How to integrate your in-store audience into your omnichannel retail media network

Retail media is here to stay - and everybody’s winning

Retailers now have the chance to generate an 80% profit margin in a notoriously low-margin industry by monetising online and in-store shopper audiences and media inventory like never before.

Brands and advertisers finally have the much-coveted chance to influence shoppers at the point of purchase with real-time audience segmentation targeting and data-backed insights.

Advertisers have shown that they are up for it, with over $100 billion spent globally on online retail media in 2022, which is headed for $160 billion by 2027. And this does not even include the potential of in-store retail media, which is fast changing the retail media revenue equation, especially for grocery retailers. Our research shows it’s slated to reach $138 billion by 2027, thus bringing globally projected spending on omnichannel retail media close to $400 billion by 2027.
 

The retail media opportunity – and challenge – for grocery retailers

With ~80 percent of European grocery shoppers in-store today and well into the next decade, grocery retailers are in an enviable position to differentiate themselves and capture a good chunk of the incremental retail media budgets brands are creating.

While large ecommerce players led the initial growth of retail media, our research shows that sustained expansion is coming from smaller players with niche audiences and the expansion of in-store retail media opportunities.

The share of in-store retail media as a part of all retail media is growing steadily, from $58 billion (2022) to $138 billion (2027). FMCG brands and advertisers are driving this stable growth, 80% of whose shoppers are – and will remain – in-store.

Advertisers are looking for Retail Media Networks to help them meet their customers where they are. The problem is that current retail media offerings, mostly designed to reach online audiences, do not offer advertisers a way to target the 80% of shoppers in-store. This is an opportunity – as well as a challenge – for grocery retailers.
 

The case for omnichannel Retail Media Networks 

While online retail media brought grocery retailers early wins, those revenues are now flatlining. The temporary boost to online grocery shopping activity caused by the pandemic has reverted to normal levels as well.

As brands realise this, their budgets will start flowing to a different type of Retail Media Network. A more full-funnel omnichannel Retail Media Network leverages both online and in-store audiences. For brands, this means meeting their shoppers not only through their buying journey but also as close to the point of purchase as possible. For retailers, it means the power to monetise in-store media inventory as well as they already do with online media. 

While this was possible with online audience segments, it was not with in-store audiences. That is changing. 

Technology breakthroughs such as Advertima’s In-store Audience Creator, with computer vision technology, are making it possible to digitise in-store shoppers at par with online retail media, with capabilities such as:

• Identifying and enabling real-time audience segmentation targeting to in-store based on attributes like demographics, group constellations, and behaviour at scale
• Full-funnel reach across multiple touchpoints on the shopper’s path to purchase
• Audience engagement as close to the point of purchase as possible
• Verifiable audience and campaign data to optimise ROAS
• Low-complexity, friction-free execution across digital and physical channels
   

Taking decisive action today to win FMCG retail media budgets

Grocery retailers who want to capture the massive retail media opportunity must take decisive action today to stand out in an already crowded market. 

The best path to offer advertisers something compelling and differentiated enough to win the big incremental retail media budgets is to digitise and monetiae both online and in-store audiences equally effectively.  

A full-funnel, omnichannel Retail Media Network that offers advertisers access to digitised online and in-store audience segments needs a certain level of maturity regarding the team, infrastructure, and technology capabilities.   

Our latest playbook helps retailers perform an objective evaluation of their current level of retail media maturity, define concrete next steps to integrate in-store audience segments into the omnichannel Retail Media Network and amplify their revenues. 

It’s time to set the ball rolling on your plan to capture sustained high-margin revenues over the next several years as retail media continues to grow. 'How to Integrate In-Store Audience into Your Omnichannel Retail Media Network: A Playbook for Retailers' is a must-read resource packed with actionable tips and next steps, is now available for download here for free.