You can't open a newspaper, turn on the news or avoid your social media feed telling you that the traditional 'Retail' High St is constantly under bombardment from rates, rents, the weather, online and other variables that they don't seem able to control.

I'm no expert in these matters, but I have been around in all channels of retail for more years than I care to tell you, so it was of interest that this recent piece of 'light' research popped into my news feed, which is highlighting the 'Top 5 Retail Trends' retailers must now be aware of.

The link to the article is below, but what struck me is #5 on their list.

Social Commerce: For example, some may talk with a friend on Facebook about an item, and then buy it on Amazon. Social media and commerce used to be seen as separate activities. But things have changed now, with as many as 30% of consumers now saying they’d make a purchase on major social platforms like Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat or Facebook. One of the first and most popular ways to turn social media into a sales channel is the “Buy now” button that now can be commonly seen on big social networks including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.

Now I might be taking it slightly out of context, but the rise of 'Social Commerce' will no doubt add even more salt to the retail high st wounds, but it's also a huge opportunity for many of these companies.

If only they could wake up and understand that 'Social Media' is so much more that simply advertising your latest offer, posting your opening and closing times, and a crisis management platform to handle disgruntled shoppers.

Its a chance to listen, engage, and energise consumers, who today trust what their family, friends, and peer group are saying about you on social media a lot more than you and 'your' adverts say about YOU.

Retail is all about 'Theatre' (and great product of course), its an experiential thing, but for many brands that 'Theatre' experience is missing, you see theatre gives you and me the chance to connect with the brand personality, and there's no better place for folks to get to know 'who you are' than on social media.

At DLA Ignite we specialise in helping companies and the internal 'Change Makers' deliver on all these points, and I'm pretty sure we can help you as well. 

We have a tried and tested methodology, we hold you and your colleagues hand throughout, ensuring we not only 'teach' you what to do, we also make sure its firmly embedded into your firms and employees DNA.

We don't do retainers, we are not an agency that creates and produces copy/content or sells ads for you.

We are active 'practitioners' of what we do, we already know and can evidence the ROI of a robust and internally aligned 'Social' strategy.

Part of that evidence it that you are reading this blog, just like many others - including your competitor!

We also don't do outbound pushy, salesy marketing, so if you would like to explore more, please contact the author of this blog.