NETBASE INDUSTRY REPORT 2019 RETAIL...The analysis was English-language only but country agnostic....

2019 Industry Report: Retail 1

LEADER IN SOCIAL ANALYTICS


NETBASE INDUSTRY REPORT 2019 RETAIL

2019 Industry Report: Retail2


PREFACE

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Today’s consumer is only one tweet, Facebook post or insta story away from telling the world how their experience was with a brand and using their opinion to influence the purchasing decisions of others. This opinion rich data represents a unique opportunity for brands to leverage customer experience insights in near real-time to capitalize on consumers wants, needs, desires and frustrations. These insights, a true crowd-sourced focus group at your fingertips, offer businesses unique opportunities for improvement, product innovation, and the chance to engage, interact and learn from customers in ways they never had before.

Why does customer experience matter? Why does engagement matter? Why should a company listen to how consumers feel about their brands? Quite simply, consumers have choices. Consider how many bad product reviews a person has to read before they exit the product page before looking for an alternative with good reviews. If the reviews are highly positive, consider how much faster a purchase is made. The digital landscape has only given buyers more choices than ever—and their pocket books support their emotional connection to a brand. People feel good about supporting brands they connect with and share this sentiment with their circle of influence. Social data is the new word of mouth marketing—the opportunity for a brand lies in the ability to learn from this data.

This report seeks to uncover what can be gleaned from this data—what makes people love brands versus liking them? What turns them off? What lessons can be learned looking retrospectively at a years’ worth of social data to understand emerging trends in the ever-changing landscape of retail; with each retail category having its own unique set of challenges competing in a dynamic digital landscape?

Preface: .........................................................................................................................2Scope of the Report: ....................................................................................................3Executive Summary: .....................................................................................................4Methodology: ............................................................................................................... 7Ranking of Retail Brands: ............................................................................................ 11Category Insights: .......................................................................................................13Closing Statement: .....................................................................................................27

These insights, a true crowd-sourced focus group at your fingertips, offer businesses unique opportunities for improvement...



SCOPEUnlike the mad-men era of Advertisers and brands creating ads to target their consumer, the consumer is the new author of today’s brand story with shoppable Instagram stories, YouTube vloggers linking to their favorite products and Reddit users going deep into the attributes of what they love or hate about a brand or product.

This report is going to dive into the moments that drive consumers to interact with a brand. What makes some brands loved versus liked? What causes people to talk passionately about some brands and not others? What attributes fueled their shopping experience? What kind of moments or experiences garnered intense feelings, whether positive or negative, towards a brand?

The NetBase Social Analytics platform with its next generation artificial intelligence technology makes it very easy to look granularly at a brand and their competitors across a broad spectrum of categories to quickly identify trends and identify key performance indicators, adding a layer of understanding that goes deeper than just sentiment. This enables the data to quickly tell us where some brands are knocking it out of the park in relation to things like customer service, online shopping experience, price and discounting, where others show clear room for improvement. The most intelligent brands can use this information to their advantage.



EXECUTIVE SUMMARYTop 10 Retail Brands by Mention Volume

Top 10 Brands Ranked by Passion Intensity and Net Sentiment Visualized with Conversation Volume

While Amazon continues to dominate mention volume as it did last year, there are a few brands who also maintained their standing in the top 10 list including Target, eBay, Chanel and Louis Vuitton. New additions to the top 10 include Burberry and Gucci, further solidifying a strong Luxury retail dominance in the top 10. Etsy was added to this year’s retail report, and it came in at #3 on the list and scored highly in mention volume, net sentiment, and passion intensity—a true e-tail power house. Athletic brands did not perform as well on this year’s list, with Nike dropping 14 places from last year’s list and out of the top 10, with a sharp decline in sentiment amidst the heated Colin Kaepernick NFL conversation.

In addition to landing in the top 10 for mention volume, Etsy landed the number one spot on the Brand Passion Index, a combined measurement of Net Sentiment and Passion Intensity, meaning people don’t just like Esty, they LOVE ETSY, followed closely by Louis Vuitton and Burberry. Other brands in the upper right-hand quadrant of the Brand Passion Index (meaning people don’t just like these brands, they love these brands) include Best Buy and Chanel. Walmart skews toward the negative side of the list, showing up on the left-hand side of the Brand Passion Index, the most negative of all brands represented on this list.



