long-term relationships and building loyalty. By utilizing retail analytics tools to analyze customer data from various sources such as point-of-sale systems, CRM software, and loyalty programs, retailers can personalize advertising campaigns, offer targeted promotions, and provide exceptional customer service experiences. This personalized approach enhances customer satisfaction, increases brand loyalty, and ultimately drives repeat purchases and higher customer lifetime value.

3. Effective Pricing and Merchandising Strategies:

Retail marketing analytics enables retailers to make data-driven pricing decisions and optimize merchandise assortments. By analyzing demographic, transactional, and behavioral data, retailers can identify pricing trends, determine optimal price points, and adjust pricing strategies in real-time to remain competitive in the market. Additionally, merchandise attribute analytics and inventory planning tools help retailers optimize product assortments, minimize stockouts, and maximize sales opportunities, ultimately leading to improved profitability and revenue growth.

4. Strategic Business Planning and Competitive Advantage:

In today’s highly competitive retail landscape, staying ahead of the competition requires a deep understanding of market trends, consumer behavior, and emerging opportunities. Retail marketing analytics provides retailers with actionable insights derived from internal and external data sources, including market research, psychographic data, and competitor analysis. By leveraging statistical analysis, visualization tools, and recommendation engines, retailers can identify growth opportunities, streamline supply chain movement, and adapt their strategies to changing market dynamics, thereby gaining a competitive advantage and driving sustainable business growth.

Benefits of Retail Marketing Analytics

Businesses rely on comprehensive retail analytics to drive strategic marketing decisions. Utilizing advanced techniques like segmentation and precise metrics, retailers gain deep customer insights and market trends. Through meticulous forecasting, they anticipate shifts in demand and adjust pricing strategies accordingly. Effective branding efforts, supported by insightful analytics, strengthen brand identity and foster customer loyalty. Leveraging data from social platforms and rigorous market research, retailers optimize promotion strategies for maximum impact. With a focus on performance across diverse products, businesses identify growth opportunities, ensuring sustainable success amidst evolving consumer demands. 

1. Informed Decision-making with Data Insights:

This technique empowers businesses to make strategic marketing decisions based on comprehensive data analysis. By leveraging data analytics software and business intelligence tools, retailers can gain insights into demand and supply data, customer behavior, purchasing patterns, and consumer demand predictions. This allows them to optimize inventory management, organize supply chain movement, allocate products effectively, and adjust pricing and procurement decisions in real-time to meet consumer demands and maximize profitability. Additionally, machine learning algorithms enable retailers to identify trends and patterns in data, facilitating more accurate forecasting and decision-making across various aspects of the retail operations.

2. Enhanced Customer Loyalty and Satisfaction:

Utilizing this tool enables retailers to better understand their customers and tailor marketing campaigns and loyalty programs to meet their needs. By analyzing customer data from POS systems, CRM software, and loyalty programs, retailers can personalize marketing messages, offer targeted promotions, and deliver exceptional customer service experiences. This personalized approach fosters stronger customer relationships, increases customer loyalty, and ultimately drives repeat purchases and higher customer lifetime value, contributing to long-term business success.

3. Optimized Inventory Management and Product Allocations:

These tools provide valuable insights into inventory analytics and merchandise attributes, enabling retailers to optimize inventory planning and management processes. By analyzing transactional data and merchandise attributes, retailers can identify fast-moving products, slow-moving items, and trends in consumer preferences. This allows them to make informed procurement decisions regarding product allocations, inventory replenishment, and assortment planning, minimizing stockouts, reducing excess inventory costs, and improving overall operational efficiency.

This tool enables retailers to gain a competitive edge by leveraging data from internal and external sources to inform strategic business procurement decisions. By conducting statistical analysis, market research, and consumer behavior studies, retailers can identify market trends, assess competitive threats, and capitalize on emerging opportunities. Additionally, retail analytics facilitates pricing optimization, staffing decisions, and customer engagement strategies, allowing retailers to differentiate themselves in the market and stay ahead of the competition. Ultimately, leveraging retail analytics provides retailers with the insights they need to drive business growth, enhance operational efficiency, and deliver superior customer experiences.

In conclusion, Retail Marketing Analytics offers a wide range of benefits for businesses operating in the competitive retail landscape. By harnessing internal sources and tapping into external repositories, retailers gain valuable insights for effective demand forecasting and optimizing store layouts. Advanced AI technologies facilitate impactful visualizations, AI and machine learning features, and AI-based data analyses, enhancing ecommerce-site navigation and driving success for fashion retailers. Moreover, prioritizing security practices and leveraging insights from analyst reports and cloud economics fosters corporate responsibility and diversity and inclusion initiatives. Through continuous analysis, retailers uncover business processes and improvement opportunities, ensuring sustainable growth and competitiveness in the ever-evolving retail landscape. 

Key Metrics and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for Retail Marketing Analytics 

In the retail industry, leveraging data analytics is paramount for achieving sustained success. By scrutinizing various metrics and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), retailers can unearth invaluable customer insights, market trends, demand and supply data analysis, and competitor strategies. This article delves into three critical metrics and KPIs that wield significant influence over profits, pricing strategies, and overall business outcomes, shedding light on their importance in optimizing retail operations. 

1. Conversion Rate: 

Conversion rate measures the percentage of website visitors or store visitors who complete a desired action, such as making a purchase. This metric directly reflects the effectiveness of retail strategies and the overall customer experience. It provides insights into consumer needs and purchasing patterns, guiding retailers in refining their offerings and optimizing store layouts. 

By understanding conversion rates, retailers can tailor their content and promotions to better resonate with their target audience. Moreover, it aids in identifying potential bottlenecks in the purchasing process, facilitating smoother transactions and enhancing customer loyalty. 

2. Basket Size: 

Basket size, also known as average order value, quantifies the average monetary value of transactions within a given period. Understanding basket size offers retailers a glimpse into consumer spending habits, preferences, and purchasing patterns. It helps in devising effective pricing strategies, bundling discounts, and optimizing product assortments to maximize profits. 

By analyzing basket size, retailers can identify opportunities to upsell or cross-sell products, thereby increasing the overall transaction value. Additionally, it aids in tailoring promotional offers and incentives to incentivize larger purchases, ultimately driving revenue growth. 

3. Customer Lifetime Value (CLV): 

Customer lifetime value represents the total revenue a retailer can expect from a single customer over their entire relationship. CLV is instrumental in gauging the long-term impact of customer interactions and loyalty initiatives. It helps retailers prioritize customer acquisition and retention strategies, allocate resources effectively, and optimize channel investments. 

By focusing on enhancing CLV, retailers can foster enduring relationships with customers, leading to repeat purchases, increased brand loyalty, and positive word-of-mouth. Moreover, it enables retailers to differentiate themselves from competitors and sustain profitability in a competitive retail landscape. 

In a nutshell, mastering key metrics and KPIs is indispensable for driving informed decisions, fortifying strategies, and delivering exceptional customer experiences. By harnessing insights gleaned from conversion rates, basket size, and customer lifetime value, retailers can unlock new ways to elevate their business performance, foster enduring customer relationships, and thrive in an ever-evolving marketplace. 

Retail Marketing Analytics Best Practices

1. Comprehensive Data Utilization for Informed Decision-making:

Successful implementation of this tool starts with leveraging a wide range of data sources, including customer data, transactional data, and demographic information, to gain deep insights into purchasing patterns, customer behavior, and market trends. By utilizing data analytics software and business intelligence tools, retailers can conduct thorough statistical analysis, predictive algorithms, and predictive modeling to inform strategic decision-making across inventory management, pricing optimization, and marketing campaigns. Machine learning algorithms facilitate the identification of patterns and correlations within the data, enabling retailers to make data-driven decisions that drive business growth and enhance competitive advantage.

2. Effective Inventory Management and Product Allocations:

A critical aspect of best practices involves optimizing inventory management systems and product allocations to meet customer demand and minimize costs. By analyzing inventory analytics and merchandise attributes, retailers can identify fast-moving products, anticipate demand fluctuations, and adjust inventory levels accordingly. Point-of-sale systems and inventory levels management systems play a crucial role in providing real-time visibility into inventory levels, enabling retailers to make informed decisions regarding stock replenishment, assortment planning, and store allocations. This ensures optimal product availability, reduces stockouts, and improves overall operational efficiency.

3. Personalized Customer Engagement and Loyalty Programs:

This technique enables retailers to enhance customer loyalty and satisfaction by personalizing marketing campaigns and loyalty programs based on customer preferences and behavior. By leveraging customer data from CRM software and loyalty programs, retailers can segment their customer base, target specific demographics, and tailor promotional offers to individual preferences. Additionally, in-store analytics and customer engagement tools enable retailers to deliver personalized shopping experiences, analyze shopping trends, provide exceptional customer service, and build stronger relationships with customers. This personalized approach fosters loyalty, increases repeat purchases, and ultimately drives long-term business success.

4. Continuous Monitoring, Analysis, and Optimization:

The best practices emphasize the importance of continuous monitoring, analysis, and optimization to adapt to changing market dynamics and consumer preferences. By regularly reviewing key performance indicators, conducting market research, and analyzing consumer behavior, retailers can identify areas for improvement and implement data-driven strategies to drive business growth. Recommendations generated through business intelligence tools and machine learning algorithms provide valuable insights for refining pricing strategies, staffing decisions, and merchandise assortments. By embracing a culture of data-driven decision-making and continuous improvement, retailers can stay agile, responsive, and competitive in the dynamic retail landscape.

Get started with your complimentary trial today and delve into our platform without any obligations. Explore our wide range of customized, consumption driven analytical solutions services built across the analytical maturity levels. 

In conclusion, the case study highlighting a 10% rise in sales margin through Retail Marketing Analytics underscores the pivotal role of data-driven strategies in reshaping the retail landscape. By embracing advanced analytics, organizations can uncover actionable insights, optimize marketing initiatives, enhance customer experiences, and drive profitability. This success story serves as a testament to the transformative power of this tool, emphasizing its potential to revolutionize retail operations, foster innovation, and deliver tangible results. As the retail industry continues to evolve, leveraging analytics-driven approaches will be instrumental in navigating challenges, capitalizing on opportunities, and achieving sustainable success in today’s competitive marketplace.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is retail marketing analytics, what are the 4 types of retail analytics, how big data is changing retail marketing analytics, what are the four key methods of marketing analytics, which kinds of decisions does retail analytics help retailers make, recent posts.

