Co-op has launched the UK’s first convenience retail media network, designed to help brands improve their advertising opportunities and better reach their target customers.
The Co-op Media Network combines the retailer’s in-house team and long-term agency partner Threefold under one identity, The Grocer reported.
The network will allow brands to “strategically connect” their goods to the supermarket’s customers through offsite digital media channels, allowing them to centre advertising spend on shoppers more likely to be interested in purchasing their products or services.
SMG – the agency group that Threefold operates within – CEO Samuel Knights told the publication that brands will also “gain a comprehensive understanding of performance and measure the high ROI that convenience media can drive”.
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Co-op chief membership and customer officer Kenyatte Nelson said: “This is a momentous move for Co-op and one that will solidify our position in the retail media sector.
“Co-op’s nationwide network of frequently-shopped, smaller stores drives increased opportunities for brands’ advertising campaigns, and the unique impulsive nature of convenience shopping missions creates untapped occasions for brands to grow their sales.
“Convenience shopping and supermarket shopping are different purchasing occasions and brands will see greater sales and brand building benefits by executing media against both.”
Earlier in January, Co-op unveiled plans to hit 8m members by 2030, after its membership numbers rose ahead of expectations.
The supermarket is targeting a larger share of the convenience market via omnichannel growth, with plans to acquire new stores, more than double its number of new franchise stores, open 400 Nisa stores, and accelerate share in the quick commerce market to over 30%.
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