Blogs and Interesting Stuff

Customer Strategy

Four areas to watch in 2022

Here at SG-retail, we have put our heads together to come up with four areas of retail that we think will explode in 2022.

Customer Strategy

Lidl Plus - an excellent loyalty programme but a strategic mistake?

The Lidl Plus app is interesting on a number of levels. First, I like the way it is fully mobile enabled and doesn't rely on plastic cards or paper

Loyalty Programmes

What "How Brands Grow" gets wrong about loyalty programmes

Loyalty programmes help brands to grow. They drive physical availability, mental availability and build competitiveness. They can be inherently profitable and their data is highly monetizable.

Loyalty Programmes

Retail Media : reflections on 2023 and thoughts on 2024

Retail Media continues to grow. We look at the state of play from the point of view of key retail media participants : Retail Media Network operators, Branded suppliers, Media Agencies and Technology & Solution Partners.

Loyalty Programmes

Asda's new loyalty programme - worth the wait ?

A look at Asda's new loyalty programme and how it might evolve to enable Asda to better understand its customers, deliver personalised services, generate retail media revenue and open banking payment savings

Loyalty Programmes

You need a loyalty programme - and its not why you think

I was rather taken aback, nearly twenty years ago, when Simon Uwins, then Marketing Director at Tesco told me that the purpose of Tesco’s Clubcard programme was not to drive loyalty.The launch of Clubcard had helped propel Tesco from the UK’s number 2 grocery retailer to the far and away outright market leader and to a large extent this growth had come from existing customers becoming more loyal, so it seemed a surprising thing to say.

Loyalty Programmes

What type of loyalty programme is right for your brand?

Good programme design should deliver these requirements in ways that align with the core brand proposition, make it simple and easy for customers to join and participate and for businesses to set up and operationalise.

Marketing Automation

What is marketing automation ?

Marketing automation typically refers to software technologies and solutions designed to automate the typical tasks carried out by marketing departments and marketeers and might include advertising, CRM, loyalty, customer experience management, customer surveys and insights, search optimisation, media optimisation etc

Retail Media

How to use retail media to drive brand growth

retail media is growing fast - so its even more important that its used effectively to drive brand growth.....

Retail Media

Out of the Box Thinking

Out of the box thinking....

Retail Media

What is a Retail Media Network ?

RMN's are rather like the conductors of an orchestra bringing together an array of specialists and ensuring that the output of the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

Retail Media

Retail Media is the number one priority for Ecom leaders

Its official, according to BCG, #retailmedia is the biggest priority for Ecom leaders at the world's biggest retailers

Retail Media

Organising to win in retail media

The growth in size and sophistication of Retail Media Networks is proving a challenge for CPG brands in a number of ways and not least organisationally. At P&G, back in the day, we believed that "all organisations are perfectly designed to achieve the results they do" and so organisational thinking was embedded into our modus operandi. We followed a similar approach at dunnhumby when we considered how we should organise ourselves as we pioneered the deployment and monetisation of data analytics and retail media in the UK's first advanced Retail Media Network.

Retail Media

How to measure Retail Media

Retail Media Operators are advantaged vs traditional media operators as they are able to measure the above with high accuracy. Traditional media owners have to rely on proxy measures for reach or mental availability and are not able to track the extent to which these drive new customers or customer growth. Neither are they able to increase retail presence, make it easier for customers to buy the brands (eg via click through to basket) or eliminate wastage from their channels.Retailers who make it easy for brands to track these measures will have an advantage over those retailers who don’t, but the responsibility for brand growth is with the brand owners and they must find ways to measure retail media effectiveness and not depend on retailers to do it for them.

Retail Media

Retail Media : Past, Present & Future

As we close off 2022 in what was a pivotal year for retail media, here are some thoughts on where the industry is today and some things to look out for in 2023.....

Retail Media

Retail Media Marketing – the third wave in a rolling sea

In last month’s article for SG-retail, I identified four areas ripe for development and the topic that produced most follow-up questions was Retail Media Marketing. So let’s double down and look at this in a bit more detail. It’s sometimes called the third wave of digital advertising.

Retail Media

Following my NAMNEWS article last month, in which I described Retail Media as the “third wave” of digital advertising, several people got in touch to ask various questions. Here is the handy guide that you may (or may not) have been waiting for.

Data Monetisation

6 steps to retail media heaven

Retail media is a huge opportunity for retailers - witness the $31 billion in media income generated by Amazon (5% of sales). But optimising retail media is complex. Here's how we can help retailers to get it right and avoid some of the key pitfalls.

Retail Media

How to use retail media to drive brand growth

retail media is growing fast - so its even more important that its used effectively to drive brand growth.....

Retail Media