Top 10 Brands by Conversation Volume Broken Down by Social Media Channel

Top 10 Brands Net Sentiment Categorized by Conversation Topic

When looking at the share of conversation among Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, Instagram volume has grown by leaps and bounds in comparison to last year’s report, which is not surprising considering how Instagram usage continues to grow among brands and consumers. Twitter is still a dominant force to be reckoned with, representing over half the conversation for most brands. Etsy and luxury fashion brands Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Gucci have a high percentage of the conversation on Instagram, while only Walmart and Target have a lot of representation on Facebook.

Sales/Discounts Online Price Customer Service

ChanelRL 85 79 73 71

Louis Vuitton 78 69 62 55

Burberry 79 63 60 -32

Gucci Global 19 90 64 -25

eBay 72 68 65 50

Amazon 63 23 49 49

Etsy 82 74 33 86

Walmart 37 35 52 23

Best Buy 77 48 69 25

Target 58 54 45 51



Using the “CrossTab” in the NetBase platform enables one to quickly pick up on insights across brands and categories, seeing where brands are performing well (0–100 range) or not (-1 to -100). Looking at the top 10 list as it relates to sales discounts, price, customer service, and online, we can see some standouts, giving the reader quick intel on how people feel about a brand as it relates to those aspects. Chanel performs well across the board whereas some brands have clear room for improvement when it comes to customer service, trending negatively in these areas. Best Buy performs well for price and sales/discounts, but less so as it relates to customer service, and Esty performs well in all categories except price, trending slightly lower for that category. Target’s numbers are consistent across all categories, not extremely high but not negative either, showing room for improvement across all categories.

ATHLETIC: Brands have a hard time not getting wrapped up in political discussions, case in point; Nike, who sparked heated debate with their support of Colin Kaepernick amidst controversy surrounding the NFL.

BIG BOX: Big Box stores dominate in conversation around deals and discounts, but fall short on Passion Intensity compared to other categories. Costco is highly positive, with fans citing their pizza as a highlight of the Costco shopping experience.

CLOTHING: H&M suffered backlash from their ad campaign that is seen as racist, smaller challenger brands such as Everlane offer transparency, ethical practices and quality clothing which has struck a positive chord with conscious consumers.

DEPARTMENT STORES: Department stores lack conversation volume compared to eCommerce companies, but make up for it with generally higher Sentiment and Passion Intensity. Department stores are working to compete against Amazon by offering unique collaborations such as the partnership between Lord & Taylor and Walmart.

E-COMMERCE: Amazon is #1 on the eCommerce spot but unique shopping experiences from etailers like Etsy and eBay rival Amazon’s mass produced goods. Wayfair sees a drop in sentiment, a result of getting entangled in the heated political landscape, by advertising on Fox News.

GROCERY: Grocery shopping represents an opportunity to excite shoppers as those with high net sentiment such as Sprouts and Wegmans offering an “experience” to customers proving that price is not always the only factor when choosing a grocery store.

LUXURY: Luxury retailers occupy 4 of the 10 spots on this years top 10 list, offering curated experiences and partnerships with artists, musicians and other brands to keep them relevant.

QUICK INSIGHTS PER CATEGORY



SUMMARY METRICS

Aggregated Key Metrics (all brands researched)

Mentions6.064 BILLION

Reach // Awareness5.364 Billion

Net Sentiment53%

Passion Intensity (Average) 75

Our analysis of brand performance looked at volume of conversation, awareness (as a measure of earned impressions), reach (a measure of owned impressions), net sentiment, and brand passion as measured and analyzed through the NetBase platform. Given that retail is a vast and diverse category, we opted for a selection of specific representative brands across multiple retail categories rather than an exhaustive list. This allows for retail industry comparisons focusing on the 365 days leading up to October 1st, 2018. Indexing and social ranking is an average measure of actual position for each metric, with the largest, most positive, or most passionate brands ranking first. The analysis was English-language only but country agnostic. Given the origin of retail stores discussed, however, the majority of conversation occurred in the USA. The following report examines top trends and overall performance of selected retail stores as discussed across social channels. Our analysis focused on an assortment of top retail brands, represented by 7 categories across the following 7 “aisles”: athletic, big box, clothing, department stores, e-commerce, grocery and luxury. This report is looking at the same brands and categories as the 2017 report with the addition of Etsy in the eCommerce category and a few deletions pending going out of business.

