Last time we explored the rise of retail media networks, and how these are evolving into retail media ecosystems, powered by first-party data and privacy-safe data collaboration. But before a retail media ecosystem has been established, it is important to explore the various use cases that can be unlocked. 

Shopper marketing

Considered retail media 101, this owned media activation enables brands to onboard their first-party data and match this against the retailer’s shopper data. Brands are then able to target shoppers across the retailer’s owned channels, for example, their various web properties and in-store. 

How InfoSum enables shopper marketing

With InfoSum’s ‘non-movement of data’ approach, a retailer is able to upload their shopper and audience data into their private Bunker(s). Concurrently, the brands can also upload their first-party data into their Bunker. Analysis can then be conducted across these Bunkers to identify potential cross-over between the retailer audience and individuals already known to the brand, for example, website subscribers, current and lapsed customers. 

The multi-party nature of a media ecosystem allows for various other data sources to be brought into the analysis. Including data providers who can enrich the brand and retailers’ knowledge of their target audience, influencing segmentation and ad creative. 

For example, a consumer electronics brand is able to target its latest TV model at individuals already known to them (e.g. website subscribers, current and lapsed customers) as well as those unknown to them who are browsing new TVs on the retailer’s site. Using enrichment data, the consumer electronics brand can segment its target audience by interests, for example, sports enthusiasts and gamers. The retailer then delivers advertising to this audience as they browse products both online and in-store. 

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Off-site Activation

With multiple media owners part of the retail media ecosystem, brands are able to use knowledge from both their first-party data, the retailer’s shopper data, data providers enrichment data, and the media owners’ audience data to target individuals while they consume content outside of the retailer’s owned channels - a strategy known as off-site activation. 

How InfoSum powers off-site activation

If we continue our previous example, in addition to the retailer, brand, and data provider already running analysis, multiple media owners can join the collaboration. With these addressable audiences in Bunker, the brand can use the customer knowledge gained through their shopper marketing analysis (in-market customers segmented by sports enthusiasts and games) to target these individuals as they consume content across multiple channels. 

The consumer electronics brand can now target those in-market TV shoppers while they are reading TV model reviews on a tech publisher site, digesting the latest gaming news, or while watching various sports broadcasts on Advanced TV. ‍

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Measurement

As the shopping experience continues to be divided between online and in-store, there is an increased focus on closed-loop measurement, e.g. measuring the success of media campaigns based on outcomes both in-store and online. Through a retail media ecosystem, retailers have an opportunity to offer brands increased insight into the effectiveness of their campaigns.

How InfoSum delivers accurate effectiveness measurement

InfoSum empowers brands, retailers, and media owners to transparently measure the effectiveness of individual campaigns and channels. Each party stores 

• Brand: Outcome data (e.g. both sales and individuals who put a product in-cart) from their own eCommerce (where available)
• Retailer: Outcome data from their online and offline stores and individuals who were exposed to the ad campaign and a control group not exposed (importantly the latter must be created pre-campaign) 
• Media Owner: Individuals who were exposed to the ad campaign and a control group not exposed (as with the retailer, these must be created pre-campaign)
  

In the final step of our example, the consumer electronics brand, retailer, data providers, and various media owners all upload their required data into individual Bunkers. Each party can now analyze the intersection between each of these data sets to determine the incremental uplift (e.g. those who purchase or nearly purchased the consumer electronic brand’s new TV and were also exposed to the marketing campaign). Read our blog focused on Advanced TV measurement for more details on this approach to measurement. 

Importantly, because each party has the ability to run this analysis, there is complete transparency over the effectiveness of the campaign. The consumer electronics brand can understand the effectiveness of each approach (shopper marketing and off-site activation) and where activating across multiple media owners, the channel (display, advanced TV, audio, etc.) that delivered the strongest results - enabling them to optimize media spend for future campaigns.

Equally important,  the retailer and media owners can accurately demonstrate the effectiveness of their audiences in a transparent way. 

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CRM augmentation

A challenge faced by many brands is a lack of first-party data, an issue often common in companies with no direct-to-consumer strategy such as CPGs. CRM augmentation enables brands with low levels or no CRM data of their own to augment and enrich their customer intelligence by safely tapping into knowledge held by the retailers, media owners, and other second and third-party data providers. 

How InfoSum enables CRM augmentation

Brands create an audience segment against the retailer, for example, based on those who have previously purchased their products. Federated learning technology can then be used to identify characteristics and behaviors across other data sets that are most common among those individuals. 

This actionable insight can then be used to create buyer personas that can inform custom audience creation and targeting at a greater scale.

Revisiting our consumer electronics brand, if they had a lack of first-party data, they are able to use the retailer’s data to create an audience segment of those that have previously purchased their TVs. They model these individuals against a third-party dataset to create a buyer persona and create a custom audience for targeting.

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‍Data collaboration and retail media ecosystems

With each of these opportunities, InfoSum’s ‘non-movement of data’ approach means multi-party collaborations can be created quickly and safely, with complete flexibility for each party involved to define how their customer insights can be used. This approach prioritizes the privacy of consumers and ensures each party retains full control over their data, eliminating many of the trust issues that limit these types of collaborations.

With the privacy, security, and trust barriers overcome, companies can focus on delivering new experiences to their customers. As consumer shopping behavior continues to change, brands, retailers, data providers, and media owners will all need to embrace a new way of communicating with this audience. Powered by privacy-safe data collaboration technology, retail media ecosystems can deliver better customer experiences, limited only by the imaginations of the parties involved. 

Learn more about InfoSum for Retail Media.