Retail or ecommerce media – in which ecommerce operators carve out ad inventory in their store to sell to brands – is growing fast.
But how are brands embracing the trend?
In this video interview with Beet.TV, Scott Decker, North America Media Strategic Planning Lead, HP, paints a picture of the challenges and opportunities.
The Core of Retail Media Strategy
“For HP specifically, it’s been a crucial part of the plan from probably day one, just as soon as the retail media networks became available to us,” Decker explains.
HP, like many companies, moves a lot of its product through retail partners, making it critical to interact with consumers where they are, especially when they are in a purchase mindset.
For Decker, one of the biggest challenges in retail media strategy is determining whether efforts are incremental or not: “We have an internal data science team that works very closely hand in hand with our retail and other external partners to try and create a multi-touch attribution system in which we can properly attribute value to each of the impressions.”
Going Offsite in Retail Media Strategy
In terms of challenges in retail media, Decker highlights the varying standards and offerings across partners. “The reporting by partner is different,” Decker says.
“We have also really deep relationships with the retailers outside of their retail networks themselves.”
But that prompts questions like: “How do we support it? How can we use maybe their offsite DSP also to feed into it, and how are we making sure that we’re not being duplicative across all of those touch points?”
The Relationship Between Retail and Social Media
Although retail media and social media may seem to intersect, Decker sees a disconnect due to the walled gardens of social platforms and the protective nature of retail partners over their data.
“I think TikTok is getting really close and we’re doing some really good things creatively, trying to shape the message for the right user at the right time there, so I think there’s potential,” Decker says.
But, for marketers contemplating entering the world of retail media, Decker advises contemplating how to measure and prove results and learnings.
“Finding that balance is a challenge for us,” Decker admits.
You’re watching “Next in Shoppable Media,” a Beet.TV Leadership Series presented by Best Buy Ads and Roku. For more videos from this series, please visit this page.
