DIGITAL MARKETING AND RETAIL INDUSTRY.

DIGITAL MARKETING AND
RETAIL INDUSTRY
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Table of Contents
Abstract 3
Introduction 3
Literature Review 3
Brief introduction to retail industry 4
Market size of the industry 4
Retail market’s growth potential 4
Digital Marketing Scope and application to retail industry 4
Key trends in the industry 6
Tools that can be used by digital marketers 7
“Fads” versus “Key trends” 12
Growth opportunities and sector 12
Conclusion 12
References 13
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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, tools, trends
Introduction
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. (Lumen, n.d.) With more market growth, retail hubs significantly important. One such is
Malls, it is with increased investment in new retail initiatives. (Oxford Business Group, 2018)
Customers are accessible to millions of worldwide items through e-commerce. (International Trade
Adminstration, 2021)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.
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. 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 decades. (Krishen, et al., 2021) To have
a healthy retail market, it contains a better 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.
Literature Review
Brief introduction to retail industry
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. (Lumen, n.d.) According to
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Sri Lanka’s organization of retail, clothing, housing, e-commerce, entertainment, restaurants, mobility
and healthcare are some retail sectors which includes more leading industries. (LBO, 2018) Retail
industry developed and brought massive changes in the light of digital transformation in recent years.
(Lumen, n.d.)
Market size of the industry
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. (DAWOOD, 2021) 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.
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. (LBO, 2018)
Retail market’s growth potential
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. (LBO, 2018) In 2021, despite the lockdown caused by the pandemic, significantly limited
retail performance on last New Year season. According to Sunday Morning Business, the industry
expects to reach 80% of retail sales same as year 2019 in 2021. (DAWOOD, 2021)Sri Lanka’s retail
industry contributes with sales surpassing $30 billion solely attributable to retail. Spending habits are
as 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.
(Oxford Business Group, 2018)
Digital Marketing Scope and application to retail industry
Internet is platform for communication than a marketing tool, which could conduct business and
implement specialized marketing strategies. These strategies are so-called Digital Marketing (DM).
(M.Olson, et al., 2021) 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
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(SMM) or strategies to sponsor ads in search engines or advertising space on websites. (RamonSaura,
2021)
Traditional marketing is supplemented and replaced by DM sites on retail platforms like Alibaba,
eBay, Booking.com and Expedia and SMM communities such as Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn.
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. (Krishen, et al., 2021)Technique of advertising items or services through digital
devices helps businesses to grow, since many clients spend time online these days. (Udayangani,
2018) More than 60% of marketers shifted to digital marketing from traditional tactics. (Simplilearn,
2021)When applying DM to retail industry like fashion-wear, new small-and-medium players are
accessing the digital platform in search of new possibilities. Such that social media, the new trend in
consumer-behavior is using digital marketing to reach target customers. (Jayasuriya, et al., 2018)
SMM is the technique of promoting businesses through social-media channels. 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. (A.Jayasuriya & Azam, 2017)
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. (Jayasuriya, et al., 2018)
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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. It is a vital factor to consider when
creating an inbound marketing strategy. Jules and Jenn are a great example of optimized e-commerce.
(rvdmedia group, 2015)
Key trends in the industry
Use of data, ICT -based technology such as AI, media, platforms 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. 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. (Marketing
Evolution, 2021)
 Shopping Assistance via Chatbots and Smart-home speakers- Customers can use these
gadgets such as Amazon Echo or Google Home to place orders without even looking at a
screen. These trends continue to grow, retailers are abandoning face-to-face customer service
and replacing with chatbots or virtual assistants to guide customers through online buying.
(Marketing Evolution, 2021)
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 Digital Signage- All of these panels can now be updated more readily with digital, creates a
more dynamic experience by incorporating slideshows, presentations, and animation. (Rich
media, n.d.)
 Socially Integrated Visual Search- Users simply take 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. 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. (Marketing Evolution,
2021) Product Selector- It's an application that guides clients to the best product for their needs with
desired price range and product features. (Rich media, n.d.) 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. (Rich media, n.d.)
