Welcome to a retail media-led edition of Unmade, as the countdown begins for this year’s REmade conference, and our regular columnist Colin Lewis calls for a rethink on retail media metrics. Plus, we want your feedback on the place of the REmade Awards.

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Our retail media conference REmade returns n…

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And further down, SCA and Pureprofile surge on the Unmade Index.

If you’ve been thinking about upgrading to an Unmade membership, this is the perfec…

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We’re today launching our call for entries for an expanded REmade Awards. And tickets are now on sale for the third e…

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Welcome to a retail media-focused edition of Unmade to start the week.

Today: Our columnist Colin Lewis reports back from last week’s NRF ‘24, the annual gathering of the world’s biggest retail trade association, the National Retail Federation. And our Q&A guest is Richard Knott, ANZ GM of retail media data player InfoSum.

Unmade’s paying members get discounts to all our events including our retail media conference REmade on October 1, and our AI-led focus on the cutting edge of media and marketing, humAIn on May 28. Upgrade today.

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When AI met retail media

In his regular column for REmade, global retail media consultant Colin Lewis shares his take on NRF 24, the world’s leading annual event for the retail industry which took place in New York last week.

A showcase of the fast arriving future of retail

The National Retail Federation's annual show took place in freezing conditions in the Jacob Javits Convention Centre, bustling with packed crowds and a myriad of floors with an incredible array of tech on display. 

There were two dominant themes across the three days: the pervasive influence of AI, and retail media. Much of the floor space and presentations were about those two topics. 

The event is now a truly global one. There were plenty of Australian accents, A random check of badges would see people from Japan, Brazil, Chile, France, Germany, Mexico or Italy. And not just one or two attendees: a presentation from Mercado Libre (the largest online marketplace in Latin America) talking about their retail media programme in just one country – Brazil- had about 1000 people in the hall – and about 80% of those were Brazilian.

Meanwhile, the big tech names dominated the six halls: AWS, Oracle, Microsoft, IBM, Google, Salesforce, SAP and Shopify. Retail is no longer just about retail – it’s a business dominated by technology.

AI Everywhere

Exhibitors showcased a plethora of solutions aimed at enhancing both the retailer and customer experiences. Forrester helpfully pointed out all the AI experiments being done by retailers.

AI Shopping Assistants, or ASAs were everywhere. Some of these solutions were spectacular, combining full 4k screen resolution with visuals of real people interacting with the shopper. One eye-catching vendor used the human-sized 4k screens to show make-up products in action – no more asking badly trained store assistants how to use a particular product.

Innovations that caught the eye

1. RFID

The event heralded a second coming for RFID, the radio frequency technology used to tag objects at close proximity.

The AWS booth showcased all their digital and in-store solutions to show how Amazon services including 'Buy with Prime' and 'Amazon Today' could be used by retailers. Amazon One enabled palm-based payments with added age verification for those over 21. This tech was also integrated into food ordering kiosks for quick loyalty card recognition. The updated Amazon Dash Cart, now with a product-locating map function, attracted attention. Additionally, AWS's renewed focus on RFID technology was evident, particularly in its use for apparel in 'Just Walk Out' Amazon settings, automatically billing customers as they exit the store.

2. Beacons and IOT 

Internet of Things technology is getting a new lease of life in retail.  Wiliot were showcasing a cheap Bluetooth beacon tag, small enough to fit on various items like food, pharmaceuticals, and clothing. This tiny, stamp-sized tag is powered by surrounding radio waves and, even though it has no battery, it is equipped with a processor and a radio for real-time tracking of items’ location and condition. All it needs to trigger it is a smartphone.

3. Analytic Smarts

Accessing data from in-store video cameras is now AI-powered. One interesting technology was from Venvee: retailers can get a holistic view across all video devices and locations, using computer vision, spatial and AI to understand human behaviour in physical spaces. Using the existing in-store cameras, Venvee can collect the full in-store journey of each shopper individually, including precise pathing and action insights - without the use of biometric information or geolocation. The application can be used to also measure the impact of in-store retail media by tracking whether the shopper passed a particular product and if they purchased it later.

Retail Media at NRF

If AI was the number one theme across the three days of NRF, retail media was number two.

Sucharita Kodali, principal analyst at Forrester Research spoke onstage with Yael Cosset, chief information officer of Kroger - the US’s largest grocery chain - discussing the way retail media networks are now the industry standard” and how many retailers were spooling up retail media networks in the US.

Forrester was upfront about the issues with retail media networks, quoting interviews with retail media executives that revealed the data produced is often unavailable until weeks after it was collected “which doesn’t allow us to react as quickly as other channels.” 

A full-day retail media conference was held immediately before the event – with most US retailers in attendance, as well as attendees from the UK, Australia, France and Brazil. A big focus was on how on how retail media is moving up the marketing funnel and into the store.

However, different retails are moving at different speeds with this.

As Andrew Lipsman of Media, Ads + Commerce pointed out onstage alongside senior execs from Walmart Connect and Walgreens Advertising: “In-store retail media is still in its early innings and will depend on retailers investing in store digitization before advertisers can put meaningful dollars against it. But retailers have clearly awoken to its potential and are now in active pursuit.”

Andrew also pointed out that “Streaming TV is finally ready for primetime in retail media. The streaming TV opportunity has been held back by several factors, including lack of available inventory, lack of familiarity with the ad buying process, and lack of integration between RMNs and ad-supported streaming TV content providers. That’s all changing, with much of the groundwork having been laid in 2023.”

Throughout the conference, a recurring theme was the evolving role of brick-and-mortar stores, shifting from basic shopper marketing to a more significant brand-building platform. 

One example of this was cooler screens - digital visuals of products inside the fridges. They are high-definition, full-motion video on the freezer or cooler door's glass panel.

When you see them live in-store, they are very compelling – more than you would imagine. The screens have sensors that can detect the presence of a customer within two metres triggering the display screens. There are no cameras on the outside of the coolers, so no images are captured that can identify individuals. The technology is designed to help brands tap into the few seconds when shoppers are deciding what to buy – and for marketers, the displays give data about how many shoppers interacted with the technology, how long they were in front of the screen, and how often they opened the door.

Ryan Mayward, VP of retail media sales at Walmart Connect, emphasized this shift to instore during the panel with Andrew Lipsman: “Instore is a channel with broadcast-level scale.”

My biggest takeouts for Australian retailer and media networks:

• AI + IOT + RFID = next-generation tracking and measurement

• Bricks and mortar can be a brand-building tool 

• Digitisation of everything in-store is inevitable, not a fad.

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Q&A: InfoSum’s Richard Knott on competing for brand spend

In each REmade newsletter, we feature a Q&A with a key player in the retail media space. Our guest today is Richard Knott - InfoSum’s ANZ General Manager. InfoSum offers data clean rooms to protect consumer privacy.

Whathas changed in retail media in Australia over the past year?

Retail media in Australia is beginning to shift into something beyond a simple rebrand of endemic trade spend - which has been around forever - into a meaningful and new marketing proposition worthy of excitement.

