Trends 2019: Digital Ad Platforms – Amazon, Walmart, Kroger and Target

Digital media plays an increasingly important role in how consumers are discovering products, and as retailers are evolving their own content and advertising businesses, some brands are taking advantage of this “new shelf space.” In Shopper Marketing’s annual Trends survey, nearly two-thirds (60%) of respondents say they are buying digital ads from Amazon, 46% from Walmart, 40% from Target, and 32% from Kroger and its relatively new platform.Those who aren’t spending with retailers may be “missing the boat,” says Brian Cohen, chief operating officer at The Epsilon Agency. “It’s surprising that there are so many who haven’t made retailer platforms a meaningful part of their shopper or media programs given the benefits – shopper behaviors, enhanced relationships, better attribution. This is not just a shopper marketing tool, it’s a media tool.” Cohen makes his case particularly in terms of Amazon: “More product searches start on Amazon versus any other platform on the web, Google included. Yet these numbers indicate that the investment has yet to catch up. I’m sure many of these same brands have robust search budgets that have yet to include Amazon. Leveraging Amazon as a platform for your brand is so much more than simply ‘winning’ on Amazon through sales on the platform. It’s about brand building, shopping experience and expectation management.”On the data-sharing front, Cohen agrees with the 72% of respondents working with Amazon who rated it as average or poor, though he understands that Amazon needs to retain its hold on data to maintain a higher ground. “Quite frankly, I’m surprised 24% of respondents rated Amazon as good; sure they have more than most, but they don’t share it, nor does it make sense for them to do so,” Cohen says. “That said, the data is why their ad platforms are so big; they can create and reach audiences better than most.”Responses from those working with Target were similar to Amazon, with a data-sharing rating of average from 42%, poor from 30%, good from 21% and excellent from 6%. Walmart was more polarizing, with a full 11% of those working with the retailer indicating it is excellent at data sharing, but another 32% rating the retailer as poor. Kroger came out on top with 22% of respondents rating the supermarket retailer as excellent and 30% as good. Turning the tables on consumer product manufacturers, Cohen says it is CPGs that have a wider lens and need to be able to bring data that is complementary to the data set a retailer has.“CPGs today should already have a meaningful data program and roadmap, be it by investing in their own first-party data programs or leveraging a suite of third-party inputs,” he says. “This will be the best way to drive a more meaningful value exchange with their retailer partners, sharing influences and behaviors outside their experiences at a given retailer.” In terms of targeting effectiveness, Walmart respondents gave the worst ratings (13% of respondents rated the retailer as poor and 53% as average), and Kroger took the lead with 37% of respondents rating the retailer as excellent and another 30% as good. Walmart was also the straggler in terms of measurement capabilities (21% of respondents rated the retailer as poor and 34% as average), while Amazon led the pack with 20% rating the retailer as excellent and 42% as good. Target fell to the back of the pack when it came to ROI, with 21% of respondents rating the retailer as poor and 61% as average.

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