 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 keeps clients engaged.
 Track-in-store Movement- Customers' in-store movements can be tracked using wireless
signals, iBeacon, and geofencing technology. (Rich media, n.d.)
 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.
(Marketing Evolution, 2021)
 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. (M.Olson, et al., 2021) Using information what
customer likes; it will create a personalized recommendation when a customer visits the
online store-front. (Marketing Evolution, 2021)
Tools that can be used by digital marketers : 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.
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 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. (M.Olson, et al.,
2021)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.
(Tolbert, 2021)
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. (Mangles, 2018)
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.
(Mangles, 2018)
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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. (Mangles, 2018)
Site crawling :-
1. Yoast- It improves your content's search engine optimization. This helps to select
specific content URLs, cornerstone content, target keywords to aid in ranking, and
internal links for added benefit. (Tolbert, 2021)
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. (Mangles, 2018)
 Paid Search and Paid Social - 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. (M.Olson, et al., 2021)
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.
3. BidCops- It compiles data from Google AdWords into a single, easy-to-
understand report, and provides a free AdWords Audit, helps you select the
optimal keywords for your ads to increase traffic and conversions. (Mangles,
2018)
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 Email marketing is the act of distributing relevant and timely information to consumers and
prospects via email. (M.Olson, et al., 2021)
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. (Barnhart, 2021)
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. (DePino, 2020)
 Search and social ads are the placement of advertisements at the sidebar or at the top on
search results pages. 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. (M.Olson, et al., 2021)
There are millions of blogs and applications to keep up-to-date the trends to involve clients, in
fashion retail sector.
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. (Mangles, 2018)
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 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.
1. Google Analytics- Assists in determining the source of your website traffic. The
capacity to track and analyze data is available by Google.
2. ContentSquare- Digital experience analytics cloud helps businesses understand
hidden customer behaviors and allows customers to create and share wish lists, and
combines digital shopping. (PURCĂREA, 2018)
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. (M.Olson, et al., 2021)
1. Trello-It has lists for various campaign content that assign to internal team
members to remind them of what has to be written.
2. 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. Segmentify- 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. (Mangles, 2018)
 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 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. (Mangles, 2018)
Tools for every startup- Razorpay (payment gateway), Invideo (for creating buzzfeed style vidoes),
BlueHost (Hosting) (Startup Talky, 2019)
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“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. Another is Als Ice Bucket Challenge is a fad which helped businesses to
stay on top by opening doors for new audiences. Trends solve issues and become powerful over time.
Audience demands generate trends, which have observable and explainable growth. Organizations
that ignore trends do so at their peril. Ignoring trends means they'll either be forced to adjust or fall.
(Colleen Dilenschneider, 2016)
Growth opportunities and sector:
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.
Tailored ads are beneficial for businesses like Stitch-Fix, Henrys etc. (Udadeniya, et al., 2019)Retail
industry has a significant evolvement in digital transformations. Such that brick-and-mortar
storefronts become obsolete as online retailers take over the industry. Browsing on your device
similar online similar to a real-store, allows to shop the best. (Khosa, 2020) 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 as trend. (rvdmedia group,
2015)For retailers, the omnichannel approach is primarily focused on linking online and in-store
buying experiences. 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, allow customers to refill a variety of home items with just one touch. (Digital
Marketing Institute, 2019)The concept of "buy online, pick up in store(BOPIS)" are becoming more
popular among shoppers. For retailers with a big number of physical locations, this capability is
highly valuable. Digital shopping will be able to offer more tailored experiences and products. The
trust factor of a brand must be increased by digital marketers. (Linchpin, 2021)
Conclusion-
Digital era made marketers smart in advertising opportunities. Advanced capability to advertise for
users to see similar products is dynamic feed-based advertising. (AVX Digital, 2021)
The result of the literature review on digital marketing and the retail industry was focused mostly on
how techniques from the offline world create the internet realm through various marketing strategies.
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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.
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