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In-store marketing effectiveness: 4 proven case studies

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• Greets each shopper upon entering the store
• Discusses the latest product news
• Directs and personally ushers shoppers to specific items in-aisle
• Answers questions
• Assists with purchase

This holistic customer experience is guaranteed to leave shoppers feeling satisfied and well cared for. Shopkick has the ability to deliver that same in-store marketing effectiveness in one convenient app, and partner with virtually any CPG brand or retailer. The loyalty program works by offering kicks (reward points) to mobile app users, which can later be redeemed for gift cards to popular retailers like Walmart, Target and Amazon, dining options like Starbucks, and even entertainment options like AMC, iTunes, and Hotels.com. Traditionally, brands have relied on end cap displays, in-aisle discounts, and coupons to capture the attention of shoppers upon their arrival to the store. However, these advertising tactics have become static and are increasingly ignored by customers. Worst of all, these methods force brands to slash prices, chipping away at their market value and profit margins. Shopkick incentivizes shoppers to actively interact with brands by rewarding them for their store visits, for scanning product barcodes in-aisle, browsing digital “lookbooks,” watching informative branded videos, and more. This method of rewarding customers for non-monetized activities successfully leads shoppers down the purchase funnel to a final point of sale, ultimately earning them lucrative bonus kicks.

• 84% of shoppers use mobile in-store.
• Digital displays are 2.5x more effective than static signs.
• Pre-shop research increases in-store spend by an average of 13% .
• 56% of customers want to see, touch, and interact with products in-person before buying.

Leading brands know they can’t expect to be marketplace leaders by using the same marketing strategies year after year. They must continually adapt, using the best available marketing stacks, tools, and resources. Continue reading to see how key CPG players like Claritin, Kraft, Barilla, and Georgia-Pacific partnered with Shopkick to educate, inspire, and boost their in-store marketing effectiveness.

Campaign Goals

• Build Brand Awareness
• Drive Trial and Consideration
• Boost Sales

Shopkick Solution

• Provide Educational In-App Content
• Guide Shoppers to Product At-Shelf
• Reward Shoppers for Product Engagement
• Reward Shoppers Additional Points for Purchasing

• Over 28M campaign impressions
• 4:1 Return On Investment
• 59% Unplanned Incremental Sales
• Cross-Promote Products
• Guide Shoppers to Products At-Shelf
• Over 9M In-Store Engagements
• Over 18M Campaign Impressions
• 27% Conversion Rate
• 7:6.1 Return On Investment
• 55% Incremental Purchases
• Build Product Awareness
• Drive Trial
• Reward Shoppers Additional Points for Proof of Purchase
• 66% Brand Awareness Increase
• 50% Conversion Rate
• 68% Lift in Future Purchase Intent

Georgia-Pacific

• Use Post-Scan Video to Spotlight Product Features
• Reward Shoppers for Product Engagement and Purchase
• Offer Dynamic Kicks to Drive Sales
• Over 16M Impressions Total
• 1.7M Impressions In-Store
• 99% Video Completion Rate
• 50% Incremental Purchase

Drive In-Store Marketing Effectiveness With a Proven Differentiator

Debbie Zefting, Barilla Director of Shopper Strategy and Engagement, said it best:

The results driven for Claritin, Kraft, Barilla, and Georgia-Pacific indicate the importance of reaching customers at each stage throughout the shopping journey, and implementing effective in-store marketing strategies. Shoppers have long held the technology we needed to reach them directly. With the widespread adoption of smartphones in recent years and the ever-growing desire to simplify life through helpful, interactive apps, Shopkick is the right solution at the right time. Shopkick is unique in the fact that it not only engages customers at home, but also on the go, in the store, and at the crucial point of decision-making. Best of all, Shopkick drives engagement and sales without coupons or discounts, allowing partners to drive sales at full price and preserve margins.

Shopkick is a popular mobile app that rewards shoppers for engagement with partnering brands, particularly at the point of purchase in-aisle. Shopkick is a powerful tool for in-store marketing effectiveness, helping brands surpass competitors. Contact us to see how easy it is to get started and achieve significant ROI.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Shopkick is the fun and easy way to earn free gift cards for the shopping you already do. Download the app now!

• July 24, 2020
• BY SHOPKICK

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Dima Volovik

Evp of product and engineering.

Dima Volovik is the EVP of Product and Engineering at Trax Retail — Shopkick.

Dima Volovik is the accomplished product and engineering leader who led teams to deliver innovative and commercially successful e-commerce products, marketplaces, and enterprise solutions for Amazon, Comcast, Fandango, and Universal Music. Before joining Trax, Dima was the Director at Amazon, where he led product development and Engineering for Amazon Appstore and Amazon Prime Video, CTO at Fandango, and Paciolan, head of technology at Golf Channel/Golf Now, and Global VP of Direct to Consumer Technology at Universal Music Group. Dima’s expertise includes developing consumer products, marketplaces, and enterprise solutions.

Dima grew up in Baku, Azerbaijan, where he received his MS in Electrical Engineering from Azerbaijan Oil Academy, and he currently resides in Los Angeles, California, with his family.

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Unlocking eCommerce Growth: ZALORA's Case Study in Retail Media Success

(Psst, PUMA saw a sales uplift of 600%!!) Nike, Adidas, Under Armour, even brands such as Coach and Burberry. Long-established world-renowned retail brands that have been making their marks globally are racing to be noticed through retail media network. Are you a brand struggling to reach new customers across the booming Asia market?

With access to first-party data (especially crucial in a cookie-less future) and touching the growing base of online consumers, eCommerce has soared to new heights. As the new marketing phenomenon expected to be the fastest-growing advertising channel, 87% of brands in Asia are planning to increase their retail media spend over the next year.

In this exclusive case study with Alin Dobrea, Head of Marketing Strategy & Partnerships at ZALORA, Asia’s leading Online Fashion and Lifestyle Destination, we explore how retail media network bring revenue potential to brands on their platform. With 12 years of marketing experience, we find out,

• Techniques to deliver highly personalised product recommendations, increase conversion rates and sales !
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Grab our latest case study, case study: revealing revenue potential - retail media network.

Small Business Case Studies Showcasing Successful Retail Consultant Strategies

Access My FREE 5-Part Retail Sales Training Email Course!

Here are several business makeover case studies from some of the smallest retailers to some of the largest who've used me as their guide to growing their sales.

While I don't rely on a sales staff or cold-calling to get new business, use these case studies to familiarize yourself with my work.

I help various sizes of businesses, and these case study successes are theirs.

At Eklund’s, a Business Makeover Story of Astonishing Retail Transformation

Retail Business Makeover – The Importance Of Owning Your Own Space [Case Study]

Country Market & Nursery Makeover [Case Study]

This family business reinvention was completed in the first quarter of 2013. Discover this 3-part blog featuring Black Horse Farms, which includes great lessons on attracting customers to your store and getting them to return.

Creating Buzz For Your Small Business [Case Study]

To generate sustainable buzz in your business that leads to higher profits, you must be a business worthy of buzz. That means you have to earn your customers' trust. This is the transformation story of one of my first clients, Polly’s Gourmet Coffee, with lessons on how to grow your retail business.

How to Attract Customers to Your Retail Store

Is location a problem? This case study spotlights the results of creatively leveraging your retail location. So many times, the thing that can most attract a customer - or make them drive right on by - is the exterior of your store.

Retail Consultant Sales Training Results In Double-Digit Increase

This case study featured a custom program developed to incorporate a new store design. The program included custom phone scripts, sales training, personal coaching, and role-playing for owners and their salespeople.

Retail Consultant Success Changing A Regional Chain's Culture

This case study spotlights changing a company's entire culture from nurturing to nurturing and selling . From the CEO, "We had become bogged down in survival. And it wasn’t a healthy place to be… Not for me as the leader or my team. I needed someone to help me work on a new direction for my business and help me hear and observe what was going on. I was looking for a shift change in who we were."  

What Retailers Can Learn From A Hotel Makeover [Case Study]

This 3-part study of a culture change shows how the client focused on a remarkable experience for their customers. And the revenues followed.

How Brand Identity Makes Your Marketing Easier [Case Study]

Knowing your brand identity - what it is based on and who it is targeting makes your marketing job much easier.

Best Retail Consultant Success: Changing A Toy Store Retail Sales Culture [Case Study]

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5 Signs Your Retail Store Needs A Makeover

The role of retailers during brand scandals: insights from a case study

International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management

ISSN : 0959-0552

Article publication date: 21 December 2021

Issue publication date: 18 February 2022

• Supplementary Material

The role of retailers in influencing consumer attitude during a brand scandal is quite complex, as retailers are in direct contact with both marketers and consumers. The purpose of the exploratory research is to propose a theoretical model to capture the influences retailers exercise on consumers during brand scandals.

Design/methodology/approach

A qualitative approach has been adopted in the study. The study employs the grounded theory approach on the data collected by conducting in-depth interviews with 25 retailers.

Four contextual conditions and six behavioral antecedents of the retailer's role in the context of the brand scandal were identified. Then, the study finds that companies tend to follow two broad approaches during a brand scandal to address retailers' queries and apprehensions. On these bases, the study proposes a six-pronged typology to better understand retailers' role in shaping consumers' brand perception.

Originality/value

Existing literature has not paid adequate attention to this aspect of retailers' role in influencing consumer choices during brand scandal. To the best of the authors' knowledge, there is no prior research which investigates the role and influence of retailers in shaping consumer attitude during brand scandals. It is important to underline that the current research advocates retailers' significant role during a performance-based brand scandal. Specifically, the authors explored a health-related defective scandal of a well-known food brand. In addition, the study focuses on traditional grocery retailers, which already have special relationships with their consumers. Based on retailer perspectives, the authors' contribution is also updating the discussion of branding theory in case of scandals. The identified variables and constructs may be used for empirical investigation on the role of retailers in shaping consumer attitudes toward the scandalized brand.

