In this edition of the Glossy+ Research Briefing, we unpack why agencies are advising their clients to invest in retail media, as seen in our latest report on the state and future of the media agency.
Agencies are exploring RMN options as popularity surges
The top reason agencies are recommending that clients invest in retail media is to raise consumer awareness of a product or brand. Just under half of agencies in Glossy’s survey (48%) said they advise their clients to invest in retail media for this reason.
Global e-commerce giant Amazon is a prime example of a retail media network (RMN) that is often used to raise brand awareness, in addition to converting sales. Many consumers use the dominant RMN Amazon as a place to research products before making a purchase.
The second-most important reason agencies said they advise their clients to invest in retail media is as a first-party data source. With data privacy laws becoming stricter, access to networks with customer purchase data are attractive to advertisers hoping target specific audiences. Slightly more than one-third of respondents (34%) said they advise clients to invest in the channel for this reason.
In a study by technology platform Skai and market research firm the Path-to-Purchase Institute, 77% of respondents said retail media drove good or excellent results for their business in 2023. But as the number of RMNs expands, and the cost to play remains too high for non-endemic clients, some experts say the boom in retail media is not sustainable.
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“There’s not enough money to go around for this to be sustainable,” said Ethan Goodman, evp of digital commerce at The Mars Agency. “Once you get past a certain point, the offerings start to blur together and the question becomes, ‘Why don’t I just invest in the [major players, like Amazon, Walmart, Target and Kroger].’”
