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Digital advertising experienced a transformative shift in 2023, with retail media networks emerging as a focal point for advertisers seeking precision and efficacy. These networks defined how brands connect with consumers, utilizing the unique environment of digital storefronts to deliver targeted and personalized advertisements. Below, we’ll discuss the diverse landscape of retail media networks, examples of these platforms, and how Experian is at the forefront of empowering advertisers within this evolving marketing ecosystem.
What are retail media networks?
A retail media network (RMN) is an advertising platform retailers use in their digital storefronts or online platforms. It lets brands and advertisers promote their products or services directly within the retail environment where consumers make purchasing decisions. Unlike traditional advertising channels, RMNs use the retailer’s first-party data to offer targeted and personalized advertising experiences.
How important is it to advertise with RMNs?
RMNs offer advertisers a unique advantage — a rich set of first-party data on consumers, both on and off the platform. On-platform data includes user engagement insights, demographic information, and behavioral patterns. RMNs offer off-platform first-party data, such as cross-channel integration and CRM data integration. This data is especially important as the industry sees a shift away from the reliance on third-party cookies.
One of the key challenges brands face is the lack of tracking abilities through the customer journey. However, the closed-loop measurement and attribution capabilities within RMNs help advertisers track the entire consumer journey, linking campaign spend directly to final sales and in-store purchases. The precision and accountability offered by RMNs make them a crucial strategy in the ever-evolving world of digital advertising.
Trends with big RMNs
Here is a list of retail media networks and their performance in 2023. The information below offers insights into their reach and effectiveness in driving sales and brand visibility.
Amazon
According to Pacvue’s Q4 guide, Amazon Media Network experienced a year-over-year decline in its daily spend. However, a notable quarterly increase of 3.2% suggests a recent expansion in this ad type. The current average CPC for Amazon-sponsored products is $1.21, marking a substantial 7.1% year-over-year increase. Return on ad spend (ROAS) showed a 1.5% year-over-year decrease but increased by 6.1% quarter-over-quarter, potentially caused by more efficient campaigns. The beauty category showed a particularly strong performance with a remarkable 69.4% year-over-year increase.
Walmart
Walmart’s advertising revenues are surging at a rate twice that of Amazon, according to the Pacvue Q4 report. This quarter, the Walmart Media Network experienced a substantial 40% boost in ROAS, now at $6.93. This advancement can be attributed to strategic adjustments in the algorithm and bid rules and the incorporation of new bid features. Walmart’s CPC also witnessed a noteworthy 18.3% year-over-year decrease and a 14.5% year-over-year surge in average ad spend. Walmart’s growth trajectory emphasizes the shift in consumer behavior toward product discovery, as many consumers research products on the website before purchasing.
Kroger
Kroger developed an advanced retail media network that launched in October 2023. Their platform offers advertisers a more streamlined way to activate, measure, and optimize their campaigns, leading to improved advertising performance. The self-serve advertising platform lets advertisers promote products across the Kroger family of brands. Kroger is the biggest grocery chain in the country with a strong first-party shopper data set, providing more advanced audience targeting than many other grocery RMNs.
Target
Target launched its retail media network, Roundel, in 2016 to enhance the connection between brands and guests through curated media experiences. Roundel uses Target’s rich insights to create personalized advertising campaigns, reaching guests across several platforms and premium publishers. Over the past two years, Roundel has experienced over 60% growth, delivering over one billion in value for Target in 2021 and 2022. With a team of over 500 members, the platform differentiates itself by offering easy-to-use advertising solutions to brands of all sizes. Target plans to launch Roundel Media Studio, a self-service buying tool, in early 2024.
Marriott
In partnership with Yahoo, Marriott has created a travel media network that lets advertisers target consumers based on the hotel chain’s guest data. This collaboration allows ads to be strategically placed on various platforms, including the hotel’s websites. Marriott Media Network’s rollout will start on mobile platforms similar to traditional RMNs. Over time, it will extend to include ad placements on TV screens in guest rooms, Wi-Fi portals, and various digital screens in other areas, like lobbies and bars. This innovative approach in the hotel industry offers marketers diverse opportunities to reach their target audience.
Nordstrom
Nordstrom Media Network has shown considerable success, generating over $40 million in revenue and collaborating with several brand partners. Introduced in 2019, this network initially experimented with off-site campaigns and later expanded to on-site sponsored ads in 2021. Nordstrom Media Network offers data from 32 million customers and digital properties with nearly two billion annual visits. The network’s focus on personalizing the customer experience helps it stand out in the competitive retail media space and makes it a valuable player in the evolving digital advertising landscape.
