Last week, I attended “It’s Not Your Father’s Media Company,” a paneI that was part of the #FutureM events.  I have to admit, that while very interesting, the panel wasn’t exactly what I thought it would be.  I attended to hear about the blurring of the lines between editorial and advertorial.  I thought we would talk about how it isn’t enough to educate consumers on your product, the most successful retailers are producing valuable content to help consumers solve a problem too (through information combined with a product push).  However, this session was focused on the power of search and how digital retail media provides retailers with a new opportunity to monetize their online site.

Retail media has been around for ages—see a POP or store/window display lately—that’s retail media.  No one needs to convince the CEO this is necessary.  Digital retail media is new, and CMOs need to fight for the dollars to embrace this opportunity.  This is about reaching the customer when they have the dollar to spend, not before and not after, but in the moment.  The goal is to subtlety steer the sheep—err, customer—to the exact product on the specific page that you want, while having them feel that they made the decisions along the path the entire time and now they are exactly where they want to be.  The best practice case study discussed for leveraging digital retail media was CVS.  Dustin Humphreys was onsite to share the retailer’s perspective.  It’s worth noting that CVS was the client of every other company represented on the panel.

Humphreys pointed out that while the monetization of his site is a major benefit, it’s not the only reason to embrace digital retail media.  In fact, for CVS he said that if that was the only benefit, they wouldn’t have done it.  It was core to their decision that this initiative could add a broader value—providing shoppers with very specific, relevant content.  Right now CVS’ largest marketing spend is on paid circulars, but Humphrey’s recognizes the future will bring decreasing print publications and increasing consumer demand for shopping experiences via customized online/mobile channels.  CVS is preparing for the day when circulars are dead (not great news for the print outlets still relying on these ad dollars).

Humphreys shared that for retailers right now the challenge is in creating the solutions, not the demand.  The demand is high and it’s varied.  For CVS not all of its partners are looking for the same amount of support at the same time.  The focus now is having the inventory to meet the needs.

The panel agreed that digital retail media isn’t meant to replace existing channels, because the consumer is cross channel.  We browse online at work, do follow up research via our phones on the train ride home and then hop in the car to go to the store and make an informed, final purchase (or some variation of this path).  We move between channels and retailers should be able to keep up with us every step of the way, with consistent branding, messaging and contextual offers.  As a marketer I think this is an exciting time, as a consumer I guess I can only say, “baaaaaaa…”

Did you attend this panel while at FutureM?  I’d love to hear if you agree with my recap or if you had a different takeaway!