If retailers are to be believed, brands will soon spend more money on Retail Media than they do on TV. It does beg a question. At what point do we reach Retail Media saturation? At what point does Retail Media clutter impact effectiveness? Anyone involved in media knows the impact of media clutter – the same principal applies at retail too! There must come a point when the quantity of Retail Media in any environment (be it online or offline) reduces the efficacy of that media. The more media there is, the more a shopper will switch off. The more things to look at, the less time a shopper will spend looking at each. The more clutter, the less effective each piece of media will be. This future is likely – so what should brands do to improve the effectiveness of their Retail Media investments?
Retail Media Clutter is a reality – and has a massive impact on retail media effectiveness
Stores are becoming packed with media. I was in a Carrefour store in Warsaw, Poland recently, and the number of displays, light-boxes, aisle-takeovers and more was mind-boggling. As a shopper marketer it was fascinating. As a shopper it gave me a headache!
Check out this aisle takeover by Pepsi. And the video screen by Coke. Or all these displays in the spirits aisle (below). Each of these activations will be impacted by all of the other activations in the store or the aisle at the same time. Is that factored in? When I was a Marketing Director we’d stipulate a lot of detail in our TV media buy. How many other ads would be in the advertising break? Where in the sequence of ads would my commercial be? That no competitors would be in the same ad-break. Do we ask these questions of our retail partners? I think not, or at least not always.
As marketers we understand that the environment affects the impact of our advertising. Why do we not do as much due diligence when it comes to Retail Media clutter?
Retail Media – what is the saturation point?
How much Retail Media clutter can shoppers stand? At what point do we reach shopper saturation? When do shoppers switch off? (research shows that they barely register much of the media they see in-stores as it is!) How does that impact the return on investment of retail media? As more and more clutter appears in-stores, the effectiveness of each item will surely reduce.
When do shoppers get fed up of being bombarded with messages and displays? When do shoppers decide that being ‘pinged’ with an ad every time they try and scan a product is too much of an inconvenience? When do shoppers leave these stores and head to a discounter store with a lot less noise and distraction? In many markets, it appears they already are!
Retail Media – Make every dollar count
It is clear that more money is going to be spent at retail – be it online or in-stores. So what can we do to make sure those funds are spent well? Here are twelve things that you can do NOW to improve the effectiveness of your Retail Media spend, and protect yourself against the inevitable impact of Retail Media clutter
- Take an integrated approach. Retail Media isn’t just a sales thing. Yes, we need to understand retail media as a customer investment. But it is also a shopper marketing investment. And it is a brand marketing investment. Retailers are targeting your brand’s above the line marketing budget, after all. Optimising Retail Media requires marketing and sales teams to work together in ways that are rare in the consumer goods industry today.
- Think before you rush in Because of point one above, Retail Media isn’t something you want to rush in to. We need to ensure that it is the right investment for the brand – that works for the brand, for shoppers, and for retailers. And remember, once you’ve started putting money in a retailer’s pocket – its not easy to take it back!
- Recognise that consumers and shoppers are different, and the difference is love! Retail Media is shopper marketing – and shoppers are different. If you just take your consumer media and stick it into a shopper environment (whether online or in-store) it won’t be as effective.
- Speak shopper, especially if you have a complex message to convey. Even if the shopper and the consumer are the same person – they respond differently in a shopping mode. Speaking shopper language is key, especially in cluttered environments where shoppers will simply filter out anything that is too complicated or deemed not relevant.
- Be single-minded. Given that shoppers will only give you a short amount of time (maybe a second or two or peripheral attention) – we have to make every pixel count. Focus on the one thing that will get the shopper’s attention and drive the behavior you seek
- Focus on shopper barriers. We can’t say much in the short time that shoppers give us in a retail environment – so focus on the barrier is a great mantra for shopper communication. Ask ‘what is the reason they don’t buy right now? Why not?’
- Set KPIs that include ROI. – As investment in retail media goes up, as Retail Media clutter increases, we need to be watchful that this spend makes sense commercially, and we’re not just getting sucked in to doing things that a retailer demands. Measuring sales uplift isn’t enough.
- Set KPIs that go beyond ROI And measuring ROI isn’t enough either. This is a media investment – we need to consider which marketing KPIs are we attempting to deliver against? Are we building awareness? Equity? Who is our target consumer? Who is our target shopper? What do we want them to do differently? How do we want them to feel as a result of this media. So much of the hype around retail media focuses on ROI – yet if Retail Media continues to steal from other marketing budgets, then it needs to deliver more than a short-term ROI.
- Keep measuring against your KPIs. I know it almost goes without saying, but, well, not everybody does it. If we don’t measure the impact (beyond a sales uplift) how can we be sure of the marketing impact?
- Challenge retailers to give you value. I don’t mean better prices, but remember that when it comes to Retail Media, the supplier is the customer. Demand the perfect location, ask for exclusivity so that no competitors can be in situ at the same time as you. You might not get it, but if it impacts the performance of your media, surely it is worth pushing for?
- Go to stores (you can check the implementation, understand the environment in which your media will appear, and achieve a lot more besides)
- In all the rush to Retail Media, don’t forget your most powerful shopper communication tool. Don’t forget packaging – its one of the most effective shopper communication tools we have!
If you’d like to know more about how your business can prepare for the coming growth of retail media or creating powerful shopper communication, please get in touch now.