Retail Media in ANZ: A Conversation with Alex Lawson

RX Group is expanding into retail media consultancy. To mark the occasion, Juanita Neville-Te Rito sat down with Alex Lawson, Principal at The Media Practice and the newest member of the RX Consultancy team. Alex was integral to establishing and growing Market Media, The Warehouse Group's retail media network.

Juanita: For the executives and marketers who've heard "retail media" but couldn't define it, what is it?

Alex: Retailers monetising their own assets (website, app, in-store screens, loyalty data, physical space) by selling advertising to brands and suppliers who want to reach shoppers near the point of purchase. What makes it different is the data. A retailer knows what you actually bought, not just which ad you might have seen. That's far more valuable to a brand than a billboard or banner guessing at intent.

Juanita: How has it played out in New Zealand, and who are the main players?

Alex: It's early compared with the US, but it's moved quickly. Cartology (Woolworths) is the original NZ network. Since then we've seen The Warehouse Group's Market Media, Foodstuffs' Precision Media, Chemist Warehouse and Bunnings' Hammer Media enter the market, with others like Rebel Sport, Briscoes and Liquorland building offerings under the Hyper banner. Most of these have grown inside the retailer rather than being spun up by an outside ad-tech vendor, which is common in the US.

Juanita: How is ANZ different from the US or Europe?

Alex: The mix of physical and digital. US retail media is dominated by e-commerce giants like Amazon, eBay and Walmart, so it's built on search ads and sponsored listings. Here, most grocery and general merchandise sales still happen in store, so retail media leans on screens, shelf-edge media, sampling and radio alongside the digital layer. It forces retailers to think about media in a holistic, store-led way, rather than bolting an ad server onto a website.

Juanita: You built Market Media from scratch. What did that teach you?

Alex: That retail media isn't just a media product, it's a business transformation project. Merchandising, marketing, data, IT and finance all have to align around a new revenue line. Getting the data right, winning supplier and buyer buy-in, and proving measurement so brands trust the results took real time and capability. You can't just switch it on.

Juanita: Were there any unexpected benefits?

Alex: Definitely. The company was very siloed before we started. A retail media network forces collaboration, and everyone learns. Buyers saw how retail media drives the retail flywheel better than marketing funds or rebates dropped to the bottom line. I learned what store managers deal with, like stock, traffic flow and where a screen can actually go. And they learned how a screen drives profit better than stacking four layers of toilet paper in front of it! Everyone understood the business better, so we made decisions for overall profit, not just our own corner.

Juanita: What should NZ retailers be cautious of?

Alex: Three things. Don't chase the shiny ad-tech platform before your data foundations are sorted - the tech is the easy part. Don't overload the shopper experience with ads, because clutter damages the trust that makes your media valuable. And resource it properly. It needs dedicated commercial and analytics capability, not a side project on top of a marketing role. The good news is there's a range of operating models, from full in-house teams to third parties who deliver the staff and execution, so you can match it to your comfort with investment.

Juanita: Where is retail media heading?

Alex: Globally it's the fastest-growing advertising category, and it's moving beyond on-site ads into what people call retail media 2.0 or even 3.0: off-site activation, in-store media and closed-loop measurement that proves sales impact. Locally, expect more mid-sized and category-specific retailers entering, and more sophistication in measuring and selling in-store media, because that's our point of difference.

There's also commerce media, where non-retail brands with strong first-party data (airlines, banks, Uber) commercialise their audiences in the same way.

Juanita: Why should a retailer not yet in this space pay attention now?

Alex: Because it's incremental, high-margin revenue built on an asset you already own - your shopper relationship. Suppliers have budget they want to spend closer to the point of purchase, and if you don't offer a way to do that, someone else will. It doesn't need to be a huge undertaking to start, and payback can be fast. We worked to an initial payback of under 36 months. The retailers who build capability now will be well ahead of those who wait another two or three years.

Want to find out if retail media is right for your business?

RX has the specialists to assess whether the opportunity exists in your business, then plan implementation around the operating model that suits you. Alex works closely with our Data and AI technologists, plus our marketing and retail operations specialists, to help retailers of all sizes deliver complex projects with ease.