Retail media is no longer a foreign concept in Germany, but it was only last year that a small marketing revolution was triggered as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. And it will remain a hot topic over the coming years. After all, how better to reach customers than while they’re already shopping online?
A win-win for all
Retail media refers to advertising offers with measurable ROAS (return on advertising spend) that retailers create for brands in their online shops, via apps, or at physical stores. This creates strong retailer-brand relationships that are a win-win for all parties. Brands can target engaged customers through direct access to the retailer’s internal data and reach them at the point of purchase. They can place their ads where people are searching for products. Retailers, on the other hand, use this to push personalized, more targeted ads.
Why the retail media boom is so important
What only really took off in Germany last year has been long established in the United States, where Walmart, Target, and Best Buy are considered pioneers in the retail media sector.
The impending end of third-party cookies further underscores the importance of retail media. Since 2019, Firefox has been blocking all cookies that they can identify as trackers. A year later, Safari followed suit. With the BGH ruling in May 2020 that consent to cookies should no longer be default, the end of third-party data was only a matter of time. Now that Google has also jumped on the data protection bandwagon and announced that it will abolish tracking via cookies starting in 2022, advertisers will be severely limited in their ability to personalize Google ads.
“The fact that retail media already offers an efficient solution to the imminent end of third-party cookies, including the ability to target advertising messages in relevant contexts and a brand-safe environment, further increases the attractiveness of retail media advertising offers. One thing is clear: retail media is here to stay.”
– Mike Klinkhammer, Director of Advertising Sales EU, Ebay
Retailers’ retail media offerings can now become an important lifeline for advertisers – personalized advertising at its best, without having to resort to third-party data.
Why retail media is slated for success
“Digitalization has not only fundamentally changed our consumer behavior, it is also transforming buying behavior online. Product searches no longer necessarily start at Google, but have increasingly shifted to Amazon, etc.”
– www.internetworld.de
Retail media gives brands the opportunity to advertise where product searches begin. In other words: where potential customers are in a shopping mood and ready to buy. Targeted advertising therefore has the potential to significantly boost conversion. What’s more, retail media is not only possible for brands in the e-commerce sector, but brands using traditional advertising are also able to increase their visibility.
In retail media, ad rankings are primarily based on the profit generated, whereas on Google, for example, ads are evaluated and ranked on the basis of CTR. In retail media, it’s possible to determine the correlation between advertising and real sales. In addition, more diverse ad options on- and offsite – such as display formats – make retail media more attractive because they link e-commerce and marketing.
The core element of retail media is the retailer’s data pool. With companies like Douglas Marketing Solutions, it is possible to create targeted ads using real shopper insights. The Douglas BeautyCard yields a huge amount of data that provides control parameters for a successful and targeted customer approach.
Retail media – a solid future
For marketers, one thing is certain: if they want to continue to advertise successfully and directly reach customers when they’re most likely to buy, they must place themselves directly at the POS.
Sources: Criteo Retail Media Report Germany // „Google stoppt personalisierte Werbung“ – tagesschau.de // „7 Argumente für Retail Media“ – internetworld.de // „Retail Media: Der schlafende Riese ist erwacht“ + „“S-to-S statt SOS“: Der Schritt aus der Cookiecalypse“ – wuv.de // „Firefox erhöht Datenschutz: Jedes Cookie wird getrennt aufbewahrt“ – t3n.de