Retail media networks (RMNs) are getting new in-store definitions and standards to assist reach customers where they’re, and where they shop.
At IAB’s Connected Commerce Summit: Retail Reimagined in New York this week, brands, retailers and tech partners met to debate the evolution of RMNs, an evolution that’s clearly happening.
“With the combination of advanced analytics, AI and most significantly, the importance of personalized consumer experiences, brands are increasingly leveraging these strategies at every touchpoint from initial awareness to final purchase, making retail media indispensable,” said Jeffrey Bustos, IAB’s VP, measurement addressability data, in a keynote.
IAB unveiled “In-store Retail Media Definitions and Measurement Standards,” a new tool for RMN standardization, on the summit. Last yr, IAB introduced RMN guidelines in collaboration with the Media Rating Council. With a report earlier this yr, IAB placed further emphasis on the chance for RMNs to drive sales in-store.
Dig deeper: How in-store technology will bolster retail media networks
Why we care. The potential for reaching customers through RMNs is real, which is why there’s a lot interest in them. Without common standards, each network stays its own walled garden. This makes it difficult for advertisers and agencies to extend the size and spend on multiple RMNs at one time. If they might, ad spend would likely increase far more.
In-store and omnichannel. Consumer behavior is driving each the advertiser advantages of RMN campaigns and the renewed focus of RMNs on improving in-store experience. Agencies and brands are being attentive to customers’ continued interest in visiting brick-and-mortar stores and making purchases there.
These in-store experiences, nevertheless, aren’t just offline refuges — they’re a part of an omnichannel journey. They are connected, through mobile and other digital channels, with the shopper journey, which begins long before the shopper enters the shop.
Dig deeper: How brands are taking the AI plunge and testing customer experiences
“I feel post-pandemic, retail is incredibly omnichannel now,” said Jacquelyn Baker, Global CEO Omnicom Commerce Group. “It was omnichannel before, but ultimately I’m surprised, coming out of pandemic — I knew expectations would speed up, but I used to be surprised how much in-store experience didn’t diminish and got here back. There’s stickiness to the overall experience on this planet we’re living in now. Consumers go from physical to digital and physical and back again. It’s interesting that the pendulum didn’t shift in a single direction or the opposite.”
“On one hand every little thing has modified — consumers modified how they shop, devour content, and the variety of content they devour,” said Kaisy O’Reilly, SVP, Chief Marketing Officer for shoe designer Stuart Weitzman. “Suddenly consumers spent so much more time on their mobile phones (after the pandemic began). It’s harder for a brand builder…in a world of distractions and dopamine hits, especially for a luxury brand. Nothing has modified for the role of marketers. It stays necessary that we root ourselves in how people feel after they experience our brands.”
In this always-on omnichannel environment, It’s easier for consumers to leap in and out of the acquisition funnel, so it’s necessary for brands to at all times be entertaining and helpful after they have a customer’s attention, O’Reilly explained.
Better service for advertisers. Advertisers should be given the tools to execute successful RMN campaigns. CVS Media Exchange adopted IAB guidelines because it continues to evolve its network and in-store experiences. This yr, CVS partnered with The Trade Desk to make self-service campaigning available to advertisers. CVS can also be adding video screens to a lot of its over 9,000 U.S. locations.
“By introducing self-service, we’re empowering advertisers with the tools they need and bringing democratization to retail media,” said Melissa Gallo, head of operations for CVS Media Exchange.
Gallo added that to satisfy advertiser demands, CVS is working on delivering closed loop measurement and other reportings and dashboards to advertisers.
“Being in a position to measure and report out on retailer data has been historically held pretty near the chest,” Gallo said. Customer health data at CVS comes with more regulations than, for example, purchases at a food market, adding further restrictions to data collaborations.
Better measurement out of RMNs and across multiple RMNs will encourage brands to advertise more, especially brands which can be already ramping up RMN promoting.
“I feel like for probably the most part we’ve really leaned into RMNs as an organization,” said Pankita Desai, senior director, shopper marketing for Chobani. “We began with testing, nevertheless for us there’s a shift in the best way we’re approaching RMNs and our budget. We have a very high budget from shopper marketing and less with brand marketing.”
Better reporting, especially on incrementality and effectiveness of ads, would help brand marketing make a case for spending across the complete RMN ecosystem, Desai said. That’s why Chobani’s shopper marketing team, with its emphasis on low-funnel promoting, is more lively in RMNs in the meanwhile.
Risks to alienating consumers. Those advertisers delivering commerce ads to consumers is perhaps overconfident within the effectiveness of ads, video especially. And there’s a risk in alienating customers, a study by IAB and market research consultancy Alter Agents found.
Nearly all (96%) of 300 marketers surveyed said they found commerce video ads effective at driving purchases. Meanwhile, 71% of the 1,000 consumers survey said they feel annoyed or negative toward commerce video ads on a monthly basis. And one-third said they get annoyed weekly by these ads.
Marketers need higher alignment with consumer expectations when using RMNs for promoting. First, in the event that they haven’t already, advertisers must broaden the main focus of RMN campaigns on the complete journey, not only on the low a part of the funnel.
The study really useful higher alignment in these areas of strategy:
- Messaging across the buyer purchase journey.
- Considerations of the buyer mood/mindset.
- Media activation, including length and frequency.
- Leveraging creator-produced content.
In-store definitions and standards. “In-store Retail Media Definitions and Measurement Standards” was released this week by IAB, in a joint initiative with IAB Europe.
The document, open for public comment until November 1, includes:
- Definitions: Clear terminology for in-store digital retail media components.
- Formats: Recommended formats for in-store promoting placements.
- Store zones: Standardized classification of key areas inside stores where media will be deployed (e.g., entry, checkout, aisle).
- Measurement: Guidelines for tracking, reporting, and analyzing campaign performance across various in-store formats.
“We’re hopeful that a give attention to continued dialogue and best practices creates a media ecosystem that’s transparent and sustainable for all,” said Bustos.
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