METHODOLOGY



NET SENTIMENT:Net Sentiment is a score that expresses a ratio of positive to negative sentiment about a brand or topic, ranging from +100 to -100. A score of 100 means that all opinions of a brand are positive, a score of -100 would mean that all opinions of a brand or topic category are negative. One can get a better understanding of sentiment of a brand when comparing to brands in their competitive set, for example, industries such as telecom always have lower sentiment than brands in the beauty category which trends much higher in sentiment. However, Sentiment alone doesn’t paint the entire picture about a brand; Passion Intensity can help a better understand how passionately people feel about a brand.

Big Box [20%]

Department Store [2%]Clothing [7%]

Luxury Retail [12%]

Grocery [3%]

Athletic [18%]

eCommerce [38%]

Categories by Share of

Mention Volume



Clothing 47

Big Box 38

Grocery 51

Department Store 51

Luxury Retail 70

eCommerce 63

NET SENTIMENT BY RETAIL CATEGORY

PASSION INTENSITY

Athletic 53

Passion intensity is a score between 0 and 100 that expresses the ratio of strong emotions (such as love or hate) to weak emotions (such as like or dislike). Passion intensity can help someone better understand the difference between liking or loving a brand. For example, Etsy in this report, has a net sentiment of 90%, with a brand passion index of 100, this means people don’t just like Esty, the LOVE Etsy. On the flip side, if a brand has negative sentiment with high passion intensity, this means consumers don’t just dislike them, but hate them. Net sentiment and Passion are metrics used to calculate the Brand Passion Index, which helps understand how a brand stacks up versus competitors in their category. See chart below.

Chart legend/Scale explanation ( ( Positives – Negatives) / ( Positives + Negatives ) ) * 100A net sentiment score of +100 means that all opinions of the brand are positive; a score of -100 means that all opinions of the brand are negative. A score below 50 means that net sentiment for the topic is lower than most brands.



INTERPRETING BPI SCORES

■ 57–100 Love■ 45–55 Like■ 25–44 Dislike■ 1–24 Hate

Athletic 41

Big Box 31

Grocery 40

Department Store 50

Clothing 46

Luxury Retail 67

eCommerce 62

BRAND PASSION INDEX SCORE BY RETAIL CATEGORY

BRAND PASSION INDEXSentiment alone does not tell the entire story about how people feel about a brand or topic. Combining net sentiment with passion intensity gives a Brand Passion Intensity score, or BPI, that can help marketers better understand whether consumers like, love, dislike or hate a brand, category or topic. This metric is all the more useful when looking to see how a brand compares to its’ top competitors and to see how it has trended over time. The data tells us that consumers feel most passionately about Luxury Retail and eCommerce, with the least passion around Big Box retailers.

Chart legend/Scale explanation A * (Strong Emotions – Weak Emotions) / ( Strong Emotions + Weak Emotions ) + BNOTE: A topic’s passion intensity score is independent of the topic’s mentions count and net sentiment score. For example, a topic can have a large number of matching mentions, a high net sentiment score, and a low passion intensity score.