• Grounded theory
• Brand scandal

Kapoor, S. , Banerjee, S. and Signori, P. (2022), "The role of retailers during brand scandals: insights from a case study", International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management , Vol. 50 No. 2, pp. 276-298. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJRDM-04-2021-0153

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2021, Sunaina Kapoor, Saikat Banerjee and Paola Signori

Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode

1. Introduction

When a brand scandal happens, it might cause severe consequences for the corporate owning that brand ( Yakut and Bayraktaroglu, 2020 ; Khamitov et al. , 2020 ), causing disruptions and damage along the entire supply chain ( Behzadi et al. , 2018 ) consumers included ( Kennedy and Guzmán, 2020 ). Regaining consumer confidence after food safety scandals is extremely challenging ( Wang and Alexander, 2018 ), but some researchers implied that if the brand is loved and has a strong market position, it may be forgiven ( Zhang et al. , 2020 ; Wei et al. , 2020 ). This research, based on a case study, argue that also some members of the distribution channel may have played an active role in supporting that brand to survive the scandal. Our main assumption is that in some markets, if a misalignment between consumer's expectations and brand's promise exists, a supply chain member might save a brand and it could be the retailer. This role may be particularly impactful where local traditional grocery retailers represent the great majority of the share of domestic retail and Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) sales ( Mishra, 2019 ). During the 2020 pandemic, some governments in developing countries permitted grocery retailers, which account for 60% of store-based retailing sales, to continue their operations ( Sullivan, 2020 ). Thus, unorganized retailers represent the distribution backbone for fulfilling consumer essential item needs ( Euromonitor International, 2020 ).

Past studies largely examined brand wrongdoings and their impact on brand–consumer relationships ( Baghi and Gabrielli, 2019 ; Huber et al. , 2010 ; Liu et al. , 2018 ; Roy et al. , 2018 ). Nevertheless, some authors also assert that brand managers should go beyond a narrow understanding of the relationship between target consumers and brands ( Herstein and Zvilling, 2011 ) and that further research should focus on more complex sets of relationships among consumers, retailers and manufacturers ( Cleeren et al. , 2017 ). Hence, this study's primary objective is to develop a conceptual framework on the role of retailers during brand scandals, exploring the Nestle's Maggi brand case. Previously, other researchers selected this specific case study to understand how brands need to communicate and how consumers behave from a post-crisis perspective ( Dhanesh and Sriramesh, 2018 ; Mishra and Sharma, 2019 ; Srivastava, 2019 ; Mishra, 2017 ; Banerjee, 2018 ). However, they mainly explored the consequences of wrongdoings only after their occurrence and did not focus on managing the triadic relationship during a scandal to prevent worsening of the situation into a brand crisis.

Updating and reviewing the same case from a different perspective, we assumed that retailers may have played an active role in managing this scandal, through their direct relationships with consumers, even without specific guidance from the brand managers. A scandal can push further detrimental to brands if consumers' and retailers' perceptions become mismatched ( Gautam and Sharma, 2019 ). Given a lack of research investigating distribution intermediaries' potential influence on consumer attitudes and preferences in case of brand scandal, this study attempts to contribute to this gap by observing the retailers' role during and after brand scandals ( Cleeren et al. , 2017 ). In particular, our study is exploring the relationship management role of intermediaries during a brand scandal that are not yet theorized.

This paper begins with presenting a review of relevant literature and the resulting research questions to be explored in the next section. Catering to the article's exploratory research design, it then conceptualizes retailers' responses using grounded theory methodology. Then, findings from open and axial coding, concerning retailers view about themselves, consumers and corporate action at the time of brand scandal, are presented. Based on these qualitative results, a conceptual framework on the role of retailers during the brand scandal is theoretically presented, contributing to the scandal management theory. Drawing it on relationship management, some implications for managers and future studies suggestions are concluding this paper.

2. Literature background and research questions

Sims (2009) defines brand scandal as an unethical action or event that causes outrage against a particular brand ( Tucker and Melewar, 2005 ). Recently, Kapoor and Banerjee (2021) described brand scandal as an issue leading to either loss of consumer confidence in the brand entirely or creating indecisive future brand purchase intention among them. Brand scandals are complex situations in which products are found to be defective, unsafe or even dangerous ( Vassilikopoulou et al. , 2009 ). Such events may lead to a brand crisis ( Li and Wei, 2016 ), which if not correctly managed, may impact brand value with severe consequences and limited-time responses ( Xu and Li, 2013 ). Product-harm wrongdoings are often causes of brand scandals that disappoint consumers and have negative consequences on brand reputation and financial assets ( Coombs, 2007 ; Huber et al. , 2010 ), cause revenue losses ( Cleeren et al. , 2013 ), deterioration in brand equity ( Dawar and Pillutla, 2000 ) and negative brand perceptions and lower-purchase intentions ( Huber et al. , 2010 ). Brand scandals are not synonymous of crisis: while former answers how consumers perceive a brand's wrongdoing, the latter underlines brand's perceptions and actions thereafter to deal with a wrongdoing that could possibly threaten their physical existence ( Pauchant and Mitroff, 1992 ). As consumers are not always in direct contact with brand managers, retailers may play an important role in scandal management. Further studies on this role are called by an extensive literature review that revealed a gap in research on the triadic relationship between consumers, channel members and marketers in case of brand scandals ( Kapoor and Banerjee, 2021 ).

The initial purpose of this study was then to analyze a famous brand scandal through the retailers' eyes to investigate retailer–consumer relationships when a manufacturer's brand scandal happens. The Maggi scandal has been selected for our research because it comprises defective food product performance of a fast-moving consumer good that widely impacted consumers nationwide, had prolonged effect overtime and its distribution chain relies on unorganized local retailers. Besides this particular brand case, numerous other case studies have discussed scandals of well-known brands like General Motors ( Maiorescu, 2016 ), Toyota ( Hegner et al. , 2016 ; Gaustad et al. , 2020 ), Samsung ( Yuan et al. , 2020 ) and Volkswagen ( Yakut and Bayraktaroglu, 2020 ). Some researchers have explored the consumer's point of view, examining post-scandal consumer trust, purchase intention, consumer's brand identification, consumer's forgiveness and consumer brand reliability ( Yuan et al. , 2020 ; Hegner et al. , 2016 ; Gaustad et al. , 2020 ). Few others focused on the industrial brand perspective, exploring scandal response strategies, identifying scandal type, brand diagnosticity, brand reputation and gender-specific communication strategies ( Maiorescu, 2016 ; Gaustad et al. , 2020 ; Yakut and Bayraktaroglu, 2020 ). To the best of our knowledge, case studies on brand scandals adopting the retailers' point of view are scarce.

2.1 The importance of understanding retailers' perceptions about brand scandals

Which elements can influence retailers' perceptions of a brand scandal?

2.2 Retailers insights on consumer behavior in case of brand scandals

How do consumers inquires can shape retailers intervention during a brand scandal?

2.3 Suppliers' role in guiding local retailer's interaction with consumers in case of brand scandal

Suppliers are aware that customers' self-concept and retailers' image are crucial dimensions for building strong consumer–retailer relationships ( Willems and Swinnen, 2011 ). In addition, retailers collect relevant consumer information, including personality traits, emotions, choices, influential attributes and desires that are crucial for marketers ( Maggioni, 2020 ). Local retailers are much more aware of their neighboring community and consumers' shopping behavior; as opposed to large retail, they authentically adopt a market-centric approach while dealing with consumers ( Smith and Sparks, 2000 ). Many consumers want to engage in retail store communities, impacting their store commitment ( Peters and Bodkin, 2021 ). In particular, local retailers are preferred for grocery shopping due to personal interactions, familiarity and trust ( Khare, 2014 ).

In case of brand scandals, consumers are often unsure about the negative news spread via different mediums ( Bozic and Kuppelwieser, 2019 ) and assume that retailers are in direct contact with marketers. These more personal interactions with consumers motivate these retailers to deliver better service value and reduce consumer defections ( Baker and Cameron, 1996 ), and this service value could further be enhanced with professional guidance from the marketers, in particular, when facing problems. Hence, suppliers should play an active role in supporting retailers, communicating honest and timely information to deliver to final consumers. Retailers may act as brand ambassadors and communication vehicles, behaving as brand gateways to connect with consumers, and brand's first information should flow through them during scandals. Suppliers often rely on the information gathered by retailers about contemporary consumers' behavior ( Maggioni, 2020 ). Accordingly, they may involve retailers in addressing consumers' queries and skepticism during such eventualities. Recently, Ladwein and Romero (2021) showcase the importance of supplier–retailer relationship. It held that consumers' trust in suppliers and retailers both impact their purchase intention for quality products.

How do suppliers actions are impacting the retailers' intermediating role with consumers during a brand scandal?

2.4 Retailers management of consumer–brand relationship in case of brand scandals

How do retailers manage consumer–brand relationships during brand scandals?

3. Methodology

In general, exploring retailers' views about brand scandals and influencing consumers' buying decisions is challenging. This study uses the phenomenology approach ( Goulding, 2002 ) holding a social constructivist worldview that is leading the researchers to look for the complexity of views ( Crotty, 1998 ). This approach addresses questions catering to what the individuals experienced and in what context or situation in which they experienced ( Moustakas, 1994 ). Additionally, it involves utilization of case study wherein sub-questions (related to broad research question) pertain to the description of the case and emerging themes are then discussed. Specifically, this research explores the well-known Nestle's Maggi scandal from the retailer side, in a context in which it has a dominant market share, with consumers often visiting local retailers for food category products. Maggi scandal storyline is provided in Table 1 . This study mainly covered the period May–July 2019 during the latest scandal, with ongoing follow-ups for another 18 months.

