PATH TO PURCHASE NOW
Retail Media, Sampling and Connected Commerce An overview of three Institute webinars focused on shopper strategies BY E R I K A F LY N N
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he relevance of retail media networks continues to grow, accelerated by the massive shift toward online grocery shopping throughout the pandemic. In a Path to Purchase Now webinar discussion in July, titled “Making Actionable Sense Out of Retail Media,” panelists examined how leading brands are utilizing third-party tools to strengthen their retail media activation by reaching shoppers off-platform to drive engagement and, ultimately, sales. Mars Food, a segment of Mars Inc., has focused on commerce experiences across the shopper’s journey, centering on one of the company’s five guiding principles, mutuality or driving shared benefit. “Brands and retailers have a very symbiotic relationship, so this is another opportunity for us to continue driving mutual growth and adding value to consumers,” said Mars’ Drew Brinckerhoff, omnicommerce marketing director for North America. The ever-changing evolution of shopper behavior, need states, types of baskets and shopping occasions, social commerce,
“Brands and retailers have a very symbiotic relationship, so this is another opportunity for us to continue driving mutual growth and adding value to consumers.” Drew Brinckerhoff, Mars
October 2021
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quick commerce and more fill-in trips — “that’s really what’s driving a lot of the changes that we’re seeing,” he added. Shoppers want to build their baskets faster and easier, and retail media helps them do that, added Brian Spencer, product marketing director with Kroger Precision Marketing (KPM), the retail media business of Kroger. It also makes brand advertising more effective, he argued, both by reducing advertising waste through more precise targeting and by providing accountability through that closed-loop measurement back to sales. Consumers’ high level of expectations in terms of shoppability has pushed KPM to continue to explore different connectivity
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