A new study by Gradient, a global leader in experiential marketing, reveals 82 per cent of retail companies invest heavily in experiential marketing to build deeper connections with their customers.
“Experiential marketing has become crucial because it taps into the most fundamental aspect of human decision-making: emotion,” said Anthony Coppers, Founder and Head of Innovation at Gradient. “Consumers are growing tired and indifferent to ads and digital content. What they want is new and unique ways to interact with brands, where they don’t feel like just another customer, but a participant that matters.”
The report said retail is no longer just about the transaction. It’s about creating moments that resonate with the audience. In an era where consumers are bombarded with endless product options and advertisements, retail brands need to cut through the noise and build genuine relationships with customers.
It said many retail brands have significantly increased their budgets for experiential marketing over the last three years.
“This surge isn’t just about spending more, it’s about adapting to a fundamental shift in consumer behavior. Modern consumers, especially Millennials and Gen Z, are seeking more than just products– they want meaningful experiences that reflect who they are,” said Gradient.
“This demand for authenticity isn’t just a passing trend. It’s rooted in a deeper cultural movement toward transparency, self-expression, and personalization. Nowadays, customers are skeptical of traditional advertising and generic marketing tactics. Instead, they want to engage with brands that understand their individuality and offer immersive, personalized experiences.”
It said retail giants like Nike and IKEA have had success with their experiential strategies, creating spaces where customers can engage with products in immersive and interactive ways.
“Retail marketers are focusing on earned media value (64 per cent) and social engagement (51 per cent) as the primary metrics for measuring the success of their experiential campaigns. These figures surpass the averages of 55 per cent and 47 per cent across other industries. This emphasis on earned media and social engagement indicates the retail industry’s strategic approach to maximizing the reach and impact of its events, leveraging social media and digital platforms to engage broader audiences,” explained Gradient.
“The best brand experiences are content playgrounds. Everyone can create content; celebrities, creators, influencers, and of course the brand itself. This creates content that is more authentic, and reaches both a broader and more targeted audience. Interestingly, we know now that 89 per cent of consumers trust recommendations above all other advertising channels so whilst reach is great, often it is the content from your (non-influencer) friends that has the greatest impact,” added Coppers.
Other Key Survey Findings
Gradient’s research also uncovered a number of other key statistics associated with experiential marketing, covering scope, budget, and ROI.
- Retailers allocate 10-30 per cent of their total budget to experiential marketing, consistent with the industry average;
- 93 per cent of respondents are satisfied with their experiential marketing ROI measurements, which is higher than all other industries;
- Respondents prioritize sales (41 per cent) and awareness (34 per cent) as the most important ROI categories from their experiential marketing efforts.
- Key challenges in implementing experiential marketing are budget allocation (49 per cent) and internal cross-collaboration (52 per cent).
“As we move into 2025, experiential marketing will only become more integral to retail brands’ strategies. With the rise of augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and other digital innovations, the opportunities for brands to create hyper-personalized, immersive experiences are endless,” said Gradient.
“Gradient’s experiential guide brings light to this strategy by providing insights and practical solutions to the challenges that currently exist, ensuring marketing efforts can remain impactful and measurable.”
Coppers said Gradient began 15 years ago in New York City with offices now in Miami and Los Angeles and just opened a new one in Paris.
“The mission of Gradient has always been about creating remarkable and unforgettable moments for the world’s leading brands. I love saying that I’m a goosebump inducer. So that’s always been the mission. I think the vision, because of our world, it’s evolution technology. The vision has really been about allowing experiential to get its rightful place in the marketing ecosystem,” he said.
“In this experience era that we’re in, experiential, because of technology, can be much more measurable and can give you back much more ROI (return on investment) than it ever could before, even though it had the same effects.”
Coppers said experiential marketing is more than doing events.
“An event can be a moment of connection that is linked to nothing else than a party and a drink in your hand. Experiential is about making sure that you are creating a moment and a connection that is allowing you to live the story of a brand – storytelling,” he said, adding a good brand can communicate the reason it exists and the story behind that reason and behind every product it delivers. Stories it has lived through to being the brand it is today.
“And there’s a cyclic value behind storytelling into story living because once you make sure to take that storytelling and put it into story living with a brand that creates the new storytelling of tomorrow. So experiential is a way to create an interaction with your consumer and through your story.
“The retail of tomorrow is no longer a place of transaction. It’s a place of connection, of education, of content. It’s a place we like to say that it’s taking storytelling, bringing it into story, living and turning a store into a story.”
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