Written by Reece Bowden, Director - Commerce Strategy
In today’s shopping experience, consumers are overwhelmed by choice, ads and channels. With strong competition for attention across every touch point, the brands that win aren’t the loudest. They’re the ones that make decisions easier.
Endemic retail media advertising gets products in front of shoppers at the point of purchase. It gives brands another place to show up in an environment where people are already primed to spend, whether that’s in store or on a retailer’s website. But, it shouldn’t be used as just another advertising layer to get your offering out there.
Retail media can be a great tool for customer intent-based marketing, removing barriers, reducing uncertainty and cutting through in those key purchasing moments. Brands should focus on:
- improving experiences rather than volume of activity
- reducing friction rather than just increasing brand visibility
- showing up better, not just more often
Those prioritising customer wants and needs are the ones who will stand out and win in the moments of decisions.
Customers want help choosing the right product
With an ever-growing choice of products and providers, online and offline options and new channels for discovery, it’s tempting to put all your efforts into visibility. More placements and more formats to create more opportunities for interaction. But consumers aren’t looking for more influence. They’re seeking easier and more useful shopping interactions that make them feel confident in their actions.
There is value in appearing in lots of places at once, but if you’re looking to build impressions, above the line channels like television, radio or even out of home advertising is the best tool for mass reach. Retail media should instead be used for what’s been designed for: to reach the right shopper at the right time, in the right place and in the right mindset.
Your retail media efforts need to combine visibility and utility to stay part of the conversation and impact conversions at the same time.
Creating retail media activations with visibility as the main goal risks overstimulating your audience. Consumers are overwhelmed with choice. As they navigate multiple platforms, they’re weighing up their options and looking for relevance, asking whether something solves their problems or they can trust it. Answering these questions and providing useful content is what’s going to influence their actions, not how many times they’ve seen a brand or item.
Our Consumer Navigator report found that under 30% of consumers thought there were too many ads on retailer websites, retailer mobile apps or in-store digital screens. In comparison, 45% said there were too many ads on social media. This shows that people are a lot more tolerant of advertising in traditional retail environments. But, this shouldn’t be taken for granted. Our report also revealed that trustworthiness was the second biggest purchase driver aside from prices, showing that there is a balance to strike. People expect to see advertisements in these environments, but the ones that foster brand trust and help customers move closer to a decision are the ones that will stand out.
The most impactful retail media doesn’t demand attention; it guides decisions. That doesn’t mean you can’t get creative with your campaigns – in fact, working with creative early is fundamental for success – but what’s equally important is making sure your activations are grounded in customer intent. Yes, people might talk about a flashy ad or engage on social media but unless they come away thinking the product is relevant, useful or trustworthy, it’s unlikely to have an impact on their purchasing decisions.
Friction is the barrier to conversion
People rarely abandon a purchase because they haven’t seen enough advertising. They abandon it because something is making the action harder.
Obstacles can appear anywhere in the shopping journey. From limited delivery options and no product availability to lack of information or disconnected experiences across different channels, small moments of friction can have a big impact. Every additional barrier makes decision-making harder. Retail media has the power to ease the path to purchase.
Retail media can simplify the journey by:
- Surfacing the most relevant products
- Recommending complementary products
- Highlighting products based on previous purchases
- Showing social proof and trust signals
- Answering common FAQs and providing key information upfront
- Making practical benefits clear (e.g. stock levels, next day delivery, promos and offers etc.)
The goal is for retail media to become a useful part of the shopping funnel rather than just another advert competing for attention.
Matt Lane, Retail Media Partner, discusses how brands can use retail media to remove friction for customers
Another key point of friction is a disconnected experience across retailer touch points. If your customers are having different interactions across social media, websites and in-store, this could be adding more mental load. Suddenly, their decision becomes more complicated when, really, the more someone interacts with your brand, the simpler things should become. This is also the case when brands run a big campaign but use different creative online or in a secondary features space. If you’re not joining up your messaging, you’re making the customer do the work.
Your retail media efforts should always line up with your other marketing and media activations to ensure a seamless and consistent experience, reducing friction and signalling your brand as one that makes it easy.
Audiences expect to be understood
Retail media has the power to move beyond traditional targeting, like demographics and geolocation, to actual consumer insights. Drawing on data about search behaviours, browsing patterns, basket composition, purchase history and category engagement, retail media activations are able to create a picture of what a customer is trying to do, not just who they are.
And this is what audiences are increasingly expecting from brands. According to a CMO Navigator Report from our customer experience agency, Merkle, 69% of customers expect brands they shop at regularly to anticipate their needs. People know that brands have access to this data, so they’re expecting them to use it.
Leveraging these insights helps keep your activations relevant to that customer, showing them that they can answer their questions and queries, easing the cognitive load and ultimately helping them feel confident in their decision to purchase from you.
The future of retail media is experience-led
As retail media continues to grow and evolve, success becomes less about creating additional placements, and more about creating meaningful customer experiences. Appearing in someone’s journey isn’t enough anymore, even if you’re appearing at those key moments of decision.
There’s also room to get more creative. Creative activations are often an afterthought in retail media but rather than putting budget into new platforms or more volume of activity – when your above the line channels are already working on visibility – leading with creative concepts helps brands make what they’re already doing more special and engaging.
Whether it’s through immersive brand experiences, interactive formats or more integrated retail environments, brands should look to put the customer first, addressing common pain points and staying close to real consumer intent to create something worth engaging with.
Want to find out more about harnessing the benefits of retail media? Get in touch to see how we can help.
