Sam’s Club, the chain of membership-only retail warehouse clubs owned by Walmart, has introduced new design and targeting capabilities for its retail media network, referred to as Sam’s Club Member Access Platform (MAP).
Improved design in Sam’s Club’s retail media network (RMN) will help advertisers pick “hero” products to point out shoppers, allow advertisers to focus on browse pages and give customers the flexibility so as to add products from RMN ads on to their carts.
Back in March, Sam’s Club introduced “in-club” (in-store) sales attribution for RMN advertisers. The ability to attach in-network ads to store sales has resulted in, on average, an almost 30% increase in return on ad spend (ROAS) for advertisers, in line with the corporate.
Why we care. Many retailers are launching RMNs, and not only big national chains. The impact on retail and ecommerce is growing, so marketers can’t ignore them. RMN referrals were up 70% year-over-year through the latest summer Prime Day promotions.
RMNs develop in other ways in line with their customer base and the services they aim to offer. They’re all at different stages. A more in-depth take a look at the Sam’s Club MAP shows how marketers can capitalize on close customer relationships and technology provided through strategic partnerships after they select an RMN as a part of their omnichannel strategy. Furthermore, retail marketers can see what direction might bring success in constructing out an RMN at their organization — relative to the dimensions of their customer base and breadth of customer data.
Dig deeper: Why we care about retail media networks
In the club. Sam’s Club has nearly 600 locations within the U.S. and Puerto Rico. As the name suggests, customers will need to have a paid club membership, creating more of a commitment to the retailer than seen with, for instance, free loyalty programs.
Although Sam’s Club is owned by Walmart, the Sam’s Club MAP includes only Sam’s Club members, and isn’t connected with Walmart’s RMN, Walmart Connect.
Customer channels and data. Sam’s Club members have some ways to go looking and shop for products, in addition to to purchase them. They can shop on the internet, on the Sam’s Club app and at physical locations — which the corporate calls “in-club” shopping. They can select curbside pickup and delivery.
At physical locations, members can even scan products from the shelf, leading to more behavior data and deeper knowledge in regards to the customer journey. RMN ad impressions and all online and physical shopping activity could be linked to sales because all of those actions are taken by club members who’ve a deep relationship with the retailer.
“The reason why advertisers seek access to MAP is because our membership data is so wealthy,” said Lex Josephs, VP and GM of Sam’s Club MAP. “Advertisers wish to access insights that make the member who they’re.”
Food company Danone said it measured a 35% boost in sales from a recent MAP campaign.
Brand Amplifier features. “As search becomes more of a mature offering inside Sam’s Club, we’ve to continually be innovating,” said Josephs.
The latest improvements to MAP come through the “Brand Amplifier,” which amounts to an improved design and ease-of-use for advertisers, and more touchpoints where brands can reach members.
Members now can add products directly from an RMN ad to their digital carts. This has the potential to make easier sales for advertisers, but it surely also adds convenience to the client experience. These innovations need to be “additive to the member experience,” Josephs said.
Advertisers can also sponsor browser pages (a “Back to School” page, for example) along with purchasing keywords and search ads. This adds one other touchpoint in the consumer’s journey between search and purchase where brands can maintain a presence.
Using the Brand Amplifier, brands can even focus ads on “hero” products or new products. The brand likely has a product in mind already as its hero. However, member data may also be analyzed to uncover what product will do best in a campaign to Sam’s Club members.
Partners Club. While Sam’s Club has built its member data infrastructure internally, it has partnered with tech corporations to offer lots of its current and future RMN services, accessible through API. For instance, MAP partnered with Flywheel to assist manage and measure search campaigns.
While on-site search campaigns are the present focus for MAP, Sam’s Club can also be paving the best way for off-site programmatic campaigns. Creative automation can also be a part of the roadmap.
Other members of the “Partners Club” include performance company Skai, commerce acceleration platform Pacvue and CommerceIQ’s Retail Ecommerce Management platform.
When developing RMNs, retailers can construct in-house, acquire adtech corporations or adopt a partnership strategy. Sam’s Club is showing success with the third option.
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