Everyone wants a piece of the retail media pie. With enviable sales margins and ever-expanding channels, retail media networks (RMNs) open the door to exciting new data monetization and revenue possibilities for retailers.
As the market continues to evolve, what new trends are emerging and how can retailers grow their revenue moving forward?
#1: Food spend takes the lead
As more and more retailers throw their hat into the RMN ring, one category is emerging as the frontrunner in terms of growth. According to the Skai 2022 Q2 Quarterly Trends Summary Report, the food category enjoyed the most retail media growth at over 200% YoY. Top retail media networks, as reported by the Association of National Advertisers, are in the food and grocery category, and the entrance of retailers like Kroger, CitrusAd and Instacart to the RMN space have helped drive the spike in food spend. Major chains like Ahold Delhaize and Albertsons also recently created their own media firms, while smaller grocers like Woodman’s have also launched networks.
According to Grocery Dive, shoppable videos and short clips highlighting store offerings, products and more are becoming a popular advertising model within this category.
Do you have the comprehensive shopper insights and compelling advertising channels to reach grocery shoppers where they are with what they want to buy?
#2: RMN is going programmatic
Currently, a small number of huge players dominate the market. Amazon stands in a category all its own, with Target and Wal-Mart occupying the lion’s share after that. But that doesn’t mean there’s no market share to spare. A programmatic approach expands both the inventory and marketplace for smaller players. Plus, new technologies are making it easier for retailers to buy across platforms and access multiple ad exchanges.
Brands can also take advantage of more precise targeting and measurement opportunities as well as autonomy when it comes to retargeting.
#3: In-store sales attribution is next
The impact of retail media network advertising is wide – and hard to capture for e-commerce-only operations. For example, an average of 45% of the sales volume driven by Amazon Display ads is on non-Amazon sales. It’s easy to make the connection between online ads and e-commerce sales, but without a set of physical stores, the omnichannel effect remains a matter of projection.
This is a potential area of advantage for retailers with a brick-and-mortar component, since they can directly measure the impact of RMN advertising on in-store sales. Unfortunately, however, many networks can’t capture this wider sales effect all that precisely because they lack mechanisms to identify and understand all of their in-store shoppers and their corresponding purchase behaviors.
Those who can improve their in-store attribution capabilities stand to gain significant competitive advantage, as those insights will be mission critical moving forward. In a survey conducted by Insider Intelligence, marketers responded that in-store/omnichannel sales data was the second most important attribute for retail media networks.
#4: Data & identity solutions are the key to success
Verified, first-party shopper data at scale forms the foundation for precise targeting and personalization. As the competition for retail media network market share heats up and brand expectations continue to rise, retailers simply cannot compete without a comprehensive identity layer in their tech stack. Without it, brands might as well work with their own data and forgo the RMN premium altogether.
Retailers need to deliver comprehensive shopper profiles with extended attributes for maximum monetization.
Unfortunately, many lack the proper scale of first-party insights to get there. Identity resolution solutions can help retailers close the gaps in their shopper data, while second- and third-party data enhancement maximizes opportunities for precision, segmentation, and additional understanding.
#5: Metrics mean business
Retailers who can’t transparently deliver metrics on KPIs like ROI, ROAS and incremental sales will not be able to compete. It is critical to have a comprehensive, accurate understanding of the customer base in order to both target effectively with media and measure the impact post-campaign.
A best-in-class RMN measurement suite allows CPGs brands and advertisers to fully understand campaign results and assess performance across RMNs. Performance drives investment and complete measurement results instill confidence so that brands continue, or increase, their investment in the RMN.
Identify in-store shoppers & build the right foundation for success with Bridg
We help clients identify the individual behind in-store transactions using our exclusive offline resolution capabilities and clients’ POS data. As a result, we help clients significantly expand their first-party data in order to launch more precise targeting and personalization strategies. We also help retailers deliver closed-loop measurement to brand partners and advertisers.
Ready to take the next step on RMN? Contact us today to learn more.
