The bricks-and-clicks battle to win over GCC shoppers

Dubai Tourism

In the days before the internet, shopper marketing involved a lot of wobblers and danglers.

These are the signs you see wobbling over or dangling from supermarket shelves to push product promotions. They worked in partnership with store design, window dressing, promotions, coupons, special offers and more.

They still exist, but as well as the physical, in-store aspect of shopper marketing, there is a much more digital-focused strategy involved today.

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Shopper marketing is the practice of selling to consumers in a retail environment, whether that is within a bricks-and-mortar store or a digital one.

It speaks to shoppers as close to the point of purchase as possible and is very focused on the ‘last mile’, just before people hand over money for products.

The GCC is a region that loves to shop. It has some of the best malls in the world, which stay open late and contain stores on the cutting edge of retail design. Many locals and expatriates see shopping as entertainment above all else.

This loyalty to retail therapy is among the reasons the GCC was once a slow adopter of online shopping. But the Covid-19 pandemic saw more people turning to ecommerce by default, as lockdown and health concerns kept the population at home.

Once regional retailers and e-tailers had the bit between their teeth there was no stopping them, and digital retail has taken off in the past few years.

But it has not replaced traditional shopping, and smart marketers adopt a hybrid, ‘omnichannel’ strategy to embrace both bricks and clicks – offline and online shopping – together.

Recent research from Mordor Intelligence predicts that the Mena ecommerce market will nearly double between 2023 and 2028, at a compound annual growth rate of 11.5 percent.

Omnichannel consultancy GoWit reports that in 2023 $11.8 billion was spent in the UAE through ecommerce, and that Saudi Arabia’s ecommerce spending will rise from $8.5 billion in 2022 to $20 billion in 2027.

Brands with strong presences both online and offline can try to harmonise their bricks and their clicks with a more channel-agnostic approach

In its The Future of Retail Mena 2024 report, advertising network Dentsu reported that 21 percent of consumers in the Mena region say they split their shopping equally between online and offline. 

The reasons respondents give for shopping online include not liking crowds, lines and waiting, better availability and selection and better prices.

That price-related preference might be subjective, as 33 percent of respondents said the reason they prefer to shop in-store is that prices are actually better there.

Nearly half (44 percent) said the cost of delivery is too high when shopping online and delivery takes too long. And 60 percent said they prefer to see and touch the items they will buy.

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The overlaps between online and offline shopping preferences help explain the concept of ‘phygital’ retail, that hybrid mix of online and offline.

Consumers might use the web to research products they have seen on social media and then go to a store to pay for and pick up the item in person. Or they might discover and test a brand in-store, then shop around online to get it for the best price. 

This means some digital and online retailers are in direct competition with each other, while brands with strong presences both online and offline can try to harmonise their bricks and their clicks with a more channel-agnostic approach.

It is becoming more common for fashion stores to have digital try-on options, either using proprietary or branded software, or through mass augmented reality (AR) platforms such as Snapchat. 

Meanwhile, the ads served to users of online shopping platforms such as Amazon and Noon might be as much about brand awareness as immediate conversion, starting a purchase process that could as easily end up in a mall as online.

Digital and social adverts might be the wobblers and danglers of today, but the principle is still the same: shopper marketing is simply about persuading shoppers to buy your product.

Marketers know that there are many ways to do that, and all of them are valuable.

Austyn Allison is an editorial consultant and journalist who has covered Middle East advertising since 2007