For Rachel Tipograph, winning is largely about storytelling and packaging, but but brand trust is the ultimate goal.
“What we've consistently seen in our data is that if the brand SKU is not available, the consumer is willing to put a competitive SKU in the cart because it's about needs, not wants. And then the challenge is that the user behavior is replenish, replenish, replenish. So if your product moves out of the basket because it wasn't available, it becomes infinitely harder to regain that.”
— Rachel Tipograph
Rachel Tipograph is a trailblazer in the eCommerce world. After setting records at Gap as its youngest-ever Global Director of Digital and Social Media, she founded MikMak - an innovative platform that assists multichannel brands with enablement and analytics to increase sales across top retailers like Amazon, Walmart, Target, and Instacart. Her accomplishments have been recognized by Adweek's "The Young Influentials Shaping Business & Culture" list plus featured articles from esteemed publications such as Forbes Fast Company Entrepreneur Magazine & Business Insider!
Despite major changes over the past few years, Rachel can shed light on how consumer spending habits are changing in today's post-pandemic economy. Learn from MikMak’s proprietary data regarding eCommerce marketing strategies and gain insight into what companies will need to do to move forward in an ever-changing landscape of trends. With this knowledge, brands have a better understanding of where their future lies when it comes to tapping into customer needs.
- The State of Post-Pandemic Spending - There are several reasons consumers spent much less in 2022 than in the past two years. A dip in the economy is one. People are concerned with saving during economic downturns. Consumers are trading down, and high-interest rates and debt are also significant factors.
- Winning is Ultimately About Brand Trust - Physical retailers who win are investing in brand building. Storytelling and packaging are still incredibly powerful. And while performance and optimization matter, brand trust is the ultimate goal.
- The Rise of the Private Label - Corporations like Walmart, Target, and Amazon have a massive advantage over brands because they own the shelf space. And during economic downturns, consumers often switch to private label to save a little money. Brands that want to avoid private label market share creep need to invest in branding.
- The Twitter Debacle and TikTok Trends – MikMak's Twitter traffic declined by 100% after Musk took over. TikTok is positioned perfectly to take that market share. As TikTok traffic rises, more brands are spending on the platform. And we will see more of a blend between retail and social media in the near future.
- Marketplace Strategies for Specialty Retailers – Specialty retailers need to focus on marketplace strategy. Rachel advises specialty retailers to go niche. Delivering specialty at scale is a different challenge. Successful examples include Petco, which rebranded as a pet wellness company. “Buy online, pick up in-store” is also very profitable.
