We have some important takeaways from leading Retail Media Experts on how they view the industry developing and what it takes to build a best practise Retail Media Network (RMN).
TROY TOWNSEND - ZITCHA CO-FOUNDER AND CEO:
- Retailers need to invest in this space or face being left behind and losing profits to competitors.
- Retail media platforms, such as Zitcha, can empower retailers to monetise their assets while making it easy for suppliers to target shoppers.
- With third-party cookies being phased out, retailers have an opportunity to take back control of their first-party data and use it for valuable insights for RM buyers and brands.
- Once cookies expire, targeted campaigns will need to rely on first-party data, and it is this that retailers are ideally positioned to exploit.
THE WAREHOUSE GROUP CHIEF CUSTOMER AND SALES OFFICER JONATHAN WAECKER:
- Agencies will start to play the role of integrator in a way that helps everyone in the value chain. We will see more examples of that in Australasia.
- Make the client experience as easy as possible with a self-service approach – this is what our clients are telling us they want.
- Unlike Amazon, we don’t have digital supply at the same scale – we have great websites which was a good place to start but now we are thinking of other offerings so we have the right offerings for brands
- Connect the dots: Don’t just show focus on your own inventory – have the ability to also connect to Facebook, Google, YouTube, TikTok, because then you can show up with far more solutions for brands
CONFLUENCER COMMERCE FOUNDER AND CEO BRYAN GILDENBERG:
- We will see more focus on instore retail media as the “next frontier” and opportunity for retailers
- Having more audience data and knowing more about the shopper should allow media buyers to target better beyond conversion opportunities.
- Conversation between media agencies and retailers in US has become markedly more sophisticated, however the US is bested by Australia when it comes to fully integrated campaigns that uses RM in a seamless way
META CLIENT PARTNER PHIL BONANNO:
- Focus on customer experience first before trying to monetise RM assets.
- No use taking the Ricky Bobby approach in Talledega Nights where he was “slapping a logo wherever you can”.
- Best practice is an integrated approach across functions including marketing, merchandising and the retail media team.
- Short form video is used best in the DIY/how to category where they can be used to make complicated projects look easy but this concept can be applied to other categories
