How to make your in-store retail media truly profitable
Get more out of your in-store retail media with practical tips that ensure maximum visibility and revenue growth.
Why in-store retail media fails without perfect execution on the shop floor
At SmartSpotter, we're seeing it more and more often: large FMCG companies, retailers, and media agencies who, in theory, have everything in place for their retail media campaigns, but in practice, struggle on the shop floor. Sizable budgets are being allocated to physical in-store media: wobblers, floor stickers, shelf banners, and narrowcasting. All to boost the visibility of a new product launch or maximize the performance of a top seller during a promotional campaign. The strategy is sound: strong creative, perfect timing, and a nationwide rollout.
Missed turnover
Yet, in practice, we often see things go wrong on the shop floor. This leads to lost revenue and frustration for marketers, category managers, media buyers, and retailers who have little control over what happens in-store. When measuring retail media campaigns, both in the Netherlands and internationally, we see these challenges recurring time and again.
What often goes wrong:
A large portion of the materials simply don't reach the shop floor.
POS materials are removed prematurely.
Digital signage isn't displayed on all the agreed-upon screens.
And even if the materials are available, things sometimes go wrong when:
The corresponding promotional message is missing.
The promotional item is out of stock.
This is no exception to the rule. Many campaigns lose their effectiveness due to poor in-store execution. Whether it's due to unclear agreements, poor timing, or a lack of follow-through, the result is the same: missed impact and sales opportunities.
What now?
5 tips for profitable in-store retail media campaigns
In-store Retailmedia only truly delivers results when execution on the shop floor is flawless. Many campaigns still lack impact due to inadequate agreements, timing, or visibility. By collaborating systematically between retailers, suppliers, and media agencies based on data-driven insights, problems on the shop floor can be addressed with targeted improvement measures. Long-term partnerships ensure flawless execution, increase impact, and maximize revenue growth.
These 5 tips will help you with this.
1. Measure and standardise
Measuring is knowing, standardising is managing. Base your decisions on facts instead of gut feeling. Measure compliance with every physical POS item and digital screen. By making agreements about timing, placement, and materials, you can make targeted adjustments and truly measure the impact of your retail media.
2. Make agreements about the execution
Discuss POS implementation between the retailer and supplier and establish clear agreements. What are the expectations before and during the campaign? Good design and execution are linked to increased sales: consider the store's current situation in your creation. Collaboration with shopper marketing and category management departments ensures an optimal media mix and maximum impact.
3: Use insights for immediate actions
Is something wrong with your retail media? Our dashboard shows you real-time results, including photo evidence. Easily filter for the worst-performing locations and share your findings immediately with the location manager or your own field staff. This way, you can make adjustments during the campaign, instead of afterward.
4. Tailor creations to the store situation
Good design and execution are linked to increased sales: consider the store's current situation in your creation. Collaboration with shopper marketing and category management departments ensures an optimal media mix and maximum impact, which contributes to increased sales.
5. Learning, benchmarking and growing together
Retail media only truly becomes powerful when retailers, suppliers, and media agencies collaborate long-term. Only by working together consistently to analyze execution, reach, and sales can you gain insight into which campaigns yield the most results and where the growth opportunities lie. Long-term collaboration is crucial.
Ready to get more out of your in-store media? We're happy to help you take the next step.
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