We’re starting to see the idea of the retail media network build-out, with the retailer at the hub alongside strong media and data solutions. Consequently, it's competing for brand marketing spend as well as maximising current trade marketing spend.

What do you see as being the next focus area for the industry?

As the retail media network builds out beyond the retailer across many other related parties, so will the opportunity for those parties to collaborate across their datasets. For example, retailers can match their data with a brand's customer data and the content consumption data from media partners. This will enable advertisers using retail media networks to collaborate across all of these datasets to build out their understanding of their consumers, then create segments, activate them across multiple media properties and then, through point of sale data, close the loop with sales measurement.

What are you most excited about in terms of future plans or innovation at work?

The gold star for us is the work we have achieved in the UK with the likes of Sainsbury’s Nectar360 and Tesco Dunnhumby. We recently published a case study where we measured the sales effect on multiple consumer packaged goods brands, using Sainsbury’s Nectar360 data to advertise on UK broadcaster Channel 4’s video on demand service. They achieved a 29% increase in average sales uplift across all brands, and a peak 122% uplift in sales for one of the brands. We’re looking forward to replicating this type of success with our partners here in Australia. 

How do you see AI impacting retail media?

This depends upon your definition of AI, but we will certainly see the greater application of AI models to optimise creative production and delivery, provide placement optimisation and media mix modelling, all combined with the application of affinity and lookalike tools. All of that is imminent if not already here today from many providers, whereas deep learning, LLMs and anything more generative is a bit more over the horizon.

What recent book, TV show, film or idea changed the way you saw the world?

I recommend “The Dawn of Everything - A New History of Humanity”, by David Graiber and David Wengrow to everyone I meet. It’s one of those books that makes you stop and think on every page. It brilliantly refutes the grand narratives and assumptions of history and human impulse, and makes you realise nothing needs to be the way it is. Everything around us is contrived, so everything can be changed. This is both liberating and a bit scary.      

Unmade will be back with more on Wednesday. In the meantime, don’t forget to make sure this year’s date for REmade - Retail Media Unmade - is in your diary. It returns on October 1, and tickets go on sale soon.

Have a great day.

Welcome to a retail media-focused edition of Unmade, in which the REmade team looks back on the lessons of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and what it means for Christmas shopping season.

This month’s Q&A guest is Uber advertising boss Michael Levine.

Further down in the newsletter: On the Unmade Index, Pureprofile shares jump after it refinances its debt.

Only Unmade’s paying members get full access to all of our content and archives. Upgrade today.

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Q&A: Uber’s Michael Levine on building an advertising business from the ground up

In each REmade newsletter we feature a Q&A with a key player in the retail media space. Our guest today is Michael Levine, Uber’s Head of Advertising Sales.

What has changed in retail media over the past 12 months?

Advertising on Uber is a new player in the commerce media landscape, so naturally I’m really excited by the rate of innovation in this rapidly evolving space.

Over the last year, we’ve moved from testing new formats, launching in the market, to now seeing always-on advertiser investment across our retail media offering. So the space is certainly booming. I think that the growth we are seeing here in Australia and NZ comes from a shift in the way marketers invest, but at its core I think it’s a response to the change in consumer behaviours as Aussies and Kiwis find new, easier ways to shop.

What do you see as being the next focus area for the industry?

Not a new focus, but a continued focus on measurement. Given the current macroeconomic environment, it is likely that marketing budgets will be under increased scrutiny and there will be more careful media planning to ensure marketers can demonstrate return on ad spend and sales outcomes.

Not all platforms can be considered for every campaign, however the retail media industry is well positioned given our ability to offer closed loop attribution and connect direct sales results with advertiser investment.

What recent work accomplishment are you most proud of?

Over the last year and a half, I’ve had the great pleasure of attracting incredible talent to come and join the Advertising by Uber team in Australia.

During a difficult period across the marketing and media industry, with unfortunate lay-offs and fiscal tightening, I appreciate the rare opportunity to build an Ads business from the ground up. Uber continues to make significant investments in building the right products and hiring top talent to ensure great outcomes for our advertising partners.

What are you most excited about?

It’s a joy to see a diverse team thriving and delivering strong results with much more to come in 2024. I’m also excited to see more brands bring their creative storytelling and messaging to our consumer delivery marketplace and rides ecosystem as we launch video formats on Uber Rides next year.

What are your expectations for 2024?

From speaking with marketers and their media agency partners, it’s clear that measuring consumer attention will continue to present challenges, but ultimately lead to more effective media investment. We’ve always known that not all environments and formats are created equal - but I think that the industry is finally ready to go deeper in making sure we spend dollars where it counts. Attention metrics are difficult to track and embrace, but I expect to be spending more time thinking about where we can support that in 2024.

How do you see AI impacting retail media?

The use of AI and machine learning to analyse customer data for more effective prospective consumer targeting will continue to be a positive outcome of the AI transformation. Likewise, the ability for retailers and platforms like Uber to better utilise consumer data to deliver more personalised purchasing experiences is only going to provide a better experience for customers.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday: The data so far

In his regular column for REmade, global retail media consultant Colin Lewis looks at the early results from the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales

All the forecasts have been pointing to eCommerce as the key driver of growth in retail over the next couple of years.

But forecasts are one thing. What about the here and now; the reality of Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM)?

Coinciding with the US Thanksgiving holiday weekend, the Black Friday sale was seven days ago, on November 24, while Cyber Monday was this week. Traditionally, Black Friday took place in store while Cyber Monday was online, but now the two have begun to come together.

The early stats are in. They show that US retail store growth was flat, but eCommerce overall is up by a much larger percentage.

Adobe Analytics were first off the press claiming that across 18 different categories, their data showed:

• A 5% increase year over year on Thanksgiving,

• An increase of 8% on Black Friday.

• A further 8% over the weekend - a whopping $10.3 billion over Saturday and Sunday.

So all the indications were that there was really strong growth online. 

Mastercard’s Spending Pulse data also reported that Black Friday eCommerce sales had increased 8.5% year over year, while in-store sales increased 1.1%.

What are the biggest drivers?

• The biggest driver is discounting - discounts of around 20% - 25% on products like electronics and toys through the weekend

• An increase in buy now, pay later - people leveraging credit and different ways to defer payments to be able to take advantage of some of those good deals

• Consumers are valuing convenience and using eCommerce to buy: "why get off the couch to get the same discounts I can get on the couch?" as Rick Watson, eCommerce guru called it.

Cyber Monday is going to look like a more muted version of Black Friday because most consumers knew what the best deals were the week before Black Friday, and so they could prepare for what to buy sooner, and what to buy at the peak.

Adobe is expecting Cyber Monday to be in excess of $12bn - higher than initial projections. And it would also make this year's Cyber Monday the biggest online shopping day of all time, and surpassing the e-commerce spend on Black Friday.

The impact of eCommerce means that Cyber Monday is still significant and offers "last chance" shopping. But as Rick Watson points out, "Cyber Monday used to be the digital version of Black Friday, but we seem to have just had that - on the actual Black Friday.

