Role of Digital Marketing in the Retail Industry

This study reviews the role of digital marketing in the retail industry and its impact on consumer behavior. It discusses the scope of the retail industry and the use of digital marketing trends and tools. The study highlights the growth potential of the retail market and the importance of digital marketing in driving its growth. It also explores key trends in the industry and provides insights into the application of digital marketing in the retail sector.

Abstract- The purpose of this study is to review the role of digital marketing, retail industry and how
digital marketing impacts on retail market. With the use of technological tools and applications, digital
marketers can identify the consumer behavior and target in increase of audience. This review paper
summarizes the scope of retail industry and how digital marketing hugely involves in today’s world, with
the use of trends. Accordance to the past researches, this research aware of how far retail industry can
grow with digital marketing using trends and marketing tools.
Keywords: digital marketing, retail industry, digital platforms, advertising
AIB ASSIGNMENT-
INTRODUCTION-
A brief introduction to the industry-
The retail business caters to a large range of consumer requirements. This sector is built on the concept
of efficiency of contacts, which allows customers to get whatever they desire and with lesser
interactions. This isn’t a design of larger retail strategy. Retailers assess their target buyer groupings,
determine the output services they need, and match their products to deliver value to each segment.
This retail sector serves as a kind of litmus test for the economy’s health; thus, it is one of most crucial
for a country’s economy.
Retailers are divided into two types as retail and institutional. Common feature of these two is that both
entail a larger number of minor transactions. The wholesale market, instead is a marketplace where
firms trade with businesses and not individua consumers. The categories of retail stores are;
 Fixed Location retail – Traditional store things may be purchased. Located in shopping malls
or streets.
 Supermarkets- Available range of home appliances to food and technology.
 Bargain Stores- Primarily food-oriented and often sell off-brand products as well.
 Temporary Stores- Located in high-traffic destinations and open for a brief of time. It is a
part of a marketing campaign.
 Vending machines- Entirely automated and store is almost non-existent.
Increasingly new and important merchants have joined the market, even though they are
primary and conventional shops.
According to Sri Lanka organization of retail, clothing, shelter/ housing, household appliances, footwear
accessories, e-commerce, entertainment, restaurants, mobility and healthcare are among nine retail
sectors which includes more leading industries.
Retail industry developed and brought massive changes in the light of digital transformation in recent
years.
Establish the market size-
Retailers buy vast products from producers in order to resell it to consumers at a profit. Consumer
spending accounts for around two-thirds of gross domestic product. As a result, the health of the retail
industry is determined by GDP patterns. Consumer confidence measurements aid in determining

consumer savings and spending rates, which are bonded with retailer success. Consumers limit outlays
to required day-today things in poor times because of less disposable income.
Retail commerce accounts for one third of national GDP and employs 14% of the workforce currently
according to Sri Lanka Retailers’ Association (SLRA). In Sri Lanka, retail receives over 250 million visitors,
which online-retail clicks are projected to be little less than 2% and mounting rate of 200% every year.
Establish the market growth potential-
The importance of retail as an industry is driving the need as a value maker for the economy, as an
employment, and as a development accelerator.
Building a platform for retailers to collaborate on cultivating retailing standards in an inclusive manner,
improving consumer experience and services in the retail industry and facilitating the industry’s growth
through innovation and exchange of worldwide practices is the ultimate goal of SLRA. In 2018, Hussain
Sadiq, the outgoing president of SLRA stated that in the second annual general meeting, the goal is to
bring together resources of organized retail industry on a common platform to facilitate and promote
futuristic growth, innovation and global reach. Thus, the market growth expands at a rate of 200% each
year.
In 2021, despite the lockdown caused by the pandemic, significantly limited retail performance on last
New Year season due to people confined to their homes on the lengthy lockdown. According to Sunday
Morning Business, the industry expects to reach 80% of retail sales same as year 2019 in 2021.
Sri Lanka’s retail industry being 1/3 of the country’s GDP contributes with sales surpassing $30 billion
solely attributable to retail. International retailers face significant prospects for future development as
high- and middle-income consumers move rapidly towards lifestyle-oriented items, this is increasing
self-assurance of others. Spending habits with growing preference for lifestyle and luxury products in Sri
Lanka are similar in Western nations. According to Nielson, 10% of Sri Lankan households possessed a
car in February 2015, whereas the Ceylon Motor Trade Association rose in 55% imports in the same
month.
With more market growth, retail hubs significantly important. One such is Malls, it is with increased
investment in new retail initiatives, most notably shopping malls like One Galle Face, Colombo City
Centre. Another such is e-commerce; it is the new developing industry. Online trading services are
available from hotels, travel firms etc. Customers are accessible to millions of worldwide items through
e-commerce.