CVS
With CVS Media Exchange, advertisers have access to a data set of 74+ million customers. This platform creates tailored campaigns for companies, helping their ads reach customers at the most critical points in their shopping journey. With options like display, video, audio, social, and in-store ad options, advertisers are seeing increases in product purchases and brand awareness.
Instacart
Instacart has a retail media network through its own platform and a tool called Carrot Ads, which helps grocery store chains develop RMNs through Instacart. It has a network of over 1,400 retail brands, helping advertisers reach their target audience. Advertisers have access to insights and automation to create relevant ads and track their progress.
Companies like Sprouts are using Carrot Ads to create and grow their own RMNs. Together, Instacart and Sprouts offer brands a unique opportunity by facilitating targeted online campaigns on Sprouts’ website. This collaboration provides access to metrics like sales and ROAS, offering a comprehensive view of campaign performance.
DoorDash
DoorDash offers a comprehensive suite of advertising tools for restaurants and brands to expand their reach on the DoorDash marketplace. This flexible advertising platform extends across diverse categories, like restaurants, grocery, convenience, alcohol, and more. The platform has demonstrated success with an average return on ad spend of 4.1x from sponsored product campaigns and an average of 70% new-to-brand customers.
Reasons behind these trends
The surge in advertising trends within RMNs can be attributed to several critical factors, including the following:
Rising retail media competition
The competitive landscape within the retail world has intensified, with major players competing for a larger share of the advertising pie within their respective RMNs. This surge in competition among retailers like Lowe’s One Roof, Sprouts, 84.51, and Albertson’s Media Collective has led to a continual evolution of features and capabilities. Advertisers benefit from this competitive spirit because it drives innovation and offers enhanced tools and opportunities to refine their advertising strategies. The competitive edge creates an environment where RMNs continually improve and adapt to meet the needs of both advertisers and consumers.
Third-party cookie deprecation
Major web browsers are getting rid of third-party cookies, so advertisers must reevaluate their targeting and tracking strategies. Because of this, the first-party stronghold of RMNs is particularly valuable. Advertisers can rely on their reservoir of first-party data with RMNs to maintain effective audience targeting and measurement capabilities. The emphasis on first-party data aligns with advertisers’ needs in the post-cookie era, making RMNs crucial partners in the pursuit of effective and privacy-conscious advertising solutions.
Crafting your RMN ad strategy
Crafting an effective RMN ad strategy is a multifaceted process that involves careful planning. You start with clean, scaled, and scoped data, then everything waterfalls from there. When done correctly, you reach the right audience, your ROAS/ROI results improve, your marketing spend is more effective, and your advertisers want to spend more with your RMN. Here are steps to consider when developing your RMN ad strategy.
Choose the best RMN partner for your needs
Selecting the right partner is a critical first step. Ensure your partner seamlessly integrates with your existing MarTech stack, avoiding any additional workload for your existing team. A symbiotic relationship with your RMN partner enhances collaboration and streamlines your advertising initiatives.
Experian’s comprehensive data and identity solutions can help RMNs maximize their opportunity, with our new solution tailored to enhance RMNs’ strength in first-party shopper data. Experian’s solution helps RMNs unlock expanded customer insights, enriched audiences for activation, identity resolution for cross-channel audience targeting, and real-time measurement and attribution. This comprehensive solution is designed to help RMNs capture more advertising revenue. Our goal is to ensure you capture the most advertising dollars and make your RMN operate at its peak performance.
Utilize third-party data
One of the cornerstones of an effective RMN strategy is the integration of third-party data. This is where Experian steps in as a critical ally. Experian’s robust third-party data solutions can enhance an RMN’s first-party data to create more scale and scope for RMN audiences. This, in turn, will open up more opportunities for advertiser investment.
Utilize first-party data
The main advantage of RMNs is the access to first-party data. Advertisers can use this data to create personalized and targeted campaigns. By tailoring your messages based on consumer expectations, preferences, behaviors, and purchase history, you create a more engaging and relevant ad experience. This not only boosts the effectiveness of your campaigns but also fosters a deeper connection between your brand and the audience.
Promote relevant products
Personalized ads are crucial for capturing audience attention and driving conversions. With retail media platforms, advertisers can personalize their campaigns to individual shoppers. Promoting products that align with your audience’s specific needs and preferences increases the likelihood of conversions.
Consider the consumer journey
Strategic ad placement within the consumer journey is pivotal. Consider targeting consumers late in the decision-making process when they’re in a shopping mindset. Placing ads at this point in the customer journey increases the chance of converting prospects into customers. Understanding the customer journey within an RMN system allows for a more targeted and impactful advertising strategy.
