In this episode of It's a Customer's World, Andy is joined by long-time industry leader, Bryan Gildenberg. Bryan has decades of experience in CPG and e-commerce and currently is the SVP of Commerce at OmniCom Commerce Group. Their conversation focuses on the ever-changing retail landscape and explores the promise and reality of retail media networks.

Topics and Questions:

00:50 Guest Introduction

03:32 How retail media networks have blurred the lines in retail

04:48 How would you describe the promise of retail media networks?

07:08 How would you describe the current reality of retail media networks?

09:22 How the industry is underestimating the tech investment Amazon made to get to this point

11:33 Connecting paid search results to traditional retail strategy

13:00 The importance of inventory forecasting in an evolving retail space

14:20 Understanding how RMNs vary across different retailers

15:30 How can traditional retailers leverage their physical presence?

18:30 Can the industry support the rapid emergence of countless RMNs?

21:20 How will the evolution of retail impact aggregation amongst CPG companies and retailers?

23:10 How will the evolution of retail impact agencies participating in this space?

25:54 What challenges are media teams facing?

30:45 The fundamental difference between performance marketing and shopper marketing

33:47 What new challenges will young brands face in terms of discovery?

37:13 How social media platforms are serving as a source of discovery

39:12 How Amazon’s removal of friction has set them apart

42:37 The positive impact of relevance engineering teams

44:10 How will retailers adapt as consumers grow weary of heavy ad loads

46:50 What will the future of RMNs look like in 2-3 years?

49:07 Will there be more or less RMNs in 2-3 years?

52:41 Wrapping up