Digital marketing scope and application in the current industry-
Internet is platform for communication than a marketing tool, which could conduct business and
implement specialized marketing strategies. The sophistication and number of online marketing
strategies have expanded in the intervening years. These strategies are so-called Digital Marketing (DM).
This has influenced user’s new routines and behaviors which lead to usability and profitability. DM is a
set of internet tactic in order to persuade costumers to purchase an item or service. Companies operate
on internet to interact with users on social networks through social ads, search engine optimization
(SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), social media marketing or strategies to sponsor ads in search
engines or advertising space on websites.
Digital Marketing (DM) is the notion of marketing on electronic platforms using any technological
equipment. Innovative technologies and approaches in DM have brought wider reach, convenience,
cost-effectiveness and capacity to bridge time and distance barriers. Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and
Internet of things (IoT) are used to achieve marketing goals in consumer-to-consumer and business-to
consumer settings. Social media, email, search engines, mobile applications, websites and electronic
billboards have all used to adopt to metric-based, relational and interactive marketing over the previous
two decades.
Traditional marketing is supplemented and replaced by DM sites on retail platforms like Alibaba, eBay,
Booking.com and Expedia and social media marketing communities such as Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn,
Facebook. Digital Marketing is a multi-disciplinary subject which is evolving and not limited to simple
application of electronic technology to marketing, yet also has the ability to progress with new ICT tools
and platforms.
Technique of advertising items or services through digital devices helps businesses to grow, since many
clients spend time online these days. A company could reach the ideal target audience on a local or
international level while staying within budget. Thus, more than 60% of marketers shifted to digital
marketing from traditional tactics.
When applying DM to retail industry like fashion-wear, new small-and-medium players are accessing the
digital platform in search of new possibilities. In today’s world, people are influenced and controlled
consumers goods and decision-making through social media. Such that, new trend in consumer-
behavior is using digital marketing to reach target customers. Social Media Marketing(SMM) is the
technique of promoting businesses through social-media channels using activities like blogging, article
sharing on the net. As a result, it brings impact on brand equity.(Jayasuriya) Facebook is a popular
social-media platform among private and public sector organizations in Sri Lanka. ()80% percent of
Facebook fans are following brand pages, which makes businesses connected and discoverable. Example
Glock, Kelly felder has a larger fan base than a magazine .With a reasonable cost, this platform allows to
engage with their target client group and improving the efficiency of marketing messages by filtering
tools accessible on Facebook. Statistics suggest shoppers are seeking for recommendations before
purchases, which cultives brand preference. (Jaysuriya) All of these strategies encourage businesses to
make efficient use of this medium in order to increase sales. Millennials living in the digitalized world

