RIP Shopper Marketing, say hello to "In-Store Retail Media"

RIP Shopper Marketing, say hello to "In-Store Retail Media"

Have I missed something recently in the retail media space? There's an influx of articles talking about preparing for 'in-store retail media' - the traditionalist in me is crying that in-store 'retail media' is not new, in fact it outlives all of the 'retail media' hype of the last 5 years, as the artist formerly known as "Shopper Marketing"!

Whilst not being nitpicky, we're overcomplicating the retail landscape for ourselves. This contributes to more fragmentation and confusion about who is owning the shopper experience in-store, online and increasingly - off-site.

Digital in store screens, digital OOH are very exciting - we can talk about buying the instore retail displays programmatically, vs traditional cardboard barkers. I'm a big fan of this not just for the obvious media buying implications (I actually think it makes the whole planning process a lot more confusing for advertisers/brands and their agencies), but also because we're producing less cardboard to sit in store and get thrown away all for the sake of getting people to buy more stuff.

The danger I see, is the disconnect between the trading teams (national accounts, category mgmt, shopper/customer marketing) and marketing/media teams getting even wider. "Retail media" has such a broad brush applied to it these days, encompassing retail marketing (loyalty, coupons, etc) instore (shopper), online, ecommerce and off-site capabilities in programmatic, CTV, connected social commerce and shoppable display ads.

In-store shopper marketing activity is traditionally a negotiated investment as part of a retailer JBP, to commit to funding X promotions to drive category and sales performance instore. Promotions are planned months in advance, carefully placed, time bound, stock is planned and measuring the campaign's effectiveness and ROI is relatively straight forward. You gather years of this data and can measure performance over time and plan your investments.

Then 'in store retail media' wanders in - effectively digitising the experience. It's been coined 'in store retail media' by those who know about the digital world of retail media, but less about the in-store. The media can be bought programmatically - not something shopper marketing teams are traditionally familiar with. And I'll throw it out there - programmatic teams are also not familiar with the mechanics of in-store shopper marketing. The industry is changing, but are you moving your programmatic/digital spend and management of in-store experiences to media teams, or built in to your trade plans? Can trade JBPs keep up with the fast moving nature of digital? Is media effectiveness going to come further into question when considering the rotating nature of digital screens? Does the future involve in-store shopper tracking tech to start personalising the screens based on the loyalty card in your pocket?!

It's exciting to be challenging legacy structures as we move into the modern era of physical and digital marketing. Maybe it is time to rebrand shopper marketing to retail media so we can keep up with the language of the day - but let's not pretend we're talking about a new marketing channel. The industry is evolving - we're moving from horse and cart to a motor car. Equally, if everything in-store is now retail media, how do we define the stuff that is happening off-site, powered by retailers?

Where we do ourselves no favours is by ignoring the future and potential, but it is time our industry made sense of the retail channels as one connected way to engage consumers and shoppers with brands -this is paving the way for a new era of consumer marketing.

This is easier said than done when challenging legacy structures in organisations and agencies, but holds the keys to future growth of this industry. Are you ready?


#consumermarketing #shoppermarketing #retailmedia #digitalretailmedia #ecommerce

Emily Arrowsmith

Senior Ecommerce Content Manager at Mars

7 个月

Great reflections that I think many brands are feeling right now!

Danny Silverman

VP of Client Services at Momentum Commerce, igniting scalable and sustainable growth for brands on Amazon and beyond!

7 个月

Great article! I’m not sure if it’s the same in Europe as it is in the US, as it’s been some time since I’ve done business there, but in the US, Shopper Marketing budgets come from “trade” (or sales) budgets whereas media comes from marketing budgets. It’s a tricky line but where retailers and brands can successfully make the distinction, it’s a massive unlock to bring more dollars to the retailer’s bottom line.

Deni Petrova

Strategy Lead, Retail Media and Marketplaces | mMBA, Brand Management

7 个月

Love this Jaz! So many questions, and the answers are yet to come. The approach varies so much from a company to company as well, which makes it even more "interesting"...

Diana Abebrese

Retail Media | Business Transformation | Advisor

7 个月

Exactly this Jasmine - great article. There is definitely a role for programmatic buying of digital instore at store entrance and post checkout, or in highly visible placements - such as the new Tesco goalposts (although the format brings challenges for buyers). Once you get past store entrance, signage - digital or paper - should be integrated with customer journey, price and promo and products - and meet the needs of many retail stakeholders. Digital signage brings loads of benefits here - but programmatic enablement is low down the list currently.

Matthew Wilkinson

Digital Sales Manager @Jisp. Scan & Save loyalty app. Helping Brands sell more in UK Wholesale and Convenience. #Retailmedia

7 个月

Great Insight and very true, thanks for sharing. To help our brand partners circumvent the fragmentation and help them stick to their sustainability goals by avoiding print POS. We at Jisp use digital to generate shopper interest out-of-store, leading to purchase in-store, all delivered and measurable via an app. Shoppers save money, retailers and wholesalers earn more margin and brands sell more.

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