63% of marketers surveyed in the 2023 Retail Media Market Report by LiveIntent say that retail media advertising is more effective than other digital channels. Yet, only 22% of digital advertisers in the U.S. use retail media as a part of their advertising strategies, says Statista. Research shows that retail media is among the top types of digital advertising available to brands today. Don’t let your client be a part of the 78% of marketers who are missing out on the opportunities it offers.

Why Retail Media is Among the Top Types of Digital Advertising

What is Retail Media?

In a previous SalesFuel blog, based on research from skai, we discussed what retail media is. “According to an article by 8451, retail media is, ‘a form of promotion on the media inventory of the retailer, with advertisers paying a platform or marketplace to showcase their products at or near the point of sale.’ A few examples include:

Sponsored Products: Displayed on the retailer’s website pages
Onsite and Offsite Displays”

The blog also highlighted that brands that invest in retail media believe in it so much that they’re even slashing the budgets of other ad media formats to fund it. They’re slashing their paid search, social media paid advertising, offline, traditional print, sponsorship, out-of-home (OOH), traditional TV and radio, and other online advertising budgets in order to fund their retail media efforts. But, hey, that sacrifice is worth it for one of the top types of digital advertising.

Why is Retail Media So Great?

According to LiveIntent, retail media offers many benefits to brands:

73% of respondents say that retail media offers consumers relevant advertising
70% say it can increase customer engagement and retail sales
68% believe it’s the key to personalization
65% say it can provide new revenue opportunities for advertising and sponsorship for retailers
60% say it helps build brand awareness
59% believe it can produce better in-store shopping experiences for consumers
56% say it can lead to more useful deal offers to consumers
55% say it can track and anticipate inventory demand
45% say it can help build first-party data to replace third-party cookies
25% say it drives the outcomes of performance advertising

That’s A TON of extremely useful benefits that retail media can provide not only for advertisers, but consumers as well. Which of the other top types of digital advertising can do all that?

Why isn’t Retail Media More Popular?

So, that all begs the question: Why aren’t more brands utilizing retail media? LiveStream says that it’s because there’s simply not enough of it to go around. 47% of respondents say that there is limited premium inventory available. To address this need, retailers are being called on to offer “a wider variety of addressable inventory with targetable audiences and improved measurement, including incrementality to secure dollars,” says LiveStream. “Owned and operated email is a crucial part of that shift.”

The Opportunity

With retail media quickly becoming one of the top types of digital advertising, it won’t be long before more retailers start answering the call. While that happens, and while usage is still fairly low, your client has the opportunity to get ahold of the limited premium inventory as it becomes available. It’s the perfect opportunity for them to get ahead of their competition in an up and coming media format that has proven worth.

More Information

For more information on what types of retail media your client should be taking advantage of to get a leg up on their competition, take a look at their target audience(s) profile(s) on AdMall by SalesFuel. There, you can start making plans for which popular retail sites your client should advertise on to best reach their target audience(s).

Photo by John Schnobrich