With the evolution of retail media networks, brands and retailers are seizing the opportunity to shape consumer behaviour in real-time, using in-store touch points to elevate the shopping experience. 

Nowhere is this more evident than in Australian supermarkets where – following international trends – the deployment of digital screens is driving significant increases in sales of participating brands. 

“The vast selection of in-store touch points to speak to shoppers during their shopper mission are highly valuable for brands such as L’Oreal to drive our presence and visibility in store at that point of purchase,” Zoe Berends, national business manager at L’Oreal told a webinar in collaboration with Broadsign, hosted by Tamera Francis, editor of features and premium for Inside Retail. 

“In a recent campaign that we ran in-store with Coles, where L’Oreal used the Coles digital screens at the front of the store, we saw an uplift in our average dollar sales of 50.7 per cent greater than the weeks where we had other in-store retail media. Then, if we compare that to a week where we had no in-store retail media, it was an uplift of 76.8 per cent, so we see some fantastic results when we use the assets and target and align them to our broader above-the-line marketing campaigns,” said Berends.

Such figures are consistent with another brand working with Coles’ internal retail media business, Coles 360, whose head of strategy and planning, Sam Hegg, told the webinar that one FMCG brand launching a new product to market achieved a 74 per cent uplift in sales at stores where its promotions were aired on digital screens, versus a control group. “We have seen numerous examples of the same sort of statistics,” he said. 

He added that those campaign results can improve even more dramatically when brands combine in-store assets with the physical path to purchase – using things like proximity assets within the network.”

How data drives in-store digital media success

Ben Allman, head of sales at Broadsign, said such campaign flexibility can be optimised by data, a resource in which retailers are rich. 

Campaigns and content can be delivered with greater flexibility and agility and even tweaked in real time to impact or improve campaign performance. For example, you can reduce the wastage of advertising – and wastage of perishable products in stores. If product inventory falls beneath a certain level, campaigns can be paused, and when there is a surplus of stock, a campaign can be promoted more heavily. 

“Avocados go from being cricket balls to balls of mush within 24 hours. Digital in-store assets are ideal for promoting when your avocados are ripe to help move them out the door.”

Allman cited Tesco in the UK partnering with Dunhumby to use till receipt data to determine the optimal timing and frequency of campaigns on digital screens in a store. “For example, you might see a campaign for tinned tuna running more frequently around that late morning-early afternoon period on weekdays when you’ve got nearby workers in the area popping in for lunchtime essentials. The inverse of this is also possible, with a product being featured more frequently if category sales take an unexpected dip

In Australia, L’Oreal is exploring using varying types of targeted content at different times of the day. “For daytime content, for example, we may feature a morning serum, which would be best suited for the morning skincare routine, and then the afternoon content, switching to a nighttime serum to target those consumers with a product that’s more suited to their nighttime routine based on when they’re in the shops,” explained Berends.

“Having these options available is highly valuable for targeting shoppers with the most relevant brand messages to trigger those unplanned purchases.”

She said having options to personalise campaign messages according to the time of day or a state store cluster, for example, allows much more targeted marketing to shoppers, increasing the likelihood of a sale. 

“Capturing the shoppers at the right time, when they’re in the right frame of mind to consider our products and within their purchase mindset, is critical for us. So, where we can use this real-time data to maximise the content we’re putting out to them is the most critical part when planning assets and activity around our media campaigns.”

How the in-store and on-site world borders are blurring

Hegg said the border between in-store and on-site worlds is blurring. Thirty per cent of people who go to Coles online don’t transact within three days. They are researching online and buying in-store. 

“So think of our digital platforms not just as a commerce opportunity but a branding opportunity. Equally, of the millions of people that have the Coles app downloaded on their phone, almost half of them have it set for in-store shopping, so they use it as a companion in-store to aid their shopping journey. That kind of overlap, and the reality of omnichannel shopping, will only increase, especially as delivery, home delivery, click-and-collect, and direct-to-boot become more prevalent in the market. It will create more complexity and more interesting opportunities as well.”

Barry McGhee, GM of REO, explained that in-store digital screens are fundamentally a glance medium. 

“Sometimes, you’ve got a second at best to convey your message to the shopper. So that’s where the importance of creativity comes into play. It’s got to be a message that’s impactful but will resonate instantly, and it’s going to trigger or influence some sort of action at that all-important point of purchase.”

• Listen to the webinar to learn more about how data can drive campaign effectiveness, how retail media fits within brands’ total marketing activities, and how retail media campaigns can be created that succeed by focusing on brand messaging and attributes rather than relying on discounts.