Initially, only Marketers and the Amazon account team needed to understand Retailer media – or digital ads targeted leveraging retailer proprietary shopper insights, but those days are over. Now, nearly every top Retailer has an advertising network or is launching one, the tools are becoming increasingly sophisticated, and media asks are included in top-to-tops and JBP discussions. In fact, eMarketer projects $52 billion in ad sales by 2023 as retailers across all market sectors follow Amazon’s lead and continue to launch networks and expand ad types to simultaneously deliver better customer experience and top-line growth that can be reinvested or taken to profit.

Since leaving Amazon Advertising 2 years ago to join Simpactful, I have helped dozens of clients internalize the rise of Retailer media and its impact on everything from org structure and skill requirements to investment choices for Amazon, Walmart, CVS, Home Depot, Lowe’s and beyond. As the stakes grow, so do the required skills, negotiating strategies, and collaboration requirements for CPG Sales and Marketing organizations. Here are four quick insider tips:

  • Continually upskill yourself and your sales organization top to bottom media know-how. Senior executives must be able to ask the right questions, compare platforms and products, negotiate investments internally and externally and structure their organizations to win. Account leaders must understand the drivers of Return On Ad Spend, be able to compare ad platforms and products, audit agency performance, develop targeting strategies, and know which ad products were worth skipping to inform both JBP terms and audit plans.
  • Invest in Advanced Analytics to optimize performance within a retailer or across platforms. To some extent, eCommerce is a numbers game. Brands must invest in Sponsored Ads, bidding against competitors, to win the equivalent of prime shelf space. When the stakes are this high and brands bidding against competitors, uncovering every potential source of ROI advantage matters. Simpactful and our advanced analytics partners can help brands optimize keyword strategies as auction prices escalate and port learnings from one platform to another to drive better and faster performance.
  • Revisit roles & responsibilities as well as collaboration processes. eCommerce and the omni channel will continue to require new activity systems. Skilled resources are key – but the organizations that will thrive are those with systems and resources that can quickly adapt to the changing requirements. Retailer Media is tapping into connected systems that span multi-functional areas from the assortment and forecasting/supply to content claims and targeting. We have helped leaders revisit the organizational structure and implement processes that drive heightened collaboration across organizations to ensure seamless planning and execution across retailer activations, national support, and supply planning.
  • Create agility by augmenting existing functional experts with general commercial “athletes.” Use new job hire openings to create a talent pool of commercial resources with adaptable general management skills through hiring practices and intentional rotational programs intended to cross-train skill sets, facilitate joint problem-solving, and enable adaptation.

Heather Burgess is a seasoned Marketer with 21 years of CPG Marketing and Amazon Advertising experience. To learn more about how Simpactful experts from both the brand and retailer sides of the CPG desk can help you, contact the Simpactful team today at contact@simpactful.com or 925-234-6394.  Visit www.simpactful.com