LAS VEGAS – Retailers are seeing strong growth in sales of online advertising, and they’re adopting data tools to help demonstrate the interplay between ecommerce and brick-and-mortar sales channels.

“The retailers are trying to find better ways to connect what’s happening digitally online with what’s happening in stores,” J. William Margaritis, senior vice president of digital and global ecommerce at Reprise Digital, said in this interview with consultant Joanna O’Connell at ShopTalk 2023.

“That’s one of the big frontiers that are being conquered right now. Brands want to know what’s happening very directly between online and offline,” he said. “They want to be able to track. They want to be able to measure, and physical retailers are in excellent shape to be the ones that unlock that.”

The creaky term “omnichannel” has been around for years to describe marketing strategies that encompass digital commerce and physical stores. It’s making a comeback as consumers seek newer conveniences, such as ordering a product online and picking it up at a nearby store.

“Consumers are shopping omnichannel. They’re planning and they’re researching online and then they’re stopping in on their way home from work,” Margaritis said. “Brands need to be able to understand that. They need to be able to track that.”

Tracking such consumer behavior can help to develop marketing campaigns that encompass multiple sales channels, he said. These efforts can include end-cap displays in stores whose themes match the digital creative.

“That’s something that you see a lot of brands already latching on to, some of them more new startup brands,” Margaritis said, “but I think that tying that together is going to be a very big step.”

You are watching ‘Inside Commerce: Retail Media & What’s Next? Reports from ShopTalk 2023,’ a Beet.TV Leadership Series presented by Criteo. For more videos from this series, please visit this page.