prefer to shop online. It provides consumers with a lot of convenience, and options, and fantastic prices.
Social media has the direct link to brand equity
Content is the main communication strategy, including social media, web, email-marketing, and
numerous communication activities. Visual content in e-commerce will be crucial in drawing customers
to your website by providing eye-catching information. The visual component of a brand marketing plan
is critical. Marketers frequently use visual material, such as images, graphics, maps, or videos, to
connect users easily and create fast relationships, resulting in a 12 percent increase in engagement and
site traffic. It is a vital factor to consider when creating an inbound marketing strategy. All digital
marketing strategies start with inbound marketing. Jules and Jenn are a great example of optimized e-
commerce.
You may identify a minimum of 5 key trends in your business or field of study.
Use of data, ICT -based technology such as AI, media, platforms (social networks) and devices to
broaden reach of marketing in both virtual and physical places is digital marketing. Its goal is to
influence, empower, inform, and engage customers. Marketing automation, apps, design, ,mobile -
marketing, web-analytics, SMS and growth hacking are examples of digital marketing.
Digital Signage- All of these panels can now be updated more readily with digital, frequently remotely,
and can create a more dynamic experience by incorporating slideshows, presentations, and animation.
Product Catalogue- It's a digital version of a traditional catalog. In a retail store, it can be shown on a
touch screen kiosk or made available to customers via their mobile phones. It draws attention to
features or product options that aren't immediately on shelf.
Product Selector- It's an application that guides clients to the best product for their needs with desired
price range and product features.
NFC and QR codes on mobile devices- QR codes are barcodes that may be scanned with a smartphone to
get information about a product or item. In a retail setting, these codes are perfect for providing product
information to customers. Near Field Communication (NFC) is a marketing tool for transmitting
information from a poster or display shelf to a customer's wireless device in a retail context. NFC 'tag'
include web-addresses, discounts, or, option to pay.
Customer Aware Video- A strategy for immediately informing customers about special discounts or
what's fresh in the store With this information, the video may be tailored to show content that is most
appealing to the specified group.
Personalized Retail App- Tell users about current products and notify the launch of new ones, allowing
users to place orders directly from their phones. It keep clients engaged.
Track-in-store Movement- Customers' in-store movements can be tracked using wireless signals,
iBeacon, and geofencing technology. Heat maps can illustrate tracking outcomes and help retailers fine-
tune their marketing strategies.
#1 – Leverage Experiences by Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.
Customer’s real-time needs will be used to customize recommendation using AI marketing and machine-
learning, which would bring out quicker and informed decisions with better client experience. Example-

Peapod uses a tool called “Order-Genius” to provide individualized recommendations for online grocery
consumers from the previous purchases.
#2- Socially Integrated Visual Search.
Users simply take a photo of an outfit or download a photo and search articles related to that within the
image using visual search. Search engine like google allows customers to be presented with list of
products that meet the user’s criteria, making it simple for them to purchase. Retailers must establish
presence on image-based platforms like Pinterest or Instagram. They can market AI to create product
innovations. Linking Instagram or Pinterest accounts on customer profiles, would help to create a list of
suggested things based on the shopper’s current style. Customers can use Google Lens to figure out
which piece of outfit or item they want to buy from the snapshot.
#3- Shopping Assistance via Chatbots and Smart-home speakers.
Smart speaker is rapidly expanding, thus customers can use these gadgets such as Amazon Echo or
Google Home to place orders without even looking at a screen. Retailers are abandoning face-to-face
customer service and replacing with chatbots or virtual assistants to guide customers through online
buying. These trends continue to grow, such that retailers need to consider how to use their strategies
to meet customers wherever they are.
#4-E-commerce shopping on social media
Digital platforms bring shopping experience closer to customers. Example, Instagram, recently launched
a Shop tab to allow users to find and connect with creators and businesses. Many brands utilize
influencer marketing by collaborating with content-providers for affiliate marketing and sponsored
partnerships. Brands must think how they can leverage to gain actionable insight into their target
audiences for even more personalization.
#5- Streamlining Online and Offline Experiences for Hyper-Personalization.
Data driven personalization is the technique of making marketing decisions based on individual data of
past choices and segmenting audiences. Retailers use personalized people-based marketing insights to
streamline, and create simple shopping processes rather than sending incentives based on customer’s
data. Using information what customer likes, values, and needs from offline and online; it will create a
personalized recommendation when a customer visits the online store-front.
● Present a minimum of 8 tools
Collection of software and technology tools used by marketers to collect and analyze data, to streamline
marketing activities and give variety of ways to reach target audience is the usage of marketing
technology.
 Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is long-term, continuous content enhancement and digital
asset design with the goal of ranking high as possible on search-engine result pages (SERPs),
when internet users conduct a related search on a search-engine like Google. To streamline SEO,
tools must be efficiently optimized, some are;

