Featured retail media: Shopping trolleys

This week we are going to shine a spotlight on shopping trolleys as a star of retail media. This is the first retail medium we have featured, so there has been hot debate about how much detail makes sense for a given article. The decision has been to try it and see, with the option to do follow up articles if feedback suggests it would be worthwhile.

Clearly shopping trolley media fall into two main categories:
1) Static display
This is the addition of a creative to some combination of the sides and the handle of the trolley.
2) Dynamic display
This is a video display that may, or may not include other features such as location detection, loyalty card tie up and motion sensitive displays.

This article will only look at the first of these as the second is too complicated to fit into one article and too infrequently used to be a featured retail media at this time.

So what are shopping trolleys best used for? Well first the obvious, shopping trolleys, like all other retail media are best used in combination as part of an integrated campaign.

They are a good reminder to the customer of an offer they are already aware of, so if you have a radio offer you want to tie them to, this could be the way to get in-store effectiveness. If you can arrange to have the in-store location incorporated into your creative then they can become a call to action and actually prove useful to the customer. This matches with the best practice for floor graphics, another retail media which can work particularly well to highlight an in-store promotion.

They are also good for general brand building as they are visible throughout the shopper journey. If you are trying to raise awareness then a constant/frequent reminder is often best. In this case you would want to use them in conjunction with roadsides, fleet media or similar brand building tool as part of a coherent whole.


How are they best used? Here the important thing is to make best use of the limited space available. Clarity is of key importance. Try and keep the number of words as few as possible. If the optimum on a poster is 5-7 words then the optimum on a shopping trolley is probably less. As mentioned before, try to get an aisle location if promoting an in-store offer; it will use up 2 words (e.g. Aisle K) but will be worth it for the additional conversions it provides.

If the retailer has a particular color scheme associated with offers make sure that if your campaign is an offer you use their colors. This is more than just a courtesy. Shoppers in a particular store are aware of how the retail media work in that store and will have trained themselves to spot offers efficiently. This will have a measurable impact on uplift.

Make sure your branding is clear and distinct regardless of whether you are promoting an offer or raising brand awareness. In the former case you will help the customer to find your product and in the latter your brand is what you need them to see. As always a clear message is important, though in some contexts humor can still be effective despite the size restrictions. If you are working on brand awareness then the same level of humor should be retained as in the rest of your campaign even if this particular retail media (along with pump nozzles) requires more work.