However, Adobe say that Cyber Monday online spending will top $12 billion, making it the biggest US eCommerce shopping day ever.

In reality, the results won't really be counted for weeks yet, if you include inevitable returns.

However, one thing is for sure, eCommerce is the driver of growth in Retail - even during BFCM.

Pureprofile leads the Index after new debt deal

Seja Al Zaidi and Tim Burrowes write:

One of the slowest weeks of the year for the Unmade Index continued on Thursday with a drop of 0.23% to 602.8 points.

Like the day before, around half of the stocks on the index - which tracks Australia’s ASX listed media and marketing companies - did not move.

One of the three stocks to improve was research house Pureprofile, which rose by 7.41% after telling the market it had agreed a three-year, $3m debt facility with CommBank. During previous board turbulence the company had struggled to get facilities with top tier lenders.

ARN Media climbed 1.06%, and Southern Cross Austereo 0.96%. 

Enero Group had the largest fall in share price - 2.16% - while Domain followed with a 1.16% drop. IVE Group fell 1% and Ooh Media 0.69%. 

Time to leave you to the first day of summer.

We'll be back on the second day of summer (which is very likely to be tomorrow) with Best of the Week.

letters@unmade.media

Welcome to a retail media-focused edition of Unmade as we celebrate the winners of the inaugural REmade Retail Media Awards.

This month’s Q&A guest is Alex Lawson, Head of Strategy and Media for The Warehouse Group in New Zealand who reveals how he’s trying to stay two years ahead.

And this month’s column from retail media evangelist and global consultant Colin Lewis explains how Amazon’s lack of branded search is helping level the playing field for SMEs up against the big brands.

Further down we also bring news of Seven hitting a landmark low on the ASX.

Only Unmade’s paying members get full access to all of our content and archives. For members in Melbourne, that includes a complimentary ticket to next week’s Compass event. Upgrade today.

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Winning ways at the REmade Retail Media Awards

Seja Al Zaidi writes:

The recipients of our very first REmade Awards recognising the best in retail media were announced on Tuesday evening, as part of Unmade’s Compass event in Sydney.

The winners for the retail media categories of Innovation, Collaboration and Leadership were:

The REmade Award for Innovation:

Of the shortlisted applicants - Vudoo, Zitcha and Brandcrush - Zitcha was the recipient of the retail media innovation award for what judges said was a ‘solid approach to providing a platform for online & offline retail media inventory as well as off-platform activity. The approach helps streamline campaigns, reporting and measurement’.

The REmade Award for Collaboration:

The projects that were shortlisted for the collaboration award were Great Australian Made Bites, Fat Bastard and A Vision of Premium Shopper Engagement.

Fat Bastard, which saw Joval Wines, Zitcha, Hatched and Coles Liquor Group come together, took home the collaboration award for its ‘well executed omnichannel strategy’, and ‘showcasing the power of what retailer media can achieve including precision targeting, tested creative, and real-time data to deliver success, even with a smaller budget’.

The REmade Award for Leadership:

The shortlist was comprised of Troy Townsend, CEO and co-founder of Zitcha, Teresa Aprile, co-founder and CEO of Brandcrush, Nancy Veart, GM at Cartology and Roger Dunn, SVP business development at CitrusAd.

The jury chose Nancy Veart, saying that her achievements driving the Cartology business to considerable growth were particularly commendable. "The passion demonstrated for the industry, and consideration for the true impact to their business partners as trusted advisors” was noted as “the kind of leadership the jury were pleased to have the opportunity to reward.”

Bravo to our winners, and thank you to everyone who entered.

REmade - Retail Media Unmade returns in 2024.

Unmade’s retail media conference REmade will be back in 2024 - please send your subject and speaker ideas to curator Cat McGinn.

Q&A: The breakneck boom in digital in-store

In each REmade newsletter we feature a Q&A with a key player in the retail media space. Our guest today is Alex Lawson, Head of Strategy and Media, The Warehouse Group, New Zealand.

What has changed this year?

So much! The last 12 months feel like they’ve gone at breakneck speed with new offerings and innovation coming at every turn. One that’s close to home for me is the boom in digital in-store media. The in-store environment has never been more dynamic and interesting and the mix of old-school physical point of sale (POS) and new school screens is fascinating right now. 

The acceleration of automation has been incredibly evident in the last year to 18 months. When we started our automation journey we were the first in NZ to do so and maybe in ANZ. That platform, Zitcha, has become world-leading and something we’re very proud to have been a part of. 

Watching now the advancements that many in the US, UK , EMEA and ANZ have made in this space is at once inspiring and challenging. After a recent trip to Chicago for the Path to Purchase Institute summit, we figured we were about two years ahead of the global market in automation and set ourselves a challenge to stay two years ahead. Currently, I think that lead has been eaten into so we have some good challenges ahead of us to regain our lead! 

What do you see as being the next focus area for the industry?

I think there are two massive challenges facing us in ANZ, and really the world. The first is getting to an industry standard for measurement and reporting. There has been some good work to date out of the US and UK and the recent IAB Australia glossary shows that there is intent to move in this part of the world, but we’re a long way from success. Our clients need, and deserve, accuracy and consistency in what they can expect from retail media networks. 

The second area is the application of first person data (1PD) application in ways that drive efficiency and value. We’re the owners of an insane amount of 1PD. Not only is that a great responsibility to use it correctly and judiciously, but it’s a responsibility to find ways to use it that deliver results for our clients. I don’t think there’s anyone currently utilising this power to its full effect.

Currently, we’re looking to companies like Amazon with AMC and Walmart with Luminate as the leaders in this field and working to create a NZ solution.  

What recent work accomplishment are you most proud of? And what are you most excited about in terms of future plans, innovation at work etc.?

Getting MarketMedia (The Warehouse Group’s retail media platform) to the stage we’re at now is the thing that makes me happiest right now. It’s been a tough two years but we’ve gone from standing up a rudimentary offering based on off-platform package buys with two of us doing literally everything from invoice queries and proof of executions to vision, strategy and pitching to the board, to now a growing team of seven, a world-leading automation platform, a best in class screen rollout and a business and technology development roadmap that is so full it’s actually scary.  I can’t think of anything I’d rather be doing right now. 

What are your expectations for the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead in 2024? 

As much as I’d like to don the rose-tinted specs here and imagine a 2024 full of unicorns, rainbows and lollipops, I think it’s going to be a tough year. This cost of living crisis seems to be hanging around stubbornly and we’re going to be coming out of it for a while. 

This means that we need to continue to innovate in this space (and across retail as a whole) to keep moving forward. 

For those in the retail media game, I see this being in the continued advancement of automation and our understanding and deployment of first party data solutions to drive scale and effectiveness. 

How are you feeling about the speed of the AI transformation, and how do you see AI impacting retail media?

I’m here for it! AI can be a super scary prospect and we all have visions of Skynet and Terminators but the reality I think is much less scary and can be much more helpful. 

One challenge that many retail media networks face is a long tail of smaller clients that are impossible to actively manage on a day-to-day basis, many of whom don’t actually want us to. But currently, there is a gap between us providing automation solutions and the end users’ media planning skills. 