Amazon eCommerce 1 1 1 41 1 2 -1eBay eCommerce 12 13 20 3 2 5 -3Etsy eCommerce 3 40 7 2 3 new

Target Big Box 4 3 2 45 4 9 -5Best Buy Big Box 20 6 10 19 5 4 1Burberry Luxury Retail 23 7 25 8 6 11 -5

Chanel Luxury Retail 8 31 11 14 7 8 -1

Gucci Luxury Retail 6 15 9 36 8 14 -6Louis Vuitton Luxury Retail 13 35 15 3 8 10 -2

Walmart Big Box 5 2 4 59 9 12 -3Zara Clothing 11 24 13 25 10 7 3

Victoria’s Secret Clothing 15 4 18 -42 11 3 8Adidas Athletic 7 18 6 49 12 6 6H&M Clothing 10 5 8 65 13 18 -5Ikea Big Box 14 23 12 40 14 24 -10Nike Athletic 2 28 3 56 15 1 14

Whole Foods Grocery 16 10 16 52 16 13 3Lululemon Athletic 24 12 46 17 17 21 -4

TJX Big Box 9 46 5 44 18 20 -2Nordstrom Department Store 25 27 19 35 19 17 2

Kohl’s Department Store 39 8 28 31 19 16 3Lowe’s Big Box 28 9 23 48 20 23 -3Prada Luxury Retail 19 43 24 23 21 29 -8

Under Armour Athletic 27 37 21 29 22 22 0CVS Big Box 22 39 22 32 23 new

Primark Clothing 32 30 32 24 24 38 -14Costco Big Box 17 32 17 54 25 46 -21

Forever 21 Clothing 42 14 59 6 26 54 -28Tesco Grocery 50 16 50 9 27 25 2

Hermes Luxury Retail 18 48 31 30 28 34 -6Coach Luxury Retail 33 49 29 22 29 30 -1

Hot Topic Clothing 31 25 58 20 30 15 15The North Face Athletic 41 51 36 7 31 31 0

QVC eCommerce 46 28 48 13 32 35 -3Macy’s Department Store 51 17 37 37 33 50 -17

The Home Depot Big Box 21 55 14 53 34 27 7

RANKING OF RETAIL BRANDS

Cat

egor

y

Men

tions

Ra

nk

Awar

enes

s Ra

nk

Reac

h Ra

nk

BPI R

ank

Soci

al R

ank

(201

7)

Last

Yea

r’s

Rank

(201

6)

Cha

nge

Nam

e

To receive a detailed report on your brand, please contact NetBase at [email protected].



Tiffany & Co Luxury Retail 53 38 51 5 35 28 7Zappos eCommerce 58 19 60 10 36 26 10

Marks & Spencer Department Store 45 11 65 27 37 33 4Footlocker Athletic 44 21 41 43 38 newWalgreens Big Box 26 33 26 66 39 new

REI Athletic 37 34 47 33 39 32 7Publix Grocery 36 20 43 57 40 45 -5Kroger Grocery 30 45 27 61 41 47 -6

Urban Outfitters Clothing 29 41 33 63 42 49 -7Trader Joes Grocery 38 69 35 24 42 60 -18

Saks Department Store 49 64 44 15 43 19 24JCPenney Department Store 55 22 40 55 43 58 -15

Neiman Marcus Department Store 57 50 49 16 43 36 7Sam’s Club Big Box 48 26 39 60 44 42 2

Banana Republic Clothing 43 58 30 46 45 43 2Dick’s Sporting

GoodsAthletic 34 42 34 67 46 48 -2

Bloomingdales Department Store 61 61 55 3 47 53 -6Casper eCommerce 35 60 38 47 48 37 11Meijer Grocery 54 44 52 34 49 61 -12Oakley Athletic 40 52 45 50 50 40 10

Sprouts Farmers Market

Grocery 65 56 69 1 51 63 -12

Warby Parker eCommerce 63 63 63 4 52 44 8Kate Spade Luxury Retail 56 57 62 21 53 57 -4

L.L. Bean eCommerce 66 53 66 12 54 70 -16Wayfair eCommerce 52 36 53 58 55 56 -1Safeway Grocery 47 47 42 64 56 52 4

Wegmans Grocery 60 59 64 18 57 64 -7Everlane Clothing 68 66 61 11 58 58 0Bonobos eCommerce 62 68 54 39 59 65 -6Dillards Department Store 69 62 67 26 60 69 -9