1. Ahrefs- Comprehensive SEO tool that help to increase the amount of traffic to
your website. Better tool for competition analysis because it lets you see who
links to your competitors, what their top websites are, and more.
Keyword Analysis and customer-search analysis : -
1. Google Keyword Planner- Keyword planner can be placed within the AdWords
dashboard under tools. It allows to set parameters for Google and kits partners and
filter keywords by location. This allows to see the average organic position and monthly
search volume for keywords.
2. Google Trends – Tool to recognize seasonal content. It presents data simpler and results
in a visual manner. It shows interest in search queries and keywords.
Rank checking:-
1. Advanced Web Tracking- Can check ranks on a daily, weekly, or on-demand basis.
Reports can be accessed from any device.
2. Google Search Console- Can examine the appearance of your search results,
performance of your amp pages, links to your site, and crawl issues.
Site crawling :-
1. Yoast- It improves your content's search engine optimization. Yoast aids with the
selection of cornerstone content, target keywords to aid in ranking, specific content
URLs, and internal links for added benefit.
Backlink Analysis:-
1. Buzzsumo: - Can use the backlink tracker to see who connects to your competitors and
analyze their most popular backlinks, and view how many times each URL has been
shared on social media, also locates influencers.
 Paid Search and Paid Social are two types of advertising. Paid Social advertisements appear on
social media and all ads display on SERPs when you type a query are paid search ads. Advertisers
generate these paid-adverts and compete with others for placement on their social network
preferred or SERP of the search engine selected.
1. SEMrush- Provide paid search analytic tools in addition to organic search.
2. WordStream- To make it easier to ingest paid ad data, their performance dashboard
illustrates all critical indicators from AdWords, Bing, and even Facebook accounts.
This is a superb way to compare your own performance across different digital
platforms.
3. BidCops- It compiles data from Google AdWords into a single, easy-to-understand
report, and provides a free AdWords Audit, which identifies which keywords are
squandering budget, helps you select the optimal keywords for your ads to increase
traffic and conversions.

 Email marketing is the act of distributing relevant and timely information to consumers and
prospects via email.
1. SendGrid- A comprehensive portfolio of email marketing services, many of which
are user-friendly for both beginners and seasoned email marketers. This platform
provides a variety of design possibilities, including visual, drag-and-drop editing,
code and both. It includes detailed deliverability and performance metrics, allowing
marketers to see which messages are performing well and what requires
improvement.
2. Mailchimp- Email marketing tool that allows you to construct landing sites, email
campaigns and tells exactly which links they clicked and who opened your email at
what time.
 Search and social ads are the placement of advertisements at the sidebar or at the top on search
results pages. With certain keywords or phrases entered to the search engine, these adverts be
connected to keywords and appear alongside the search results. In simple words, any
advertising in which you pay a social media business to put business content or promoting
websites, products and services on their platform like Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook is called
social media advertising. In fashion retail sector, there are millions of blogs and applications to
keep up-to-date the trends to involve clients. Customers are encouraged to share outfits on
social networks which help shoppers to use social media to make decisions.
1. Tweet-Deck- This is ideal for keeping track of Hashtags. It allows manually
schedule tweets.
2. Social Mention- It is a listening tool that provides in-depth analysis of terms and
online discussions. Tracking brand names reveals how far brands have spread,
how strong and how passionate users are about them. It also displays
sentiment analysis.
3. Brand24-Online monitoring application and identifies, analyze online
conversations about their products, brands, and competitors. They provide an
influencer score to assist you in identifying people with the highest social
impact.
 Analytics are a solid analysis tool will provide with information you need regarding current
campaigns, and other vital metrics for your company's overall performance. They provides you
with useful information about your clients' behavior habits.
1. Google Analytics- Assists in determining the source of your website traffic. As Google
offers its own services, such as Google search and display advertisements, the capacity
to track and analyze data is also available.
2. ContentSquare- Digital experience analytics cloud helps businesses understand hidden
customer behaviors and allows customers to create and share wish lists in order to
increase return customers and loyalty, and also combines digital shopping with physical
pickup or delivery or options.
3. Kissmetrics- This enables for segmented conversion tracking, simple retargeting via
advertising ads and individual registered user reporting.