I see AI as a way for us to create solutions for this, intelligent co-pilots that can help advise, suggest and activate for clients delivering them better solutions via our channels. With no one yet providing that solution globally it’s going to be exciting to try and deliver it. 

What recent book, TV show, film or idea changed the way you saw the world, in a large or small way?

Can I have two here? Ok, it’s really three, but I’ll bundle two into one to save space. I don’t think I can go past Succession, and by direct association the excellent The Murdochs: Empire of Influence that I binged on the flights to and from REmade!  Murdoch and his brood (and therefore Logan Roy and his not greatly exaggerated family) have always been part of my upbringing, being born and raised in the UK. His name was never far from our TV screens and popular culture and his papers were ubiquitous but I don’t think I ever really grasped the real political power that he holds in both the UK and US and how he’s actually changed the world to what he wants. It’s crazy really and possibly the closest we’ve had to an Emperor since the Romans. It really made me realise how the few control the many in so many areas of our world.

But the above is a pretty worthy and earnest answer so I’d really have to say that a recent recommendation from a colleague to watch Don Cheadle’s House of Lies, a cynical look at the consultancy industry has really been the biggest influence of late. Watching the adventures of McKinsey parodies Marty Kaan and his crew reminds me that there’s a lot of bullshit in our industry and a lot of believing of our own bullshit to go with it. 

House of Lies reminds me of that, and I’m trying not to believe too much of my own as a result.  

We welcome suggestions for future Q&A guests to cat@unmade.media

Amazon’s brand name conundrum

Small brands can still succeed on Amazon, writes marketer and global retail media specialist Colin Lewis in his regular column for REmade.

The democratising force of Amazon Marketplace… for now

When shoppers come to Amazon, most already have clear intent: they are looking for a particular product or solution. 

Shoppers are rarely, however, looking for a specific brand - only one in five Amazon searches include a branded term.

For Australian brands new to Amazon, it is important to know one thing: a shopper’s first step is to use the Amazon search bar. Different people will phrase their search in very different ways, though, even if they’re looking for the same thing. 

Given that Amazon browsers and shoppers are not brand-focused and 60% of Amazon’s revenue comes from its marketplace, you can understand why there are hundreds and thousands of small businesses that rely on the platform much more than big brands. 

Only a few mega-brands like Coca-Cola, Dyson, and Apple manage to eclipse Amazon's brand name on the platform. These brands have built such strong recognition that customers search for them directly.

The lack of branded search means SMEs can win against the big brands. Indeed, you can argue that the Amazon Marketplace is a democratising force in this context.

However, Amazon's primary interest is to maximise its own revenue and customer experience. 

While SMEs are crucial to its business, Amazon may not always prioritise their visibility. This appears to be coming true, according to research from Kiri Masters, head of retail strategy at Acadia.

Amazon appears to be testing features that reduce the visibility of small brands, especially during key moments like searches. This can make it challenging for SMEs, especially newer ones, to stand out and gain traction on the platform.

Let’s look at some examples from Masters: here Amazon is removing brand names from search results:

Amazon has removed brand names from product titles as they appear in search results. Of course, brands normally name their products with the brand name so that shoppers who do know the brand can spot it in the search results. But in search, these same products are popping up with all the information, but without the name showing. This seems to be Amazon’s move to drop a brand name out of consideration for customers when shopping for a generic product or category – if customers search for a brand by name, the name will appear in the results. You can see how this gives bigger brands the upper hand.

Why is this? According to Masters, by reducing the visibility of smaller brands, Amazon may be trying to maintain a consistent shopping experience and emphasise its own brand and services.

Or perhaps Amazon is fixing search results to reinforce its own brand dominance, even when shoppers are not looking for Amazon-branded items. 

Another reason could be much simpler: Amazon values volume. Small brands drive volume, but not one or a few small brands – all of them together. Unless Amazon data sees a pattern in brand search volume – meaning people are searching for a specific brand – then they’re not incentivised to put the brand name front and centre when customers are searching. 

Amazon’s millions of sellers and products can easily amount to information overload for customers who are already navigating reviews, descriptions, Best Seller tags and more when they select a product. The brand name is less important than the product specs, Amazon has determined. 

What can brands do? It won’t come as a surprise, but the way out is to do more Amazon Advertising: sponsored product and sponsored brand ads tap into customer searches to appear in search results. Sponsored brand video ads can also bring attention to the brand.

Indeed, you might argue that Amazon is hiding the brand names just to drive advertising revenue. But that could be just conjecture…

Leave a comment

Seven’s slump continues

Seven West Media saw another 3.7% sliced off its market capitalisation on Thursday, slumping to $396m, the first time it has closed below a $400m valuation since 2020.

Meanwhile, B2B mining specialist Aspermont also took a tumble on Thursday, losing 20% of its market cap, which has now fallen to below $20m. In September, the company announced the sudden death of its chairman Andrew Kent through a heart attack.

Audio rivals Southern Cross Austereo and ARN Media both declined too, falling 3.83% and 1.05% respectively. It was the first day of trading since the board of SCA said it would not be pursuing a conversation with ACM proprietor Antony Catalano about acquiring his regional news mastheads, saying it would have been a diversion from its “all about audio” strategy.

Of the larger stocks, only Ooh Media had a good day, rising by 3.23%.

The index finished almost flat on 610.3 points.

Time to leave you to your Friday.

We’ll be back in the morning with Best of the Week.

Have a great day.

Leave us a message at letters@unmade.media

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Each edition of REmade includes a monthly Q&A with a key player in the retail media space. This month’s guest is Mercato CEO Vanessa Robb. We also have a regular column from global retail media evangelist Colin Lewis; this month on how retail media is the only hope of boosting margins during grim economic times.

If you have a friend or colleague who may be interested in reading the REmade newsletter, please tell them about us.

REmade is where Australia’s retail media community comes together. Tickets are now on sale for the next REmade conference on Wednesday October 11. Secure your place now.

REdefining Retail Media

Cat McGinn, curator of REmade, writes:

We have announced the detailed program for the next edition of Unmade’s retail media conference REmade, which takes place in Sydney on October 11.

The program has been developed to offer insight and relevance to all marketers, no matter whether they are in the early stages of retail media transformation, or seeking to optimise their capabilities. We’re delighted to have David Jones Amplify sharing the steps they have taken to begin their retail media transformation, as well as Warehouse Group explaining the approaches being employed as they move through the retail media maturity curve.

The agenda also aims to broaden the scope of understanding of retail media networks beyond the grocery category, with speakers from a diverse range of retail media networks on the program.

The lineup features industry-leading speakers who have been at the forefront of retail media innovation. They'll delve into its potential, sharing success stories, the obstacles and challenges overcome in building a successful retail media network, best practices, and forecasting trends. 

Our first REmade event brought the retail media community together. It’s an incredible opportunity to network, exchange ideas, and discover collaborative possibilities.

Lifting all boats - the REmade Awards

We’re also delighted to have launched our first awards, modest in scope for this first year but a strong signal of the elements we, and our advisory panel, believe are essential factors in delivering retail media success - collaboration and innovation. And recognising the individuals who are shaping and elevating the sector overall with Retail Media Leader and Retail Media Rising Star.