Exploring this phenomenon with a qualitative inquiry based on grounded theory procedures ( Glaser and Strauss, 2017 ), that help discovering new theoretical insights and avoiding conventional logical deductive reasoning ( Connell and Lowe, 1997 ), it was possible to build a new theoretical framework showcasing the role of retailers during brand scandals. In particular, the four research questions address the problem from the retailers' point of view considering a triadic relationship perspective: which external potential influences on retailers' own perceptions ( RQ1 Which elements can influence retailers ' perceptions of a brand scandal? ) ; consumers' behavior and interactions may determine retailer responses ( RQ2 How do consumers i nquires can shape retailers ' intervention during a brand scandal? ); suppliers' actions supporting or not the intermediary ( RQ3 How do suppliers actions are impacting the retailers ' intermediating role with consumers during a brand scandal? ); and then trying to link related type of retailers' intervention ( RQ4 How do retailers are managing consumer-brand relationships during brand scandals? ).

Theoretical sampling is used in grounded theory to unwind the theory grounded in data, and purposeful sampling ( Locke, 2000 ) is suitable for directly approaching a few retailers by the emerging themes/concepts, categories, and evolving theory ( Coyne, 1997 ). This sampling design comprised retailers dealing with different noodles brands, including Maggi and other FMCG products. Retailers, in this context, refer to owners of mom-and-pop stores, convenience stores, and grocery stores; unorganized retailers were purposefully selected because of their familiarity with consumers. Paswan et al. (2010) show that consumers prefer family-owned retail stores (mom-and-pop stores) due to their familiarity with the retailers; familiarity includes knowing the retail store owner and a family-friendly environment, which encourages a sense of loyalty towards the retailers. The multi-stage selection process began with directly known contacts that helped in including other colleagues, leading to ease of conducting interviews and quality discussions ( Okumus et al. , 2007 ). This sample included 25 participants after reaching the theoretical saturation ( Charmaz, 2014 ). All of the participants were Indian retailers to better fit with the scandal context. Sample description is provided in Table 2 .

Data collection type relied on intensive in-depth interview technique ( Creswell et al. , 2007 ; Joo, 2011 ), adopting qualitative face-to-face interviews with participants. The interview protocol (provided in Appendix 1) consisted of open-ended questions and was semi-structured, as Charmaz (2014) recommended, and questions mainly concerned retailers' views on Maggi scandal. The interviews lasted between 45 and 60 min. Interviews were audio and video recorded with a prior request of permission and then transcribed and analyzed. Memos and notes were collected simultaneously by researchers. As the study progressed, researchers kept turning to theoretical sampling to explain the theorizing process ( Rennie, 1998 ). Following the grounded theory approach, data collection and its analysis were conducted simultaneously in the study.

Data analysis was conducted in two steps ( Strauss and Corbin, 1998 ): the first involved going through all the collected information to obtain a broad understanding of the responses; after underlining core words, sentences, and phrases, the data was coded in the second stage. The objective herein was to identify and isolate significant issues, processes, and relationships. The coding procedure ( Strauss and Corbin, 1998 ) was assisted by NVivo12 software, from first-order analysis to the more abstract second-order concepts that form our grounded theory. A preliminary open coding identified 78 themes that fit in the data. The line-by-line technique was implemented twice in order to avoid repetition of identified themes. Then, a progressive aggregation of broad themes with axial coding identified 25 concepts. Furthermore, selective coding identified integrated core concepts based upon their interrelationship. Hence, this study was grounded in two core categories: ‘Antecedents of the retailer's role in case of a brand scandal’ and ‘Types of retailer's intervention’ (See Appendix 2 for coding examples).

Four validity methods were identified upon analyzing and revaluating different methodologies to assess the quality of qualitative research: descriptive validity, interpretive validity, theoretical validity, and generalizability ( Patton, 2014 ; Lincoln and Guba, 1999 ; Maxwell, 1992 ). Descriptive validity was achieved by measuring the interview transcripts' accuracy verbatim against the actual video/audio recordings collected before analyzing the data. Interpretive validity was attained successfully by reducing self-reporting bias due to impression management: it involved concealing knowledge about the conceptual framework bolstering the interview protocol ( Eisenhardt and Graebner, 2007 ). The theory's theoretical validity so developed was accomplished by minimizing threats to these two validity methods. Moreover, adapting purposeful sampling and convergent interview techniques reduced the threat to theoretical generalizability, supported by numerous informal follow ups for results discussion with participants. Finally, reliability is assured by the consistent research approach and intercoder agreement ( Guest et al. , 2012 ), performed by a research team composed of three members from two different countries.

4. Findings and insights

By examining retailers' perceptions of a well-known brand scandal, this qualitative study provides numerous insights regarding retailers' points of view, in particular, demonstrating that retailers are playing an active role in scandal management and that their actions may be influenced by numerous factors, some of them related to the retailer–brand relationship and others to the retailer–consumer relationship. Findings show four contextual conditions, six behavioral antecedents of consumers and two suppliers' actions relevant to retailers in the context of a brand scandal. In addition, this study reveals different kind of intervention taken by retailers in supporting consumer during scandals. Selected quotes are presented in Table 3 .

4.1 Contextual conditions regarding retailers' perceptions of a brand scandal

Our results revealed four contextual conditions that are influencing retailers' view about a brand scandal ( RQ1 ), and they are based on brand current sales trends, awareness about the scandal, willingness to sell the scandalized brand and their understanding of regulatory authorities' role during such a scandal (selected interview quotes for each condition are provided in Table 3 ).

Retailers' perception of the brand scandal is often based on the scandalous brand's sales level. Consumer perception about the negative news associated with the brand might change consumer brand preferences, eventually impacting their purchase behavior. However, if consumers are loyal and trust a brand, it may be difficult for them to accept negative news, and some consumers are not able to immediately change their habits and shift to alternative brands. On the other side, retailers' awareness about the brand scandal is essential to justify consumer inquiries. Retailers tend to gain information about the scandal through various sources (mainly news on television) but do not deliberately search about it. Many participants show different awareness levels of the Maggi case, with most of them not sure about the scandal's real reasons. Some of them did not know that a product quality-related issue existed, revealing personal opinions distant from reality, such as hidden monetary issues, sporadic events in limited areas; cleanliness of machines in the factory; a rival brand's intention to defame the market leader.

Note that many retailers are still willing to sell a scandalized brand if consumers continue to demand it; in fact, many believe that they are just sellers and the responsibility to maintain the quality of the product lies with the company. Others justify their willingness to sell to highly demanding customers, despite being aware of the scandal, because of celebrity endorsements, untouched trust in the brand and stamp of approval by government agencies (like FSSAI, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India). However, a few retailers provide unavailability or ban of the product as justification for not selling it. Many participants were afraid of losing their profit, continuing to sell the scandalized brand's product until it is banned by the Government.

About the role of regulatory authorities, retailers trust the authenticity of quality checks, food safety and security agencies' approvals for the products. So participants believe that it is the Government's responsibility to ban products since they do not know the production process and that authorities should be strict in policymaking and implementation. As such, responses to the first research question report that retailers' perceptions about a brand scandal are dynamic and changing over time, being influenced by many contextual conditions that could suddenly change.

4.2 Behavioral patterns of consumers during brand scandals

Exploring, from the retailer's side, how consumers inquire about the brand scandal ( RQ2 ), results have identified six consumers' behavioral patterns: purchase decision-making process; buying behavior at the time of brand re-launch; behavior in case of subsequent scandal; brand/product spillover; the role of media and celebrities (selected interview quotes are provided in Table 3 ).

According to retailers, Maggi is a loved brand, frequently purchased by the mass market and its value is related to product attributes,being readily available, easy to use and consume. Consumers do not blindly purchase products offered by retailers; brand value, brand name, quality and the quantity of the product offered against the price charged further influence consumers' buying behavior. Usually, no consumer wants to buy harmful products. Mothers are often decision-makers for their children and extended family and sometimes influence them. However, during a brand scandal, mothers cannot influence their children to stop buying the scandalized brand because they are exposed to advertisements and see the products displayed at their local retailers. Some retailers reported that mothers stop purchasing the brand and even strictly deny it to their children (only youngsters whom their mothers could easily manipulate) when it gets scandalized, and they allow them to buy alternative brands even if more expensive. During this scandal, the majority of consumers visited retailers to inquire about the brand's possible re-launch. Consumers even ask about its availability, though retailers could only tell them that it was no longer available. According to retailers, consumers behaved curiously due to a lack of information about the brand scandal.

Notwithstanding news about the brand scandal, retailers could successfully sell it before its ban. So when the brand was re-launched, it received an overwhelming response from consumers even though they shifted to rival brands when it was banned. Consumers returned to the brand when it was declared safe, as they could not adjust to other rival products' tastes.

Regarding behavior in the case of subsequent scandal, our data show that while a few retailers were unsure about possible consumer behavior, others took a logical stance about the brand being embroiled in another scandal. Retailers believe that consumers are humanizing some brands. Humans forgive each other for their first mistake but become skeptical about a subsequent mistake. This skepticism phase fades slowly, and consumers gradually return to the brand because of its functional utility, addiction and absence of a strong competitor brand. Some participants argued that rival brands could change consumer loyalty if they successfully market themselves and pose a challenge for the scandalized brand to regain lost ground.

Retailers reported that the effects of the brand scandal caused one hazardous product to spill over to other brand products. However, such a spillover's intensity may not be significant enough for some consumers to overpower trust in the company gained over a long period. Retailers observed that consumers did not purchase the brand with ingredients similar to the banned product, affecting the entire product category in general: this shows that many consumers are very concerned about the unsafe product ingredients. Moreover, retailers observed that brand synonymy and similarity heightened consumers' animosity toward them.

In line with previous studies, research participants believe that media tends to change consumers' purchase behavior and attitude toward brands. Media influences consumers through positive or negative news about the brand and brings awareness through advertisements of products. Consumers get motivated to demand and purchase different products from retailers through such advertisements. Media creates a brand image that helps consumers recall information about the brand while making a purchase decision. Apart from advertisements on traditional and social media, consumers' experiences and feedback shared via different social media platforms influence their purchase decisions. The media further supports scandalized brands in regaining lost market share by spreading information about its safety and approvals.

