Madeline Cyr
Researcher, Digital Retail

Author Insights
Blog
Forrester’s Digital Go-To-Market Review: Apparel And Shoe Brands
Forrester’s latest Digital Go-To-Market Review evaluates 27 brands in the apparel and footwear sector to see how well they are positioned to thrive independently. Read on to see how these brands fared across direct-to-consumer strength, brand visibility online, distribution and e-control, organic consumer enthusiasm, and product innovation.
Blog
Forrester’s US Retail Recovery Heat Map, June 2021 — Expected Income Loss Still High In Some Metros
Retail recovery is proceeding at different rates in various parts of the US. See how our US retail recovery heat map reflects factors such as economic sentiment, change in COVID-19 cases, vaccine rates, and retail foot traffic.
Blog
The Results Of The 2021 Global State Of Brand Manufacturers Survey
In Q1 2021, we surveyed 140 brand manufacturer decision makers who are familiar with their company’s approach to digital sales. Brand manufacturers can use the results of Forrester’s Digital State of Brand Manufacturers Study to benchmark their performance and internally make the case for investments in digital sales strategies.
Blog
Use The Forrester Tech Tide™ To Evaluate Your Retail AI Investment Strategy
Artificial intelligence and analytics are increasingly critical to retailers’ ability to win, serve, and retain their customers. But the landscape of technologies is vast and advancing rapidly, so it can be hard to understand which technologies are overhyped and which have real business value. Retail execs read about initiatives such as Amazon Go and Walmart […]
Blog
Forrester’s US Retail Recovery Heat Map, May 2021 — Strides Toward Normalcy
In the US, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that, between January 8 (the highest peak in the US) and May 12, the seven-day moving average of new cases decreased 85.8%. Vaccination rates are steadily increasing, and the CDC has relaxed mask guidance for vaccinated individuals. The US is finally entering a […]
Blog
Forrester’s US Retail Recovery Heat Map, April 2021 — One Year Later
It has been one year since we began estimating how the retail economies of 30 major US metropolitan areas were recovering from COVID-19. By aggregating numerous metrics (across retail sales, local economic indicators, and virus spread), our model predicts that these metropolitan areas will face differing levels of COVID-19 disruption. A lot has changed in […]
Blog
Forrester’s US Retail Recovery Heat Map, March 2021 — Vaccine Rollout
Every month, we estimate how the retail economies of 30 major US metropolitan areas are recovering from COVID-19. By aggregating numerous metrics (across retail sales, local economic indicators, and virus spread), our model predicts that these metropolitan areas will face differing levels of COVID-19 disruption. This month, we added a new variable to our retail […]
Blog
Brand Go-To-Market Series: The CPG Category Is Taking Big Steps Toward E-Commerce DTC Sales
The pandemic has been a pivotal moment for the consumer packaged goods (CPG) category. Before the pandemic, most CPG brands lacked direct-to-consumer (DTC) buy-ability on their website. However, the pandemic spurred numerous CPG brands like Beyond Meat, Bimbo, Del Monte, and PepsiCo/Frito Lay to launch DTC websites. The latest update to our Digital Go-To-Market Review series […]
Blog
Promising Improvements — Forrester’s US Retail Recovery Heat Map, February 2021
Since April 2020, we have estimated how the retail economies of 30 major US metropolitan areas are recovering from COVID-19. By aggregating 11 metrics (across retail sales, local economic indicators, and virus spread), our model predicts that these metropolitan areas will face differing levels of COVID-19 disruption. For these metrics, we looked at US metropolitan-, […]
Blog
Forrester’s Digital Go-To-Market Review: Consumer Electronics Edition
Our latest update to our Digital Go-To-Market Review series for brands looks at the consumer electronics sector. Electronics store sales peaked in 2007, and since then, an ever-growing proportion of consumer electronics sales has moved online.* In 2020, 64% of US online adults said that they made a consumer electronics purchase online on a computer, […]
Blog
Insights From Forrester’s US Retail Recovery Heat Map, January 2021
Over the last 10 months, we have estimated how the retail economies of 30 major US metropolitan areas are recovering from COVID-19. By aggregating 11 metrics (across retail sales, local economic indicators, and virus spread), our model predicts that these metropolitan areas will face differing levels of COVID-19 disruption. For these metrics, we looked at […]
Blog
Digital Go-To-Market Review: Beauty Brands
Forrester’s Digital Go-To-Market Review evaluates brand manufacturers and how well they are positioned to thrive independently of online marketplaces and even traditional retailers. In our second edition of this study, we focused on the beauty goods sector, evaluating 34 brands on five elements for a total of 20 attributes. From this review, we rated seven […]
Blog
Introducing Forrester’s Digital Go-To-Market Review: Home Goods Edition
In a rapidly evolving retail environment, brand manufacturers that have traditionally sold through wholesale channels now need to think very differently about distribution. Some traditional wholesale partners are shrinking — meaning those (often long-standing) distribution partnerships simply can’t generate the sales and growth for brands that they did for decades. By contrast, online marketplaces are growing — and fast. Marketplaces promise access to vast swaths of new customers — but potentially also arm’s-length relationships with those customers and less control around placement, plus proximity to […]
Research Collection
US Retailers Face Unprecedented Challenges In Planning For Q4
Q4 contributes a significant part of many retailers’ annual revenues and profits. As of mid-Q3, factors like high unemployment, a resurgence in COVID-19 cases, short-term and permanent store closures, and the expiration of the US Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program are making it challenging for US retailers to plan for Q4. We’ve created a collection […]
Blog
Insights From Forrester’s US Retail Recovery Heat Maps (April – July 2020)
See how the retail economies of 30 major US metropolitan areas have fared in the wake of the pandemic, and learn what the near future may hold.
Blog
Future Of Retail 2020: Retail Marketers Face Privacy And Data Ethics Regulations
Forrester retail industry analysts provide insights on how privacy and data ethics regulations will affect retail marketers.
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Future Of Retail 2020: Retailers Test Consumer-Facing And Operational IoT Solutions
To understand how Forrester’s predictions will unfold in the retail industry in 2020, my colleague Madeline Cyr and I interviewed experts within Forrester for our “Applying 2020 Predictions To Retail” series. To understand the internet of things (IoT) predictions for 2020, we spoke with Forrester IoT expert Frank Gillett. Madeline Cyr: In 2020, you predict […]
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Future Of Retail 2020: Retailers Will Create Bold Employee Experiences
To understand how Forrester’s predictions will unfold in the retail industry in 2020, my colleague Madeline Cyr and I interviewed experts within Forrester for our “Applying 2020 Predictions To Retail” series. To understand the employee experience (EX) predictions for the year, we spoke with Forrester Principal Analyst David Johnson, who serves CIO professionals. Madeline: You […]
Blog
Future Of Retail 2020: Retail B2C Marketers Manage Influencers, Marketing Partnerships, And DTC Acquisitions
Principal Analyst Jim Nail and Senior Analyst Tina Moffett weigh in on what's ahead for retail marketers and how retail companies can position themselves for success.
Blog
Future Of Retail 2020: Retail CMOs Must Create Value To Spark Joy In Customers
To understand how Forrester’s predictions will unfold in the retail industry in 2020, my colleague Madeline Cyr and I interviewed experts within Forrester for our “Applying 2020 Predictions To Retail” series. To understand the customer predictions for the year, I spoke with Anjali Lai, a Forrester expert on CMO-targeted consumer behavior and decision-making research
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