2 Min. Reading time
The New Normal is shaking the foundations of stationary retail in many cities. Increasing visitor frequency will only succeed if the potential of digital communication channels is also exhausted.
The shops in German city centers have to nibble on the aftermath of the Corona crisis.
Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH
–
Since the Corona crisis, e-commerce sales have been rising steadily, while the flow of visitors to stationary retail has plummeted. According to the Federal Statistical Office, the frequency of pedestrians in the main shopping streets of the five largest German cities is on average 17 percent below the pre-crisis level of September 2019. Inner cities in general and shops in particular are therefore asked to actively attract customers, so local ones Shopping streets don’t degenerate into a ghost town. In addition, new, creative city marketing concepts for inner city revitalization are also in demand in metropolises. Because vacancies in many places also show that change is necessary. According to Masterplan Media, a Hamburg media agency, new communication solutions are required that do justice to the online-focused customer type. Classic print and radio campaigns are therefore no longer sufficient to survive in the New Normal.
Together with the logistics service provider Hermes, the agency analyzed the potential of some digital media for target group activation. On the one hand, special attention was paid to mobile marketing, with which target persons can be addressed directly via their smartphones. On the other hand, the authors of the study concentrated on addressable TV (ATV), which combines the reach of linear television with the dynamic personalization possibilities of the digital world.
Channels to match the marketing funnel
Thanks to a broad test scenario, it was possible to prove that both novel channels are able to effectively increase store frequency. Nevertheless, digital brochures achieved a better effect in target group activation as an alternative to advertising booklets in paper form. Digital display and mobile land in second place, followed by ATV. According to the study authors, the ranking means that digital media such as mobile and ATV are suitable for different levels in the marketing funnel, depending on the goal. In this way, ATV can provide valuable services, especially in the awareness phase, which demonstrably benefits the visitor frequency in stationary retail.
According to a study by the EHI among Chief Marketing Officers of leading German retailers, digital marketing communication had already picked up speed before the pandemic, as had the expansion of sales omnichannel concepts. The combination of stationary retail and e-commerce also breaks the boundaries between the digital and analog world, but it fundamentally changes the customer journey. Over 70 percent of retailers see the push to digital communication as the most important issue.
You can read more current articles about the Corona crisis here.
–
