Advertima is a Business Reporter client.
In the ever-evolving retail media landscape, companies are constantly looking for solutions that will propel them into the future. While digital technology offers many opportunities, there is one critical component that will provide a substantial competitive advantage: the use of real-time audience data and measurement within physical stores.
How to match the power of online media
Most retailers are experts at online media – online advertising is a highly effective way to reach relevant audiences and generate sales. It wasn’t always like this. Imagine what would have happened if online media had remained stuck in the era of static banner ads and brochure-style content. Twenty years ago, using online media was a risky bet, a guess. But technology has moved on – no one would even think of buying online advertising campaigns that way anymore.
Yet in an era of ultra-fast digital advertising, in-store retail media is lagging, burdened by the limitations of legacy infrastructure and an inability to keep pace with innovation.
Current in-store media is often based on historical data, such as customer purchase histories, point-of-sale (PoS) reports, and loyalty programs. While digital displays have brought digital out-of-home advertising capabilities to stores, content delivery has not advanced beyond static loops, unable to recognize or target the actual audience in front of the screen. It’s still a risky bet, hoping the message resonates with whoever is present.
What's missing
Many retailers don't recognize or understand WHY real-time in-store customer data is so important. It's as if they believe they have no choice but to rely on historical data.
However, they do have a choice. Companies like Advertima offer advanced services. Media solutions for retail stores that capture real-time, anonymous data from shoppers as they move through stores. Retailers that embrace the delivery of dynamic, real-time experiences in their stores can create levels of customer engagement that match and even surpass online advertising. They will reap significant benefits for their brands, their shopper audiences, and their overall business.
Bridging the gap between e-commerce and in-store commerce
In the past, there have been Tensions between retailers and media teamsNaturally, retailers focus on product sales, while retail media teams want to generate advertising revenue. Instead, online and in-store advertising must align to create an omnichannel retail media offering that brings brands closer together. Unprecedented media opportunities.
Fortunately, technology is bridging the gap between online and in-store shopping. It enables retailers to deliver more relevant and engaging omnichannel experiences through audience-based targeting via digital displays – experiences that rival the best in the online world. When retailers communicate directly with shoppers in physical stores, they increase shopper engagement. This translates into longer dwell time, higher brand recall, and ultimately, increased sales.
By reaching a valuable, high-volume audience (in-store shoppers), retailers can also offer their advertisers a unique media opportunity to stand out and be seen as innovative and customer-centric. This is key to business growth.
Today, in-store media can be even more powerful than online media, with in-store audiences 84 percent larger on average than digital audiencesIt's the old adage of right person, right time, right place, and now, right context.
Duplication in online store
Technology offers retailers a path forward with solutions designed to integrate with existing advertising distribution platforms and digital display networks, scalable across multiple stores and locations. For example, Artificial intelligence for Advertima's audience uses cutting-edge sensors, advanced artificial intelligence and real-time data to help retailers transform their aisles into real-time digital spaces that mirror online environments.
Advertima captures and transforms shoppers into lucrative segments in real-time that retailers can target while they are still in-store. Significant benefits include precise real-time audience segmentation and campaign measurement. Audience segments can be further enriched with contextual information (time, location, behavior) and affinity data (payment and loyalty programs) to increase their relevance and value. And all of this is done anonymously to preserve shopper privacy.
In-store media performance measurement and analysis benefits retailers, who have access to real-time metrics on impressions, engagement and conversion rates, increasing the incremental value of their in-store media. Media agencies and brands that buy in-store media benefit from a brand-safe environment, while opening the door to new actionable audience insights. This applies to major endemic brands and creates opportunities for non-endemic brands such as automotive, insurance and travel.
Improving the customer experience
With the right approach, in-store media will also enrich the shopper experience in-store. Real-time solutions, such as Advertima Audience AI, enable retailers and brands to develop more effective creative treatments and more targeted media.
Real-time audience segments can be used to deliver relevant, targeted advertising to shoppers throughout the entire store journey, from entry to exit, without distraction or disruption. Improving shopper reach and engagement at the point of purchase will result in a decisive increase in sales, while offering shoppers a more satisfying experience that fosters greater loyalty.
Omnichannel media integration
AI-powered in-store media enables retailers to create a cohesive, measurable, closed-loop connection between brands and customers as audiences move between in-store, off-premise, and in-store. Cross-selling and upselling across different sales channels becomes possible. A unified brand experience can be delivered across all customer touchpoints, substantially increasing the effectiveness of advertising campaigns.
[BODY IMAGE COMES HERE]
A powerful engine of growth
By embracing dynamic, real-time experiences in their stores, retailers can bring the success factors of online advertising into the store environment, bridging the gap between online and physical and transforming their in-store retailing into a powerful engine of growth, brand development and customer loyalty. And as retailers and brands know, loyalty pays off.
The future of in-store media lies in real-time audience engagement. By seeking out and adopting real-time audience-based ad delivery technology, retailers will uncover new opportunities for growth and differentiation in an increasingly competitive marketplace. It’s time to revolutionize in-store media and unleash the full potential of real-time audience reach and measurement.
Based in Europe Advertising is a leading in-store retail media technology specialist, bringing the power of real-time audience data, campaign analytics and performance measurement to physical stores.
