Shopper marketing vs. retail media: what's the difference?

Shopper marketing and retail media overlap so much that many brand teams use the terms interchangeably. They aren't quite the same. The difference between shopper marketing vs retail media is mostly one of scope and ownership. Shopper marketing is the broader discipline of influencing shoppers along the path to purchase. Retail media is paid advertising sold by retailers or retail networks, on their properties or screens.

Retail media is one tool shopper marketers can use. It's not the whole toolbox.

What is shopper marketing?

Shopper marketing focuses on people in their role as shoppers, not just as consumers of a product. It asks how people decide what to buy, where and when, and how a brand can shape those decisions.

The toolkit is wide. In-store displays, shelf signage, packaging, promotions, sampling, coupons, partnerships with retailers and, increasingly, paid media. Much of it happens in or near the store, but it can also include planning trips, lists and online browsing before a shopper visits.

Shopper marketing is often organized around specific retailers or channels. A brand might have separate shopper plans for supermarkets, drugstores and convenience stores, because shoppers behave differently in each.

What is retail media?

Retail media is advertising sold by retailers, or by networks that represent retail locations. It includes ads on retailer websites and apps, sponsored product listings, and in-store screens.

Its defining feature is that the advertising runs on the retailer's or network's own properties, close to where shoppers buy. That proximity is why retail media is often used for campaigns tied to specific products and stores.

In-store retail media includes screens like those NRS Digital Media runs on NRS point-of-sale systems in independently-owned stores. Campaigns there can be activated by audience index, retail channel, SKU level, or geography down to the zip code, bought directly or by PMP.

Where do they overlap?

At the point of purchase. A shopper marketing plan for a product launch might include a display, a price promotion and a counter-screen ad. The display and promotion are classic shopper marketing. The screen ad is retail media. Together they make a stronger in-store presence than any one alone.

In objectives. Both usually aim to influence what shoppers choose in the store, whether that's trying a new item, choosing a brand over another, or adding something to the trip.

In measurement. Both often rely on store-level sales comparisons to judge results, since what matters is what sold.

Why plan them together?

Because shoppers experience them together. A shopper sees the screen, the display and the shelf in the same visit. If the messages don't match, or the screen promotes a deal that isn't on the shelf, the shopper notices.

Because budgets often sit in different places. Shopper marketing may sit with a sales or customer team, and retail media with a media or brand team. Without coordination, the two can end up competing for the same stores and moments, or leaving gaps.

Budget ownership is often where the two ideas collide in practice. Shopper marketing money may sit with a sales or trade team, while media money sits with brand. When each team plans alone, a store can end up with a display and no screen message, or a screen message and no product on the shelf. Agreeing early on who funds which piece, and what both teams will measure, keeps the plan together once the campaign goes live.

And because coordination is simple to start. A shared calendar, a shared store list and a single brief that covers both are often enough. To plan in-store media alongside shopper programs, contact the NRS Digital Media team, or see an overview on the NRS Digital Media site.