LAS VEGAS – Retailers have built a billion-dollar business selling online advertising to brands that want to reach consumers when they’re most ready to shop. There’s a bigger opportunity for retailers and marketers to collaborate on in-store advertising, according to one analyst.

“Stores, I think, are the next Major Media channel,” Andew Lipsman, principal analyst for retail and ecommerce at Axel Springer’s Insider Intelligence, said in this interview with consultant Joanna O’Connell at Shop Talk 2023.

“In-store audiences – this isn’t just shopper traffic. These are eyeballs and audiences that can be reached with high-quality, contextually relevant, brand-safe creative … at the moment near the point of purchase,” he said.

As much as ecommerce has grown in the past 30 years, it still only accounts for 16% of total retail sales, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s latest figures. For millions of people, shopping is a form of out-of-home entertainment, and can feel liberating after being stuck at home during pandemic lockdowns.

Retailers have an opportunity to move up the purchase funnel into brand awareness advertising, and tell a more complete brand story on video screens in stores. However, these installations shouldn’t interfere with the consumer experience and hinder people as they move through stores.

“I give retailers a lot of credit because they talk about consumer experience first,” Lipsman said. “You don’t want to turn off consumers, you don’t want to get in the way of their shopping.”

You are watching ‘Inside Commerce: Retail Media & What’s Next? Reports from ShopTalk 2023,’ a Beet.TV Leadership Series presented by Criteo. For more videos from this series, please visit this page.