A New Outlook For The Retail CMO

By Paul Donovan, global senior director, solution management, SAP

The omni-channel migration within retail has had far-reaching implications. Consumers demand to shop when, where and how they want, while expecting a consistent experience across channels. This has not only impacted sales models but marketing strategies as well.

To keep up with consumers, the retail chief marketing officer job description has changed, and will likely continue to change for another three to five years. Once known for traditional sales enablement and advertising, the CMO role now requires an intimate knowledge of multiple (and emerging) communications channels, the ability to create and target customer personas, an understanding of big data, analytics and the tools required to uncover consumer insights, and an awareness of how all these variables apply to the customer journey.

This means that CMOs are now dealing with roles and responsibilities that overlap with the chief information officer and chief technology officer, overseeing complex data and product innovation platforms to predict, understand and align with consumer behavior. To justify new strategies and tools, and hone in on the right activities that will move the needle, measurement has become an even more critical element of the CMO role. 

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