Digital Shift, a quarterly service from Econsultancy, is intended as a guide to support strategic thinking.

Focused tightly on digital technologies, marketing and ecommerce, it is about delivering actionable insight on trends that will be significant in the short to mid-term, and can be used to generate new ideas, improve business performance and stay ahead of the competition.

The latest report in this series, also available as a presentation and webinar recording (see below), looks at the following:

  • The impact of Covid-19: Building on insight incorporated in the last Digital Shift, the webinar takes an updated look at the impact of the pandemic on underlying digital trends, consumer behaviour (notably around messaging and video) and considers how some brands have responded with innovation.
  • TikTok: The short-form video app is proving hugely popular and has recently shown rapid growth in downloads and usage. Digital Shift takes a deeper dive on its aggressive strategy for expansion, and where the company is likely to go next.
  • Video commerce: Livestreaming and shoppable video have both increased in popularity and application, with the latest examples from the forward-thinking Chinese market indicating a likely future scenario for how other markets will adopt these trends. Gaming platforms will also likely be a key part of the livestreaming future.
  • AR summer/VR winter: VR has yet to reveal many applications beyond gaming. Meanwhile, there is an ever wider and more exciting range of applications of augmented reality (AR). Digital Shift explores the most interesting examples and the technology’s possible roles in retail.
  • New voice interfaces: Previous Digital Shift reports featured developments in brain-computer interfaces. This emerging area is still early in its maturity, though Facebook has just filed a patent which perhaps reveals its vision for how people will, in the future, interact in different ways, using machine learning recognition of ‘silent’ speaking.
  • Changing marketing: The marketing technology landscape is continuing to evolve rapidly and shows little sign of becoming less complex, but it is becoming more interoperable. Digital Shift discusses how the landscape is changing, what this reveals about communication trends and the implications for agile marketing.