The Dirty Martini Archives

Dated: May 5, 2023

Welcome to The Dirty Martini Digest, Issue #3. As this is the week of Cinco de Mayo, we'll have to call this edition the Margarita Digest! This newsletter is built for our technology friends to enable you to do your job more effectively. So grab a drink, take a seat, and let's get straight to the good stuff.

The Dirty Details

Get your hands dirty with our deep dive into a specific report, and uncover hidden insights that matter most to you. This month, we're going 'in-store' to highlight key trends driving the in-store experience.

Stores are sexy again. Shopping is social; shopping provides tactile satisfaction that cannot be duplicated online. Our latest analysis shows that by 2025, anywhere from 60%-85% of shopping will still be conducted in-store. With the shopper journey forever changed, technology plays an even more critical role in-store. Retailers are looking at technology to develop and execute more successful store initiatives across the spectrum, including associate enablement, inventory management, and customer experience. On the blocking and tackling of in-store operations, our data shows that is where retailers are the most satisfied. Where things get squirrelly is the incorporation of digital technologies in-store, a retailer's ability to test in-store initiatives successfully, and associates' effectiveness with shoppers.

According to our recent studies:

• 83% of retailers believe that the amount of technology deployed in-store will increase.
• Expect massive growth in the automation of associate activities. Grocery will go from 19% today to 62%, and Apparel will go from 37% to 72% in 2025.
• 62% of restaurant executives are planning on investing in new technology and equipment to improve the in-restaurant experience over the next 2 years.
• Retailers who do not use specialized in-store testing software expect 61% of their in-store initiatives to fail.

Dive deeper into our cross-industry in-store research:

• 2023 Connected Retail Experience Study: Operational Efficiency is the New Imperative: Incisiv and Verizon have partnered on a multi-year research study to understand the digital transformation of stores in the retail industry. The research aimed to answer questions such as where retailers focus their store transformation efforts, their key technology priorities, and whether retailers’ store networks can handle the increase in technology in stores.
• The Future of In-Restaurant Dining: Published in partnership with Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions, this study surveyed 140+ research executives to understand their priorities for improving specific aspects of the in-restaurant experience and adoption plans for various customer-facing and restaurant operations technologies.
• Boosting Success Rates and ROI of Strategic Store Initiatives: Published in partnership with MarketDial, the study surveyed 200+ store executives to uncover the challenges around executing in-store initiatives successfully. It also details where a defined testing process can improve success rates.

Straight from the Shaker

Get practical insights and best practices straight from our industry experts as we shake up and serve up our knowledge to help you improve your go-to-market strategies. Each month, we'll share tips to help you stay ahead of the game.

In this month's "Straight from the Shaker," we're exploring the importance of nurture in your research and marketing programs. While a single asset can be powerful, being able to leverage a data set across multiple pieces of content is a far more effective way to maximize the investment and amplify its effectiveness.

To utilize data in your marketing efforts, consider these top 5 tips:

• Plan for the development of mid-funnel content: Incorporate research data into product content to back up what your solution offers. Also, use the data in more prescriptive pieces such as Playbooks that can tie what the research shows into key steps companies can take to better their business.
• Keep some data for later: In our work with clients, we typically don’t use all of the data available for the flagship report. However, having data ‘in the can’ opens up opportunities to develop derivative content that can either back up the story told in the flagship report or offer a more focused source of content.
• Leverage your SME’s to provide their own Interpretation: A blog or video from an SME detailing their interpretation of a data set is an excellent nurture vehicle. It provides the connective tissue between a third-party data set and your company and serves as a great follow-up for a downloaded study.
• Use data in sales decks & presentations: Just as with mid-funnel marketing content, contextualizing the data to key solution benefits in sales decks and presentations is a powerful tool and achieves the goal of aligning sales and marketing.

Content marketing is part of most tech firms’ marketing strategy. However, building connective tissue between multiple pieces of content is more effective than stand-alone content. Having research data as a foundational building block for content provides a great bridge for nurturing a prospect through a buying journey.

On the House

Sip on our team's latest research, analysis, and industry news, with a quick scan of our recently published work and key takeaways.

• 2023 Connected Restaurant Experience Study: Digital Engagement Creates Complexity: Incisiv and Verizon have partnered on a multi-year research study to understand the digital transformation of the restaurant industry. The research aimed to answer questions such as where retailers are focusing their store transformation efforts, their key technology priorities, and whether retailers’ store networks can handle the increase in technologies in stores.
• Imperatives for Next-Generation Workforce Management in Fast-Moving Retail: In a rapidly evolving workplace, Incisiv partnered with Blue Yonder, Microsoft, and Theatro for a research playbook. It offers a structured framework, including 15 key capabilities to consider across 5 dimensions, to help retailers on what they must prioritize when devising their next-generation workforce management solution strategy.
• State of Digital Grocery Marketing: Unlocking Private Brand Growth: Incisiv’s Grocery Doppio brand partnered with FMI for a research study to understand the role of Private Brands in a high-inflation economy.

Art on the Rocks

Experience the intersection of technology and creativity each month as we use artificial intelligence to generate a unique art piece that explores a key industry topic.

Our shopper here clearly has a fair amount of items to scan and may be contemplating if self-checkout or manned checkout would be a better option! Retailers can test things like this using software and make a better-educated decision on store initiatives.

To learn more about the structured and data-driven approach to in-store testing, check out our latest study Boosting Success Rates and ROI of Strategic Store Initiatives.

Second Round

Expand your industry knowledge with our recommended reading, featuring insightful articles and resources that caught our attention this month.

• In-Store Media Networks are all the rage in grocery. Who’s doing them best? Check out some of the leaders from our Grocery Doppio brand.
• Grocery Doppio has announced an AI in Grocery digital event in June that will highlight key use cases and disruptive companies driving the segment.
• Will Amazon take advantage of the Kroger/Albertsons merger by picking up their duplicate stores? Check out the heated discussion on Retail Wire.

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