Retail Media Coles 360: Retail Media Networks have been set-up all over the world. It’s not just the US or Europe – there is lots of innovation in Retail Media Networks in Latin America, Asia, Australia, New Zealand – and we are going to profile some of them here on Internet Retailing. Originally published Internet Retailing 20th August 2024.

This week’s profile is one of Australia’s biggest retailers – Coles. The Coles Group is a household name in Australia, one of the leading retailers, with a national supermarket and liquor store footprint and a range of digital platforms to deliver a full service omnichannel experience.

Coles has millions of customers every week, employs more than 120,000 people and has with more than 8,000 suppliers. 

Coles 360 is the Retail Media arm of the Coles Group and it is a huge part of the Australian Retail Media story.

Retail media in Australia

Retail media is seeing spectacular growth in Australia. It is a billion-dollar industry, forecast to reach $3bn in 2027. IAB Australia’s first report into retail media in Australia found that 31% of investment comes from new budgets, with 69% reallocated from other budgets.

The latest Australian Entertainment and Media Outlook report by PWC in Australia shows that the impact of the growth of Retail Media from the likes of Coles 360 has started to be reflected in the overall internet advertising revenue numbers for Australia. 

As Louise King, Technology, Media and Telecommunications leader, PwC Australia, quoted in in Mi3 marketing newsletter, the likes of Coles 360, have done “an amazing job at connecting their data….they have a unique advantage. They capture all the data through their customer loyalty program [sic], and they can directly track consumer behaviour with the adverts that they’re following on their website”.

Coles 360 Retail Media

As part of one of the largest grocers in Australian, Coles 360 has access to millions of interactions and transactions every week and boasts a full-funnel, omnichannel suite of media assets that brands leverage.

The business offers onsite, offsite and instore retail media channels: 

Onsite 

• Biddable sponsored search activation across both website and app.
• Upcoming enhancements through audience targeting and video means onsite is an essential element of an omnichannel plan. 

Instore 

• Coles 360 is looking to expand screen opportunities across its 850+ stores. The retailer has an expansive front of store digital screen network in place, an instore audio network in Coles Radio and a free Coles Magazine that has one of the highest readerships in the country.

Offsite

• Coles 360 offers activation opportunities across video, social and OOH via a managed service.
• The business also has commercial data partnerships with agencies, platforms, publishers and brands who leverage Coles first party loyalty data to achieve better targeting and better outcomes.

Coles 360 Leadership

Paul Brooks is the GM of Coles 360. Paul has a background in retail media, media, marketing and advertising industry in the UK and Australia believes that the success of Coles 360 is down to “how we align category and brand growth plans to achieve shared success. We’re driving quantifiable results with our measurement solution, Coles 360Impact which provides insights on incrementality that brands can’t otherwise get”. 

Brooks believes that the ‘special sauce of Coles 360 is that “We are transparent and work with brands to drive continuous learning and improvements on the metrics that matter.”

Coles 360 Innovation

Coles 360 launched a new comprehensive measurement solution, Coles 360Impact, designed to provide a 360-degree view of campaign performance powered by Circana.

The new capability leverages two incremental techniques, namely customer and market lift. Coles 360Impact has an increased focus on causality for all Coles media channels, both addressable and non-addressable media. 

In-store, Coles is using sophisticated segmentation targeting on its digital entry screens, enabling brands to be more precise in the shoppers they connect with as they step into our stores.

Coles 360 also became the first Australian retailer to use Australia Retail Media tech vendor, Zitcha, to power the self-serve platform for Meta’s Managed Partners Ads (MPA). This partnership allows retailers to unlock the full potential of Meta’s Shopper Marketing Ads product through Zitcha’s MPA API integration.

Learning from Australia’s retail media market 

Although there has been huge progress in the local retail media landscape, Aussies believe that Retail Media in their country is nascent and that there is a long way to go. Aussies have always been early adopters, but as Brooks points out “Australia always looks to North America and Europe for inspiration and wisdom”. 

The Australian government is actively reviewing privacy laws that will undoubtedly impact the media and advertising industry, so the importance of first party data will grow.  

The next phase of Retail Media in Australia faces the same disruptions as elsewhere: AI, technology or and societal trends

What’s next for Coles 360?

Brooks believes that the next phase of growth for Coles 360 is the “digitisation of the store network, increased app and web capabilities, plus the full realisation of the first party data capabilities”.