Retail media networks offer a unique way to boost product visibility and sales for marketplace sellers. They leverage first-party data and self-serve capabilities to ensure ROI.
Remember that the right retail media advertising software solution should align with your business goals, enhance advertising performance, and provide a positive return on investment (ROI). Take your time to evaluate options, gather input from relevant stakeholders, and make an informed decision based on your specific requirements and budget. Here are some key factors to consider when selecting the right retail media advertising software solution:
Integrations
Retail media advertising platforms software allows marketers to reach shoppers very contextually with direct product placements within existing retail platforms and marketplaces. For example, brand manufacturers can target bicycle cleaners to buyers on bike-related websites or digital platforms, and financial services companies can advertise home equity loans to consumers researching DIY renovation supplies on a hardware and home goods site.
The COVID-19 pandemic fundamentally shifted retail digital marketing strategies and boosted the popularity of retail media networks. These niche platforms offer powerful targeting capabilities based on their large audience pools, which can be augmented with first-party consumer data in closed-loop systems that abide by privacy laws.
The rise of retail media networks also spawned an ecosystem of ad tech providers who act as agnostic DSPs for this new market. These solutions can connect with multiple retail media platforms and provide advertisers with a seamless and scalable approach to purchasing these new channels. They can also enrich data points, enable cookieless tracking, and improve attribution models without sharing personal information with the networks’ users.
Data Analytics and Insights
Look for software that provides robust analytics and reporting capabilities. It should offer detailed insights into customer behavior, ad performance, conversion rates, and ROI. The ability to generate actionable insights from data is crucial for optimizing campaigns.
Scalability
Retail media is a new ad placement that allows brands to boost visibility on the digital shelf and advertise products near the point of purchase. It offers strong contextual targeting capabilities and enables brands to reach shoppers with personalized advertising across all channels.
Successful retail media tools enable a healthy revenue stream for marketers and publishers and offer robust omnichannel attribution and optimization at an incredibly granular level. The best retail ad networks have self-serve models optimized with user-level predictions and real-time optimization and use advanced machine learning to achieve high ROAS and scalable reach for all users.
The biggest retailers are investing in their own retail media platforms, but smaller retailers can also use third-party software that connects to the major open marketplaces to optimize campaigns.
Reporting
Retail media allows brands to access new advertising placements and audiences. These platforms provide strong contextual targeting capabilities that are native to the existing shopping experience of consumers. Often, these ad placements are direct product placements. This provides the opportunity for lower-funnel brand awareness and upper-funnel sales conversions.
Retail companies are launching their retail media offerings to exploit this booming marketplace.
Other niche retail media networks are gaining traction, too. For example, Instacart accelerated the launch of its retail ad platform during the COVID-19 pandemic to capitalize on the surge in grocery delivery orders and consumer behavior.
Cross-Channel Capabilities
If you plan to run advertising campaigns across multiple channels (e.g., social media, search engines, retail websites), look for software to manage and coordinate these efforts from a single platform.
Automation
RMNs need to ensure they have the right automation capabilities to streamline the process of setting up and optimizing campaigns – ensuring that the ROI is maximized. Those who can utilize the power of automation for audience segmentation, ad delivery, and reporting will be better equipped to deliver a strong return on investment to brands.
Retail media networks are becoming a key growth driver for retailers who supplement their core business with ad revenues and for ecommerce platforms that want to provide more product visibility and sales. To do that, they need access to first-party data, such as transactional or SKU-level customer data – and this is where retail media advertising networks come in.
Security
Retail media is eCommerce advertising within retailer sites and apps, where brands can boost product visibility on the digital shelf to drive conversions. A complete software solution for retail media enables marketers to optimize their ad campaigns, sales, and ROI on media spending in one place.
CPG brands are particularly drawn to retail media ad networks, which can help them reach the right consumers with targeted messages and drive the highest investment returns. A retail media network can also provide the first-party data advertisers need to build more accurate personas, personalize and optimize ads, and create more effective measurement and performance attribution. Many retail media ad networks are now offering solutions that address the issues of cookie deprecation and mobile identity loss.
Audience Targeting
The software should support precise audience targeting options. It should enable you to create custom audience segments based on demographics, behavior, purchase history, and other relevant factors. This helps you deliver more relevant ads and increase conversion rates.