Find out more about the categories and criteria, and please pass on this information to anyone you know who is doing brilliant things in the space.

Q &A: Vanessa Robb, CEO, Mercato

In this edition we talk to Vanessa Robb, who founded Mercato in 2018 to deliver niche digital screen, automated marketing and data software solutions for retailers.

Since the last REMade conference, what has changed in retail media in Australia?  

One thing that is becoming apparent is the extra attention around how data is collected.

What do you see as being the next focus area for the industry? 

The increased correlation of data, consumer behaviour, media spend and real ROI. There is an increasing amount of independent, specialised and sophisticated platforms correlating spend and effectiveness in real time.  We have recently partnered with Eyos in Indonesia to enhance and maximise the return on investment for advertising clients - primarily CGP clients. MSME (micro, small, and medium-sized enterprise) grocery retail is the largest grocery channel in Indonesia and is highly relevant for brand building, reaching urban and rural households every day with high frequency and loyal shoppers. 

What do you see as being the next focus area for the industry?

The increased partnerships between software platforms to deliver greater transparency and accountability. An improvement in reporting and much greater prosecution around marketing results by advertisers and media agencies. I expect to see higher involvement and buy-in from media agencies as they increasingly realise how critical the retail media sector is in the context of overall media spends.

What recent work accomplishment are you most proud of? And what are you most excited about in terms of future plans?

Our imminent launch of a retail media network in Indonesia with a major telco partner. Being able to realise our software potential with deep data overlay at scale is super exciting in an emerging market with 290 million people. 

How are you feeling about the speed of the AI transformation, and how do you see AI impacting retail media?     

AI will become instrumental in developing and automating media content for publishing. We expect to increasingly see specialised emerging platforms capable of automating the development of visual content and testing results, creating huge efficiencies in the ecosystem. The speed and capability of AI appears to be faster than companies’ ability to engage with it in an effective way.

What idea changed the way you saw the world, in a large or small way?

An idea I’m seeing particularly in Asia is that collaboration of platforms and businesses supersedes the idea of competition. There’s a big movement towards partnerships - in our case, other software companies and global media agencies who see the need to serve customers better through specialisation and speed.

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The real driver for retail media - it’s about the margins

In our regular column from Colin Lewis he explains the real attraction for retailers of owning a retail media network: the margins.

What are the operating margins of major grocery retailers around the world?

In a word, grim.

Yes, net EBITDA margins are not a perfect measure or sometimes comparable, but it is indicative. You can see that the majority barely get to 5% (with one exception!)

Retailers have always struggled with lower margins. But this has become a real problem due to the increased costs associated with eCommerce - pick/pack and delivery is NOT cheap.

Retailers have to find ways to offset eCommerce costs and increase their margins. Optimisation has been wrung out of every line of the logistics chains. Money for trade marketing has been chased for years. What has not happened? Using tech to monetise customer data to power advertising.

Retailers have few other choices:

1. Squeeze supplier trade money even more (tough work)

2. Charge customers more (not in recessionary times)

3. Spool up a retail media network to create more value for suppliers and capture more brand dollars that are currently going to other media players.

Walmart, Kroger and Target in the US have major initiatives underway with hundreds of millions of capital invested to automate order fulfilment and to optimise their store fleet to reduce the cost of delivery.  The story is the same across Europe and Australia.

Number three is one of the options that has to be pursued. Retail media networks have to be embraced as they are the only option left on the table. Even optimisation through AI will add only a small uptick in margins.

This is also generating investor interest. International investment bank Goldman Sachs released a detailed piece of investor research in February 2021 called “The Merchant-Media model: A new era for retailers as ad platforms”. The piece pointed out:

“In their belated push into e-commerce, supermarkets and broadline retailers face significant investor concern over the rising cost to serve the customer. But we believe investors focused on this legitimate threat are overlooking a compensating upside – the growth of a new revenue stream from retailers’ own media businesses. 

As retailers harness their engagement with the customer to offer targeted advertising and marketing platforms for others, the new “merchant-media” model presents a largely unappreciated offset to e-com costs, with reverberations (often negative) up the value chain and into CPG manufacturers and their legacy media providers.”

Decoding investor speak, this means ‘we want retailers to introduce retail media options as we don’t like the big costs of eCommerce’.

What else did the piece say? “Larger grocers are uniquely advantaged to capture the relatively new and growing media income stream, resulting in a competitive imbalance that is likely to see the large getting larger and the small fading away. The balance of power between the grocer and the vendor should shift in the retailer’s favour as a result. We expect the same dynamics to play out in Europe, with the UK grocers particularly well positioned.”

Decoding investor speak, this means “the rich get richer, and the mid-market retailers don’t stand a chance of setting up retail media networks.” 

I would argue that is not going to pan out. Sure, the “big boys” have a head start, but don’t underestimate the value of the first-party data that a bunch of retailers who chose to come together would offer to the market.

More from Goldman Sachs: “The rise of retail media is poised to perpetuate what has been a persistent headwind to legacy media providers. And it may also become a headwind for established digital media providers as high return on invested capital alternatives to Facebook or Google emerge”

Decoding investor speak, this means “Google and Facebook are under threat”.

To summarise, Goldman believes that the fact that retail media can solve the following problems will fuel its continued rise:

• Retail Media generates an incremental revenue stream that can help offset rising digital costs 

• For consumer packaged goods manufacturers, it allows them to influence their sales and market share on the digital shelf while improving the returns on their media investment 

The investment community want retailers to set up Retail Media Networks. And what investors want, CEO retailers have to deliver.

The final word comes from Walmart CEO, Doug McMillon said: "I can't remember a business with the margin structure of the advertising business here at Walmart, and having 30% growth for the quarter was nice to have."

You can hear from Colin Lewis at REmade - Retail Media Unmade on October 11.

He will examine the evolution of marketplaces, their impact on multiple factors across eCommerce, from pricing to supply chain. Colin will also be drawing on his work with a host of US and European businesses, including Kroger, Walmart and Amazon, and sharing what the Australian market should expect, based on global trends.

Tickets are still available at remade.net.au.

The REmade newsletter will be back with another edition next month.

Welcome to the latest edition of the REmade newsletter, sister publication to our REmade conference, where the retail media community comes together.

If you’re not already subscribed to the REmade newsletter and have been forwarded this by someone else, make sure you don’t miss the next one by adjusting your notification settings via this link.

Each edition of REmade includes a monthly Q&A with a key player in the retail media space. This month’s guest is Brandcrush co-founder Teresa Aprile. We also feature our regular column from global retail media evangelist Colin Lewis; this month on the trajectory of retail media.

If you have a friend or colleague who may be interested in reading the REmade newsletter, please tell them about us.

REmade is where Australia’s retail media community comes together. Tickets are now on sale for the next REmade conference on Wednesday October 11. Book before August 14 and save.

