Key findings
The total score
The ten retail tech brands we analysed distributed 350 long-form content pieces between July 2023 and 2024, making this segment the second most prolific after IoT. Based on the amount of content distributed, the top ten brands fell into three broad categories:
Key findings
The favourite
Multimedia content, such as webinars and podcasts, took centre stage for retail tech brands, comprising 75% of all content published. Reports were the most popular format of written content, with only three brands publishing whitepapers.
Key findings
Attitude towards gating: Reluctant
The majority of all content released by retail tech brands was free to consume and not gated. Podcasts, the second most popular content type for this category, are never gated and skewed the gating ratio. Content apart from podcasts was gated 45% of the time.
Key findings
Multimedia
Outliers aside, the retail tech brands we researched each held six webinars per quarter last year. Platforms like LinkedIn Live, Microsoft Teams Live, and HubSpot Video were widely used. Four brands were highly systematic about podcasts, averaging two each month.
Takeaways
The retail tech segment extensively hosted content omnichannel and CRM platforms – a strategy that can indicate that these assets are being used in lead generation campaigns.
The adoption of highly engaging content types allowing interactivity is more advanced in this sector than any other that we researched. Fewer whitepapers were published than other sectors, and more podcasts and webinars were released.
While educating their prospects about omnichannel and personalised interactions, retail tech brands must focus on mirroring the same approach in their communication and content production to make it relevant and valuable.
Brands in the sector should not abandon long-form written content, which often fulfils an essential information-gather role during the middle and later stages of the purchase cycle.
