Transforming retail media: Insights from Fetch and Albertsons Media Collective

The digital media landscape is evolving rapidly, and Retail Media Networks (RMNs) and Retail Agnostic Media Platforms (RAMPs) are at the forefront of the transformation. 

These technologies evolved separately, but when they work together, advertisers have a powerful tool to drive explosive incremental growth. RAMPs can extend advertising reach while helping RMNs understand the consumer behavior happening outside their own retail ecosystems.

In a recent episode of The Garage podcast from Albertsons Media Collective, hosts Evan Hovorka, VP of Product and Innovation, and Dan Massimino, Director of Marketing, sat down with David Parisi, GM of Restaurants and Retail at Fetch, and Harvey Ma, VP of Albertsons Media Collective, to discuss key developments and in this dynamic field. The conversation centered on the groundbreaking synergy between Fetch and Albertsons Media Collective.

“For [Albertsons Media Collective], we understand that we can build really fantastic media campaigns with the products we own,” explains Ma. “But there are other channels and touchpoints that customers are shopping every single day. And the power of those two things [RAMPs and RMNs] is synergistic, complementary – not cannibalistic.”

How retail media is reshaping commerce

RMNs are revolutionizing the advertising landscape by creating new pathways for brands to connect directly with consumers at the point of purchase. The technology offers brands the ability to target personalized ads based on both shopping behavior and other first-party data collected from within the retail ecosystem. These networks leverage a retailer’s digital and physical assets to provide integrated marketing opportunities, enhancing both reach and relevance. 

RMNs are surging in popularity as ad buyers shift spend. These networks offer targeted, privacy-compliant advertising using first-party data – essential capabilities amidst the rise of e-commerce and the decline of third-party cookies. RMNs excel at understanding and engaging consumers within their own ecosystems, using information gleaned from within a retailer’s four walls to interpret and connect with shoppers.

Alongside RMNs, another adtech innovation, Retail-Agnostic Media Platforms (RAMPs), has emerged, facilitating data-driven advertising across multiple retail environments and ad targeting based on holistic consumer behavior. This technology allows brands to engage with consumers wherever they shop, significantly broadening the scope and effectiveness of marketing efforts.

Fetch, America’s Rewards App, stands out as a pioneer in the Retail-Agnostic Media Platforms (RAMP) space. With real-time visibility into $152 billion in annual consumer spending, Fetch employs a robust, data-driven approach to personalized advertising. The platform processes billions of physical and digital receipts, achieving item-level visibility across all retailers and restaurants. 

As a leader in RAMPs, Fetch is able to capture detailed consumer insights that span all retailers, payment types and transaction behavior. This enables Fetch to provide brands and RMNs with a comprehensive view of consumer activity, then turn those insights into highly effective advertising campaigns. 

How Albertsons Media Collective wins with Fetch 

The collaboration between Fetch and Albertsons Media Collective provides a compelling case study for how RAMPs and RMNs can work together. Historically, platforms that partner with RMNs do so in a way that is “insertive,” promoting cross-retail programs for specific brands. 

For example, an RMN advertiser might promote one of their brands on another digital commerce platform in order to drive customer engagement. But because these campaigns are limited, the resulting engagement is often a one-time purchase. In many cases, the activation could cannibalize advertising efforts elsewhere in the media mix.

When RMNs activate on Fetch, they’re tapping into a platform that creates lifelong consumer relationships while driving specific purchase behavior. And because Fetch captures and verifies users’ full purchase history, the platform provides crystal-clear attribution across the entire retail ecosystem. With Fetch, retail media networks can serve transaction-based offers to hyper-personalized audience segments, then nurture behavior over time. 

“[Fetch drives] incremental behavior [through] an incremental rewards structure for people who are shopping at our stores – as well as other stores,” Hovorka says. “It’s a whole new way of thinking.”

How the Fetch RAMP can enhance RMN shopper insights

Fetch’s expansive consumer insights perfectly complement Albertsons’ need for deeper assessments of shopper behavior. By capturing and understanding detailed receipt data across all physical and online retailers, Fetch can provide Albertsons with valuable information about what their consumer base is doing outside of the Albertsons retail ecosystem. 

Additionally, Fetch’s deterministic audience targeting, an approach that requires precise purchase data and retail-agnostic transaction history, enables The Collective to identify and reach new customers.

“Fetch helped us realize that it’s important to capture all of that customer behavior – as much as you can possibly get. Even if [the purchase] is going somewhere else, it’s great because customers are going to choose where they’re going to shop anyways,” explains Ma. “I’d love to be along that journey versus assuming incorrectly.” 

Partnering with Fetch has fundamentally shifted how Albertsons targets and serves its customers. With the Fetch app, Albertsons can understand purchasing habits across all retailers and payment methods, then transform those insights into personalized promotions. This both attracts new customers and enhances loyalty amongst existing shoppers. 

“We see almost the entire wallet of a given consumer [in real time] live inside of the Fetch ecosystem each month,” explains Parisi. “We’re focused on incremental behavior. How do we drive durable, incremental activity and action with customers already familiar with Albertsons banners? How do we get them to come into the store for the first time and create that habit and frequency?”

The answer: personalized rewards at scale, which is only possible with Fetch.

Join the RAMP revolution

The collaboration between Fetch and Albertsons Media Collective underscores the innovation that’s happening during this transformative period in retail media. By integrating advertising efforts across platforms and strategically using consumer insights, retailers and brands can create a more dynamic, responsive and effective marketing environment. 

“[We’ve] independently chosen Fetch as a premier place to spend,” says Ma. “The value [Fetch] drives to Albertsons stores is demonstrable through our MMM modeling. Fetch rose to the top of the ROAS investment.”