According to participants, in their culture, people easily get influenced by celebrity endorsements of different brands. When children view their favorite celebrities wearing, eating or using a brand, they demand the same brand from retailers, no matter if that brand is facing a scandal. As per retailers, even adults identify themselves with celebrities and prefer to purchase brands endorsed by them. Celebrity endorsements decrease consumers' susceptibility to information about the advertised product even though many consumers know celebrities are paid for advertisements. Retailers suggest that celebrities play a role in recalling as well as re-launching a scandalized brand's products. While celebrities may be of less importance to consumers addicted to brands, they nevertheless provide a mental assurance that the brand sells good-quality products.

The second research question results are not only demonstrating that retailers are a great source of information about consumers' reactions to scandals, but also that they are intertwined in the consumer–brand relationship, being specifically called for personalized support and services.

4.3 Marketers' management of brand scandals and support to retailers

This case study reveals a minimalistic approach followed by marketers of the scandalized brand to support intermediaries ( RQ3 ) and report the way retailers were instructed by the company to manage consumers' queries regarding the brand scandal. Brand managers during the scandal tried to make unorganized efforts to undo its deeds and re-launch its products by gaining consumer confidence and retailer engagement. Our findings show two main approaches during brand scandal to address retailers' apprehensions: competitor's action and blaming and highlighting the company's actions (selected interview quotes are provided in Table 3 ).

According to retailers, a brand scandal with no physical harm evidence is often considered a competitor brand's strategy to defame the former in consumers' minds deliberately. Many participants believe that a brand's hyperactive efforts to enter a market with the market leader's simultaneous scandalization indicate much. Other rival brands may take advantage of the brand scandal by launching new products, adopting different pricing strategies and massive advertising campaigns to convince consumers that their products are safe.

During the initial phase of the scandal, Maggi's managers sent personnel to each retail store to collect its product's leftover stock, because retailers began to avoid selling the brand but did not offer any guide or advice to manage final consumers. According to retailers, a responsible company should be active enough to handle any wrongdoing from the very beginning and support retailers during bad times. During the revival phase, the brand re-launch was positively supported by advertisement, product quality and safety-related messages. Intensive advertisement campaigns using hashtags and catchy slogans quickly brought changes in consumer attitudes about the brand. Communication about improvement in the product's quality by removing the excess chemicals created a positive brand image in consumers' minds. However, any direct training and communication to retailers was provided by suppliers during the scandal, and it is undoubtedly a missed link considering that many consumers are searching for an open discussion with their trusted retailers to be finally convinced. For some participants, a missing support from suppliers may negative influence their type of intervention. Thus, as per retailers, the company's main task should be to assure existing demand for the scandalized brand product and make consumers aware of its re-launch also empowering intermediaries.

4.4 Types of retailer intervention

Manipulators – They could manipulate a consumer by removing the scandalized product from their shelves and influencing them to buy alternative brands. They tend to agree with parents when they tell their children about the unsuitability of a particular brand's products.

Information providers – They share their personal experiences with the brand and other customers' experiences and feedback but are hesitant to share information about the brand scandal until inquired by consumers. They like to inform consumers on news provided by the marketers.

Advisors – They do not force or try to manipulate consumers because they consider consumers to be educated and well acquainted with different brands. As such, only provide suggestions when they are short of the product demanded by them or have better quality products provided by alternative brands stocked. They believe that it is the brand's advertising that performs the function of providing information.

Responsibility shifters – Retailers are afraid of losing customers to neighboring retail stores and often shift the blame either on the Government or on the company at the time of the brand scandal.

Profit-oriented – They find nothing wrong in selling a scandalized brand until the Government bans it. They are more concerned about their short-term revenues than losing customers to neighboring retailers in the long term. They do not waste time by proactively indulging in conversations about the scandal event. They sometimes pitch an alternative brand's product to consumers based on the level of incentive provided to them.

Nonchalant – They are passive and leave the decision to purchase a product onto consumers. They agree to continue to sell a scandalized brand's product if consumers continue to demand it. They discuss about brand scandals with their regular and loyal consumers only. Their ignorance about the integrity of negative news associated with the brand and consumers' eagerness to buy the product on its re-launch further heightened retailers' unwillingness to inform consumers.

It is important to underline that data interpretation did not assign a label to each participant but to each interaction, because these retailers played many different roles with different customers and in different moments of the scandal cycle. It seems that multiple elements, conditions and actions are dynamically influencing retailers in their intermediating role of brand supporters during a scandal.

5. Conclusion

This qualitative study, aiming to contribute to the literature gap on retailers' role during brand scandals, is proposing a new perspective observing that phenomenon through the retailer's side. Grounded in the data, Figure 1 proposes a new draft of a conceptual framework on various retailers' roles during a brand scandal and their antecedents, summarizing all of the previous results.

Findings reveal six different roles of retailers, with different types of intervention: manipulators, information providers, advisors, responsibility shifters, profit-focused and nonchalant. Each profile may play a positive, negative or indifferent influence in interacting with consumers. We found that these kinds of interventions are interlinked with three groups of factors as antecedents: contextual conditions (four variables), consumers' behavioral patterns (six) and suppliers' actions (two). This novel conceptual framework on the role of retailers during brand scandals is contributing to update the scandal management theory under the umbrella of relationship marketing.

5.1 Theoretical implications

This research advocates retailers' significant role during a health-related defective scandal of a well-known food brand. Note that this scandal lasted for more than five years, living reignited negative events, with market withdrawing, an economic crisis for the Maggi brand with 17.5% decline in annual sales ( The Economic Times, 2016 ) and heavy impact on distributors and retailers ( Singh, 2017 ). Nevertheless, as previous researches already confirmed, customers are still in love with Maggi's brand ( Mishra and Sharma, 2019 ; Mishra, 2017 ; Srivastava, 2019 ; Roy et al. , 2018 ). This evidence of forgiven scandal has been interpreted through the theory of brand love. Within its lens, consumers tend to humanize brands they love and may forgive the brand as humans do on someone's first mistake ( MacInnis and Folkes, 2017 ). Thus, consumers may forgive a scandalized brand for once ( Zhang et al. , 2020 ), but subsequent scandals may jeopardize the consumer–brand relationship. So reinterpreting Maggi's scandal, focusing on traditional grocery retailers' strong of special relationships with their consumers, we discovered that those intermediaries have been really proactive during this scandal and had the power to potentially protect or harm the consumer–brand love. This case context was in distant markets with scandalized brand management not effectively providing specific support to retailers and reaching final consumers with credibility.

This reinterpretation of retailers–consumer–brand love relations is opening new perspective to the brand scandal theory that should include this kind of intermediaries for a more complete and correct scandal management. In fact, a well-managed triadic relationship between consumer–retailers–brand seems to be crucial in this kind of negative events. So adopting the total relationship marketing approach ( Gummesson, 2017 ), we are offering a new update of scandal management, as “the management of unethical action or event that causes outrage against a particular brand throughout dedicated interactions in networks of relationships.” In practice, it means that brand managers of scandalized brands, being now aware about the important role of retailers, should provide specific services and assign active roles to distributors. As a consequence, retailers will shift from passive communicators or spontaneous advisors, to active managers contributing to protect consumer–brand relations. In consumer–retailer relations exists reciprocity: it causes increased cooperation, stronger bonds and deep and broadened exchange relationships ( Pathak and Kandathil, 2020 ). Specifically, the relation built between consumers and retailers enhances reliability and trust concerning the latter's information. It seems that consumers trust retailers' opinions about brands due to a halo effect of familiarity generated for a sustained period of interaction.

The new scandal management definition is now including the relationship management role of intermediaries during a brand scandal that were not yet theorized. This theoretical update also may have implications in retail supply chain management for both retailers and upstream echelons in the supply chain, particularly, when information quality and sharing seem to be the most important dimensions ( Hamister, 2012 ).

5.2 Managerial implications

This study provides managerial implications both for retailers and brand managers. Reviewing results in this study, participants became aware of their critical role in supporting consumers and managing the scandals. Retailers not only act as scandal communicators ( Diers-Lawson, 2020 ), raising awareness of the scandal, but can also adopt specific behaviors/roles to reduce the overall effects. However, this study reveals that the retailers' role in scandal management is often marginal, relying on spontaneous inputs of intermediaries in informing their customers and solving market doubts.

Focusing on the importance of corporate initiatives that could mold consumers' buying behavior toward a scandalized brand, the findings show that the same brand scandal can be viewed quite differently by different retailers, and they may influence consumers in multiple manners. Thus, it is crucial to understand varied retailer perceptions to develop proper communication strategies, customizing ad hoc support for different retailer profiles. The retailers' need for more active actions by their suppliers confirms the importance of integrating the marketing channels through supply chain management with quality and timely bidirectional information flows ( Mentzer et al. , 2001 ).

Moreover, retailer's interviews depict that consumer's love for a well-known brand persists beyond wrongdoings and also thanks to retailer's intervention. Marketers should leverage this positive sentiment of consumers and trust retailers to retain and regain a positive attitude toward scandalized brands. Companies should make retailers their brand advocates, who, in turn, should remind customers of their long association and positive experiences with the brands in question. Thus, to influence consumers, it is recommended that companies invest resources to train and support a well-informed pool of retailers during and after brand scandal.

5.3 Limitations and future research

In this research, we used in-depth interviews to collect data about retailers' role in shaping consumers' behavior during the brand scandal. As memory is fallible, collected data may include “historical reconstruction” under the influence of subsequent experiences ( Blaikie, 2009 ). We continued to follow up with the retailers, post-data collection, to address the issue for about two years. Participating retailers remembered the scandal well because of their long association with the brand.

Additional data analysis tried to approach consequences of determinants through the notion of retailers' attitude rather than role. However, in this case study and context, we noted that retailers' attitude toward this brand was highly positive before the scandal and did not changed much during and after the scandal, confirming the loved brand forgiveness depicted on consumers ( Zhang et al. , 2020 ). Our data could not extract an answer for understanding how attitude toward a brand is influencing each member of this triadic relationship. Further research studies could deduce if a positive attitude toward a brand might be a moderator of retailers' intervention type and intensity.