Unveiled - the agenda for our next Unmade conference

Cat McGinn, curator of REmade, writes:

Less than a year on from the first REmade conference, there have been significant changes and shifts in the retail media space, and we’re seeing greater sophistication in client work and case studies.

Developed in consultation with our advisory panel, our ambition is to deliver another program at the cutting edge of the sector, and make sure we’re staying ahead of where the market is moving to keep our content relevant, useful and grounded in real-world best practice.

We’re still accepting speaker submissions - I’m particularly interested in talking to those with something to say around the following topics:

The REmade draft agenda:

• The connected consumer: centring the customer in the retail media ecosystem

• Collaboration - what really goes on behind the scenes in creating the relationship and ecosystems to deliver a connected experience for retailers, brands and customers?

• Marketplaces: Amazon and beyond

• Measurement + standardisation

• The return of the retail media leadership Q&A panel

I’m also delighted to announce that the UK-based Colin Lewis, who was one of the highlights of the first REmade, will be returning to talk about the evolution of marketplaces, and what the Australian should expect based on global trends

Early bird tickets with a saving of 20% on full price are on sale for the next fortnight, and group discounts are available. As always, Unmade’s paying members get an extra discount on top of that 20%, so why not subscribe today?

The REmade Retail Media Awards

And while I’m announcing things, I’m also delighted to reveal the REmade Retail Media Awards. As part of our contribution to supporting and growing this community, we’re launching the awards program to celebrate and showcase best practice in the retail media sector, and to highlight the individuals who are making an impact.

In the first year, the awards will be modest in scope, covering four or five categories, with the shortlist announced at the REmade conference.

Further details will follow next week.

If you’d like to get in touch about speaking opportunities at the conference; to be considered for our awards jury; or to be connected to our sponsorship team, feel free to email me at cat@unmade.media.

Q&A: Brandcrushing it with Teresa Aprile

What has changed in retail media since we saw you at REmade in March? 

It has continued to grow at a fast pace. We have seen retailers re-organise themselves to maximise the opportunity, and we are also seeing new opportunities arise that will continue to catapult retail media upwards. 

Particularly, we are finally seeing in-store being given the attention it deserves. Physical stores reach sizeable audiences that are on average 70% larger than digital audiences for major brick-and-mortar retailers and technology has made monetising and measuring these audiences much easier. 

And big changes for Brandcrush, being acquired by Criteo - how is that progressing? 

There are fantastic synergies between our two platforms which solve for the key challenges and needs retailers and brands have for a unified commerce media solution. 

Despite retailers’ varying in terms of their retail media maturity there is still a consistent need to support scale and to do that retailers need a solution that does this  - that unifies all their media assets into one experience​; facilitates all demand from their trade direct bookings with their suppliers to the agency and brand direct demand and a solution that works to simplify the complexity in the retailers’ media ecosystem. 

We recognise that no one retailer is the same - our solutions can work flexibly to serve them so it’s been exciting to have this depth and support to meet our partners where they are and where they need to go. 

What do you see as being the next focus area for the industry?

To me there are three key opportunities that stand out as transformative game-changers for brands and retailers and they are the instore revival; audience extension and measurement. 

As onsite channels intensify, in-store is emerging as an exciting frontier to drive differentiation and conversion for brands and retailers and growth will depend on how fast they can unlock new in-store marketing tactics.  Retailers re-energizing their in-store footprints will not only offer brands and agencies better media performance, but will attract bigger marketing budgets, and most importantly, drive shopper value.

Sophisticated retailers are sitting on a goldmine of powerful insights within their first-party data, which should inform media buys beyond their owned assets and capture the power of new partner channels like social, CTV and DooH. As we are well on the way to a cookie-less future, the use of retailers’ consumer data in the broader off-site ecosystem supports a greater opportunity to understand omnichannel shoppers’ motivations and anticipate their needs. It is an effective and scalable tool to help stores and brands reach the right shoppers, in the right moment, with the right message.

Data can only be powerful if you can harness it. It’s challenging for brands and retailers, navigating retail media performance across the full ecosystem. The clearer the direction on why and where best to place your precious media dollars, the greater the retailer influence on marketing budgets. Shopper data and measurement will continue to be a critical path forward to growing retail media globally. 

What recent work accomplishment are you most proud of? And what are you most excited about in terms of future plans, innovation at work etc.?

I am very proud of what our team has achieved to date across the entire technology solution for our retail partners. We are here to empower retailers to own their ecosystem and we continue to do that with every feature development integration and partnership that drives transparency, automation and monetisation opportunities. 

Our focus remains to deliver a unified omnichannel platform experience across online and offline commerce media for our partners​, that will benefit the entire ecosystem with new growth opportunities. 

How are you feeling about the speed of AI transformation, and how do you see AI impacting retail media?

AI is only as good as the data that it learns from. For AI to be truly transformative, you need the right data architecture in place to translate millions of points of data into predictive intelligence. Within the Criteo group, AI is really at the core of what they are doing so it is an exciting time to be able to leverage this intelligence and see how it translates for our clients. 

Within retail media AI that drives automation and intelligence across media and audience selection, media management and measurement will give retailers, agencies and brands a competitive edge and more time on strategy and creative. I truly believe that AI will help to drive greater marketing dollars towards retail media when adopted effectively. 

What recent book, TV show, film or idea changed the way you saw the world, in a large or small way?

Atomic Habits by James Clear is one of those books where his lessons are so logical but ones that we need to be reminded of. Since reading it I often listen to it on Audible.  I also subscribe to his Thursday newsletter: three ideas from James, two quotes from others and one question for you. They help you stop, reflect and often share the pearls of wisdom. Recently he shared the following which resonated with me: 

We want solutions, but what we really need are attitudes. You don’t need abs, but rather an attitude of training. You don’t need the answer, but rather an attitude of curiosity. You don’t need an easier life, but rather an attitude of perseverance. Attitude precedes outcome.”

I think this is so relevant when we consider business transformation in retail media. It requires more than a tech solution, it requires an attitude shift. 

We welcome suggestions for future Q&A guests - cat@unmade.media

A Potted History of Retail Media

The rise (and rise) of retail media is just beginning, writes marketer and global retail media specialist Colin Lewis in his regular column for RE:Made.

Andrew Lipsman, principal analyst at Insider Intelligence, is one of the best analysts and writers about Retail Media. He recently gave a potted history of Retail Media that gives a great context for the fastest-growing digital advertising channel of all time.

Retail media has achieved in five years what search ads (i.e., mostly Google AdWords) took 14 years to do. Adoption has been rapid; the tools are getting more mature and the market is ready.

Where did it all start?

Amazon has built a multi-billion-dollar ad business over the last ten years. As Andrew Lipsman points out: “We began to see Procter & Gamble display ads on Walmart.com. At the time, we called them digital endcaps, and we thought they served a similar function as they raised brand awareness. It's been driven by search, analogous to Google. It's even better than search, because people are already in the digital store.”

However, outside a niche part of the media world, and sellers on Amazon, most marketers ignored these networks. Among retailers, the teams tend to work in their siloes with the trade marketing team bundling in digital real estate among existing agreements and ‘giving’ away much of the valuable digital real estate. 