Overstock.com eCommerce 64 54 57 51 61 39 22Charlotte Russe Clothing 59 65 68 38 62 67 -5

Zales Luxury Retail 70 70 70 28 63 66 -3Lord & Taylor Department Store 67 67 56 62 64 41 23

Cat

egor

y

Men

tions

Ra

nk

Awar

enes

s Ra

nk

Reac

h Ra

nk

BPI R

ank

Soci

al R

ank

(201

7)

Last

Yea

r’s

Rank

(201

6)

Cha

nge

Nam

e



Glossary

• Volume—overall volume of conversation.• Reach—Impressions from original tweets posted by a brand, such as @Starburst, and any replies to or

retweets of the brand. This is a measure of “owned” impressions. • Awareness—Impressions from all tweets that mention a brand, excluding those that are classified as

owned tweets. This is a measure of “earned” impressions. • Owned Impressions—Impressions originating from posts submitted by the brand itself. See “Reach.”

Earned Impressions—Impressions including mentions of a brand that originate from other sources than the brand organization itself.

• Brand Passion Index (BPI)—weighted average of Passion Intensity and Net Sentiment to represent overall favorability.

CATEGORY INSIGHTS: ECOMMERCE

eCommerce brand comparison ranked by mentions

Note: Some awareness and reach scores are due to an inactivity and/or lack of social presence by the brand itself. Consumers are more involved when a brand has an active and engaging social strategy. It should come as no surprise then, that a consumer might not be as motivated to post about a product experience when said brand has been inactive for several years.



Speaking of small business, Etsy, the eCommerce company that gives creatives the ability to sell their wares online, has the highest sentiment on the eCommerce list—with a sentiment score of 90 and passion intensity of 100—this means people don’t just like Esty, they LOVE ETSY. This company’s creatives dominate the social landscape sharing their wares online with a huge presence on Instagram, exuding excitement to share their art with the world. Hashtags such as #shopsmall, #vintage and #smallbusiness trend for Etsy, showing there is a growing audience for those who embrace shopping small on this eCommerce site versus the alternative of mass produced goods from other eCommerce sites.

While Amazon continues to be a dominant force in eCommerce, occupying over 73% percent of eCommerce conversation volume, Etsy, a new brand added to this year’s report, is coming in at #2 in volume, representing a surprising opportunity for shopping that supports small business. Amazon, the Goliath in the eCommerce category, has seen a drop in sentiment compared to last year’s report, with people using the power of social to share their discontent in relation to topics such as the NRA, goods made in China, employee exploitation, and bad customer service and the overarching theme of supporting small business. Meanwhile, Amazon also trends with conversations about great prices, affordability, free shipping and their self-created holiday—“Amazon Prime day”.



Wayfair’s sentiment dropped significantly compared to last year, largely as a result of increasingly more brands getting caught up in the polarizing political landscape, just by choosing to advertise on various networks. This shows brands have to be more careful than ever when thinking about advertising spend as political affiliation can be a strong force behind consumers spending habits.

eBay continues to do well with a net sentiment of 84 and passion intensity of 100, showing consumers also LOVE eBay, giving consumers the ability to buy a variety of goods at a good price while also giving the ability to shop for unique finds; like visiting a virtual flea market from your computer. An overarching theme around eBay is the ability for buyers to find kitschy vintage items, unique artists and artwork or band memorabilia.

Top attributes

Top behaviors



Four Luxury Retailers made into the top 10 list for volume, with Burberry, Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Gucci occupying the upper right-hand quadrant of the BPI index, meaning people LOVE these brands.

Brands in the luxury category with high sentiment and passion intensity share common themes: exclusivity, authenticity and art. Designer collaborations, inclusion of popular musical artists, art installations and pop up shops color the social landscape intensifying an air of excitement, exclusivity and desire for their brands.

Gucci continues to dominate in conversation with free PR from hip hop artists using their name as part of a title of their songs, showing that the name Gucci is not just a luxury brand, but a term synonymous with luxury. Their inclusion of Kai Kim from Korean Pop band (K-pop) We are One EXO as a model in their #Guccicruise fashion show garnered tons of engagement from the bands’ fans and showed a bump in potential impressions (eyeballs on their content) with the hashtag #gucci_kai trending.

