John Lewis has signed a major deal with Publicis-owned data and tech specialist Epsilon to launch a suite of new retail media capabilities, with the aim of helping brands connect with customers shopping on johnlewis.com.
The move is designed to allow brands to create and manage their own campaigns, including via banner ads and sponsored product listings and offers a dashboard showing exactly how campaigns are performing, how customers are engaging, and how many sales are coming through.
Brands can maintain always on campaigns, and quickly adapt to seasonal trends and sales peaks such as Back to School and Black Friday.
In addition, thanks to real-time data and performance metrics, they can measure the impact of their initiatives right down to the individual product level and search terms.Epsilon recently launched a similar offer for sister retail brand Waitrose.
All ads are reviewed by John Lewis’ in-house team to make sure they are suitable, beneficial and relevant for customers.
The retailer says that the investment “underscores its dedication to improving the customer experience by better connecting individuals with the brands they care about, at the right time in their purchase journey”.
John Lewis head of retail media business and proposition strategy Jemma Haley said: “While retailers have long been advertising on their own websites, we want to improve the experience, and make it even easier for customers to connect with the brands and products that meet their needs.”
“As part of this, we’re providing brands with more targeted and relevant ways to connect with customers. Our shoppers are unique in terms of the ways they research, browse and buy, and we need to be ready to meet them in the moments they are ready to purchase or engage with a brand.”
Epsilon regional CEO Europe Alban Villani added: “John Lewis offers a unique and scaled audience across its online and in-store environments. People visit John Lewis in search of inspiration, to validate their research and to make purchases that often initiate a longer-term brand relationship.”
“It’s a real opportunity for brands to evolve their strategies beyond performance goals to think about how they engage customers in ways that build awareness and loyalty.”
“We look forward to supporting John Lewis further as they continue to test and learn across categories and build an even more impactful omnichannel media proposition for brands.”
The opportunity for UK firms to offer retail media spend was first flagged up in 2019, when DunnHumby Media predicted that grocery retailers alone could claw in an extra £1.7bn worth of revenue by using the customer data and insights they already have under their noses to monetise their owned media. Since then, most major UK retailers have jumped into the advertising market.
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