With physical retail having been forced to shut its doors for the bulk of the past 12 months, and big question marks hanging over when, or even whether, the high street will ever return to where it was, consumer behaviour has shifted. This has presented a big challenge for retail brands as they have been forced to continually look at what they can do to keep pace with these changes, and how they can effectively reach their consumers in different settings.

One of the key areas where retail brands have been really struggling is around visual engagement. Humans are wired to respond to visual stimuli, which is why creatively curated shop window displays and in-store video campaigns have always been fundamental tools in the retail marketer’s arsenal. Take high street giants like Zara, for example. They have always had huge in-store screens running their latest advertising campaigns on loop to drive awareness of trends and styles for their shoppers.

During the national lockdown, the bulk of these visual triggers had been removed from retailers. People were unable to go into shopping centres and browse the high streets, and so they couldn’t walk past shop windows or enter stores to see products. The shop window has been a key platform for retailers, allowing them to help consumers visualise new styles, new products and new looks. The power of this offline world is something the retail industry has largely always taken for granted.

Although we are seeing a slow return to normality, it will remain important that retailers find ways of replicating these visual platforms in the digital space, purely because they have always been such a key part of the shopping experience and core to helping to drive brand awareness.

But just how can retailers create an online shop window that has the same potency as a physical display with even more pizzazz?

Influencer marketing is on the up 

For a lot of brands, display advertising could be seen as a route to more visual engagement, and we have certainly seen retail marketers starting to switch their display advertising back on after having made big cutbacks at the start of the pandemic. When it comes to the customer journey, display as a touchpoint is extremely valuable to promote brand awareness, so it's encouraged to think outside of the proverbial ad space and really be creative when it comes to prospecting campaigns.

And speaking of creative thinking, the big empty space which the physical shop window has left in the wake of its demise, has most certainly been taken over by influencer marketing. Tapping into the power of online influencers has always been important for brands, but the pandemic has only served to fuel this importance, and in today’s market it is more relevant than ever. According to a report by influencer marketing agency Takumi, released at the end of 2020, a lot of marketers are certainly buying into this view. The report found that 73% of the marketers the company surveyed had allocated more resources to influencer marketing last year.

Thanks to the increasing power of more visually led social platforms like Instagram, visual merchandising has already started to become more prominent online. Consumers are still going to their favourite influencers to see what they're wearing or what products they’re using; lockdown didn’t even hinder this. So, they’re already looking to these influencers to give them inspiration, or to see what's coming up. And they’re doing this for everything from fashion and life-style goals to DIY and home furnishing ideas, in much the same way they used to with magazines.

Now, influencer content isn’t just for social media channels. It’s so important to utilise this creative and engaging content to its full potential, reaching outside the realms of the norm. This could look like display ads served programmatically across relevant inventory and sequential messaging with this content at the heart of your offline and online strategy, both seamlessly linked to cut through the noise.

The new loyalty programme

On top of this, the lockdowns around the world have meant that lots of people have become more connected to and even reliant upon social platforms as they represent an escape route from their day-to-day lives, which are much more heavily restricted than ever before.

So, by working with key influencers in their sector, retailers have a great platform through which to help consumers visually engage with their products and to capture their target customers’ attention. Where influencers also provide extra impact for brands is that they are not just about a product, they are instead very much about a fan base. And these fans are incredibly loyal. Tapping into this loyalty can give retailers a powerful outlet to show off their products.

Furthermore, because retailers are doing this in a setting and at a time where consumers are already on their devices, they are effectively limiting the browse-to-purchase window. If a product is already at the forefront of their mind as they are browsing, they are more likely to convert. It’s much easier for people to make a purchase if they are scrolling past something than if they have to go and pick up their device from somewhere else and then search for an item.

These factors combined mean that influencers are perfectly positioned to play a big role in helping retail brands create a new virtual shop window that they are looking for. But don’t just think about social media as your only output, expand your visual horizons. After all, there’s many more eyes online now than a year ago. Don’t miss out on them.