People really started to pay attention when Amazon showed the number that had previously been hidden under the "other" line, and broke this line-item figure as ad revenue.

The industry was stunned. People knew that Walmart had been getting serious about advertising networks and that Target had Roundel, and vendors like Criteo and Citrus were starting to get serious recognition.

It became clear that Amazon Advertising is a huge advertising business. It went from $32bn in 2021, to $38bn in 2022 and Insider Intelligence estimates it will be $45 billion in 2023.

Why did it take other retailers so long to get going?

First of all, the tools and technology were not really there. AdTech for retailers such as Citrus really only came on stream around 2016/2017. Criteo was known for its retargeting business and became involved in Retail Media only through a stream of aggressive acquisitions.

However, there are other reasons, as Lipsman points out: “Advertising and AdTech is not a core competency. As much as they wanted to compete with Amazon, they didn't have the skills, talent or technical capacity. It was a slow start, even for players like Walmart. Many others are following suit now. Retailers have a lot of online traffic, and it is relatively easy to monetize. And I believe that retail media is in its early innings. It's about to get interesting.”

Lipsman believes that we are barely started in Retail media. Here’s why:

• Up the Funnel: Retail media is moving up the funnel, particularly into streaming TV. Amazon is doing a lot in streaming TV which is a game changer for how we all think about TV advertising. 

• Attribution: In-store attribution data completes the return-on-ad-spending picture for brands. In-store audiences can be reached with high-quality, contextually relevant, brand-safe creative a the moment near the point of purchase. Instead of shelf-wobblers, these channels can use digital technologies to created personalised ads that can attributed to that store with promotions that are location specific – and can be sold as an individual advertising package.

The digitisation of in-store is possibly the most interesting. Digitisation of physical stores is a megatrend, there’s more digital signage entering stores and on different surfaces, between aisles, drop-down screens, smart carts, and cooler doors. Technology now exists to measure the impact of such propositions.

Once decent attribution measures are in place, these massive audiences – which are bigger than digital and TV and, in a brand, -safe environment, reaching people close to the point of purchase – will start appearing on media schedules.

What are the challenges with Retail media?

There are two important questions – one from the retailer’s side and one from the brand side:

• Brands having to work with dozens of media networks, depending on traffic. Not a huge problem in Australia at the moment, but starting to be a strain for brands operating in the UK and US  - it is resource intensive to work lots of platforms at all once. Still, things will shake out and probably won't be a game-changer for mid-tier retailers.

• From the retailer’s side, there is the issue of judging customer experience online v the all-important question of ad load. More ads equal more revenue but poorer experiences for shoppers. This is a question every retailer needs to be asking. The main point to note here is that if the ads are relevant, then the consumer doesn't care.

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We’ll be back with more soon. Please do get on touch.

Cat McGinn, Curator - REmade

cat@unmade.media

Welcome to the latest edition of the RE:Made newsletter, sister publication to our RE:Made conference, where the retail media community comes together.

If you’re not already subscribed to the RE:Made newsletter and have been forwarded this by someone else, make sure you don’t miss the next one by adjusting your Substack notification settings via this link and opting into RE:Made - Retail media news.

Each edition of RE:Made includes a monthly Q&A with a key player in the retail media space. This month’s guest is Troy Townsend, CEO of Zitcha.

Exclusive to RE:Made in this edition, we have the Australian findings from the largest global study of retailers and brands on the state of retail media from Epsilon and Citrus Ad.

And this month’s column from retail media evangelist and global consultant Colin Lewis explains the origins of the budget silo, and how retail media is smashing down the walls between budgets and departments.

RE:Made is where Australia’s retail media community comes together. Tickets are now on sale for the next RE:Made conference on Wednesday October 11. Book before August 14 and save.

Q&A: Zitcha’s Troy Townsend on getting the flywheel to turn

Since we saw you at RE:Made in March, what has changed? 

Coles is doing really well, driving growth to match the likes of Cartology. 

We are also going to start to see some new players entering the space. There is a lot of movement happening with larger retailers who are setting up their networks. Early in the next financial year, we will start to see more announcements of retailers who are well on the road to launching. 

From a brand advertiser perspective, both brands and agencies are really getting up to speed about what role they play, and the value that retail media has for them. We're starting to see a lot more case studies come out detailing their success 

What do you see as being the next focus area for the industry? 

In-store. Digital in-store screens - more and more of these are being installed and incorporated. In-store audio will also be the low-hanging fruit. But also I see a lot of retailers getting clear on what they're doing with that flywheel - utilising their in-store, offsite and onsite media. 

Their offer will be all-inclusive. For offsite, programmatic etc, The Trade Desk, Meta and Google are developing a clear view of what they will be doing in Retail Media. 

So we're going to start to see a lot more focus on in-store and off-site over the next six to 12 months. In Australia, there's a heap of retailers also still trying to get their on-site right too. 

What are you most excited about? 

The Retail Media space will erupt based on value. So, I’m very proud of our Return on Advertising Spend (ROAS) delivered through Zitcha. The value that brands are getting across every channel is astonishing. We're starting to compare that across retailers who are running on-site campaigns. We're setting benchmarks. The value that a brand gets buying on-site is pretty eye-opening, including a massive return on extension channels, like Facebook and Google. Having benchmarks for brands running campaigns themselves versus running them through retailers tells an impressive story. 

We're about to launch onsite Brand Pages into Zitcha, which will be a nice addition. We've built a platform that expertly drives traffic to e-commerce and into stores. Brand Pages will be an excellent connection point for brands to run promotions and always-on campaigns outside of Sponsored Products. That, in addition to AI, will be exciting for our retailers and brands.

How do you see AI impacting retail media? 

We are starting to get clearer about how AI will enable better outcomes for Retail Media. 

Thinking about innovation in this space and the connection of retail media networks and data: AI will change that. The way creative is built, how Media Mix Modeling is conducted, how briefing is done. It's an exciting time to be in a very new space. This emerging game changer of AI will influence how we solve problems. 

What recent book, TV show, film or idea changed the way you saw the world? 

I'm watching Ted Lasso at the moment and I love his leadership and ability to have diversity in his thinking. I have taken this into my day-to-day life. I love Ted. He's a ripper and makes people feel good. 

An idea that is changing the way I see the world: I have recently had some exposure to other executives to exchange ideas. This has me thinking about how to bring diverse layers of thinking into challenges. How do we bring different internal teams together to solve problems? And where should we bring in external parties that have different skill sets, to make sure that we're solving them through a broad lens over a very focused lens?

We welcome suggestions for future Q&A guests to cat@unmade.media

Did you see the first edition of the Unmade newsletter?:

The silo-smashing journey from combat to cooperation

The rise of retail media will smash silos, writes marketer and global retail media specialist Colin Lewis in his regular column for RE:Made.

The retail world is on a journey which will move from the confrontation of buyers and suppliers to a joint approach between suppliers and retailers. Here’s how we’ll get there.

First, let’s discuss the distinctions between “shopper”, “trade” and “brand” budgets when it comes to Retail Media. Let's start at first principles: what do we mean by each term?

