40,000 data points. 3,000 campaigns. Five ways to make your Retail Media more effective.

Retail Media is outpacing the media market, largely because of its in-depth understanding of real customer behaviour and ability to target customers right from exploration to the point of purchase. Through its growth, the ability to unlock valuable customer insights, based on real, not claimed or predetermined behaviour, is increasing the demand for understanding Retail Media’s effectiveness. 

As Retail Media continues to evolve, there is a lot of noise around whether Retail Media really works. We’ve been able to analyse more than 40,000 data points from 3,000 campaigns to prove that it does and give you best practice recommendations to make your Retail Media more effective. 

Here’s a fast five of what you need to know. 

1. Digital is the front door with 68% of customers researching online before buying in-store 

Retail Media needs to start where the highest value customers are - and for the majority that’s in the online realm. Treated as the weekly or fortnightly shop, our online shoppers basket sizes are 3.6x higher than in-store. Those customers aren’t just transacting online, they’re also prepping for their in-store shop. 68% of Woolworths’ customers research online before buying in-store, while 55% of connected customers purchase items in-store that they have viewed online3. 

Digital isn’t just a channel, it’s the foundation for influencing behaviour throughout the entire shopping journey and creating future demand moments for customers so throughout your Retail Media plans, it really needs to be thought of as the ‘front door’ for customers. 

2. Engagement in the pre and early shop drives sales growth 

The customer journey begins with pre-shop engagement, where off-network and loyalty channels play a key role in inspiration and discovery and drive greater customer retention and activation. 

In fact, campaigns powered by targeted media are proven to drive +15% increase in repeat and reactivated customers against campaigns with no targeted media. That pre-shop engagement goes beyond digital, into the physical realm, where Retail Out of Home drives +54% new-to-brand customer acquisition when compared to campaigns without Retail Out of Home. 

As customers then reach their early shop, channels such as Homepage Video are working hard to increase add-to-carts by +10% while front of store screens drive up to 8.6% sales uplift for customers exposed to the ad unit against the control group. 

A strategy that meets customers at multiple stages of their shopping journey, builds a seamless brand experience that is proven to convert. 

3. Go omnichannel or go home 

One of the strengths of Retail Media is the omnichannel scale. Brands whose campaigns are capitalising on the omnichannel journey are doing the heavy lifting for your most valuable asset - existing customers. 

While the customer journey may start online, over 89% of transactions still happen in stores, making an omnichannel strategy essential. 

Omnichannel campaigns drive 47% more reactivated customers and over 35% more average weekly sales compared to single-channel campaigns. Similarly, campaigns spanning the full customer journey generate over 35% more average weekly sales vs those executed across part of the customer journey1 and twice as many new-to-brand customers. 

To truly win, brands must connect the entire customer journey, leveraging the power of both digital and in-store media to engage customers.

4. Price promotions amplified by Media drive sales uplift 

A price promotion is proven to work harder when supported by media activity. We’ve seen that for challenger brands, promotions supported by media deliver on average +21% percentage point sales uplift versus promotions without media. Leading brands also see incremental lift, with media driving on average +8% percentage point sales uplift. 

So, collaborate with your Retail Media partner and retailer commercial team to bring it all together and connect your overall strategy to maximise growth. 

5. Measure what matters.

Measurement is a critical component of Retail Media and an area that we’re constantly evolving in to provide our clients with the metrics that matter most. To set yourself up for success, get clear on the right objectives and measures of success well before you get into planning.

It’s not about tracking every possible metric. Instead, collaborate with your Retail Media partner to define the right short term and long term metrics, linked to customer objectives, to provide a clear goal post for campaign success. From here, we can give you tangible and actionable insight for future planning.

By taking the data and learnings from a wealth of campaigns, we’ve got the proof that Retail Media’s effectiveness isn’t a debate - it’s a data backed reality and we are committed to continuing to prove and demonstrate this for our partners. 

By leveraging real customer insights to inform objectives, embracing a seamless omnichannel approach and leveraging the strengths of Retail Media to create brand and trade connections, brands can move beyond the noise to achieve measurable sales and lasting loyalty. And Cartology is here to help every one of those brands. 

Source: This article is sourced from Cartology’s Media Effectiveness Playbook.

1. Cartology 2025 analysis n=+3,500 campaigns, 40,000 Woolworths sales data points. 

2. Woolworths DIS (all categories) H1 FY25

3. Woolworths Digital Engagement, Adobe GRS dataset Feb 20 - Dec 24

    

   This article first appeared on AdNews.com.au.