An advertising business run by a retailer that sells ad space on its websites, apps, and stores, targeted using its own shopper data.
Retail media networks let brands advertise to shoppers close to the moment of purchase. Ads can appear as sponsored products in search results, banners on a retailer's website or app, screens in physical stores, or campaigns on outside sites that use the retailer's audience data. Because the retailer sees actual purchases, it can often show advertisers whether ads led to sales, known as closed-loop measurement.
Large retailers such as Amazon, Walmart, and Target run major networks, and many grocery, pharmacy, and delivery companies have launched their own. For example, a snack brand might pay to appear at the top of results when shoppers search for chips in a grocery app. For retailers, advertising often carries higher margins than selling products. Challenges include inconsistent measurement standards across networks and protecting shopper privacy.
Software, known as a CDP, that combines customer data from many sources into unified profiles that marketing and other tools can use.
First-Party DataInformation a business collects directly from its own customers and audience, such as purchases, sign-ups, and website activity.
Pay-Per-Click AdvertisingAn online advertising model, known as PPC, in which advertisers pay each time someone clicks their ad rather than for impressions.
Retailers are turning first-party data into media businesses, testing camera-based checkout and rebuilding personalisation around AI. Here is what is working and how to prioritise.