Retail media networks are rapidly gaining momentum, leveraging first-party data and fostering collaboration across commerce ecosystems. These evolving networks are reshaping how retailers, issuers and technology partners interact, driving new revenue streams for merchants, Dani Kenady, VP of operations at Affinity Solutions, noted in a recent interview with PYMNTS.
“They’re getting insights that they never had before,” she said, adding that there’s a “handshake” effect as data passes between consumer-level accounts, issuers and the merchants.
“The strongest benefit comes from measurement and analytics,” she continued, noting that “there is near-instantaneous, if not instantaneous, measurement and attribution that leads to real-time reporting, which retailers love … and they can map out where their customers are coming from, and going to.”
That level of insight, she told PYMNTS, can hasten and sharpen the digital transformation of retailers as they change the look and feel of their own offerings and eCommerce endeavors shaped by browsing history and site engagement.
But before getting to that level, a little background is in order. A retail media network is an advertising platform run by a retailer — whether that retailer is a physical store, an online marketplace, or a digital service — that allows outside brands to promote their products directly to shoppers through the retailer’s digital channels, like websites, apps, or even in-store screens. These networks help brands reach potential buyers at the moment they make shopping decisions, using the retailer’s own data about what people buy and how they shop.
Affinity, while not a retailer itself, is a leading consumer purchase data and insights company that works in close partnership with retail media networks and brands. Affinity specializes in analyzing actual purchase data from millions of credit and debit card transactions, helping brands, retailers and financial institutions understand how consumers spend their money across different stores, products and services. By providing these insights, Affinity enables advertisers and retailers to see the real-world impact of their advertising on consumer purchases, making it easier to measure results and improve marketing strategies.
Real-Time Analytics
In short, while a retail media network is the platform where brands can advertise to shoppers, Affinity is behind the scenes providing the data that helps everyone involved understand and act on what those shoppers are actually buying. The ability to share and analyze data in real time translates directly into tangible benefits, particularly for personalized promotions and loyalty programs.
Retail media networks personalize content by accessing a wealth of first-party data, and Kenady elaborated on the granularity of data points available, saying, “You can pull in everything from historical transaction information, you can pull in things like product categories that consumers are interested in and the frequency that they’re purchasing in those categories.”
This deep insight allows retailers to understand customer segments, such as whether they should be classified as a “luxury buyer” or a “budget buyer,” and to identify patterns including cart abandonment or cross-category spending.
The data ecosystem is dynamic, allowing for real-time appending of information such as demographics (age, income, family status), time spent on pages, search queries, and even interaction channels like in-app or mobile.
This comprehensive data pool enables tracking of response data — whether consumers are clicking through or, as Kenady described it, “responding to certain promotions over others,” that winds up creating a continuous “circle of information patterns that you can keep pulling in.”
The Positive Impact
These sophisticated data capabilities lead to significant operational improvements for retailers as the granular data empowers retailers to “be more efficient and find new customers quickly.”
By understanding customer behavior and preferences in near real time, retailers can quickly adapt their digital platforms, user interfaces, and product presentations to enhance the customer journey and improve engagement, Kenady said.
While such extensive data sharing presents opportunity, the critical element of security and privacy cannot be overstated. Kenady acknowledged this by noting that businesses are actively “figuring out how to commercialize their data assets and finding ways to be more privacy compliant” while focusing on “ways to keep that information blinded yet share safely.”
The emergence of real-time payments is reshaping how retail media networks function, particularly concerning payment processing and settlement. The core impact lies in instant settlement and immediate fund availability, which Kenady said significantly influences the real-time payment flow within these networks.
Real-time functionality gives rise to a cascade of benefits, including improved liquidity, better cash flow visibility and enhanced operational efficiency. Kenady stressed that real-time payments lead to reduced payment delays, streamlining the financial operations for retailers and their partners.
For the consumer, the shift to real-time payments and increased payment options has improved customer adoption of eCommerce functions including QR codes.
Looking ahead, a crucial development Kenady identified is the move toward a “unified payment experience across various platforms, encompassing popular options like PayPal or Venmo.
“We’re also moving toward a unified loyalty experience,” defined by Kenady as the movement away from fragmented, platform-specific programs to more interconnected “handshakes” of data flows.
As she told PYMNTS, “Everybody is striving for improvements on ROA and ROI, and these [network] models have the most benefit from all of the data that’s being collected.”
