The concept of retail media is not new; however, the Middle East market seems abuzz with activity around it. Brands and agencies cannot stop talking about this new world of retail media, which has the potential to cause some headaches for the Googles and Metas of the world.
Retail media (RM) has emerged as a powerful marketing channel, enabling brands to reach consumers directly where they shop in the region. Large groups have started investing multi-million dollars to create their own tech stacks, hoping to leverage the RM wave.
Over the last decade, RM has evolved from a small player to the first item on marketing plans. RM started as a direct-buy medium, mostly involving the trade and promotion teams, but today, they are slowly becoming strategic partners for many brands.
RM networks (RMN) have something that Google and Meta don’t, and that is a shopper primed to buy. Access to first-party data makes RMNs a dream come true for brands. Senior-level marketers, therefore, see RM as a strong, strategic chance to connect with and, more crucially, interact with key audiences rather than merely using it as a marketing channel.
The excitement is not limited to endemic products. Non-endemic product marketers are equally excited to see this evolution. Be it financial or automobile, marketers have now found a set of captive audiences that was previously restricted to offline channels only.
Because non-endemic advertising is dynamic, brands can reach new audiences and transcend conventional boundaries. It involves spotting chances when a partnership can yield benefits for both parties, such as Non-Endemic Partnership Benefits. One great example is the Emirates NBD partnership with Noon to offer Noon branded credit cards.
Choosing between endemic and non-endemic retail techniques frequently comes down to knowing your target audience and having clear marketing objectives. While digital is highly measurable setting the right KPI at the very beginning will be the most important decision when dealing with RMNs.
Whether using endemic retail advertising in a shopping setting or non-endemic RMNs that reach a larger audience, marketers can choose the best kinds of RMNs by examining consumer demands and market behaviour on the platforms. Additionally, RMNs are increasingly providing flexible solutions to meet both endemic and non-endemic needs as the lines between the two advertising domains blur.
All said and done, winning the RM games will not be easy. Currently, in the region, RM is a marketing game and that needs to evolve. While marketing will drive the initiatives, other teams like trading, merchandising, etc. must play an active role to pave the way to success. Brands have been willing participants in the retail media experiment up to now.
However, RMNs will have to do much more than they do now in order to secure increased investment. With AI in the mix, this game has just started, and everyone is looking at it with a sense of excitement and anticipation.
Come 2025, a host of brands will move close to 30 per cent of their budgets to RMN. So MENA, get ready for the new big thing in advertising. Retail media is here to stay.
By Debsena Chakraborty, VP Business Development MENA, mFilterIt
