Advertisers are increasing their spending on retail media networks (RMNs), to the extent that they may soon be spending more on RMN ads than on linear TV ads. In so doing, they are “following consumer habits,” according to an Integral Ad Science (IAS) study [download page], as 98% of US internet users surveyed by IAS report shopping on RMNs over the past year.
Additionally, 91% of US retail media shoppers surveyed expect to either increase or maintain the amount of shopping they do on online retail platforms over the next year.
The survey results indicate that RMN ads are effective at garnering consumers’ attention and driving sales. Fully 89% of RMN shoppers surveyed claim to pay attention to at least one type of retail media ad, and about half (48%) report having clicked on a retail media ad at some point over the past year. Further downstream, close to 9 in 10 (86%) say that RMN ads have led them to products that they’ve purchased over the past year on retail platforms.
The RMN ad type most likely to capture the attention of shoppers is an ad for a product that’s on sale, with about half (51%) of RMN shoppers saying they pay attention to such ads, and 44% saying they make purchases from them.
Next up, some 44% pay attention to ads for best-selling items in the product category they’re browsing, and 41% to ads suggesting products that they “may also like.” Ads suggesting products that “customers also viewed” are less likely to draw the attention of shoppers (32%), while the ad type least likely to garner their attention are ads for products unrelated to the products they’re browsing (14%).
There are privacy considerations at play here, a notable finding given that separate research has found that cookie deprecation will have a strong impact on retail media. Specifically, two-thirds of RMN shoppers report being concerned or very concerned about the privacy of their data in retail media networks, and roughly half (49%) have already opted out of data tracking on RMNs.
Although advertisers are clamoring for RMNs to open up their inventory, about 4 in 10 (39% of) RMN shoppers aren’t comfortable with RMNs using any of their data outside of their platforms. Furthermore, 1 in 5 aren’t comfortable with RMNs using any of their data within their platforms.
In other highlights from the survey:
- About 1 in 4 (24% of) RMN shoppers have visited a store to shop for a product advertised on a retail platform within the past year.
- One in 5 (20% of) RMN shoppers report having purchased an advertised product at an in-person store.
- Almost 4 in 10 (38% of) RMN shoppers are likely to purchase products from ads that are displayed in relevant contexts on retail platforms.
For more, download the study here.
About the Data: The results are based on a March survey of 1,669 US retail media shoppers.
