Elevating Your Retail Strategy: The Role of Membership Warehouse Clubs in Omnichannel, Retail Media Success

There are just a handful of publishers with digital advertising, such as paid search and paid social. But with retail media, there are dozens. Skai already supports integrations with 70+ global retailers [and counting.]

The challenge in this publisher-rich environment is how to properly allocate budgets across the retailers for maximum performance. Becoming more consumer-centric is essential to omnichannel marketing success, so the key to solving this puzzle lies in understanding the role different types of retailers play in consumers’ lives.

And there are already many different types of retail media programs:

• Primarily digital-only, like Amazon Ads
• Omnichannel (online/offline) like Walmart Connect
• Delivery-based like Instacart Ads
• Grocery programs like Kroger Precision Marketing
• Specialty retailers like Best Buy Ads and UB Media (Ulta Beauty)

Today’s post explores the benefits of membership warehouse club retail media programs and how marketers should consider them in their media plans.

Membership warehouse clubs — retail media can connect brands with members

Membership warehouse clubs such as Sam’s Club, BJs, and Costco became popular in the early 1980s. At these locations, members purchase large quantities of high-quality goods at exclusive prices—appealing to everyday shoppers and small business owners alike. Typically, the clubs are designed in a no-frills format to ensure they are passing on the best value and price to their members. Memberships are another way clubs can provide the best prices on everything from everyday needs to treasure hunt items.

Because these retailers have such strong relationships with their members, they know what each one of their members buys, which opens up the opportunity to target them based on purchase history, demographics, recent purchases of similar items, and basket size for every member. It isn’t guessing and modeling an unknown user on behalf of advertisers.

By showing your ads to people more likely to be interested in your products or services, you can increase the likelihood that they will convert into customers. This can help you get more value from your advertising dollars and generate a better ROI.

Advantages of wholesale membership retail media programs

While the great targeting these programs offer is significant, they also provide many other benefits.

Deal seekers and high average order value

Membership warehouse clubs attract customers who are often big entertainers or value shoppers, making them ideal for advertising products offered at a competitive price point.

And due to the bulk sizes of the products these stores carry, the average order value of wholesale club members is often much higher than that of other types of retailers. This streamlines the risk involved in achieving ROI.

Trust and credibility

Wholesale warehouse stores are well-known for their quality products and competitive pricing, which can help build trust and credibility for advertised products.

The trust these clubs have built with their members also opens up opportunities for non-product brands to reach shoppers in the store, such as travel companies, telecom, and other service providers. Even the massive size of these stores offers physical space for in-store demos and installing representatives to speak directly with consumers.

A better understanding of the customer

Wholesale membership retailers are known for large purchases, indicating individual consumer preferences for specific brands. For example, if someone buys a giant box of cereal—that’s a pretty solid indicator that they like that brand. Understanding this aspect of shoppers can help:

• A cereal brand uses advertising to drive repeat sales to existing customers
• The competitors of the cereal brand engage with shoppers that are most likely to be interested in them
• Adjacent advertisers sell products that consumers who like that cereal would probably also like (i.e., milk, granola bars, etc.)

B2B, not just B2C

While most retail media programs only cater to individual consumers, wholesale membership clubs are used by many small and medium businesses (SMBs) to buy products to resell to their customers.

Not every SMB is big enough to warrant direct deals with manufacturers and distributors, so these clubs are the next best thing. For retail media marketers focusing on SMBs, wholesale membership advertising programs offer a unique channel to reach this audience.

Access to data beyond targeting

Membership retail media programs can provide brands with valuable data and consumer behavior insights. By tracking which ads are most effective, which products are selling well, and which promotions drive the most engagement, you can better understand your target audience and make more informed marketing decisions.

This can help refine your advertising strategy over time and achieve better results.

Improved Customer Loyalty

Membership retail media programs can also help improve customer loyalty by providing consumers with relevant offers and promotions.

By tailoring your advertising to individual consumers’ shopping habits and preferences, you can create a more personalized experience that can help build brand loyalty. This can lead to increased customer retention and higher lifetime value for your customers.

Skai helps to drive performance for whatever retail media programs you prefer

As part of Skai’s omnichannel marketing platform, our Retail Media solution empowers brands to plan, execute, and measure digital campaigns that meet consumers when and where they shop. Built with best-in-class automation and optimization capabilities, our unified platform allows you to manage campaigns on dozens of retailers, including Amazon, Walmart, Sam’s Club,Target, and Instacart, all in one place.

For more information, we invite you to schedule a brief demo with our team to see all of our cutting-edge retail media innovation for yourself.

Request a Demo of Skai