Retail media networks have been called the “third wave” of digital advertising, a fast-growing market presence that both retailers and advertisers cannot afford to ignore. The retail media network space has grown precipitously, to a value of $45 billion, because it provides brands unprecedented access to valuable first-party data — and highly-targeted advertising — over consumers who are already in a buying mindset.
The success of retail media networks touches all players
In a previous blog, we delved into the opportunities presented by retail media networks from the retailer’s perspective — namely harnessing a powerful potential source of new revenue while at the same time delivering value to advertisers via privacy-preserving data collaboration. We illustrated the ways in which a modern data clean room supercharges retailers’ media networks to exceed advertiser expectations and drive revenue.
Now let’s turn that around and see how advertisers should think about data clean rooms when preparing to invest in retail media networks. IAB has recently released a buyer’s guide that provides an in-depth manual for developing and executing a media network strategy. What the guide does not discuss — and what we think is essential to consider concurrently with launching a retail media network strategy — are the ways in which a modern data clean room simplifies and accelerates every part of the media investment planning outlined in the IAB guide.
Modern data clean rooms make everything a whole lot easier
IAB breaks the retail media investment process down into four steps. Let’s look at how a modern data clean room is a must-have for each one:
1. Planning your retail media strategy
Retail media networks enable advertisers to increase campaign effectiveness by creating custom audiences from first-party data and to improve targeting and messaging strategies with granular insights into consumer preferences. But conversions are just the beginning: advertiser relationships with retail media networks can help drive engagement, optimize performance, and achieve business goals in what is known as “full-funnel planning”.
All of these benefits are driven by extensive data collaboration between advertiser and retail media network, and that’s best powered by a modern data clean room. Via the clean room, advertisers can access closed-loop measurement for an unprecedented view of the customer journey. Often a revelation for marketing teams, it’s also quite technically involved, and thus — as you look forward to planning and optimizing your campaigns and your media mix — having a data clean room solution that’s easy to use, with deep integrations to partner retail media networks and high levels of automation to speed your onboarding and workflows, is a substantial advantage.
2. Developing your data collaborations
Data collaborations work best when retailers, brands, and agencies achieve synchronized and cohesive execution across all of your funnel planning. That requires clear mapping of responsibilities and business objectives and a shared understanding of the customer journey — particularly in light of the continuing evolution of retail media network capabilities and offerings.
Moreover, the proliferation of retail media networks means advertisers will inevitably want to collaborate with more than one. A modern data clean room capable of delivering up-to-date, unrestricted interoperability across platforms becomes the crucial element in your ability to leverage the retail media networks of your choice, when and where you want. As always, speed is a competitive advantage, and modern data clean rooms help accelerate the value of your collaborations.
3. Constructing an audience strategy
In many ways, your retail media network partnerships are all about enabling your audience strategy. Identifying and targeting the right customers — and developing a set of key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure your progress in reaching core audiences — is the foundation of achieving your business objectives. A modern data clean room can streamline and automate your workflows.
Effectively building your audience strategy requires advanced user segmentation that leverages the massive amounts of first-party data available from retail media networks. To access that data in a privacy-preserving way, you’ll need a data clean room. This is even more true when attempting to scale your audience without sacrificing accuracy. In addition, each retailer offers specific audience data capabilities that can enhance your strategy and results; to take advantage of them, a flexible and interoperable data clean room is essential.
4. Evolving your retail media buying
Once your overall strategy is complete and your data collaborations with selected retail media networks are up and running, it’s time to execute on your media buying strategy. You’ll be deploying tactics to target potential customers via a combination of offsite (for upper funnel) and onsite (for lower funnel) media buys, as well as potentially some in-store investments to drive sales.
As you seek to optimize these media buys, your ongoing measurement will likely lead to adjustments and rebalancing. A modern data clean room provides you with the data and insights you need to dynamically adjust your buying strategy.
It makes sense to build on a data clean room foundation
As you can see, the whole process of engaging in the retail media network ecosystem is premised on being able to efficiently access and analyze data. For this, a modern data clean room is an absolute necessity. It’s the only way large data owners will give you access to sensitive data; it’s the essential element in seamlessly partnering with a range of media networks; and it’s the key tool to uncover the insights that drive your success.
Habu is the industry leader
Habu data clean room software provides an advanced data collaboration solution with industry-leading multi-cloud orchestration capabilities that makes it the ideal choice for advertisers looking to engage with retail media networks. Habu delivers data collaboration that’s smart, secure, scalable, and simple — enabling brands to drive their media network strategies via critical insights from a much broader universe of data.
Talk to us about powering your retail media network strategy
