Retail media solutions in a modern form: retail networks
It's not easy for those who want to get their messages and products to consumers in the retail sector nowadays. Competition is fierce, making it increasingly difficult to stand out, not to mention the limited number of retail media solutions available. Fortunately, newer, and newer tools are emerging on the market, including retail media networks.
Artificial intelligence tools in marketing
Artificial intelligence is fundamentally changing the way we think about advertising. Due to constant technological development, it is now possible to create lifelike experiences. Emotional AI solutions can analyse the emotional state of the user and respond with personalised actions. By turning human emotions into data, marketers can gain insights into previously hidden factors such as motivation.
Artificial intelligence also includes the technological implementation of influence, i.e. teaching machines algorithms that draw on behavioural science to guide user decisions.
Generative artificial intelligence also plays an important role in modern marketing, whereby machines build on existing knowledge and use it to create new products and content that will appeal to the target groups.
The data extracted and processed by AI should be fed back into marketing. State-of-the-art retail media solutions and retail media networks can be the absorbers of this very valuable data and information. But what are retail media networks?
Finally, an effective retail media solution: retail networks
Retail media networks are collections of online channels that are owned by commercial companies and offered for advertising to one or more third parties. This is beneficial to the company offering the platform, as it is a source of revenue, but also to the company taking advantage of the offer, as it reaches people who are not just "tourists" but who are willing to buy.
Despite the many negative effects of the coronavirus pandemic, e-commerce has seen unprecedented growth. Brands and shoppers have realised that it is perfectly safe to shop online, and this has been reflected in the statistics: monthly visits to retail websites have risen to 22 billion.
Retail media networks grew by over 53% in 2021. This growth demonstrates the validity of the model, and it's no wonder that more and more retailers are looking to develop such partnerships themselves. According to the Forbes 2022 survey, 74% of brands already have a dedicated budget for retail media advertising.
The idea behind retail media networks is that partner brands, or advertisers, can publish ad formats on the website of the retailer. These can appear on:
- On the search results page: for example, if someone on Amazon's website searches for the word 'boots', an ad for a particular brand of boots will appear on the search results page, which would not appear without the ad.
- On the home page: since the home pages are the ones that get the most traffic, there is a justification for displaying products here.
- On the product pages: the customer is browsing the product pages of the online shop and wants to make a purchase, so displaying similar or related products is particularly useful for them.
- On the category pages: it is useful to list similar products here that may be of interest to the customer.
The benefits of a retail media eco-system
This retail media solution allows brands to take their relationship with their customers to a new level. Retailers who offer an online storefront can benefit from this scheme as advertising revenues can be increased. This extra revenue is a welcome boost for any business, especially in difficult times.
The media network gives advertisers an advantage by giving them access to internal data. This data is particularly valuable as it is collected at the point of sale. It helps brands to better understand audience preferences, motivations, and behavioural patterns, so that targeting can be more precise. Data is made available in a transparent way, so marketers can understand where to target consumers.
It is not only advertisers who benefit from these media networks, but retailers too. Retailers can gain additional revenue from the networks so that they do not have to force ever-increasing prices down shoppers' throats. Another benefit is that the quality of the personalised shopping experience can be improved through data analysis.
Inhabitad: an innovative retail media solution
Inhabitad offers retailers the opportunity to sell their advertising space to advertisers, i.e. partners. This can increase revenue, improve the shopping experience, and help grow the brand.
Inhabitad is easy to use, intuitive, and flexible enough to allow for uniqueness and customisation. A native advertising technology eco-system where retailers set the rules.
Meet Inhabitad!
