Mastering Retail Media: How to Thrive with Strategic Joint Business Planning.

Retail media has revolutionised how businesses collaborate, strategise, and engage with customers. This dynamic space, where retail and media meet, is driven by data insights, creating unprecedented opportunities for brands and retailers. This post explores how a Joint Business Plan (JBP) can help businesses maximise these opportunities, focusing on the growing importance of retail media and how a case study on the FMCG Brand and a B&C Retailer can guide an omnichannel strategy, both online and offline.

The Rise of Retail Media

Retail media has become a formidable force in the advertising industry, fundamentally shifting how brands and retailers approach marketing. Retail media networks (RMNs) have emerged as powerful platforms that combine e-commerce and advertising to create targeted campaigns and engage customers directly. 

Blending media and retail has led to new advertising platforms utilising customer data to craft personalised campaigns. This shift has redefined how businesses approach their marketing strategies, emphasising collaboration, data insights, and customer-centric approaches. For example, retailers can leverage data to gain insights into customer behaviours, informing targeted marketing efforts and personalised promotions. 

Furthermore, retail media has brought to the forefront the importance of an omnichannel approach, seamlessly integrating digital and physical marketing channels. This ensures customers encounter consistent messaging and experiences across all touchpoints, fostering deeper engagement and loyalty.

The Role of Joint Business Plans

A Joint Business Plan (JBP) provides a structured way for brands and retailers to collaborate effectively. JBPs aim to align both parties on critical goals, marketing tactics, and metrics to track success. This alignment creates stronger partnerships and a more integrated marketing approach.

By adopting JBPs, brands and retailers can streamline their advertising efforts, cut down on redundancies, and achieve better returns on investment. This approach also helps leverage the strengths of both parties:

• Retailers’ Customer Insights: Retailers can provide valuable data on customer behaviour, preferences, and trends, informing marketing strategies that resonate with target audiences.
• Brands’ Marketing Resources: Brands bring marketing expertise, resources, and creative approaches, contributing to comprehensive campaigns that engage customers across channels.

Unlocking Success with Retail Media Mastery

To succeed in retail media, businesses need a strategy focusing on collaboration, data analytics, and planning. Here are some critical strategies for mastering retail media: 

• Data-Driven Insights: Brands and retailers must leverage data analytics to understand customer preferences and create campaigns that resonate with their target audience. This includes analysing purchase history, browsing behaviour, and demographic information to inform marketing strategies that meet customer needs.
• Cross-Functional Teams: Building cross-functional teams of marketers, data analysts, and sales professionals ensures a comprehensive approach to retail media campaigns. This collaboration streamlines execution, enhances campaign effectiveness, and allows for considering all aspects of a campaign, from strategy to implementation.
• Regular Performance Reviews: Reviewing marketing efforts and metrics regularly ensures campaigns stay on track and allows for adjustments based on market trends and changes. These reviews can include analysing online engagement metrics, such as click-through rates and conversions, and in-store metrics, such as foot traffic and sales volume, providing a holistic view of campaign success.

Case Study: Softline Brand and B&C Retailer in Spain

Now, let's dive into a case study exploring how Softline Brand, a prominent brand in the FMCG industry and a leading B&C Retailer, can implement an omnichannel strategy both online and offline: 

• Defining Objectives: The JBP between Softline and Alcortingles begins by setting clear goals. These goals include increasing online sales through targeted advertising, enhancing in-store experiences, and driving customer engagement across all channels.
• Customer-Centric Strategy: The duo leverages customer insights to create personalised marketing strategies. Online, Softline and Alcortingles implement targeted digital ads based on browsing and purchasing history, while in-store experiences focus on product demonstrations and knowledgeable staff to guide customers.
• Seamless Integration: To create an omnichannel experience, they integrate online and offline campaigns. For instance, customers who view digital ads are encouraged to visit physical stores for exclusive promotions. Additionally, in-store purchases can lead to follow-up emails with personalised offers, linking the physical and digital worlds.

Tracking and Adjusting: The JBP includes regular performance reviews to monitor progress. Digital analytics measure online engagement and sales, while in-store metrics monitor foot traffic and conversion rates. Based on this data, Brands and Retailers adjust strategies to meet evolving market needs.

Case Outcomes: This integrated approach yields several benefits:

•  Improved Customer Experience: By offering a seamless experience across digital and physical channels, Brands and Retailers foster deeper customer engagement and loyalty.
• Increased Sales: The omnichannel strategy drives online and offline sales, enhancing overall revenue. This balanced approach ensures that neither channel cannibalises the other, fostering sustainable growth.
• Greater Brand Visibility: The joint campaigns raise awareness for Softline and Alcortingles, reaching new customer segments and solidifying their market positions.

Future Outlook for Retail Media

Retail media’s growth trajectory shows no signs of slowing down. As technology advances, brands and retailers will have more tools to understand customer behaviour and craft personalised marketing strategies. This evolution will further emphasise the importance of JBPs, collaboration, and data-driven approaches.

• Technological Advances: New technologies like AI and machine learning will enhance customer insights and refine marketing strategies. This will allow for even more targeted campaigns, driving engagement and sales across all channels.
• Changing Consumer Behavior: As customers shift between digital and physical channels, an omnichannel approach will become essential. Brands and retailers must stay agile and adapt to evolving behaviours to provide seamless, consistent experiences.
• Deeper Collaboration: The rise of retail media will encourage deeper collaboration between brands and retailers, leading to more integrated strategies and comprehensive campaigns.

Highlight

Retail media offers a unique opportunity for brands and retailers to engage customers, refine marketing strategies, and achieve growth. By embracing a Joint Business Plan and focusing on collaboration, data analytics, and strategic planning, businesses can unlock the full potential of retail media networks. The example of Softline and Alcortingles demonstrates how an omnichannel strategy can bridge the online and offline worlds, creating a seamless customer experience.

ErBA

#JBP #RetailMedia #OmniChannel #OmniShopper