Redwood Shores, Calif. – Retailers are sometimes accused of being laggards when it comes to technology and process adoption, but that does not appear to be the case when it comes to marketing. To assess marketing maturity across industries and demonstrate the business impact of modern marketing best practices, Oracle commissioned Forrester Consulting to conduct a global study of marketing decision-makers.
The study, “Why You Need To Be A Modern Marketer: The Business Impact of Marketing Maturity in the Age of the Customer,” examined the adoption of modern marketing best practices across 20 industries including electronics, energy, financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, media, retail, and telecom marketers. It found that marketers in retail organizations are leading the shift to modern marketing and are ahead of their peers from other industries in key areas including investments in data management and behavior tracking technology, as well as marketing integration.
According to the study, 46% of retail organizations have intelligent targeting capabilities that provide real-time feedback and advanced insights to enhance customer engagements and increase marketing effectiveness. In contrast, only 31% of total respondents from other industries cited the same level of targeting ability.
When evaluating marketing integration, the study found that 42% of retail organizations currently leverage a fully integrated cross-channel marketing platform for enhanced marketing orchestration, while only 14% of respondents from other industries cited a similar level of integration.
“To successfully compete in today’s digitally powered economy, marketers need to continually refine and evolve their approach in order to better understand and engage their customers,” said Andrea Ward, VP of marketing, Oracle Marketing Cloud. “The retail industry has a long tradition of being customer-centric, and is leading the shift toward more customer-focused modern marketing practices. By embracing new data technologies and taking an integrated marketing approach, retailers are able to create a digital dialogue with their customers and deliver the right messages at the right time.”