So, now that we’ve gone through the benefits of utilizing digital retail media, you should be hopeful and excited about discussing how your business could benefit. But, it would be wrong for us to let you reach any conclusions without first letting you in on some of the challenges and limitations that digital retail media brings with it too.

First of all, there are some limitations in terms of how your messaging and creative can look. While there are lots of established media placements that tend to be offered across most retailer sites, like sponsored listings and display ads, each retailer still insists on keeping creative control of how shoppers experience their site.

They naturally prioritize the consistency and appeal of their own brand’s visuals over yours, so any digital retail media has to stay within their established templates and guidelines. Sure, this does limit your business somewhat, but it’s worth finding out if there’s a little bit of wiggle room. Brand pages, for example, are usually still a great place to be creative and express what your business stands for!

Another challenge facing brands looking to utilize digital retail media is that, as it stands, the market is rather fragmented, operating in many individual siloes. Each retailer provides brands with access to their digital retail media portfolio in a different way to the next, whether it’s through their own trading teams or media sales house, or, more recently, their own range of self-service tools that allow advertisers to plan and monitor their campaigns themselves. There is a reason for this, and once again it comes down to control. Retailers want control over who has access to their media and data, and how they use it.

But, retailers often have their own individual ways of doing things, which can make it more complicated for brands looking to advertise their products, and it can soon snowball if they’re working with many different retailers.

This might be beginning to change though, there is hope. Ad tech providers are starting to simplify things, and as the market becomes more competitive, it’s likely that all stakeholders will find it in their interests to consolidate these different networks and processes.

This brings us on to the last challenge we’ll discuss for now. Digital retail media is a work in progress, especially when it comes to off-site activity. There is a lot of optimism from all parties involved that this area has the potential to help businesses deliver omnichannel campaigns across different sites and platforms. But, there’s still a way to go before this is all totally ironed out, and for now, CPM rates in this type of campaign - the amount it costs for a thousand impressions - are significantly higher than other, more established kinds of advertising campaigns.

Challenges & Opportunities