Retail Marketing Networks
Consumers are doing all their shopping online. From grocery shopping to shopping for winter gear, digital adoption has massively increased over the past two years as consumers learned to do everything online.
As a result, brands have quickly shifted to online strategies to cater to this new digital consumer behavior. Brands are now allocating their advertising dollars towards digital and investing in their digital presence to capitalize on the acceleration of online shopping. Specifically, many retailers have begun to more heavily invest in retail media networks to bolster sales and attract consumers.
What is a Retail Media Network?
A retail media network is an advertising platform hosted on a retailer’s website, app, or digital channels. Retailers use this advertising platform to allow other brands to advertise to their customers as they browse the site.
If you think about an in-store shopping experience, in-store advertisements play a role in shaping the overall journey. Through promotions, loyalty programs, and new product launches, in-store advertising guides shopping behaviors. What retail media networks do, is enable in-store advertising to transition to digital to create the same sort of effect for customers.
Retail Media Networks Are a Win-Win for Retailers & Brands
Consumer package goods can also be purchased from online retailers. In the next few years, spending on retail media networks is expected to increase significantly. As brands and retailers alike experience first-hand the benefits it can be expected that more and more will begin to introduce retail media networks and retail media advertising into their business strategy.
The benefits of retail media networks and advertising for retailers and brands are different, yet these benefits are highly valuable to the success of their different business goals and priorities.
For Retailers
By offering advertising real estate on their digital platforms, retailers are increasing their revenue sources. Retail media networks can be highly profitable and are a great way for retailers to diversify their income streams.
Additionally, through various Advertising Techniques, retailers have access to information on the effectiveness of the many advertising campaigns running on their network. Retailers can leverage this data to track customer preferences and behaviors and further optimize their retail strategies for growth.
For Retail Brands
Through retail media networks, brands can leverage the extensive customer data of large retailers to engage in more relevant and high-quality targeting. This targeting allows brands to develop stronger and more differentiated advertising strategies for each unique audience. By leveraging this data, brands can achieve higher ROI on their advertising spend through increasing brand loyalty and generating higher sales figures.
What are the Top Retail Media Networks?
Many retailers are offering retail media networks to brands. The below companies have developed some of the most sophisticated platforms and are currently leading the execution of these networks.
Amazon
By far the largest player for retail media networks, Amazon offers brands multi-channel advertising opportunities from sponsored products and sponsored brand placements to shoppable livestreams and audio and video ads.
Walmart
Walmart leverages a closed-loop system between their app and physical stores to assist brands in attributing in-store conversions to digital campaigns.
Target
Internal network Roundel, uses Target’s first part customer data from the online website and mobile app to work with brands to create more personalized advertisements.
Home Depot
Retail Media + is Home Depot’s internal network which provides brands with access to the 2.2 billion customers that visit Home Depot’s website each year. The Home Depot Content Lab further supports brands by assisting in the development of high quality and engaging advertising assets.
Instacart
Focusing on consumer packaged goods advertisers, Instacart is leveraging the specific demographic and behavioural data of its 9.6 million active users to develop a highly valuable network.
Ebay
With data based on “real shopping intent signals”, eBay Ads provides brands with access to data on more than 100 million unique monthly users. Using eBay Advanced Audience Technology, eBay claims to also provide brands with increased reach that does not sacrifice precision.
Walgreens
Leveraging the data of the myWalgreens loyalty program, Walgreens has launched the Walgreens Ad Group to develop a highly valuable network for advertisers that includes access to in-house data scientists that can support brands in optimizing campaigns.
CVS
With extensive historic data and a large geographic footprint, CVS uses their network, CVS Media Exchange, to support brands in creating personalized and strategic advertisements for target audiences.
Wayfair
As a self-service tool, Wayfair Media Solutions allows brands to launch product sponsorships, custom sponsorships and brand sponsorships.
The Path Forward
As consumers continue to rely on digital channels to do their shopping, the data collection potential and the ability for brands to develop personalized and compelling ads will continue to soar. To stay competitive, retailers need to be implementing retail media networks to not only capitalize on the revenue potential of digital advertising but to also maintain relationships with different suppliers and provide their customers with high-quality and relevant ads.
