The UK’s largest retailer, Tesco, has joined the likes of Walmart and Target by launching new advertising capabilities that will allow brands and agencies to reach its massive digital audience. The new retail media network — dubbed Tesco Media and Insight — will be powered by consumer data science company dunnhumby.
“As the UK grocery sector evolves, we want to ensure we provide a more relevant and personalized offer to meet our customers’ changing needs,” said Alessandra Bellini, Chief Customer Officer at Tesco in a statement. “Our new platform will bring together the wealth of customer knowledge we have, with the insights from dunnhumby, and use it in a way that helps our brands to be more efficient and targeted and ultimately to serve our customers better. We’re excited to work with our suppliers and agencies to drive better engagement with customers and add value to their businesses.”
The UK grocer’s digital reach includes the Tesco Clubcard loyalty program, currently used by more than 20 million UK households, as well as 7 million regular app users. By combining this digital data with in-store insights and dunnhumby’s analytical expertise, Tesco aims to create a closed-loop platform that will allow brands and their agencies to “drive more interactive, two-way relationships with customers.”
A range of targeting options, from one-to-one personalization to broader mass reach campaigns, will allow brands to connect with Tesco customers and receive comprehensive insights to inform new product development, packaging, assortment ranging and campaign effectiveness.
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Retail media networks are becoming increasingly popular platforms for larger retailers to capitalize on their vast wealth of first-party consumer data and create a new incremental revenue stream in the process. U.S. grocers Kroger and Albertsons already operate their own media networks, and a growing number of retailers in other verticals are joining them, most recently AutoZone and Lowe’s.
For a breakdown of the how and why behind the growth of retail media networks, check out this on-demand session from the 2021 Retail Innovation Conference featuring McKinsey partner and analyst Jess Huang. Registration is free.