As inductive qualitative research, this study does not have statistical generalizability; instead, it can be used for “naturalistic generalization” ( Stake, 1978 ). The proposed conceptual model may be empirically validated to test its general applicability. Another limitation is that this study focuses on traditional retailers in developing country; further research might test this framework in different contexts, with a comparative cross-country analysis across varied cultures and international markets. We suggest that future research should also explore modern versus traditional retailer's intervention in case of a brand scandal. The identified elements may be useful constructs for future research to validate retailers' role in shaping consumer attitudes toward the scandalized brand. Finally, for a more holistic understanding, researching company personnel's views responsible for managing scandalized brands could enrich this discussion.

The role of retailers during the brand scandal conceptual framework

Context–Maggi scandal storyline in India

Sample–Participants profiles

Summary of research data linked to framework concepts

The Appendix available online for this article.

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Further reading

Basu , R. and Sondhi , N. ( 2021 ), “ Online versus offline: preferred retail choice for premium brand purchase ”, International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management , Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print . doi: 10.1108/IJRDM-05-2020-0181 .

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Kucuk , S.U. ( 2020 ), “ Reverse (brand) anthropomorphism: the case of brand hitlerization ”, Journal of Consumer Marketing , Vol.  37 No.  6 , pp.  651 - 659 .

Corresponding author

About the authors.

Sunaina Kapoor is a PhD scholar at the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT-Deemed University under Ministry of Commerce and Industry, GOI), 1,583, Madurdaha, Chowbaga Road, Anandapur Road, Kolkata - 700 107, India. She specializes in branding and consumer behavior.

Saikat Banerjee is Professor at Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT-Deemed University under Ministry of Commerce and Industry, GOI), 1,583, Madurdaha, Chowbaga Road, Anandapur Road, Kolkata - 700 107, India.

He has contributed research papers and articles in well-known journals like Journal of Business Research, Journal of Product and Brand Management, Journal of Brand Management, Marketing Intelligence and Planning, Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, Journal of Political Marketing, International Review of Public and Non-profit Marketing, Asian Journal of Political Science, European Business Review, Journal of Research in Marketing and Entrepreneurship, Health Marketing Quarterly, Journal of Food Products Marketing, Cross-Cultural Management-An International Journal, Journal of Medical Marketing, International Journal of Pharmaceutical and Health Care Marketing, International Journal of E-Health and Medical Communications, Journal of Asia Entrepreneurship and Sustainability, The Marketing Review, Journal of Asia Business Studies, International Journal of Commerce and Management, South Asian Journal of Management. He has published teaching cases with Ivey Publishing, SAGE Business Cases. His areas of interest are Brand Management and Consumer Behavior . (ORCID ID: 0000-0001-8883-0903)

Paola Signori PhD is Associate Professor of Marketing at University of Verona (Via Cantarane 24, Verona, Italy). She has researched and published in premier journals in the area of corporate identity and communication, sustainability and supply chain management and digital relationship marketing. Her research methods are mainly based on a qualitative approach, in particular, using grounded theory. Her numerous research projects have a common scope to understand and measure Business-to-Business (B2B) relational dynamics in different global network structures, under different contexts and scenarios, in order to help practitioners to be more resilient and sustainable in their decisions. (ORCID ID: 0000-0002-7132-8834)

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Retail Management Case Study: Top 3 Case Studies

Here is a compilation of top three case studies on retail management.

1. Case Study on Tiffany & Co:

“Tiffany’s global retail operations once again demonstrated the ability to generate strong operating earnings growth despite weakness in certain individual country markets. Our continued expansion throughout Asia and Europe should contribute to increasingly consistent and resilient long-term earnings growth,” says Michael J. Kowalski, the chairman.

Tiffany & Co. is a holding company that operates through its subsidiary companies (“company”). The company’s principal subsidiary, Tiffany and Company, is a jeweler and specialty retailer, whose merchandise offerings include an extensive selection of jewelry, as well as timepieces, sterling silverware, china, crystal, stationery, fragrances and accessories. Through Tiffany and Company and other subsidiaries, the company is engaged in product design, manufacturing and retailing activities.

Tiffany was founded on September 18, 1837 when Charles Lewis Tiffany opened a stationery and fancy goods emporium at 259 Broadway in New York City. Every article was marketed with a non-negotiable selling price, a revolutionary policy that made headlines.

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The first day’s store sales were total five dollars in downtown Manhattan. Soon after the company was founded a distinctive shade of blue was chosen to symbolize the company’s renowned reputation for quality and craftsmanship.

Tiffany as a Brand:

The company adopted the color for it’s for use of boxes, catalogues, shopping bags, brochures, as well as advertising and for other promotional materials. Over time, this lustrous color became an identify mark for Tiffany & Co., universally recognizable as the Tiffany blue. Tiffany blue boxes and shopping bags evoke images of elegance and exclusivity, as well as lush bounty. The Tiffany blue box was later to become an American icon of style and sophistication.

Distribution of Tiffany & Co:

The company’s channels of distribution are through: U.S. retail (50% of fiscal 2006 sales) consists of retail sales transacted in Tiffany & Co. stores in the United States and sales of Tiffany & Co. products through business to business direct selling operations in the United States; International Retail (38% of fiscal 2006 sales) consists of sales in Tiffany & Co. stores and department store boutiques outside the United States and, to a lesser extent, business- to-business, internet and wholesale sales of Tiffany & Co. products outside the United States.

Direct marketing (seven per cent of fiscal 2006 sales) consists of Internet and catalog sales of Tiffany & Co. products in the United States; and others (five per cent of fiscal 2006 sales) consists of worldwide sales of businesses operated under trademarks or trade names other than Tiffany & Co. (i.e., Little Switzerland and Iridesse). Others also include wholesale sales of diamonds obtained through bulk purchases that are subsequently deemed not suitable for Tiffany’s needs.

Growth Strategies Adopted by Tiffany & Co:

The company’s key growth strategies are to selectively expand its channels of distribution in important markets around the world without compromising the long-term value of the Tiffany & Co. trademark; to increase sales in existing stores by developing new products; to increase its control over product supply and achieve improved profit margins through direct diamond sourcing and internal jewelry manufacturing; to enhance customer awareness through marketing and public relation programs; and to provide customer service that ensures a superior shopping experience.

The company’s shares are traded on The New York Stock Exchange with the symbol TIF. Headquartered at 727 Fifth Avenue in New York, Tiffany has more than 8,000 employees around the world.

Smaller Format:

Tiffany & Co. announced plans to open a smaller-format store in Glendale, California, in mid-October 2008. The approximately 2,600 sq. ft. store was to be located in The Americana at Brand, a new 900,000 sq. ft. retail and residential environment developed by Caruso Affiliated.

Covering 15.5 acres that’s beautifully landscaped with fountains, plazas and walkways, the expansive property is designed as an ultimate lifestyle and leisure destination, with shops and boutiques, casual cafes, fine dining, and luxury residences.

The store’s clean, ultra-modern environment invites relaxed browsing and interaction with contemporary Tiffany & Co. collections, ranging from diamond jewelry in platinum and gold to an array of sterling silver jewelry.

“We are pleased to be the first retail environment in the world to unveil this new concept shop by Tiffany & Co.” stated Rick J. Caruso, CEO of Caruso Affiliated. “Rich in history and true luxury, Tiffany & Co. is simply the finest purveyor of diamonds, jewelry and gift items.”

Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) reported results for the three months (“second quarter”) and six months (“first half”) that ended on July 31, 2008. Strong net sales growth in Asia- Pacific and Europe led to an 11% increase in worldwide net sales in the second quarter.

Combined with a higher operating margin, this resulted in a 21% increase in net earnings from continuing operations and a 31% increase in earnings per diluted share in the quarter. These results enabled the company to slightly increase its earnings expectation for the full year.

Net sales in the second quarter increased 11% to $732.4 million. On a constant-exchange-rate basis which excludes the effect of translating foreign-currency-denominated sales into U.S. dollars (see attached “Non-GAAP Measures” schedule), worldwide net sales rose to seven per cent and comparable store sales declined one per cent. In the first half, net sales rose 11% to $1.40 billion. On a constant exchange-rate basis, sales increased seven per cent and comparable store sales rose one per cent.

Promotion Strategies Used by Tiffany & Co:

The world has been infatuated with the Tiffany style since the early twentieth century. From Hollywood premieres to Centre Court at Wimbledon, celebrities choose Tiffany for its urban sophistication and glamor. Design that is innovative, unique and stunningly beautiful is, by definition, irresistible.

For this very reason, Tiffany’s timeless jewelry pieces are seen prominently on the world’s most beautiful people. Movie stars, fashion models and women of achievement embrace Tiffany’s spectacular beauty and superlative craftsmanship.

Tiffany plans to enter into Indian market because of the ideal growth prospects. The Indian jewelry sector, one of strongest retail segments of India, has an estimated total domestic market size of Rs. 52,000 crore. The organized jewelry retail sector accounts for just about three per cent of the total market size at Rs. 1,450 crore.

While the overall jewelry retail sector has grown by 9.2% in 2006 over the Rs. 47,600 crore market in 2005, the organized segment has shown a nearly 32% growth in 2006 over the Rs. 1,100 crore organized market in 2005. The share of organized jewelry retail has grown from two per cent in 2004 to nearly three per cent over the two-year period. The Indian jewelry sector’s current global standing is estimated at over US $90 billion.

According to industry sources, in India 65% of the jewelry is bought during weddings, with gifting contributing around 26%. Global players will look to establishing a foothold in this market in view of the sheer size of the domestic market and because India’s expertise in the trade is well recognized across the globe.

Competitors of Tiffany & Co:

An analysis of some of the major organized jewelry retailers indicates that in terms of increase in retail outlets there was equal growth (39%) in 2005 and 2006 whereas the growth in retail space was more in 2005 than in 2006.

1. Tanishq:

Tanishq, from the Tata Group, was started in 1995 and is one of the most diversified business conglomerates. Ten years ago it challenged the established family jeweler and introduced new rules in the precious jewelry segment.