Measure data and adapt
The final step in the process is continuous measurement and adaptation. Retail media platforms include powerful analytics tools that let advertisers track and analyze ad performance in real time. Use these insights to adapt your strategy. A data-driven approach ensures your campaign remains responsive to the changing marketing dynamics.
Elevate your advertising strategy with Experian
Transform your advertising strategy with Experian’s cutting-edge Consumer View solutions. These advanced tools excel in audience segmentation and easily integrate your first-party data with our comprehensive third-party insights. This ensures the seamless activation of your data across online and offline channels. Experian also has custom audiences and audiences that are available on-the-shelf of most major platforms. This and our onboarding capabilities make Experian the perfect partner for your RMN strategy.
Connect with a member of our team today to take the next step in elevating your advertising campaigns.
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NEW YORK, May 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ – Tapad, the leader in cross-device marketing technology and now a part of Experian, has been honored with two iMedia ASPY Awards. Announced on May 3rd at the iMedia Summit in Lost Pines, TX, Tapad's 2016 ASPY Awards include "Best Customer Service" and "Best Mobile Partner." In 2015, Tapad's proprietary technology, Tapad Device Graph™, was named "Best New Media Innovation" and Tapad employee Chris Martin was awarded the "Rising Star Award." The iMedia ASPY Awards – determined exclusively by agency votes – recognize the industry's top marketing technology, media companies and publishers for outstanding service to agencies. The award for "Best Customer Service" recognizes Tapad's client services team and their dedication to helping agencies fully understand their consumers' behavior and achieve the best cross-screen campaign ROI through Tapad's Campaign Pulse and TV Pulse analytics reporting. The "Best Mobile Partner" win recognizes the abilities of the Tapad Device Graph™ to deliver unified cross-screen solutions for the company's partners. "We are privileged to have a talented and dynamic group of people on our client services team, and we are honored to be recognized by iMedia Connection and our agency partners," said Tapad Founder and CEO, Are Traasdahl. "We have always strived to provide the best solutions and the best customer support, so it's extremely gratifying to be rewarded for our efforts. If our clients and partners are happy, we are happy." For more information on the iMedia ASPY Awards please visit: http://aspyawards.com. Read the full press release here. Contact us today!
This article is an excerpt from Experian Marketing Services’ 2016 Digital Marketer Report. Download the full report to discover more insights and trends for the upcoming year! Support your mobile app with other mobile marketing initiatives Marketers are fascinated by mobile, and for good reason. It’s increasingly the device of choice for consumers. SMS and MMS messages, push notifications and the app inbox all offer marketers the ability to communicate directly with customers in a way that is immediate and friendly. Yet there seems to be an interest gap between developing mobile apps and building other mobile initiatives. In this year’s Digital Marketer Survey, 53 percent of respondents indicated that they plan to integrate a mobile app into their mobile marketing program in 2016, compared with only 40 percent for other mobile programs like SMS or MMS. Without a doubt, well-designed apps can be incredibly useful for building the brand relationship. Good apps focus on improving the customers’ experience by making their lives easier – by tailoring the content to their personal experience or lessening the number of steps it takes for them to perform an action. In service-based industries, apps can alleviate the need for in-store or in-branch services, helping companies become more lean and efficient. For example, consumer bank apps have redesigned the experience of depositing a check or transferring money between accounts, allowing them to cater to their customers’ needs faster and more efficiently than ever possible through a physical teller. That said, mobile apps are also time- and resource-intensive to develop, especially if they are well designed. Other mobile initiatives, like SMS and MMS text messaging programs or mobile wallet, require less investment to create and maintain. Additionally, imagine if every marketer who shared a plan to build an app actually followed through. That would mean a lot of competition for customers’ limited phone space. This is why I find the interest gap fascinating. Mobile apps are useful, but they should be part of a cohesive mobile strategy, supported with other mobile programs like SMS and MMS messaging that are less costly and can serve as an effective alternative for communicating with customers who have push notifications disabled, are inactive users, don’t have compatible phones or simply haven’t downloaded your app. Business needs can dictate mobile marketing strategy This concept is especially important for brands that use the mobile space to communicate service-related or operational messages, such as shipping and delivery notifications, fraud alerts or travel delay notices that require immediacy. These kinds of messages are time-sensitive and valuable. Customers who don’t have your app will benefit from their receipt if you offer it to them via another channel. Of course, it’s important to remember that not every business fits usage of SMS and MMS or app programs. Consider the needs and preferences of your unique customers to determine the need to develop a mobile program. After all, mobile experiences that are not well thought through may be more damaging than beneficial. According to a Google study of smartphone users, 66 percent of consumers will take negative action if a mobile site or app doesn’t satisfy their needs, such as being less likely to return to the site or app (40 percent) or purchase products from the company in the future (28 percent). Ultimately, if you’re investing in a mobile app experience, don’t forget about the power of a complimentary text message strategy. Mobile app marketing and text messages can go hand in hand. Develop an SMS experience that proves the value of your brand in the mobile space. Once you do, your customers and prospects will be more likely to believe in the value of your full app experience.
