The latest results from the 2019 State of Retailing Online report by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Forrester Research are in, and the findings showcase how modern retailers think about meeting the demands of today’s multichannel consumer. Notably, for many retailers it includes focusing on expanding their physical footprint in 2019 to better meet shoppers’ needs. It also means inventory and fulfillment solutions remain a priority for the industry. At the same time, new challenges are emerging. Today’s retail leaders are looking to balance multichannel strategies against the growing cost of ecommerce and how to expand their influence across new marketing platforms.

One of the report’s key findings is that this year, retailers will spend more on social marketing than they did in 2018, outpacing search and email marketing for the first time.

In an interview with NRF, Sucharita Kodali, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester explained that “Retailers have been saying for years that search has been getting more expensive and the ROI has been smaller. Email, on the other hand, is still inexpensive but consumers are so inundated with emails that it’s hard to stand out. This has forced retailers to look for new marketing opportunities. Facebook, with its hypertargeting, has proven effective, and YouTube takes advantage of the vast amount of time that shoppers [spend] consuming short-form video content.”