Retail Media

Retail media is marketing to consumers at or near their point of purchase, or point of choice between competing brands or products. Common techniques include in-store advertising, on-line advertising, sampling, loyalty cards and coupons or vouchers.

Retail media channels have become established as increasingly important for promoting goods and services at or near or even further beyond the points of purchase and consumption. Retail media is now being taken very seriously by most traditional media agencies. Companies partly or wholly devoted to retail media include:

• Redbus Media Group (www.redbusmedia.com) who operate in-store media networks across a number of UK retailers along with other out of home media businesses;
• Blueprint (who specialise in retail magazine publishing and media for Asda);
• Capture (A Shopper Marketing agency who plan and buy campaigns involving retail media);
• dRM (dunnhumby Retail Media)who handle some of Tesco Retail Media; and
• ABC Media, who sell the retail media for the Co-op.

Retail Media originated as media available within the retail environment. This has now developed in to a media discipline in its own right as new retail media channels have been added. Retail Media now reaches outside of the retail environment to encompass media channels such loyalty program marketing, couponing and door drops, fleet media (retailer's fleet vehicles, etc.).

Though many retail media channels are found inside the retailer's store/environment, the media channels themselves are not always 'owned' or operated by retailers. Many retail media channels are operated independently by specialist media companies who also manage other media outside of the retail environment.