CATEGORY INSIGHTS: LUXURY



Louis Vuitton continues positive brand presence with overall sentiment of 84% and passion intensity of 100, with their “Supreme” line dominating, a streetwear collaboration with Supreme Skatewear brand, and people using #supreme sharing pictures of their luxury streetwear. This launch continued the exclusivity of the brand with various Supreme pop up shops around the country, in addition to a unique “time capsule” exhibit sharing the history of the brand in an art exhibition visiting various cities globally. They also partnered with Grace Coddington, creative director at Vogue, for a collaboration and pop up store in New York.



Nike Continues to dominate the athletic category but fell out of the top 10 list of top brands this year, largely as a result in an increase in negative sentiment related to the highly controversial conversation around Colin Kaepernick.

CATEGORY INSIGHTS: ATHLETIC



The North Face tops the Athletic category with a net sentiment score of 90% and passion intensity of 87, with positive conversation trending around their collaboration with Supreme Skate, who also did a collaboration with Louis Vuitton this year.



Lululemon’s CEO’s departure as a result of an inappropriate relationship didn’t damage social brand sentiment overall, with the brand trending overall positively through the end of the year, largely unscathed from the event, despite a drop in share prices after the CEO’s departure’s announcement. Consumers showed strong emotions for the brand on social, with the expression “Can’t wait”, trending about their clothes, with buyers anticipating wearing them and using hashtags like “#fitspo, #yogaeverydamnday, and #girlswholift

Dick’s Sporting Goods saw a drop in sentiment, the lowest in the Athletic category, as it participates in the heated gun conversation by banning the sale of assault style guns and raising the buying age to 21, in addition, sales were down, attributed to slow Under Armour sales.

Top behaviors



Target continues to dominate conversation in the top 10 list, but they seem to have gotten themselves wrapped up in the polarizing conversation around gender neutral bathrooms, causing many people to use the hashtag #anywherebuttarget…. Aside from politically heated conversations, people continue to love shopping at Target, with “Target runs” trending positively and an overall sentiment score of 70%. The partnership with Starbucks in their stores seems to have improved the experience for shoppers.

CATEGORY INSIGHTS: BIG BOX



Costco ranks highest among the Big Box retailers in Net Sentiment, with a major draw for people surprisingly being the pizza at the food court, with many consumers citing Costco’s Pizza as being better than most pizza restaurants.

Best Buy trails Costco in sentiment with a sentiment score of 63%, with many people citing finding better prices at BestBuy than Amazon, and high sentiment around their back to school tech deals. Best Buy also saw favorable comments related to their geek squad offering.

CATEGORY INSIGHTS: CLOTHING



H&M, Zara and Victoria’s Secret make up a large percentage of the clothing conversation, but mention volume doesn’t equate to brand passion for these three as smaller brands like Everlane, Forever 21 and Primark retail placed highest in Net Sentiment for all clothing brands evaluated.

H&M’s sentiment never quite recovered following their controversial ad with a young black boy wearing a sweatshirt that said “cutest monkey in the jungle” that sparked Music Artist “The Weekend” to call off his partnership with H&M, attracting even more negative attention for the company. In addition, a change.org petition regarding worker mistreatment in a factory in India continues to give H&M negative attention, on top of additional negative press around the lawsuit H&M filed asking that street art not be given copyright protection, inciting rage from the public.

Everlane, who started out online and grew to have a few brick and mortar stores, has the highest sentiment of all clothing brands we examined in this report at 81%, offering quality goods, ethical factories and transparency—all things their customers love about them. In fact, many comments on social claim Everlane is their “favorite brand” and share being “obsessed” with their clothes.

Primark, a fast fashion retailer based in Ireland and expanding into the US, trails Everlane in Net Sentiment. Primark customers cite “amazing prices” as a positive driver around the shopping experience.

