Episode 43: Building Omnichannel Retail Media (Part 1)

Hosts: Viv Craske & Colin Lewis

Guest: Florian Clemens – Former Director of Strategy, Proposition & Measurement at Tesco Media; former global accounts leader at Amazon Advertising

In this episode of Retail Media Therapy, Viv and Colin are joined by retail media veteran Florian Clemens to unpack the complexity of building a true omnichannel retail media business. Drawing on his experience at Tesco Media and Amazon Advertising, Florian breaks down the four major supply sources in retail media, the core principles for designing retail media propositions, and how retailers should think about demand – from large CPG partners to marketplace sellers and agencies.

This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation, focusing on inventory supply and advertiser demand in retail media.

Why Omnichannel Retail Media Is Hard

Building retail media on top of a retail business involves managing multiple moving parts simultaneously:

Ad inventory across physical and digital environments

Retail priorities vs advertising priorities

Technology and data infrastructure

Advertiser expectations shaped by large platforms

Florian emphasizes that retailers must coordinate many internal interfaces while building a credible media proposition.

The Core Framework: “Win–Win–Win”

Florian highlights a guiding principle for retail media strategy:

Every retail media product must work for three stakeholders:

Shoppers – Ads must enhance or at least not harm the shopping experience

Advertisers – Campaigns must deliver measurable results

Retailers – The activity must drive revenue and category growth

If any of these fail, the retail media product quickly breaks.

Retail Media Supply: The Four Major Inventory Sources

1. In-Store Media

2. Onsite & App Media

3. Offsite Retail Media

4. CRM & Loyalty Media

Example activation: Clubcard challenges

Customers earn points for increasing spend on a product

Brands fund the loyalty reward

Brands only pay if customers convert

Demand Side: Where Retail Media Revenue Comes From

Major suppliers generate a large share of revenue through Joint Business Plans.

Retail media can support broader category growth strategies.

Retail media becomes part of joint commercial planning, not just advertising.

Smaller brands often lack traditional brand budgets. Retailers must support them through:

Self-serve ad tools

Performance-driven retail media campaigns

Agency support similar to Amazon marketplace models

Marketplace Sellers

Marketplace sellers often assume retail media works like Amazon. But discovery dynamics differ. Example challenge: Shoppers may not search for categories like garden furniture on grocery sites.

Non-Endemic Advertising: Non-endemic brands represent a major future opportunity. But retailers must offer:

High-impact placements (video, homepage takeovers)

Brand measurement tools

Strong category guidelines

Retailers also need clear internal policies about which non-endemic advertisers are acceptable.

Agencies and the Future of Commerce Media

Florian predicts a major shift: “Commerce is eating advertising.”

Two agency worlds are emerging:

Performance Agencies: Want retail media platforms to behave like Amazon. Focus heavily on sales outcomes

Brand Agencies: Interested in upper-funnel opportunities. But still expect campaigns tied to sales impact

Retail media’s promise is combining brand and performance measurement into a single ecosystem.

Key Takeaways

Retail media must deliver value to shoppers, advertisers, and retailers simultaneously

The four major supply sources are in-store, onsite/app, offsite, and CRM

Retailers must balance relevance and inspiration

Future growth will come from offsite media and non-endemic advertisers

Agencies and brands increasingly expect commerce-driven advertising outcomes

What’s Coming in Part 2

In the next episode, the discussion continues with:

How retail media teams work with internal retail stakeholders

The technology stack required for retail media

The platform architecture retailers must build

Grace & Co | Retail Media Experts

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