Many brands ask, “How should I feel about the economy going into 2023?” And with uncertain projections, the next question is typical, “How can I react?”
Truth is that the retail media landscape is expanding despite looming economic uncertainty—and there’s reason to be bullish.
IAB Europe’s Chief Economist, Daniel Knapp, is cautiously optimistic about Europe’s prospects for retail media in 2023, saying he expects ad spending to increase by 2.4% next year.
In fact, European retail media shows little sign of slowing down, as several large retail groups are adding their own retail media offering, including Morrisons, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, and ASDA, while smaller marketplaces, like bol.com, are launching RM projects of their own.
So, “How should European brands and agencies react?” By building a multi-retailer strategy.
Why Brands Should Prioritize Cross-Retailer Media in 2023
Retail media brands in Europe have a huge opportunity to grow their market share in 2023, and here are three key reasons why:
- First, consumer spend is limited, making it essential for brands to capture market share wherever their consumers are. By advertising on multiple retailers, brands can reach a wider audience and increase their chances of capturing a larger share of the market.
- Second, retail media provides closed-loop data that allows brands to get full-funnel analytics through tools like Amazon Marketing Cloud.
- Three, cross-retailer media offers granular level data that can be used to optimize the entire eCommerce operation, including product listings, ad targeting, and more.
Even with obvious benefits – and the technology to make it happen – retail media’s rise in Europe faces a few unique obstacles.
“As you scale your media campaigns across more retailers, the understanding you have of your audiences becomes richer and richer. When you consider that today’s retail media networks capture more transactions than Amazon, there’s a definite case for brand investment. Advertisers at the forefront are now looking beyond retail environments, to how commerce data can be used to attract, convert, and retain consumers across the open web, from premium publishers to ad-supported streaming channels. Consolidating and streamlining data across the entire buyer journey is the magic of commerce media. This complete view of the customer is what we have strived to perfect.”– Antoine Jamet, Director API Partnerships EMEA at Criteo
Top Retail Media Challenges in Europe
While the U.S. and European markets share many similarities, European brands must navigate a few key challenges, such as:
- Fragmentation in the retail market, with many small and medium-sized retailers, making it difficult to connect with the right customers.
- Diversity in languages and cultural norms across the continent, making it challenging to create cross-retailer media campaigns that resonate with consumers.
- Strict data protection and privacy laws, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), limiting the ability to collect and use consumer data.
- Maturity of the eCommerce market in Europe lags behind the U.S., making it harder for European retailers to compete with American counterparts in cross-retailer media.
The rise of retail media will continue across Europe, but the brands that best solve these unique regional challenges will amplify their cross-retailer campaigns and outperform their competitors.
How Pacvue Helps Brands Build Multi-Retailer Campaigns
Pacvue offers a first-of-its-kind solution that provides data and insights across the entire commerce operation. Here’s how:
First, Pacvue helps retail brands track their market share growth using metrics such as:
- Share of voice, tracked through Pacvue’s SOV Insights, which helps brands respond to keyword competition shifts that matter most to their business.
- Share of sales in a category, tracked through sales forecaster.
- Bottom-of-funnel revenue growth, tracked in Pacvue Commerce via Amazon Marketing Cloud.
Second, Pacvue gives clients essential tools to monitor their cross-retailer strategy, including:
- Sonar, a cross-retailer dashboard, which allows brands to capture missed opportunities with cross-retailer keyword sharing.
- Seamless integrations with Criteo and Citrus Ads to supercharge your retailer reach throughout the region.
The rise of retail media in Europe is already underway—and the next big leap will be for the brands and agencies that best manage their cross-retailer optimizations in 2023. Capturing market share is easier when your technology is built across your entire commerce cycle. Let us show you how Pacvue Commerce can help your team today.
