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Understanding retail media in Ahold Delhaize’s European markets

June 25, 2024 - Retail media has played an important role in the retail world for quite some time – its first forms included advertisements we used to see printed on the back of grocery receipts. Today, in a world where people encounter an overwhelming number of ads, both online and offline, retail media is becoming an increasingly effective way to create a relevant customer experience and provide additional revenue streams. We talked to our expert, Maurits Priem, Head of Monetization for Ahold Delhaize Europe & Indonesia, to find out more about retail media – and how Ahold Delhaize is paving the way for its future. 

What is retail media and how does it benefit customers?

First, let’s clarify what we mean by retail media. IAB Europe, the European-level association for the digital marketing and advertising ecosystem, explains it as the advertising space, data assets and in-store opportunities a retailer or marketplace owns, which are then made available to brands for the execution of advertising campaigns.  

“Retail media is important to Ahold Delhaize’s European businesses for two main reasons: it enhances the customer experience and it provides additional revenue streams that can be invested back into important goals, like making shopping more convenient and enjoyable and working towards our healthy and sustainable agenda,” said Maurits. “By having a strong retail media program, we can provide more relevant advertising to customers when they visit our online channels, giving them a better and more personalized experience. For example, if a customer prefers vegetarian meals, our retail media partnerships allow our brands to show the customer more vegetarian offers through their online touchpoints.”  

Like most things that touch the customer at the Ahold Delhaize brands, retail media has mainly been a local pursuit. “Many of our great local brands in Europe have their own retail media organizations that are at different maturity levels and sizes and offer a variety of retail media products,” said Maurits. Earlier this year, Ahold Delhaize launched Ad Retail Media, a retail media organization that focuses specifically on advertising for products or services that are “non-endemic,” meaning they are not sold through our brands such as an offer from an energy supplier to switch to green energy. 

Last Refreshed: 6/29/2024 11:38:49 PM
Ahold Delhaize at the forefront  

These efforts have put Ahold Delhaize at the forefront of retail media in the Benelux countries, with teams of associates involved from both the business (sales, data analysis and ad operations) and technology side. “What makes Ahold Delhaize stand apart is the incredible reach we have when it comes to advertising, through the many customer touch points offered through our brands, reaching almost everybody in the Benelux,” said Maurits. The brands offer a variety of retail media products, such as onsite advertising (homepage web- and app banners), in-store advertising (digital-out-of-home screens, hand scanners and promo teams) and offsite advertising (media channels of large publishers).  

Continuous growth ahead 

Bain & Company predicts that retail media will be a $140 billion global market by 2026 (up to €25 billion in Europe) with an expected annual growth of 25%. Maurits sees significant expansion opportunities ahead for retail media and explains how the industry will shift to make this growth possible and that the industry will need to scale up its reach, data and technology to accommodate this growth. “Supply and demand will professionalize and more standardization will take place. New revenue streams are already being unlocked by non-endemic advertising, and this will continue to grow. Offsite advertising, in which retail media provides an opportunity to advertise through large publishers and social media networks, will continue to take shape as well.”  

Looking ahead at retail media

Retail media has a bright future and Ahold Delhaize plans to take full advantage of all opportunities it resents. “We predict growth in retail media at Ahold Delhaize in Europe, both in expanding the advertisers we work with – including non-endemics – and also more propositions for advertising, especially earlier in the customer’s shopping journey, even before they come into the store or place their order online.” These could include video advertising, cookie-less offsite advertising and new media, such as delivery vans, next to media like sponsored banners on web & app. 

“We will continue to streamline the retail media process, with a self-service platform for our advertising customers and scale our technology within Europe,” said Maurits.  

For more information about our approach to retail media, see here. Homepage (adretailmedia.nl) 

For information about Ahold Delhaize USA’s Retail Media activities please go to: Ahold Delhaize Retail Media (adretailmedia.com) 

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