Digital advertising changed the game for retailers of all sizes. Not only did it allow brands to target consumers (How does Nike know I live in Austin, Texas?), it also allowed them to unlock shopper data like never before (How does Nike know I’m looking for shoes?).

Unlike traditional print advertising where you can only gain a vague idea of how many people will see your ad -- for example, the number of eyes is based on a publication’s number of subscribers -- digital advertising allows you to know how many people are seeing your ad in real-time. For retailers, that means knowing exactly how many impressions an ad gets, how many of those impressions turn into click-throughs, how long those click-throughs dwell on your page, and whether they explore your site or bounce away immediately. Thanks to this data, you can see, analyze, and learn from your customers’ behavior online.

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The Digital Standard

In short, digital ads are the new standard. In fact, $151 billion was spent on digital ads in the US during 2020 compared to just (just!) $107 billion on all traditional ads. While targeting plays a huge role in the growth of digital advertising, it’s shopper data that makes it the dominant medium. Online shopper data is invaluable to helping businesses create a digital experience that connects with and captivates consumers. 

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The Problem with POS

In-store, all you can measure with are POS reports, and that’s a problem.

Digital advertising data tells you how well your ads are doing online, but how does that translate to the way your customers behave in-store? Like most retailers, you probably spend the majority of your advertising budget on digital marketing, where you can make use of all of that valuable shopper behavior data in real-time. In-store, all you can measure with are POS reports, and that’s a problem.

Expensive camera systems and cumbersome modifications to shelves, fixtures, or products, made collecting in-store shopper behavior data difficult and expensive, until now. Retail Aware is simplifying in-store data in real time giving you eyes on what’s going on inside the store.

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Get More In-Store 

Just like digital ads, Retail Aware can track traffic, impressions, dwell time, engagement, and more, in-store and in real-time. This allows you to gather hard data on attribution, execution, AB testing, improving your shopper journey, and more, but when paired with your digital ad data, things get really interesting. 

Imagine being able to measure online impressions vs in-store impressions of a digitally promoted product.

You can conclusively measure the impact your digital dollar is making in-store when you overlay your digital data with your in-store data. Imagine being able to measure online impressions vs in-store impressions of a digitally promoted product. Or dwell time in-store around the product you’ve promoted online to see how much interest your digital ad is creating.

Establish a baseline in-store measurement prior to your digital campaign, then measure in-store activity during and after the campaign to truly understand the campaign's effectiveness. By measuring in-store shopper behavior, you’re able to see the impact of a digital campaign and in-store signage on impressions, dwell time, product interaction, and product engagement. 

By measuring in-store shopper behavior, you’re able to see the impact of a digital campaign

Make your digital dollars work harder by monitoring timestamps of digital ads placed against the timestamps of impressions around products in-store, allowing you to know what time of day is most effective for digital marketing to increase in-store impressions, dwell time, and engagements.

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Step Into the Light

All of this can be overlaid with your POS data, allowing you to measure the conversion of impressions and product engagement with actual sales. Where the in-store shopper experience was once a dark place devoid of modern metrics, Retail Aware brings it into the light, giving you shopper behavior data that can improve your digital ads, improve your in-store shopper experience, and increase your ROI. 

With digital advertising already overshadowing traditional media and only growing, it will become increasingly important to be able to track the impact your ads make. By unifying and clarifying your digital ad data with sales data and in-store customer behavior data, Retail Aware can provide you with a true customer 360 solution that lets you see your digital ad dollars at work and improve every aspect of your business. 

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