From Campaign Thinking to Journey Thinking: Why Retailers Must Act Now

This article originally appeared in MARES, by Franziska Mozart

Consolidation in the martech market is gaining momentum, but many retailers are still struggling with fragmented systems and a growing “experience gap.” Maria Robinson, CMO of Airship, explains in an interview why the future of digital commerce doesn’t lie in all-in-one solutions, but rather in intelligent, modular platforms that seamlessly integrate data, communication, and customer experiences. Her conclusion: Those who understand apps and websites as key value drivers and enable true personalization through zero-party data create the foundation for sustainable revenue and customer loyalty. A look at the crucial decisions of the coming years. 

1. The Magic Quadrant, the analytical tool that lists Leaders, Challengers, Visionaries, and Non-Players, shows that many large providers are losing ground. How do you assess the fact that many retailers now rely almost exclusively on mainstream platforms? Does this create a new concentration risk, where competition is decided less on functionality and more on platform depth and integration capabilities? 

We are indeed seeing the market undergoing a transformation. However, the biggest risk for retailers lies less in concentrating on just a few platforms and more in the increasing fragmentation within these systems. Many large companies are currently in the midst of a multi-year transition: moving away from legacy software structures that have grown organically over years and are difficult to integrate, with numerous individual solutions – towards modern, CDP-enabled platforms that centrally consolidate customer data and make it usable for consistent, personalized experiences. These transitions are complex, resource-intensive, and often lead to operational friction. 

Even large, full-service providers are showing that many functions that should be standard in modern multichannel communication are tied to individual modules. For marketers, this means they have to add extra tools or forgo proven specialized solutions. 

The result is an “experience gap” between what customers expect and what brands can actually deliver. Marketing teams send out messages while product teams simultaneously create experiences – usually without connecting the two processes. This internal fragmentation ultimately impairs performance. 

Airship’s platform was designed precisely for this purpose: it combines the creation of native app and web experiences with cross-channel communication. This allows teams to collaborate seamlessly and orchestrate consistent end-to-end customer journeys – instead of just sending individual messages. 

2. Retailers are struggling with shrinking margins and rising customer expectations. How can technology help translate customer experiences directly into sales and profitability? And beyond price, what are the most important factors for building long-term customer loyalty? 

Technology translates customer experiences into revenue by enabling true personalization—creating moments where customers feel, “This brand understands me.” According to a 2024 Gartner study, 58 percent of consumers believe that brands trying to sell them something don’t truly understand their needs and preferences. This directly impacts profitability, especially in times of shrinking margins. 

Long-term loyalty is built when brands create value through relevance and recognition. This is achieved by systematically collecting zero-party data— information voluntarily provided directly by customers—and using it for every interaction. Our no-code tools, such as in-app or web surveys and cross-channel preference centers, allow teams without technical expertise to collect this data and immediately translate it into personalized experiences. 

The effect is measurable: According to Twilio, consumers spend an average of 21 percent more with brands that personalize their experience. Creating such personalized experiences lays the foundation for genuine loyalty: An anonymous user is merely a visitor – an identified user is a customer who can be addressed in a targeted and consistent manner. Our data shows that identified users make purchases 43 percent more often than anonymous ones. Therefore, those who prioritize identification and hyper-personalized app and web experiences will sustainably increase customer value and loyalty. 

3. They cite in-app and web experiences as crucial value creation moments. What does this mean in practice for conversion and loyalty in digital commerce? 

In digital commerce, apps and websites are no longer just channels, but the central hubs of conversion – where loyalty is forged. Studies show that 83 percent of US retailers confirm that app users make more purchases, and 85 percent consider them more loyal than non-app customers. In practice, this means brands must move away from disruptive messages like SMS or pop-ups and towards seamlessly integrated, personalized content that fits naturally into the customer journey.

With the Airship Experience Editor, a commerce brand can embed personalized content blocks directly into an app view or website – dynamically adapted to the individual user’s behavior. For example, if someone views products in a category multiple times, a relevant style guideline or a review snippet with ratings of those items appears. This supports the purchase decision without interrupting the flow. Ulta Beauty is

proof that an optimized app and web experience can translate directly into sales and loyalty at the crucial moment. The company increased its conversion rate by 2.8 times with individually designed in-app scenes – compared to users who did not see personalized content.

4. Gartner predicts that future competition will be decided less by targeting and more by the ability to orchestrate individual customer journeys. What are the implications for retailers?

The key consequence: Retailers must shift from campaign-based to journey-based thinking. Instead of targeting individual audiences with static messages, the focus will be on continuous, intelligent, and dynamic interactions that adapt to customer behavior in real time.

For example, a traditional target group campaign sends a push notification when a shopping cart is abandoned. An orchestrated journey, on the other hand, first displays an in-app experience offering free shipping. If no conversion occurs, an email is automatically sent containing the cart contents and additional recommendations – all tailored to the individual customer’s behavior.

This requires a platform that connects messaging channels, app and web experiences, and scales complexity using AI. With Journeys AI, marketers can now automatically create complete, multi-stage customer journeys – including content, timing, and linked app experiences.

5. In retail, the balance between automation and human intervention is delicate. Where do you see the limitations of AI agents – and where do you see their greatest strengths?

The greatest strength of AI agents lies in their ability to automate and accelerate customer experience and lifecycle optimization in real time—to an extent that humans alone could never achieve.

For many retail teams still stuck in manual cycles of creation and analysis, this is a true game-changer.

But AI also has clear limitations: It cannot replace brand strategy or cultural nuances. Strategic thinking, an understanding of values, and the ability to interpret complex market and brand relationships remain the domain of humans. That’s why our AI systems remain “human in the loop”: Teams retain full control, see which experiments are running, and understand how AI recommendations support their goals.

The ideal model is a partnership: Humans define the strategy—AI optimizes its implementation.

6. Looking ahead two to three years: How important will platforms that fully integrate messaging, experience, and data become? Are we moving towards a “Commerce OS” instead of many individual solutions?

Such integrated platforms are becoming vital for survival. Customers expect seamless experiences across all channels – they interact with a brand, not with systems. According to Forrester, almost half of online consumers in the UK and the US want companies to leverage existing data more effectively to create more relevant experiences across all channels.

This is impossible if data, communication, and experience reside in separate systems. At the same time, a comprehensive “commerce OS” that covers all martech needs is unlikely to become a reality. Such generalists often consist of acquired modules that, in turn, create new silos – and are rarely best-in-class in key disciplines.

The future, therefore, lies in modular, composable architectures: A specialized, mobile-first experience system forms the core but integrates flexibly with other solutions. Trends such as cloud data platforms, zero-copy integrations, and the interoperability of AI agents will further accelerate this development.

Ultimately, it will come down to uniting the key elements of value creation – app and website – into a single platform that seamlessly connects data, communication, and experience. This will create a personalized, cohesive customer journey – without compromising performance or brand quality.

Gartner Magic Quadrant 2025 for Multichannel Marketing