Retailers Need Digital Conversations to Reach Ultimate Goal: Data Capture

Communication is key when it comes to the relationship between retailers and consumers. Through the decades, that communication has varied, evolved and grown mostly based on changing consumer demands.

Who remembers the thickness of the Sunday paper? Advertisements just about doubled the paper's size vs. the other six days. Clipping coupons was a weekly activity.

But that was then and this is now. And now, consumers want to engage with their favorite brands and retailers differently. Mobile apps, digital signage and text messaging have risen to the top of customer engagement tactics, while weekly circulars have all but taken their place in the history books.

"To be successful with digital, c-stores need to think more holistically about consumer experiences and avoid the shiny object of the week," Kevin Rice, chief marketing officer at San Luis Obispo, Calif.-based Hathway, told Convenience Store News.

More and more, convenience store retailers are using digital tactics to not only bring consumers onto their site, but also draw them into the store. Engaging digitally gives c-store retailers access to customer data as well and if communication is key, data is king — as long as you not only capture it, but analyze it and act on it.