“I think the biggest mistake that retailers and advertisers tend to make with in-store retail media is that they’ll treat the screens as another piece of hardware to turn on – rather than the strategic touchpoint that it can be.”
Emily McCue, Product Manager at Spectrio, gave this assessment as she outlined the problem with how many advertisers, agencies and retailers – who are used to retail media as a primarily online channel – approach in-store retail media.
McCue, whose company Spectrio specialises in digital signage and supporting solutions, went on to explain that in-store shoppers’ contexts and attitude differ from those of online shoppers, and so in turn does the way that they’ll engage with retail media. “Online, you know what the user is doing; they’re in a ‘lean-in’ mode that’s pretty targeted. They’re clicking through; they’re engaged.
“In-store, you have no idea what’s going on with that shopper – they might be in a ‘linger’ mode, or dwelling. Or they might be in ‘dash’ mode – “Let me get in, let me get out.””
In a detailed conversation with Retail Media Age, McCue explained the unique challenges that retail media messaging presents in physical environments and how advertisers can address those – as well as how they can lean into its strengths to deliver advertising that resonates.
Building awareness versus driving conversion: the flexibility of in-store retail media
As long as the right infrastructure is in place to support it, McCue put forward that in-store screens can allow advertisers to address different parts of the funnel: aiming to build awareness in some contexts and presenting more sales-oriented messaging in others.
“If you’re able to say, ‘This content is going to show on lobby screen areas’, versus content that might show next to a product display in a store, then it’s going to impact what content will land with the customer,” she explained.
“So, if you are able to determine how long a customer is going to be in a particular space and what their headspace will be, it can lead you to great opportunities.”
She added that as long as brands are clear on their goals for a particular advertising campaign – such as awareness, engagement, or remarketing – they can tailor their retail media creative to fit that purpose just as they would in an online context.
“And then on the retail media network side, the partner would be able to help you set up the right criteria to assign a goal to a particular piece of creative,” McCue added. “For example, you might want to add more detail to an advertisement that shows in an area where people are dwelling longer.”
Sometimes this will be inherent in the store concept: ‘express’ store formats are more likely to encourage quick shopping trips, for example, whereas other types of retail lend themselves to slower browsing and longer dwell times. “So, you can tap into that and use that as a tagging mechanism in the way you set up your ads and classify them,” McCue explained.
The challenge of consistency
Because of the variations in store layout and physical context, ensuring that in-store retail media campaigns have a consistent look and feel can be a challenge.
Beyond being aware of the geography of each location and its demographic so that campaigns can be tailored to a store’s specific attributes, McCue’s advice about achieving in-store retail media consistency is not to be too absolutist. “I think consistency is a noble goal,” she said.
“But I think that campaigns just need to follow your brand standards – so that the customer feels like it’s a familiar product or environment that they can relax into.” She does caution that it’s important to keep the feel of in-store advertising cohesive with online campaigns so that a consumer who is omnichannel and shopping across a range of touchpoints doesn’t feel jarred moving between them.
“When you think about all of the money that’s spent on online advertising campaigns, to create those colour palettes, branding, look and feel – if it’s disjointed with what the customer experiences in-store, that can create this ‘break’ of trust, whether it’s conscious or unconscious,” she said.
“So, I do think consistency is very valuable – but at the same time, it doesn’t need to be rigid.”
How to make in-store retail media feel relevant to the customer
The more responsive that in-store retail media can be to the real-world context that the customer is approaching it from, the more effectively it will often land. McCue points out that brands can gain a lot from marrying their value proposition with the customer’s context – for example, promoting athletics wear or running shoes as the weather warms, or promoting a soft drink brand alongside a slice of pizza at lunchtime.
“We can look at it as: you’re along with the customer on a dynamic journey of moments as they’re passing a screen,” McCue said. “I think that’s a good way to think about how your creative can fit in and be extremely relevant.”
She advises brands and agencies to lean into the tech stack that’s delivering the retail media network and use its available tools to carry out location and region tagging so that messaging can align with what the customer is experiencing in the real world.
On a strategic level, McCue also recommends being clear about the goal of a particular message so that both creative and context can be adapted to suit its objective. “Define your metrics for success: Is the goal to sell a product? Is it awareness? Is it customer satisfaction?
“Each of them would warrant a different creative approach in terms of content and call to action.”
Above all, McCue cautioned against taking a ‘set and forget’ approach to in-store messaging. “You need to make sure you’re auditing your data to ensure that the creative you’ve put out there is performing on the metrics that you’ve specified.
“Are you seeing any disjointed moments? Is it driving sales, or are you receiving any other feedback, for example from in-store personnel?
“Optimise based on that – don’t be afraid to test and learn, reiterate, revise; so that you can continue to improve your performance.”
Read more interviews with leading retail media figures on Retail Media Age.