 Content Marketing is a strategic marketing approach centered on delivering and developing
relevant, consistent, valuable content to keep and attract a clearly defined audience and to drive
profitable action. This refers to any endeavor to advertise using online content such as
infographics, blog posts, videos, white papers, eBooks.
1. Trello- Simple-to-use and makes content organization considerably more efficient. It
has lists for various campaign content that assign to internal team members to
remind them of what has to be written. So that, it keep track of ideas and organize
and distribute content among team members.
2. WordPress- Good content management to build sites.
3. Smartling- This technology centralizes global information in the cloud and interfaces
effortlessly with any tech stack to provide insight through a centralized workspace
and deploy flexible workflows that ensure translation accuracy and boost team
efficiency.
 Marketing automation tools
1. Segmetify- SaaS conversion optimization platform. Uses easy-to-use real-time
predictive analytic tools to help e-commerce and content websites improve
revenues and page views by generating smart recommendations.
2. DataBowl- Produces, runs, and automates B2C marketing campaigns from
conception to accomplishment, either as a standalone data management platform
or by effortlessly integrating with the existing system.
 UX and page Insight tools keeps your audience on your site and browsing requires ensuring that
it is accessible and that the user experience is quick and simple.
1. PageSpeed Insights- Google tool that displays the page speed of your site/URLs and
provides suggestions for how to improve it.
 Personalization tools
1. Google Optimize 360- All GA users can utilize Optimize for free as AB Testing with
certain personalization options, but the full version Personalization option is presently
only available to enterprise members.
● Establish “fads” versus “key trends”
Fads fade quickly. Any style is followed intensively by a community for a brief period is a fad. When the
novelty is worn off, the behavior will fall swiftly. For example, Squid Game drama became an impact on
other businesses.
● Present growth opportunities and sector
(udadeniya) To get customers’ attention, marketers look out for new technologies that enhance
marketing messages. Online Behavioral Advertising(OBA) is the mainstay of digital marketing, which
monitors users’ personal information like browsed history by the online retailers in order to deliver
customized ads. Cookies are a tiny file, storing users’ data to create adverts of their choice. Tailored ads
are beneficial for businesses like Stitch-Fix, Henrys etc.

Retail industry has a significant evolvement in digital transformations. Such that brick-and-mortar
storefronts become obsolete as online retailers take over the industry. Identifying business models with
e-commerce solutions allows customers to make smooth transitions when doing online purchases. As a
result, it expands the business to overseas. Browsing on your device similar online similar to a real-store,
allows to shop the best. Digital Marketing provides opportunity every-day to investigate novel areas.
They learn what customers are interested once they have shopped and history is stored for their future
purchases. Some people prefer physical stores, yet augmented reality, virtual mirrors are helping online
shopping a trend.
For retailers, the omnichannel approach is primarily focused on linking online and in-store buying
experiences. This needs consistency throughout the organization, from marketing materials to customer
service. Artificial intelligence has been increasingly acknowledged and embraced by retailers. One of the
most widely used applications has been customer service chatbots and voice technology has advanced
significantly in the home, owing to Google Home, Amazon's Alexa and Apple's Siri, retailers have yet to
fully embrace it. Internet of Things plays a role as well. Amazon's Dash buttons, which introduced in
2015, allow customers to refill a variety of home items with just one touch. Example, you might get a
ping with special discounts or coupons to use in the jewelry area, if you were browsing jewelries online.
Customers will have a more tailored and relevant experience as a result of this, which will give them a
compelling reason to part with their cash.
BOPIS tactics—the concept of "buy online, pick up in store"—are becoming more popular among
shoppers. For retailers with a big number of physical locations, this capability is highly valuable. BOPIS is
appealing to consumers since it eliminates the cost of delivery. Consumers continue to expect
personalization—as web platform technology improves, digital shopping will be able to offer more
tailored experiences and products. To implement a full customisation strategy, online marketers will
need to enable an omnichannel strategy that encompasses social media, email, search engine
marketing, and more. As personalization progresses, more personal information is shared. The trust
factor of a brand must be increased by digital marketers.
Creating fantastic products that encourage people to share thoughts about them on social media helps a
company establish credibility and trust.
Conclusion-
To have a healthy retail market, it contains a better digital marketing (DM) strategy. Companies with e-
commerce have quickly grown and that DM provides in retail industry dedicated to a specific target and
help to engage customer with the business. Main objective of DM is to apply techniques from the offline
world to the internet realm through various marketing strategies. Customers can be captured by giving
value from the user's interest in what you have to offer via digital content. This is the foundation of
creating an audience.