A revamped store interior from Best Buy, the 2018 Retail Innovator of the Year. 

If you work for a retailer that has overhauled its in-store experience, used data to connect with customers in new ways or taken a different approach to utilize your ecommerce and loyalty platforms, then your brand might be the next Retail Innovator of the Year (joining the likes of Sephora and Best Buy).

As part of the annual Shopper Innovation + Activation Awards, retailers in any category can stake their claim to being the one that made the biggest and most innovative strides in improving its customer experience, based on insights gained from consumer and shopper research over the past calendar year.

Submissions should provide specific details about insights gained in the following areas, how they were implemented and, when possible, the impact it had on business results:

In-store experience: Over the past calendar year, what steps have you taken to improve your in-store experience based on shopper insights (this could include merchandising, exclusive product lines, events and in-store tech innovation). What results have you seen?

E-commerce programs: Over the past calendar year, what initiatives have you undertaken to improve your ecommerce offering? What results have you seen?

Digital and CRM programs: Over the past year, what have you done to improve your digital/CRM experience – or to act on insights gleaned from your shoppers? What results have you seen?

Marketing communications: Over the past calendar year, what has your organization done differently in terms of marketing communications? What results have you seen?

Internal innovation: Over the past calendar year, what has your organization done internally to facilitate overall innovation? This could include hiring more staff within a specific department, changing workflows or creating more collaborative environments. What results have you seen?

The winner will be selected by the online jury for this year’s Shopper Innovation + Activation Awards.

As a result of the holiday break, we’re giving retailers a little more time to prepare their submissions: the deadline is now Jan. 25 and can be sent to Jennifer Horn at jhorn@brunico.com.