Is your brand ready to win in the retail media game?

We’re just a few months out from retail’s big game: the holiday season. And while it’s too soon to call the likely winners, the rules of the game have changed for every player. We’re a long way beyond Black Friday bargain hunters lining up pre-dawn for doorbuster bargains, but the big box e-commerce giants that replaced that world are now facing a major new market shift in competition. The landscape is now much bigger now than simply Target and Walmart or Amazon, although they still dominate online retail with approximately 50% market share. And with Google’s continued development of Privacy Sandbox, the means and currency of effective consumer reach and engagement will certainly continue to evolve in shopper marketing.

We’ve seen the rapid rise of the closed-universe platform in the retail space – retailers with access to massive amounts of transactional and behavioral first party consumer behaviors – now looking to successfully monetize that knowledge and reach. Kroger Precision Marketing, for example, has access to vast amounts of collated consumer data thanks to 2,700 stores across 35 states, and an estimated 70 million loyalty program members. KPM claims to reach 60 Million US households now thanks to its mobile app, website, social channels and thousands of unique consumer touchpoints. And others like Albertsons Media Collective are almost as big: 30 million consumers, 2,200 stores, 34 states and access to consumers across banners that include Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco and others. What all of this means? for brand marketers is this: there’s a juggernaut of retail media platforms coming and it’s time to get on board. How? Here’s how I see it.

Understand the size of the prize

In 2023, US e-commerce sales reached $1.1 trillion, an enormous slice of the $5.8 trillion sales globally. Projections indicate a 39% increase by 2027. Add to this the fact that according to the National Retail Federation reports for the past decade, holiday sales figures nationally have increased by 5% each year. It’s easy to see where this is headed, right? In the next few years alone we can expect to see an online retail market that’s going to be almost twice the size it is today, presenting tremendous opportunity for brands to engage, persuade and sell. But that’s happening in an e-commerce landscape undergoing major evolution. There are now approximately 80 retail media networks including all of the big box names we’d expect: Walmart Connect, Best Buy, Home Depot, Macy’s and of course Amazon Advertising. If you consider, too,? that every brand from Netflix to Spotify to the New York Times are evolving their offerings based on proprietary, collected first party data, there’s a rapidly evolving need for media agencies that can optimize all of this for brands. It’s why Omnicom purchased Flywheel last year and Horizon Media owns Night Market – shopper marketing and intelligence agencies that are going to be essential in the media mix going forward.

Go beyond the buy in retail media

It’s not going to be enough to just include these new retail and brand media networks into your buy, however. The expanding universe of venues and complex intersection of in-store, mobile and online opportunities is evolving so rapidly that marketers should re-evaluate strategies with their chosen agency partner. The question becomes: how will you maximize in-store exposure to your brand through meaningful experiences for consumers and then leverage those engagements as part of a smart, tailored retail strategy across all platforms for complete synergy? Think about these strategies:

· ? Create a unified data strategy – use data from your retail media network partner to build a picture of the consumer and their behavior for consistent engagement across all platforms.

· ? Use interactive and shoppable content – think about consumer engagement with things like quizzes, polls and shoppable ads that drive easy purchase on retail media platforms

· ? Employ dynamic creative optimization – this tech enables ad content to be tailored and adjusted in real-time based on user behavior, preferences and interactions across retail networks

· ? Measure with performance tracking and analytics – track ad performance, click throughs and sales across a chosen retail media network or multiple networks to determine best spend

Create a complete consumer experience on- and off-line

Optimizing engagement with a retail platform isn’t just digital. What will the consumer experience be like in store with tangible engagements and brand experiences. Work with your experiential agency to ensure in-store aligns with new initiatives and tactics on your retail network. Let’s look at an example.

?When Samsung was launching the Galaxy S21 smartphone in 2021, they partnered with Walmart Media Network to drive critical on-line engagement as well as in-store traffic. Geo-targeted promotions encouraged consumers to visit Walmart stores for exclusive, in-store-only S21 deals, which drove brick and mortar traffic but also raised awareness for online sales. Interactive ads and videos helped potential buyers learn more about product features and make an easy purchase on Walmart’s platform. Social and digital in-store display ads were used to add to consistent cross-platform messaging and Walmart’s data analytics and tracking services helped adjust ad placements based on behaviors. Samsung then set up in-store demos and experiences where consumers could test the phone’s features like gaming performance or night mode. Brand ambassadors were hired to engage shoppers and explain features, and promotions were bundled to enable future purchases and add-ons for anyone buying a Galaxy S21. The result? The S21 became one of the top selling phones not only domestically but around the world. The reason? Absolute, smart integration of new media opportunities and integrated experiential marketing at point of sale.

Every marketer understands the essential nature of omnichannel marketing, but today those channels are in flux and rapid development. As the holiday season approaches and brands look beyond to 2025 planning, one thing is certain. The field of play and opportunities to score are wide open for those marketers that understand the nuanced new rules of the game and add the right players to their team.