• Trade budgets are used as an investment tool to influence the performance of suppliers at retailers. When P&G creates trade budgets for Walmart, the funds are used for in-store promotions, advertising, and slotting fees for shelf space and product placement.

• Shopper marketing is about affecting shopper behaviour instore to generate purchase decisions. For example, P&G may use shopper data to develop targeted promotions or coupons that are designed to appeal to specific customer segments.

• Brand budgets are to build and promote a brand - to enhance brand reputation and visibility to drive salience and consideration.

However, in practice, these budgets are often used in tandem, with activities that blur the lines between them.

For example, P&G may use trade funds to support in-store displays or other shopper marketing tactics that drive sales, while brand funds may be used to fund a sponsorship or event that raises the brand's visibility.

Hence why you could say these are problematic distinctions - in that the lines are barely visible.

Now let's transfer all this thinking into the world of Retail Media.

Retail media such as Sponsored Search affects shopper behaviour online to generate purchase decisions using data: the shopper searches for 'coffee,' generating a search ad that is sold for the highest bidder from a brand.

Retail Media such as sponsored display or email is the digital equivalent of end of aisle instore - which are often part of trade deals

So, the distinction between “shopper marketing”, “trade marketing” and “brand marketing” budgets are really about silos and legacy.

The objectives set for “shopper”, “trade” and “brand” are also different:

• “Shopper” is about getting sales results now - creating 'cash flows' now.

• “Trade marketing” is about keeping the retailer 'sweet' and adding value to a formal contract.

• "Brand marketing" is about getting longer-term results and often using longer-term measures - creating future cashflows.

Retail Media smashes all this apart. Why have yet another team working on retail media when it can deliver everything that “shopper”, “trade” and “brand” budgets in one?

Why not have a proper joint business plan that has shopper, brand, insights, data, commercial, media specialists that oversee all channels to objectively & strategically plan investment - all wrapped in one agreement?

What does this look like?

Today -> a combative transaction between buyers and suppliers

• Margin and volume discussions, siloed activations,

• Supplier experience inconsistent by category

• Deal / 'trading' driven

Tomorrow -> A jointly owned business plan between suppliers and retailers.

• JBP-based omnichannel campaign plans

• Omnichannel category activations

• 1st part party data-driven measurement

• Consistent commercial experience across total business.

Disconnected customers and wasted opportunities: The state of retail media in Australia:

Seja Al Zaidi dives into the findings from a new study conducted by Epsilon and CitrusAd into the state of retail media. The Australian findings are exclusive to RE:Made.

Retail media is emerging as a highly personalised, profitable way to reach customers where they already are.

The Epsilon CitrusAd study surveyed 689 brands and retailers across 12 countries between January and March 2023.

A number of ways Australian advertisers and retailers can tap into the opportunity of retail media were identified. Several findings emerged that suggested that retailers are leaving money on the table with limited channel strategies.

A unified retail media network which entails both on-site and off-site advertising can bolster both brands’ and retailers’ access to eager shoppers. Only 29% of retailers in Australia are using off-site retail media as part of their monetisation strategy, while 46% are using on-site ads. That’s a whole lot of wasted opportunity when it comes to reaching customers across the open web.

The main challenge facing brands and advertisers in integrating an effective retail media strategy though, seems to be measurement - in Australia, inconsistent targeting (50%) and multiple contracts (38%) were the top two inefficiency drivers in establishing a retail media network.

Brands say that the most important metrics to them are return on ad spend and total sales; two metrics that can really be optimised if a more streamlined measurement process is cultivated in the retail media industry.

“Part of the appeal of a retailer launching a retail media network is the trove of valuable first-party data that they can then leverage to advertisers as a point of immense value in reaching their customers, which could be devalued if shared with competitors,” says Adam Skinner, chief technology officer at Citrus. “Most brands agree that their investment in retail media networks would increase if a list of standards is created.”

Measurement pitfalls are rife across the global retail media landscape, and the ramifications of that could be shoppers opting out due to over-messaging. Citrus/Epsilon emphasise the matter of muddying the customer experience by working with too many tech providers in establishing a retail media network.

“A large portion of advertisers work with five or more retail media networks – this poses a problem for advertisers in the standardisation of measurement and starts to build mistrust between the brand and the retailer due to the lack of transparency,” says Skinner.

64% of brands and retailers in Australia agree that retail media networks with multiple technology providers negatively impact consumers, by either reaching those who have already been messaged to or ones who don’t want to hear from a brand in the first place. 

Cutting back on the number of tech providers can produce greater outcomes for everyone - retailers, brands and shoppers alike. When 38% of consumers say that they have experienced disjointed messaging or creative across tactics and channels, the need to heighten consistency, measurement and the ability to sequence messages is all the more pertinent.

Skinner provides an example of unification of channels:

“Cartology acquired DOOH network, Shopper, late last year, and it is starting to look to Shopper’s screen network to offer advertisers outstanding retail context and proximity to Woolworths stores. Woolworths are seeing strong organic growth in the digital assets, but they are still seeing customers return to store with an average of 5.7 visits per customer each month.”

The projected estimations for brand investment into retail media for the foreseeable future is a little meagre compared to what retailers are expecting. While almost two-thirds (63%) of retailers expect brand investments in their retail media network to increase over the next three years, just 43% of brands expected their spend to grow. There’s a bit of a disconnect here that will be critical for retailers to understand and manage in the years to come.

From Skinner’s perspective, the major opportunities for Australian retailers to unlock their media capabilities lie in several core tactics. When it comes to data, Skinner encourages retailers to start with off-site advertising to build traffic and quick wins.

“First-party data strategies will need evolving from short-term capturing of consented data, to building out long-term audiences that are consistently replenished that brands will want to target,” Skinner says.

“Embrace off-site programmatic advertising. A one-stop-shop is not only easier to manage, but also ensures seamless connectivity and optimisation between all retail media channels on-site, off-site and in-store.”

Focusing on inventory availability and advertiser experience, as well as fostering data collaboration is critical for retailers. “Brands want an easy-to-use retail media network with ample inventory—and retailers want to provide it. Data collaboration technologies, such as clean rooms can play a vital role in facilitating collaboration, activation and measurement with first-party data in a controlled and privacy-safe environment.”

RE:Made - Retail Media Unmade returns on October 11

Unmade’s retail media conference RE:Made will be back in its new calendar position of October 11. Tickets are already on sale

We are now accepting proposals for the conference program. If you have a case study, new research or perspective that would be valuable to the retail media community, please send it to cat@unmade.media, with “RE:Made proposal” in the subject line - and please be patient if we’re slow to respond, as our focus is also on our AI for media and marketing conference, humAIn | human creativity x AI which takes place on July 12.

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Cat McGinn, curator of RE:Made - Retail Media Unmade writes:

Welcome to a special edition of Unmade, in which we introduce our new monthly newsletter RE:Made. It’s a sister publication to our retail media event RE:Made.

This first edition has gone to everybody who receives Unmade. However, you will need to opt in to receive future editions.

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