From Paper to Digital. Innovation in Retail Promotion and New Research Directions

Today, a growing number of players alongside retailers and manufacturers are presenting consumers with an array of savings opportunities, at various phases of the shopping cycle and across several channels. Responding to the call for research on promotional innovation expressed by Grewal et al. (2011) we draw attention to the topic of transformation of established promotional tools, made possible by the incorporation of consumer insight and process innovation in retail organisations. We specifically point to the emerging potential of a new type of promotional intermediary, the “flyer aggregator”, for producing rich data on customers who usually do not appear in loyalty program databases. New metrics made available by incorporation of loyalty data in promotional analysis on the one hand, and digital on the other, empower inter-functional teams that can draw a 360 degrees picture of customers. They support changes in the costly and cumbersome flyer management process that in turn free up resources that, in a market situation where no additional marketing funding is available, can be reinvested to fully exploit loyalty and digital opportunities, in a sort of virtuous circle. The findings point to new opportunities for research in several areas, including marketing organisation and electronic intermediaries, as well as provide managerial implications for retailers