Tanishq marked the beginning of jewelry chains in the country, as against the single store norm of the category traditionally. It has witnessed steady growth over the last two years. From a retail presence in 55 cities with 69 stores across 1,01,290 sq.ft. of retail space in 2004-05, it currently has 92 stores across the cities.

2. D’Damas:

In 2003, the Gitanjali Group and Damas LLC Dubai — the largest jewelry retail chain in the Middle East came together to form D’damas — a contemporary collection of gold and diamond jewelry. D’Damas’ gold jewelry is endorsed by the World Gold Council (WGC) and its diamond brands by DTC. Some of the most successful brands of the group are Gili, D’damas, Giantti and Sangini diamond Jewelry.

It owns 20 standalone stores across 15 cities in India. A part of the Rosy-blue Group, it has metamorphosed into a brilliant entity. Today, the group has cast its glow over 14 countries across the globe and is among the largest sight holders and India’s largest diamond and platinum retailer.

4. Intergold:

Intergold, another rentuse from the Rosyblue Group, was started in 1996, and works in close association with DTC (De Beers), World Gold Council and Platinum Guild International. It the one of the largest diamond jewelry retail chain in India with over 20 stores across India.

Carbon has two exclusive stores, one each in Bangalore and Delhi. Since its launch in 1998, it is also present in 58 shop-in-shop formats. By 2007 end, Carbon planned to have 20 stores across India.

2. Case Study on Hindustan Oil XtraPower Fleet Card Program:

Introduction to Hindustan Oil XtraPower Fleet Card Program:

About 50% of high speed diesel sales of the transport sector are through highways. This was a thought which brought about the concept of gaining loyalty from this segment of customers capable of giving huge purchases from Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL).

The introduction of fleet cards and network loyalty programs was meant to be an extension of the pre-existing customer loyalty program. Even here B.P.C.L. was the pioneer, launching SmartFleet in February 2001, followed by IOCL’s Power-Plus in January 2002. These programs gave fleet owners the option of giving drivers pre-loaded cards which allowed better MIS, transaction tracking and points earning.

With the launch of a co-branded card with MyShoppe, a network loyalty program with a number of retail chain affiliates by IOCL, network loyalty came into the picture. The IOCL XtraPower Fleet Card was launched in March 2004 and at present accounts for 10% of the company’s diesel sales, 13% of the sales on the highways and 22% of the fleet market share.

XtraPower Fleet card program is the largest fleet card program in India with around 12.25 lakh cards issued till March 07. It has a total of 3.2 lakh customers under its umbrella. Regular users are less than a lakh. The average customer usage is less than two per cent. A large amount of resources have been deployed for this program since it is one of the biggest revenue generators for India’s highest ranked fortune 500 company.

No other oil company offers such a vast network as Indian Oil. This makes the Indian Oil Program a clear winner amongst fleet card program in the country bringing it a revenue of more than 25 crores a day.

Rewards Obtained by Hindustan Oil XtraPower Fleet Card Program:

On every purchase of fuel/lubes through Xtrapower fleet card (except for cards with interest free credit limit facility), the owner earns Xtra points. With the points accumulated by a card, the member can redeem a choice of reward items from the Xtrapower rewards catalogue including fuel/lubes. For every Rs.100 one earns five Xtra points which gives 40 paise as a reward value. It means for every purchase of Rs.10, 000 the member earns Rs.400.

Inspite of all these benefits the program leaves much to be desired. In the entire program only 21.5 % cards are active out of the total of 12.25 lakh cards issued till March 07. Lack of knowledge to the customer about the program benefits is a constraint which has to be overcome.

Also the fact that in terms of benefits there is not much to choose between the fleet card programs of various oil companies in India, this would require a major customer communication program.

Indian Oil Xtrarewards is India’s first on-line rewards program that seeks to inculcate the habit of redeeming points. The loyalty program rewards customers who pay by cash, credit and debit cards. Each transaction is confirmed on-line through a charge slip and customers can earn points on fuel/lube purchases by participating at Indian Oil retail outlets.

Additional points can also be earned outside the Indian Oil network, covering prominent FMCG, food, automobile, travel, entertainment, apparel and hospitality sectors. Xtrarewards is currently active in Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Mysore, Coimbatore and Chennai. It will be shortly available in other markets like Delhi.

Apart from redeeming the accumulated points instantly on fuel/SERVO lubes at participating retail outlets, the card holder can also redeem the points to get some exciting gift items from a catalogue.

The redemption on gifts can be registered either from the participating retail outlets or from the comfortable confines of one’s home through the 24 x 7IVRS Help Line number. The program continuously provides the cardholder with privileges, benefits and offers from alliance partners like Domino’s Pizza, Subhiksha, Rediff Shopping, Kumaran Silks, Dhabba Express, Chennai Corporate Club and Archana Sweets.

As loyalty programs become ubiquitous, some interesting dynamics will evolve in the loyalty marketplace. Companies will continue to look for ways to differentiate their loyalty programs, while balancing program revenue and costs to achieve favorable economics. How will the loyalty program evolve? It has been slow but future economic, demographic and legal landscapes could accelerate company attention to customer retention.

3. Case Study on Vimal :

Vimal suiting is one of the brand which comes under Reliance. Vimal suiting, one of the oldest and most respected iconic textile brand of India is languishing some-where in the attic of the mega corporation Reliance. The brand which started off as a saree brand developed itself into a mega textile brand for women, men and even for furniture (Vimal harmony is one of the largest furnishing brands).

Vimal suiting was launched in 1980 after the successful Vimal range of sarees. At that point of time, Reliance was predominantly a textile company. This brand was carefully positioned as a premium men’s suiting brand. The brand which was handled by Mudra was promoted heavily by Reliance. At that time the major competitors being Bombay Dyeing and Raymond.

The Vimal Suiting Brand was Developed in Six Stages:

1980 saw the making of Vimal’s suitings brand. It was a challenge for the agency since the consumer was already exposed to quite a few venerable and longstanding brands. Loyalties ran high with little or no tolerance for newcomers. It was against this backdrop that Vimal launched their suitings brand. They had one major advantage over the existing players—product superiority.

And this is exactly what the advertising cashed in on for their launch. It was unusual for a textile brand to be sold as a consumer durable. In fact the first campaigns of Vimal actually carried insets of the machinery! And quite naturally it drew considerable criticism from the advertising pundits of the time. But the brand’s courage of conviction eventually won the day. Slowly and surely the brand moved forward and upward in a series of well-orchestrated moves.

Established the superiority of Vimal suitings backed by, technology endorsements.

Achievers endorsed the caliber of the brand.

And yes, it was a most unusual take on the conventional celebrity endorsement route.

The brand achieved enough momentum to dictate fashion, and to be taken seriously.

Saw Vimal firmly established as ‘The Style Guru’.

Yet another first for textile advertising- Cricketers as celebrities.

The brand continues with its passion for fashion.

The brand was targeted at the young ambitious people who are challengers to the CEOs. The brand personality was stylish, and inspirational. Vimal was promoted using the famous tagline “Only Vimal” created by Frank Simoes. The tagline is said to be personally approved by Dhirubai Ambani himself. It was a premium brand and the ads were catchy. Reliance also opened exclusive Vimal showrooms as part of brand promotion.

Later in the 1990’s, the Reliance business model changed. The company changed from textiles to petrochemicals and Vimal was not fitting into the reliance business plans. It was the only retail brand of Reliance (now we have RIM) and the company never focused on Vimal.

As far as a marketer is concerned, Vimal was a great brand with huge potential. Late 90’s also saw the shift in the consumer’s preference towards ready-mades. Although Reliance had a readymade brand “Reance” it was a half-hearted move which resulted in a flop.

Vimal was known for its quality and style and people still people remember its simple baseline “Only Vimal”. Lack of marketing support had virtually killed the brand. Vimal is now owned by Raymond’s and Reid & Taylor.

Rebirth of Vimal:

After a decade long sleep, Vimal is making a comeback in a new avatar with a:

1. New Logo :

2. New Designing :

The Company hired a famous Italian designer Maurizio Bonas to train the Indian tailors on the latest in global styles and to launch a special range of premium apparel called Vimal Black.

3. New Product Offerings Along with different Pricing Strategy :

Created three sub-brands that straddle all price points:

1. Vimal Red offers basic formal wear for the popular segment (formal shirts for Rs. 699-899).

2. Vimal White, which is trendier apparel, is the mid-price range (Rs. 799-1,099).

3. Vimal Black is the company’s premium offering (Rs. 999-1,800).

Thus, targeting new and various segments of customers with different brands, the new look Vimal is planning to roll out 16 stores in the next financial year. However, it will take more than a suit maker for that reason, even an Italian suit maker, to help Vimal regain its once iconic “Only Vimal” status.

New Distribution Channel :

Ready to wear range will be sold in the company’s exclusive stores and the franchisees. It is also counting on Reliance Retail’s own stores to help promote the men’s wear brand, especially Vimal Red.

Already, fabric sales have been initiated at Reliance Trendz and Reliance Mart stores. Reliance’s Vimal did its homework very well in every aspect i.e. advertising, promotion and distribution channel but don’t you think it will be very difficult for Vimal to establish its brand as it was in the late 80s and early 90s?

New Advertising Campaign :

A 60-second commercial by Grey Worldwide shows the root values of company. The ad shows a father readying his son to take over his business empire. He picks his own brand Vimal, of course, and it ends with the original theme tune and tagline.

It was first time at any textile company showed its machinery etc. in ads to boast that Vimal fabrics were made in the most modern plant in India. The company spent Rs. 40 crore on promotion through television, radio spots and print ads, apart from extensive point-of-sale promotions for high visibility.

Major Competitors of Vimal:

Vimal is facing good competition from established players like Park Avenue from Raymond, Madura Garments (Louis Phillipe, Allen Solly, and Van Heusen), Arvind Brands (Arrow), Zodiac and Reid & Taylor and premium international brands like Brioni, Alfred Dunhill and Ermenegildo Zegna have also entered the Indian market.

