Jessica Hendrix, president and CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi X, led a session of the Walton MBA Conversation Series on “COVID’s Impact on Shopping and Decision Making.”
Hendrix has been actively involved with the Walton MBA Program as a distinguished lecturer, and she returned on Sept. 22 to speak to more than 30 full-time and executive MBA students about COVID-19 and shopper insights.
She heads Saatchi & Saatchi X, a subsidiary of Publicise Group with headquarters in Springdale, which focuses on driving conversion and brand activation for companies like Spin Master, Procter & Gamble and Wendy’s.
In the session, Hendrix walked students through the shift in marketing that has occurred during the pandemic and how Saatchi has informed retailers about the latest shopper insights. She said COVID-19 has accelerated trends in shopping behavior that were unfolding before March 2020.
Before COVID-19 spread in the United States, market research data had already shown that 33% of retail shoppers rotated between channels of purchase, meaning a third of retail customers used some combination of brick-and-mortar shopping, home delivery and curbside pick-up to do their usual retail shopping. Shopper insights from the current moment have confirmed that the advent of a pandemic meant “the omni equation is more important than ever” for retailers, she said.
True omnichannel capabilities are enabling retailers to exceed the expectations of their customers, many of whom have joined the 33% of customers who used multiple pick-up and delivery options pre-COVID.
Saatchi’s data shows that customers are examining the very foundation of their buying decisions. When describing the thoughts of shoppers mid-pandemic, Hendrix gave voice to their thought processes. “I want to come out of the COVID environment and think about my goals and my values,” she said. “I’ve shopped in new ways … and I want to make more of an effort to support the local economy.”
These statements form an updated decision framework for shoppers across the nation, which influences what they buy and how they buy it. For retailers to keep up with shoppers’ new habits and to understand what they do and do not want, Saatchi’s key recommendations for its retail clients are: “Know your audience, be authentic and tell a great story.”
Hendrix also answered student questions.
When asked how COVID-19 has changed retail marketing overall, she noted an increase in e-content creation and promotion. “In a world where there is choiceful opt-in to provide personalized content, [advertisements] are going to have to deliver with something that matters to me,” she said.
Regarding the impact of COVID-19 on a creative agency such as Saatchi & Saatchi X, Hendrix emphasized the importance of finding unconventional ways to promote brainstorming. She said playing virtual games over Zoom and having team members do individual scavenger hunts has been effective in spurring out-of-the-box thinking when team members must remain at home.
Hendrix gave the students an informative glimpse into the changing mind of today’s customers and how retailers must adapt quickly to this new thinking. This conversation provides a snapshot into the online events that the MBA Program has arranged, and will continue to create, for its students amidst the pandemic.
Throughout the Walton MBA conversation series, the program will continue to collaborate with business and industry leaders to provide MBA students with valuable experiences to prepare them for the shifting world they are entering as young professionals.
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