Connecting teams and strategies across a retailer’s organization is easier said than done. There are decades of deeply formed teams, all with different success metrics, ways of working, and relationships with brands and shoppers. But we have come to a point where building connected strategies is no longer a nice to have, it’s essential for the success of a retailer’s business.
Without a unified approach, there are wasted media investments, imperfect measurement, lost opportunities with vendors, and ultimately, a poor shopper experience. The solution is simple in theory, though complicated to execute: Approach your enterprise media, your retail media, and your loyalty program as one flywheel, with your shopper at the center.
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In a recent New Stream Media report, we found that 66% of brands cited “connected strategy across retail media, loyalty, and merchant teams” as a top-three solution that retail media networks (RMNs) offer – a major increase from just 42% the previous year.
With this approach, each aspect of the team still focuses on a key element of the shopper experience. Enterprise Marketing’s job is to create demand. This may take the form of a brand value message, awareness of a new location, or the promotion of a key retail tent pole event. The Retail Media team’s job is to convert demand through offers, promotions, bundles, or product highlights. And the loyalty team’s job is to nurture demand by learning more about a retailer’s shoppers and creating unique experiences that build lifetime value.
Connected Audiences
The most important part of the flywheel is the shopper. Starting with Connected Audiences provides the entire organization with a 360-degree view of the customer. You want to know who your shopper is outside of how they shop with you. This can allow your retail media team to glean insights about new categories or non-endemic brands they have an affinity for, opening up ad sales and targeting opportunities. For Enterprise media, you can better align media channels and content to their interests.
Connected Experiences
A great experience for your shoppers is one that builds on the relationship they have with your brand. This is why using each point of the flywheel with a connected intention is so critical. It allows enterprise touch points to educate and excite the shopper, while RMN ad solutions can inspire trial and repeat purchase — leaving loyalty engagements to reward them for taking actions. Each element will have a different communication, approach, and KPI, but all are connected as part of the shopper’s experience with your brands.
Connected Partnerships
With so many RMNs starting as distinct business units, many opted for their own seats in platform and have their own commercial agreements with offsite media. However, aligning enterprise and RMN can unlock cheaper net media rates which can result in higher margin for offsite media. This provides the retailer with an opportunity to reinvest those working media dollars in local media, in higher-cost connected TV (CTV) with its shoppable ad units, or in experiential in-store or out-of-home. These are all important areas to test as RMN inventory expands to new formats.
Connected Operations
Driving customer value isn’t just about reaching people—it’s about keeping them engaged across every touchpoint. To do this, you need a modern retail organization that doesn’t think in silos, but that works together across a number of key areas. This starts with an organization structure that connects teams within the retailer, all toward a common goal of serving the shopper. Achieving this requires a revised campaign planning and delivery process that combines both people and technology across the entire marketing journey. Finally, data infrastructure needs to be standardized. The data collected via loyalty programs enables more targeted, efficient media spending. It also scales enterprise and retail media solutions creating new opportunities for brand partnerships.
So, does it work? The short answer is yes. We’ve seen one retailer gain 16% in media efficiencies and 130% growth in online sales. Equally, a national grocer was able to reduce their cost of running their enterprise media by 20% while also increasing their RMN revenue by $20M. By unifying enterprise, media, and loyalty efforts together, retailers will achieve maximum impact. It gives shoppers the unique, engaging experiences they crave—and creates efficiency in the process.
