The Growth of Retail Media

May 31, 2023
Shari Steinbach
Trends

There has been a lot of buzz around retail media lately and your company may have even hired new individuals to oversee this area of the business. A retail media network is simply a collection of digital channels owned by a retail company, which is offered to other companies, like CPGs, for advertising purposes. Through a retailer’s media network and by using the retailer’s customer data, advertisers can connect with shoppers at the point-of-sale across all channels owned by the retailer. The places where these ads may appear include on a search result page where shoppers have searched about specific products, on a home page, or on product category pages. Retail media appears to benefit all involved – retailers, advertisers and consumers.

Retailers: Retail media is a huge area of opportunity for retailers to get a piece of the massive media budgets from CPGs. In the past, much of the retail media budgets were directed to larger companies like Amazon, eBay and Instacart, but this is rapidly changing. As retail margins keep getting smaller, due mainly to inflation and growing logistics costs, smaller retailers may especially benefit from having this important new revenue source.

Advertisers: The biggest benefit for advertising companies is that they have access to first-party data from retail media networks. This is the information retailers collect directly from customers. Analysis and application of this data allows advertisers to showcase their products to consumers who are most likely interested in them.  

Consumers: Customer expectations have changed over the years and research by Salesforce shows that 66 % of consumers now expect businesses to understand their individualized needs. Another study revealed that 52% of online shoppers are happy to exchange their personal data for offers personalized for them. As shoppers go through the process and touchpoints of purchasing products, retail media works to offer them a shopping experience more tailored to their needs.

As retail media continues to grow, grocers look to create more personalized, engaging experiences that help to promote shopper loyalty. Retail dietitians are encouraged to learn more about retail media network opportunities and how their expertise can help drive product purchase.