Omnichannel Technology Will Lead the Next Wave of Retail Media
The modern day shopper is omnichannel. They weave between offline and online channels moving from initial purchase consideration to the checkout.
Despite the pandemic-fueled surge of online sales, in-store grocery sales still account for over 80% of a shopper's journey. For retailers this hybrid behavior is driving a focus on the shopper experience at every touchpoint in their ecosystem. For brand marketers, there’s a growing need to seamlessly identify and align advertising mediums that drive the greatest conversion, in-store and offline.
The rise of on-site and off-site (online) retail media platforms has driven a scalable transparency and execution that has catapulted media sales seeing Walmart, H-E-B and Home Depot doubling down on their teams and tech, in a bid to maximize this opportunity. The in-store and offline media channels have not been so scalable and seamless.
In-store media takes many forms, including aisle-end displays, digital screens, decals, radio and activation pop ups. While outside the store, retailers are connecting brands with consumers through experiential marketing, curbside sampling, delivery inserts, circular and non-programmatic digital assets across sponsored social posts, email and website articles.
The selling, production and execution of this media includes multiple stakeholders and disparate processes and systems, many still manual, that have kept it in the domain of shopper marketing budgets and have limited its potential for scale.
As Brand marketers continue to shift dollars towards retailer media channels getting closer to the point of purchase, we are starting to see a blending of marketing budgets across trade, shopper, digital and brand. The focus to align in-store and offline marketing efforts is driving a need for a complete 360 degree view of the customer and a consolidated approach to media across the retailer’s ecosystem.
Omnichannel retail media technology company, Brandcrush is solving the ad tech gap here. Unlocking and scaling the omnichannel owned-media opportunity for retailers globally, by making it easier to buy and sell in-store and offline media.
“Around 80 per cent of all retail media properties, including in-store, out-of-store, and online assets, are bought, sold, and managed offline. Without a digital solution, the media potential of retailers is being entirely unrealised” says CEO & co-founder, Teresa Aprile (pictured above).
The adtech provider transforms antiquated PDF packs and spreadsheets into scalable self-serve portals, centralizing media sales and operations with smart inbound and outbound sales tools, full inventory management, workflow solutions and reporting capabilities.
Company CRO and fellow co-founder, Matt Hurle (pictured above), adds, “With today’s omnichannel shoppers, the true future of retail media is a solution that manages in-store, offline and online through the one platform and integrates industry players in an end-to-end solution”.
With omnichannel being the big buzz word of 2022, what are retailers and brands looking for in a suitable adtech solution?
“Retailers and brands expect discoverability, availability, bookability and measurability” says Hurle. At its core, an omnichannel retail media solution would provide brands and agencies with seamless, real-time access to retail media opportunities to engage shoppers in-store and out-of-store, both offline and online.
“For retailers and brands alike, a single point of sign-on where suppliers can discover, book and manage all retail media assets can drive strategic collaboration and growth. If there’s no easy way for brands and agencies to discover and buy retail media opportunities, then they just don’t. They allocate budgets elsewhere. The adoption of on-site retail media has clearly demonstrated that when you make it easier for the buyer and seller, it drives growth” says Hurle.
“Shopper understanding to drive strategic spend is key” adds Hurle. Brands need to have a complete view of the customer and moments of media impact along the shopper journey. To support this, they need to be able to identify retailers and their mediums that drive the greatest sales conversion.
Brand marketers are hungry to harness the power of consolidated reporting and are looking for a solution that integrates with data platforms to drive attribution metrics across in-store and online sales.
The digitization of inbound and outbound sales efforts and media inventory management, can have compounding benefits in scaling media revenue growth for retailers of all sizes.
“A self-serve solution powers long tail monetization, allowing retailers to service SME and mid market brands along with the larger players. Without a digital solution this is simply not a scalable option.” add Hurle.
Hurle further adds “A digital solution can create synergy across multiple buyer/seller stakeholders enabling retailers to better serve their suppliers and collaboratively develop supplier investment strategies that yield high returns.”
Hurle also argues that a centralized solution can help to streamline the fragmented nature of marketing budgets. “Brand budget owners can work smarter together when business intelligence is centrally displayed.”
“Retailers need a turnkey platform that simplifies the complexity associated with this type of media management, integrates the stakeholders in the ecosystem, and supports retailers to scale up quickly, with very little risk.”