Traditional retail and digital commerce converged at WB Research’s annual eTail East in Boston, earlier this week. Brick-and-mortar brands promoted innovations they were making online while eCommerce brands spoke about expanding their strategy to the offline world.  Our own Neil Capel was in esteemed company for the “Execution of the Customer Experience Throughout a Multi-Channel Sales Cycle” panel, including:

  • Todd McClain, VP Segment Marketing, Vistaprint
  • Shawn M. Coombs, Sr. Manager, Product Management, The Home Depot
  • Joe Schmidt, SVP Retail Channels, Cafepress
  • Rosanna Martinez, Sr. Database Management and Comms Dept. Manager, National Instruments

From the initial search to “add to cart,” the panel focused on how brands optimize each step of this experience for their customers. This group of panelists from widely varying sectors all agreed on one thing: the major role data plays in helping them achieve this goal (a favorite topic of ours). Between the brands, a common problem kept surfacing: the silo-ing of customer information – meaning the separate warehousing of data collected from the various channels.

At Marigold Engage by Sailthru, we are bridging the gaps between silos. We understand the importance  of engaging with customers wherever that person happens to be – both online and off. Our platform unifies the data gathered from on-site, mobile, email, tablet, and soon – the in-store point of purchase (made possible by Sailthru’s acquisition of Seamless Receipts). Regardless of the channel, the key is personalizing the experience for each individual in order to make their experience with a brand phenomenal.