How Spin Master Anticipates and Adapts to Consumer Behavior Changes | Salsify

Ecommerce Trends

September 23, 2025

6 minute read

Written By: Chris Caesar

How Spin Master Anticipates and Adapts to Consumer Behavior Changes | Salsify

Ecommerce changes fast — and the changes don’t stop coming: One month, demand may show up in places you’d never expect. Next, a new channel or platform might force you to rethink your playbook entirely.

For ecommerce leaders, that means sticking to just one playbook can become an easy way to fall behind. That’s why it’s smarter for brands to lock down a flexible strategy that can roll with the punches — without breaking under shifting conditions.

That topic was top of mind at the 2025 Digital Shelf Summit session, “The Next Wave of Shopping: How To Evolve With Shifting Consumer Expectations and Omnichannel Demands.” Marianna Zidaric, senior director of global ecommerce at Spin Master, and Tor Sirset, VP of global shopper marketing and ecommerce at Spin Master, explored what’s changing, coming next, and how to create a flexible yet reliable foundation for the future.

Shoppers Are in the Driver’s Seat

“We're here to talk about something that is probably the most evolving topic as it relates to retail, and that's the shopper, right?” Zidaric says. “Because [shoppers] are changing so much, and, at the heart of it, ecommerce has really fueled a lot of that change.”

The driver, she says, is firmly in the driver's seat — dictating where, when, and how they want to connect with brands.

Rather than the traditional linear funnel model, she says that today’s “shopping path is a little bit more … [like] a game of pool, where the balls are ricocheting off of one another,” adding that shoppers now hit six or more touch points before ultimately committing to a purchase.

Sirset illustrates the idea with a recent case study: When Spin Master’s new kids’ franchise, Unicorn Academy, started gaining momentum, his team didn’t try to force a traditional path. Instead, they followed the audience to where they already were — Roblox, YouTube, TikTok, even the Kids Bop tour — and routed that attention toward retail, with exclusives and a pre-sale window on Amazon.

“Regardless of all of the tech and the new ways that we can reach [customers],” Zidaric says, “keep the shopper at the center of everything that you’re doing.”

The Path Is Blended — Plan Accordingly

Shoppers don’t split their brains between “online” and “in-store.” They pass seamlessly through both — searching, scrolling, tapping, walking the aisle — and expect those moments to feel like one continuous experience.

If someone discovers you on social media at 10 p.m., the product detail page (PDP) they find should match what they’ll find on the shelf the next Saturday morning, including the same claim, pack size, images, price logic, and promotional story.

Of course, that goes both ways. When the journey starts in the aisle, shoppers expect the digital shelf to pick up where the store leaves off. Sirset again points to the Unicorn Academy brand’s marketing, this time at Walmart. While the brand only had three SKUs in-store, the team added in-aisle danglers with a QR code that sent shoppers to a branded Walmart page, showcasing the full product line for customers.

That simple solution turned three pegs into about 15 highlighted SKUs online, complete with richer content and a frictionless path to buy.

Internal Silos Hinder a Seamless Experience

Shoppers expect one continuous journey, but internal silos can provide a disjointed one instead.

Zidaric puts it plainly, saying that different teams often chase different key performance indicators (KPIs), which means they’re often “not speaking the same language.” On top of that, every retailer — from Walmart to Target to Amazon — has its own requirements, a sort of siloing in its own right.

For a company like Spin Master, which manages more than 30 brands and thousands of new products yearly, the cost of misalignment is steep. Too many briefs, duplicate workstreams, and slow pivots risk leaving shoppers with a fragmented story.

To address this, Zidaric says they rebuilt their workflows, ending function-by-function briefs in favor of a single document that ties digital, social, ecommerce, and shopper. That keeps teams aligned on one plan instead of working at cross purposes. Rather than treating every launch as a one-off, they test what works, build it into playbooks, and make sure clear owners — not committees — can make the final calls.

The result? Faster execution, clearer ownership, and — most importantly — a consistent shopper experience across channels.

Sustainability and Other Customer Values Shape Purchases

Shoppers aren’t just weighing price and convenience anymore — they’re asking if the brand behind the product deserves their trust and business.

Zidaric notes that customers want transparency into where a product comes from, where it’s made, and whether it “passes [their] vibe check.” That lens now influences whether they click “buy,” or simply gravitate toward another competitor who does.

In particular, the speakers note that sustainability is at the heart of that scrutiny. Zidaric explains that if companies aren’t working to reduce their carbon footprint and rethink packaging, customers will “take their eco-friendly shopping bags and their wallets somewhere else.” For Spin Master, that means telling the story behind each toy, how it’s made, and how it aligns with the values shoppers increasingly expect.

Keeping Pace With Your Customers

At the end of the day, shoppers are always moving the goalposts. The brands that continue to succeed — regardless of prevailing consumer whims — will be the ones that stay nimble, connect their teams around a shared vision, and keep the buyer at the center of every decision.

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Tag(s): Ecommerce Trends Digital Shelf Summit 2025

Written by: Chris Caesar

Chris Caesar (he/him) is a professional writer with two decades of experience working with national publications, as well as top software-as-a-service (SaaS) and technology brands. He is passionate about crafting high-quality, lead-generating content that drives awareness and action.