Cross-screen marketing tech firm, Tapad, drove unified campaign; partnered with Statiq to measure cross-screen impact on in-store visits LONDON, March 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — Carat North completed the UK's most comprehensive digital campaign with Tapad, the leader in cross-device marketing technology and now a part of Experian. Coupled with location-based audience data from Statiq, this marks the first time a UK-company has measured the impact of unified, cross-screen campaign on in-store visits. Carat North served display and video ads to grocery shoppers for the leading retailer ASDA from August through October. During the campaign, Tapad utilized Statiq's audience data to measure which users visited a store after being exposed* to the campaign's ad on multiple devices. The digital campaign demonstrated a lift of 59% for in-store visits when users were exposed to ads on three devices over people who were shown an ad only on onescreen. Those who engaged with the ad were also 411% more likely to visit an ASDA store. Of those who were exposed to an ad, 248% were more likely to visit a store. Impressions served to mobile devices saw the highest success rate with an in-store visit lift of 67%. The campaign leveraged Tapad's proprietary technology, The Device Graph™, which Nielsen confirmed Tapad's cross device accuracy to be 91.2%, to serve ads sequentially on connected devices belonging to the same user. CARAT NORTH: "The ability to know which devices belong to our customer, coupled with the ability to deliver the right ad, and right message, wherever they are and on whatever device they're using, has been something this industry has long needed," said Steve Thornton, Digital Account Manager, Carat North. "We're impressed with the results that have come from the work with Tapad and Statiq for this media-first, and look forward to continuing to offer these solutions to clients like ASDA. Matching unified cross-device capabilities with real insights on campaign performance is an invaluable advantage in the marketing world." TAPAD: "This campaign is a perfect example of the capabilities of cross-device advertising," said Are Traasdahl, Founder and CEO, Tapad. "In addition to reaching users across devices, we're able to analyze campaign results and determine how different combinations of ad exposure, creative type or view frequency affected their decision to visit a location." STATIQ: "As a location data specialist, Tapad is our ideal partner – they are an industry leader and by working with them we are able to determine the impact unified messaging has on real world consumer behaviours," said Dean Cussell, Co-Founder of Statiq. "We believe this type of analysis will significantly aid brands in optimising future ad spend." About Carat North Carat North is a leading independent media planning & buying specialist in digital and non-traditional media solutions. Owned by global media group Dentsu Aegis Network, the Carat network is more than 6,700 people in 130 countries worldwide across 170 cities. Carat defined the sector when established as the world's first media independent in 1968 and is now Europe's largest media network, a position held for more than 15 years. For more information visit www.carat.co.uk About Tapad Tapad Inc. is a marketing technology firm renowned for its breakthrough, unified, cross-device solutions. With 91.2% data accuracy confirmed by Nielsen, the company offers the largest in-market opportunity for marketers and technologies to address the ever-evolving reality of media consumption on smartphones, tablets, home computers and smart TVs. Deployed by agency trading desks, publishers and numerous Fortune 500 brands, Tapad provides an accurate, unified approach to connecting with consumers across screens. In 2015, Tapad began aggressively licensing its identity management solution, the Tapad Device Graph™, and swiftly became the established gold-standard throughout the ad tech ecosystem. Tapad is based in New York and has offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit,Frankfurt, London, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, San Francisco and Toronto. TechCrunch called the powerhouse Tapad team "a hell of a list of entrepreneurs who created some of the most valuable online advertising companies of the last decade." Among Tapad's numerous awards: EY Entrepreneur of The Year (East Coast) 2014, among Forbes' Most Promising Companies two year's running, Deloitte's Technology Fast 500, Crain's Fast 50, Entrepreneur 360, Digiday Signal Award, iMedia ASPY Award, and a MarCom Gold Award. Read the full release here. *Tapad utilized Statiq's audience data to measure which users visited a store during, or within one month of, being exposed to the campaign's ad on multiple devices. Contact us today!