Madura Garments :

Madura Garments, a division of Aditya Birla Nuvo, is India’s leading apparel and retail company. It enjoys market leadership in the branded garments business through its power and popular lifestyle brands — Louis Philippe, Van Heusen, Allen Solly and Peter England.

Recently, the company has entered into a distribution agreement with the international brands like Esprit, Marks & Spencer’s Tommy Hilfiger, Polo and several other discerning international buyers. Madura Garments products are sold through a network of more than 130 exclusive franchisees and over 2,000 premier multi-brand outlets as well as leading departmental stores within India and overseas.

It has exclusive showroom space, which includes several large format brand outlets of world-class standard, providing top quality retail experience to the consumers. It also has a highly visible presence in large department and multi-brand stores. The thrust is on brand building through development of innovative new merchandise, exciting communication campaigns and enhancing the product portfolio.

The overall marketing strategy has been to move from a ‘Wardrobe’ brand to a ‘Lifestyle’ brand. Fashion brands have 95 showrooms which exclusively sell Louis Phillippe/Van Heusen/Allen Solly and SF jeans. Popular brands have 160 showrooms and 600 shops-in- shops and 800 multi-brand outlets spread across 250 towns in India.

Planet Fashion:

Madura Garments has successfully launched Planet Fashion showrooms in India and SAARC and Middle East countries with further expansion plans. With over 3,000 square feet of space, the planet fashion showrooms promise an ambience of sheer luxury. Today 45 Planet Fashion Showrooms have been opened up in 20 cities nationwide.

This format was designed by renowned French architect Jan Claude Pannighetti. Plant Fashion hosts some of the best know menswear brands like Louis Philippe, Van Heusen, Allen Solly, Peter England & SF Jeans and also provides a wide range of fashion accessories to complete a man’s wardrobe.

Each store stocks about 6,000 garments with the store theme of world class shopping experience delivered through 500 square feet of shopping area in each store where individual brands are merchandised.

Trouser Town:

It is a whole new concept in retailing as it is the only store in India dedicated solely to readymade trousers. Presently TT has nine showrooms across seven cities nationwide.

1. Louis Philippe:

Louis Philippe’s range of superbly crafted garments make an exclusive fashion statement that is accepted as a status symbol, recognized by its distinctive icon — The Upper Crest.

2. Van Heusen:

Van Heusen has redefined corporate attire through continuous product innovation and exclusive collections.

3. Allen Solly:

Allen Solly popularized the Friday dressing concept in India. It has won the IFA Images 2001 Best Brand Award in the readymade menswear apparel category. With the launch of its women’s wear in December 2001, Allen Solly has made a successful foray into the growing women’s work and casual wear market.

4. Peter England:

This mid-segment shirt brand has effectively penetrated the mini metros. It has won several awards, including Shirt of the Year 2000 and India’s Most Admired Menswear Brands in 2001.

With a turnover of Rs. 395 crore, Madura Garments is one of the leading and fastest growing branded apparel companies in the country. The company enjoys a 30% market share in the premium segment for all brands. The company is a preferred global supplier for international brands such as Marks & Spencer’s, Tommy Hilfiger, Polo Ralph Lauren and several other international buyers.

Madura Garments was expected to report revenue of a round Rs. 600-650 crore in FY’07, and is currently a clear leader in the domestic apparel space with annualized growth of 20% in recent years. Its total turnover is projected to touch Rs. 650 crore, in line with a planned 20% growth for itself while the market grows at 15%.

5. Raymond’s:

The Raymond Group was incorporated in 1925 and within a span of a few years transformed from being an Indian textile major to being a global conglomerate. Today, the Raymond group is vertically and horizontally integrated to provide the customers total textile solutions. Few companies across the globe have such a diverse product range of nearly 12,000 varieties of worsted suiting to cater to customers across age groups, occasions and styles.

Raymond’s turnover is US$ 500 million and the group is today one of the largest players in fabrics, designer wear, denim, cosmetics & toiletries, engineering files & tools, prophylactics and air charter services in national and international markets.

For over 80 years, Raymond has been one of the world’s premier manufacturers of worsted suiting fabric in fine grade wool, in the same league as the finest in Europe has to offer. Today, the Raymond product range includes pure wools, blended wool with exotic fibres like camel hair, cashmere and angora and innovative blends of wool with polyester, linen and silk offering suiting and trouser fabric for all occasions and needs.

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Group sales incentives boost weak brand sales, study finds

Study provides insights for managers of stores that offer single-brand product lines

New research co-authored by a UC Riverside business professor provides some sound advice for managers of retail outlets that limit their product selection to a particular brand: Managers should factor in the strength of their brand when structuring the pay incentives for their sales staff.

The study focused on what marketing scholars call “brand-managed” retail operations. These outlets include “stores within stores,” such as counters in major department stores with dedicated sales staff that offer just one brand of cosmetics such as Clinique. They can also be stores in malls that offer a single brand’s line of products, such as Nike sportswear or Gap clothing.

UCR marketing professor Subramanian “Bala” Balachander and his collaborators found that with weaker brands, group incentives, such as sales commissions divided up equally among the sales team members, resulted in better sales performances for particular sales outlets. They also found individual incentives, such as commissions based on each salesperson’s sales volumes, were more effective for stronger brands.

While these results may sound counterintuitive, Balachander explained that weaker brands generally have more uncertain sales outcomes. If salespeople are compensated individually, the store runs the risk of paying certain salespeople too much for easy sales from repeat buyers or customers who arrive at the stores ready to make a purchase.

“With a weaker brand, group sales compensation gives you a better filter because it doesn't matter whether a particular salesperson got the easy sale or the difficult customer, and we know for sure that the salespeople have been doing their work and being successful in converting those new customers. This advantage is much more valuable to the weak brand,” said Balachander, who is the Albert O. Steffey Chair at the UCR’s School of Business.

The study is based on data from brand-managed retail operations in the United States and China.

In the U.S., the researchers gathered data about the prevalence of group compensation in brand-managed outlets by obtaining designer brand names for beauty and fashion lines offered by a high-end department store and from stand-alone stores at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minn., from online directories. The researchers used Glassdoor.com and Indeed.com to gather employee-reported information about salesperson incentives in the form of commissions or cash bonuses offered by brands.

In China, the researchers obtained monthly sales data from 23 gold jewelry brands sold in a large retail store, with each brand having its own counters and sales staff. Similarly, sales data was gathered from a major Chinese electronics retailer, which received a percentage of the sales revenue from 51 brands generated in the store. Each brand set up its own selling counter and hired its own salespeople.

The study also provides a model of how brand strength or equity, which is based on marketing, promotion, customer awareness, and other factors that influence customer perception before they arrive at the store, influence the selling effectiveness of salespersons.

The study ’s title is “Group or Individual Sales Incentives? What is Best for Brand-Managed Retail Sales Operations?” It appears in the Journal of Marketing. The other co-authors are Wenshu Zhang and Jia Li.

Cover photo: A saleswoman at a 'Jo Malone'  luxury fragrances counter in Düsseldorf, Germany. (Photo by Thomas Lohnes/Getty Images)

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5 free digital marketing courses to study in 2024.

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A career within digital marketing is extremely lucrative and in high demand over the next few years

If you have expertise in digital and social media marketing, your skills could be worth $1.5 trillion by 2030 , according to Coursera's Job Skills of 2024 report. In fact, research from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reveals that marketing occupations are soaring in demand by as much as 6% yearly, which is faster than the average for job growth.

Digital marketing has rapidly accelerated the success of marketing and advertizing campaigns. With billions of social media users, and billions using the web to search for topics, answers to questions, conduct shopping, and loads more of everyday activities, digital marketing is full of potential and is certainly an in-demand skill worth investing in.

The investment in developing this skill, whether it is financial or time expenditure, is certainly proving to be well worth it. With a career in digital marketing, such as a digital marketing manager, you can expect to realize earnings of as much as $124,000. And of course, the more you learn and develop yourself professionally, and the more senior-level your role, the more you increase your earning potential.

Here are five free digital marketing courses you should seriously consider embarking on so you can launch a successful digital marketing career in 2024:

1. LinkedIn Learning

LinkedIn Learning has a learning path called "Master Digital Marketing," which contains courses taught and led by industry experts handpicked by LinkedIn. The course content within the learning path ranges from mastering SEO, to marketing on LinkedIn and other social media platforms such as TikTok, to even learning marketing with AR (augmented reality).

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Although perhaps not 100% free in every sense of the word, courses on LinkedIn Learning are free with a 30-day free trial of LinkedIn Premium subscription. Otherwise, with a Premium subscription you can access all the courses without any extra cost.

2. Google Digital Garage

Google Digital Garage has now moved to Google Skillshop, part of the Grow With Google initiative, and it hosts a range of courses including Fundamentals of Digital Marketing, which are totally free of charge to you. After completing the course, you're able to gain a certificate which you can showcase on your LinkedIn profile and to employers.

3. PPC University

This website hosts a range of informative content, via courses and guides such as PPC 101, totally free of charge. These cover topics such as PCC (pay-per-click advertizing), and Facebook ads. Although it does not cover all aspects of digital marketing, this can be a helpful resource if you're seeking to zone in on PPC as a digital marketing skill.

Another free digital marketing course provider is HubSpot, which is already known to be a leader in the digital marketing industry. Their learning arm, HubSpot Academy, provides several courses for all levels from beginner to the more advanced, such as its Digital Marketing Course: Get Certified in Digital Marketing, which also comes with a free certificate.

Meta offers a range of courses and certifications, paid and free, for those aspiring to build digital marketing skills. One free course is the Meta Certified Digital Marketing Associate, offered via Meta Blueprint. It is essential to bear in mind that although the study materials are free, obtaining the certification may cost you.

Undertaking a digital marketing course, and even paying for the certificate if necessary, is well ... [+] worth the time and financial expenditure

All five of these are examples of what courses are available to you if you are passionate about upskilling (or reskilling as the case may be) and taking your professional development to the next level by pursuing a digital marketing career. Learning something new doesn't need to cost much. Through these five free digital marketing courses, you can prove your value to employers, become a trusted expert, and even work as a freelance digital marketing manager.

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