Digital Marketing in Retail What are the Benefits a Swiss Premium Department Store Could Reap When Adapting to the Changing Environment of Digitization? A Maturity Model. Bachelor’s thesis Date of submission: May 24, 2017 Zurich University of Applied Sciences School of Management and Law Lecturer: Brian Rüeger Student: Pascal Schöni, Blatterstrasse 13, 8400 Winterthur
[email protected] Number: S14676662 Management summary The force of digitization has empowered customers with an omni-present access to a worldwide bazar of products and information. This shift has compelled traditional retail- ers to expand their channels and touchpoints to wherever the customer wishes to be served. The new scattered landscape of touchpoints and the rapid development of increas- ingly sophisticated technology have confronted marketers with new challenges and op- portunities alike. Meanwhile, Swiss premium department stores, are still considered ‘non- digital’. This thesis addressed their need for both an analysis of digital marketing tools and a guideline for its implementation. Therefore, the aim of this Bachelor’s thesis was to outline the benefits of a digital marketing transformation and to offer a new customer- centric digital marketing maturity model tailored to Swiss Premium Department Stores. The research therefore focused on determining maturity stages and goals through an anal- ysis of current marketing-, retail- and customer trends. Furthermore, digital marketing tools have been evaluated based on their benefits and were aligned to the corresponding stages. The findings show that a digital transformation is a rapidly evolving process retailers essentially need to keep up with. The thesis suggests three key milestones of a digital transformation to build an essential basis for the implementation of future technology: Mobile, big data and RFID.