Retail media is coming to the fore as retailers and brands discover new ways to reach potential customers, according to the first RetailX UK 360° report.
Brands looking to reach new customers can now work with a growing number of UK retailers to help them do so. Retailers that enjoy high volumes of customer traffic and hold large amounts of first-party customer data are finding themselves well placed to connect brands and manufacturers with the shoppers who want to buy products in their market. This has led to the rise of retail media networks and campaigns.
Amazon is a long-standing pioneer in the use of retail media advertising on its own website. It enables advertisers to reach the demographic that is most likely to buy its products, based on anonymised demographic, geographic and category interests information. Last year, for example, it enabled brands to use this information to target consumers through the podcasts that it hosts. UK fashion pureplay Asos has teamed up with Rokt to serve ads in areas such as the order confirmation page.
In December 2023, B&Q owner Kingfisher announced its first steps into the retail media field, which it believes could at some point account for up to 3% of the group’s ecommerce sales. It is working with retail media specialist CitrusAd to enable relevant brands and suppliers to advertise on its retail websites, starting with B&Q.
Marc Vicente, group digital director at Kingfisher, said at the time: “Brands are increasingly recognising the effectiveness of retail media, and with around one billion visits across our ecommerce touch points, Kingfisher can offer a powerful proposition. We are bringing brands exciting opportunities to make their marketing budgets go further through the power of data, offering customers tailored and relevant adverts at just the right moment in their shopping journey.”
Recently, Nectar360 – the loyalty programme owned by the Sainsbury’s Group which tracks members’ spending across brands including Sainsbury’s and Argos – announced it had worked with The Trade Desk in order to enable advertisers to target campaigns to Nectar users. Because Nectar tracks shoppers’ buying both online and instore, it allows brands to reach shoppers wherever they are with the products that are most likely to be of interest.
This is an excerpt from the RetailX UK 360° report, it gives an all-round view of this mature market to retail businesses, whether they already trade in this market or are considering a move into or expansion within this market.
It identifies the essential elements that work for those retailers meeting consumer expectations and offering products that shoppers in this market want to buy, both online and across channels.
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