• by Raj Nijjer , Columnist, February 8, 2018

As established brands from consumer packaged goods to apparel to electronics struggle with the idea of Amazon as a friend or foe or both, the irritation and annoyance of shopping in stores has given rise to “challenger brands,” which have deftly taken advantage of the same demands for personalization and immediate gratification that has propelled Amazon and diminished traditional retail.  

Tired of being underwhelmed, the consumer voted, and challenger brands arrived to meet the new shopper’s expectations.

Companies like Untuckit, Leesa Mattress, Chubbies, Shinola, among others, respectively offer a unique value proposition and a visionary approach to  e-commerce powered largely by fostering a cult-like social community. Many of these challenger brands are served on e-commerce platforms like Shopify and Magento. Recent exits of$1 billion by Dollar Shave Club to Unilever and$600 million for RXBar by Kellogg give further proof the challengers have staked a claim in a marketforecasted to generate over $3 trillion in sales by Forrester.

From a product perspective, selling razor blades, mattresses, men’s wear, and watches might seem boring and mundane compared to the latest virtual reality platform, smart speaker, or wearable. But these everyday products in the hands of challenger brands have produced the most cutting-edge marketing programs that outpaced anything emanating from the major tech platforms. They’ve done by rethinking notions of community, word-of-mouth, customer service, and storytelling.

Traditional brand marketers face a unique challenge as the secular growth of e-commercedrives consumers to transact online, thereby reducing in-store and physical interaction. Trained to drive sales in the real world, marketers need to re-equip and revamp brand positioning in order to take better advantage of the transactional efficiencies and immediate connections with consumers via e-commerce and social media. And the moment to do so is now, as Facebook, Instagram, Snap, and other social platforms integrate commerce as part of their messaging tools.

But, the question remains: how can brands use user generated content, virtual assistants and chatbots to complement the role organic word-of-mouth and the actual one-on-one recommendation that was traditionally the prime value of physical stores?

Challenger brands quickly adapted to the consumer expectation of authentic testimonials,  content that was quick, shareable, informative as well as entertaining, and online recommendations powered by new forms of customer relationship management technology.

These new brands are easily able to aggregate product ratings, verified reviews, and brand content from customers into credible and unique brand stories to provide actual proof on social platforms such as Instagram.

• By adding UGC across their product pages, Dakine raised its average order value by 20% and increased average visitor time on site by 71%.

• A protein power brand engaged Millennials with our Instagram Ads, driving 2x CTR, 45% decrease in CPA compared to regular IG ads

Every retailer and every brand that depends on stores to move their products recognizes the nimble quality of startups and the need for established entities to think and act like one. You can hear echoes of that sentiment at conferences like the NRF Retail Big Show and Shoptalk for variations on that theme. But it’s not downsizing or closing shops that will transform yesterday’s giants into tomorrow’s quick and cool marketer.

When it comes to marketing, size doesn’t matter as much as it used to. And that’s actually a good thing for established brands. By smartly adapting to the direct, genuine, and natural appeal that challenger brands have demonstrated through the use of UGC, major brands — and the stores they partner with — can take ultimate advantage of the best of the old and the new forms or marketing.