Top emotions



CATEGORY INSIGHTS: DEPARTMENT STORES

While Nordstrom occupies the largest conversation volume around department stores of all 10 we looked at, Bloomingdales has the highest sentiment at 84% and passion intensity of 100, meaning people don’t just like Bloomingdales, they LOVE Bloomies. Their Nintendo Inspired Fashion Line got a write up on Mashable, increasing their exposure, with positive mentions from fans and fashionistas alike. In addition, Bloomingdales is receiving positive feedback around their free shipping as part of their “loyalist” offering.

Lord and Taylor is at the opposite end of the spectrum with -1 net sentiment, as they are recovering from a data breach earlier in the year that affected their customer base. On a positive note and driving positive brand mentions, Lord and Taylor announced an interesting partnership with Walmart.com selling their high-end goods giving both retailers a better chance at competing against Amazon.com.

Lord & Taylor: Top Attributes Bloomingdales: Top Attributes



CATEGORY INSIGHTS: GROCERY

Whole Foods occupies over 39% of the grocery conversation, but smaller chain, Sprouts Farmers Market, wins in net sentiment with a high score of 91%, and a passion intensity of 100, meaning people LOVE Sprouts. Customers love them for their fresh produce selection, bulk goods aisle, healthy food options and their support of local farmers.

Sprouts: Top Emotions



Wegmans in second in Sentiment with a score of 72%, with customers citing the store as their “happy place” and anticipation of the #wegmansexperience. This Rochester based retailer is growing but maintains a local feel and “gives back” to the community by offering local events and classes at its’ stores.

Trader Joe’s continues to be a fan favorite as consumers tout the store as their “happy place”, and many of their items such as a Cauliflower Gnocchi and Everything but the Bagel Sesame Seasoning gaining a cult like status.



It’s a fast-changing retail world with increasing pressure from online powerhouses such as Amazon, forcing brands to evolve their marketing strategies and evolve to stay relevant. Partnerships seem to be key for brands to evolve and stay fresh and current whether it means working with popular musicians, artists and other brands to reach new consumers, or working with unsuspected partners, such as the collaboration between Walmart and Lord & Taylor, to address a need in the market. In today’s politically heated environment, brands need to be more careful than ever not to get wrapped up in this conversation, as consumers use social media and their buying power to share their political preferences.

While Amazon is the behemoth in the marketplace, there represents an opportunity to connect with customers passions when shopping at brick and mortar locations, elevating mundane tasks such as grocery shopping to be experiences people anticipate and get excited for, such as the case with stores like Sprouts, Wegman’s and Trader Joe’s with their unique product offerings.

The key to brand success in this environment is adapting and humanizing your brand with social, letting consumers voices be heard and joining the conversation with them, while taking consumer feedback into consideration for improvement. Consumers, now more than ever, invest in brands they feel connected with, giving brands a unique opportunity to humanize and connect in ways they never had before with their customers.

CLOSING STATEMENTS



Trusted by the World’s Top Brands

NetBase is the social analytics platform that global companies use to run brands, build businesses, and connect with consumers every second. Its platform processes millions of social media posts daily for actionable business insights for marketing, research, customer service, sales, PR and product innovation.

NetBase is recognized by analysts and customers as the leader in Social Analytics. NetBase was rated a category leader by Forrester in the “Forrester Wave: Enterprise Social Listening Platforms, Q3 2018” report. NetBase was also named a top rated social media management platform by software users on TrustRadius and a market leader by G2 Crowd.

NETBASE HEADQUARTERS3960 Freedom Circle, Suite 201Santa Clara, CA 95054P: 855-762-6764E: [email protected]

@NetBase

NetBase Solutions, Inc

NetBase

©2019 NetBase Solutions

2018124_v5

http://www.netbase.com

http://www.twitter.com/netbase

https://www.linkedin.com/company/netbase-solutions-inc-

http://www.facebook.com/netbaseinc

https://www.facebook.com/NetBaseInc/

NETBASE INDUSTRY REPORT 2019 RETAIL...The analysis was English-language only but country agnostic....

Documents

Transcript of NETBASE INDUSTRY REPORT 2019 RETAIL...The analysis was English-language only but country agnostic....