Trends to watch in retail for 2021 As we move into the New Year, some trends seem to be here to stay in digital marketing: the importance of the social channels, consumers' focus on wellness and individuality, and data as a key ingredient to any campaign. Here are a few retail trends that brands may want to incorporate now. First, AI and data replace 3rd party cookies "As major ad networks like Google increasingly move away from third-party cookies, it is increasingly important for companies and brands to be able to leverage their own first-party consumer data to reach new and existing audiences. In retail specifically, brands are sitting on mass amounts of first-party data; they just haven't had a means of actioning it and putting it to work for them. AI is already able to parse through high volumes of first-party data to identify trends and predict next-best actions across nuanced audience sets," said Sherene Hilal, SVP of Product Marketing & Business Operations, Bluecore. "Soon we'll begin to see that it can also offer contextual insight at the individual level, making the interactions between company and consumer far more personal. For instance, it will understand shoppers' future interests, where they are in their individual buying cycles, and precisely when they want to hear from a brand. Even more, AI's understanding of the ideal circumstances under which an individual buys (e.g., with a 10% discount, every other month) will inform brands and retailers on which type of recommendations or offers are most likely to convert each shopper, so they can personalize at scale."