Omnichannel Analytics Part 2: the digital shelf and retail media

This is part 2 in our Omnichannel Analytics series. Part 1, which covers shopper understanding, omni growth and commercial KPIs, can be found here. 

The digital shelf encompasses a vast number of potential signals to analyse. To name a few: search placement, availability, and pricing, as well as countless elements of PDP content. For brands looking to accelerate omnichannel growth, the digital shelf provides immense opportunity. 

For brands, the goal in digital shelf analytics is to establish a process for continuously extracting insights from metrics that feed into intelligent, automated actions. Getting there, however, requires significant budget, personnel expertise and trial and error. 

To test and learn effectively, brands should harmonise eCommerce analytics with omnichannel sales to determine what digital shelf changes move the needle. Profitero’s partnership with Circana, for example, accomplishes this by layering multi-retailer ePOS sales over digital shelf signals. This creates a seamless data stream that both informs and reports back on digital shelf optimisations. 

At the early stages of digital shelf monitoring, which signals should brands prioritise? For Henkel’s Boris Ruetten, availability and content are foundational: 

For brands, establishing that your products are available and feature strong content - and having a process to monitor changes to these metrics - creates a focus around maximising growth from organic levers. Too often, brands skip this step, spending vast sums on paid search and media to drive shoppers to poor or out-of-stock PDPs. Improving content is a better first step and effectively boosts organic search rank, driving sales uplift. 

Whichever metrics brands choose to track, the key is to not overwhelm teams with more data than they can effectively use. Data should be introduced only where it empowers teams to take smarter actions. 

An example of this is store-level data, where the key to success is focusing on priority retailers where the data can drive action.  If you can’t drive change with store level data, it just adds noise and confusion to your organisation.

What kind of scope should this digital shelf data encompass? For brands with a grasp of the fundamentals who want to maximise their insights, full-category coverage that includes detailed competitor data is best. Brands often laser-focus on their own products, but competitor data unlocks opportunities for teams to differentiate their products (or learn from a competitor’s winning strategy). 

Digital Shelf Data Framework

The role of retail media in omnichannel growth

Retail media is a prime example of where investing in a holistic view of the digital shelf pays dividends. Retail media offerings are expanding, brand spending is rising, and ROI isn’t keeping up. Compare the cost of advertising around Black Friday in 2023 vs 2022:

Much of this dynamic is driven by retailers, many of whom have now set up a considerable revenue stream from their media offerings. Many brands lack insight into which opportunities are worthwhile but commit to media spending to maintain retailer relationships and avoid feeling left behind. Brands with strong omni analytics capabilities, on the other hand, are equipped to assess which media options are worth investing in and focus on high-ROI opportunities that actually drive sales - a win-win outcome. 

Tracking paid search & media spend along with sales is a good first step to test media strategies and assess uplift. As brands mature, some of the key media metrics to monitor include share of voice (SOV) and new to brand buyers (NTB) as well as incremental sales and ROAS. 

Competitor data here is critical. Brands should expect to be conquested through media with increased frequency, and competitor digital shelf data (Buy Box wins, pricing, availability, etc) can be used to both conquest competitors effectively and conserve media budget by turning off campaigns for out-of-stock products.

Retail Media Audit Framework

At the gold standard of omnichannel maturity, digital shelf data and media campaigns integrate seamlessly to drive smarter, better media campaigns. Automation is critical to implementing this efficiently. Profitero's Shelf Intelligent Media, for example, integrates our digital shelf data into Skai and Pacvue, allowing brands such as Heinz to achieve impressive uplift in media efficacy while lowering CPCs and increasing ROAS.

Where does omnichannel digital shelf analytics go from here? 

With so many metrics already available to track, added value will come from tools and workflows that translate the wealth of data into strategic recommendations. For eCommerce leaders, the holy grail of omnichannel analytics might look like a dashboard that evaluates the impact of digital shelf changes through causal attribution, and then quantitatively identifies the next best action to drive sales:

At Profitero, we think about omni analytics through a Get-Guide-Go framework. Brands just starting to adopt digital shelf analytics are focused on getting an accurate view of the market. More mature organisations are focused on using those insights to guide their teams to the next best action.

We believe that the future of omnichannel analytics is built on widespread adoption of automated tools that transform raw data into measurable progress towards brand KPIs. We ensure brands get the highest possible ROI from digital shelf data - whether it's more effective retail media campaigns, better Amazon profitability, or AI-optimised content that drives conversion.

Want to see how your brand's omnichannel readiness stacks up to industry benchmarks? Take our 5-minute Omnichannel Transformation Assessment to find out.

Stay tuned for Part 3 of our Omnichannel Analytics series, where we’ll dive into organisational and change management strategies for building an omnichannel, data-driven brand.