The Rise Of Retail Media Networks (RMNs) and Financial Media Networks (FMNs)

The demand for highly-tailored promotions is growing – 70% of consumers state it is “important” or “very important” that their data is used for greater personalization. But with constant, ongoing changes in third-party data collection and an increase in consumer demand for personalized ads, brands need to find a better way to understand their customers.

New digital media networks, such as Retail Media Networks (RMNs) and Financial Media Networks (FMNs), have emerged as a strong alternative to third-party cookie collection, and they are frequently used by CPG brands to deliver impactful campaigns to their target audiences.

(Read the article published on MartechSeries)

Where Retail Media Networks Fall Short

RMNs have become a cornerstone of modern marketing, providing a platform for retailers to connect with consumers. RMNs are digital advertising ecosystems operated by retailers, enabling brands to target customers directly through the retailer’s website, app, or in-store. They are widely used by brands and advertisers looking to leverage the retailer’s unique insights into customer behavior to deliver highly personalized advertising.

RMNs have a significant limitation: their scope. The data they collect is restricted to individual retailers, creating a siloed view of consumer behavior. While RMNs excel at showing results within a specific store, they fail to provide a comprehensive understanding of customer behavior across multiple retailers. This gap can hinder brands and advertisers from forming a holistic picture of shopping habits.

To address this challenge, Financial Media Networks have emerged as a complementary solution. FMNs leverage first-party purchase data derived from card payments, offering an expansive view of customer behavior across retailers. Unlike RMNs, FMNs provide hyper-accurate, SKU-level data supplied by financial institutions, enabling brands to analyze shopping patterns across an entire network of retailers. This broader perspective equips advertisers with deeper insights into consumer habits, helping them craft more effective, data-driven strategies.

The Benefits of FMNs

1. They’re Retailer Agnostic:

FMNs are retailer-agnostic, meaning CPGs can promote offers usable across any retailer, creating broader reach and more flexibility. RMNs, on the other hand, require brands to create separate campaigns for each retailer, which is time consuming and costly. By using FMNs, CPGs can simplify their media strategy and reach consumers at scale without limiting their reach to any single retailer.

2. They Have a Large, Loyal and Engaged Audience:

Bank platforms attract a broad, loyal audience, with consumers who are eager for grocery offers, which can enhance the visibility and effectiveness of CPG promotions. These digital platforms are naturally more trustworthy to consumers who are more likely to perceive them as legitimate and not a scam. A recent survey found that 60% of consumers trust bank offers more than other types of coupons. CPG brand offerings are more likely to be seen and used on bank apps than other offer avenues.

3. Consumers Are Hungry for Coupons and FMNs Offer a Unique Channel:

Grocery deals within banking apps are among the highest performing offers due to their relevance to daily consumer behavior. Snipp recently conducted a survey that showed 56% of consumers rank groceries as the top category for using promotions, coupons or rebates, demonstrating a strong interest in saving on everyday essentials. Because of this, most banks will prioritize everyday spending categories like groceries over occasional purchases (e.g., home improvement or furniture) because they drive the most frequent consumer interactions. They do this intentionally to position their cards as the primary payment option for everyday purchases, ensuring frequent usage and consumer loyalty.

4. They Provide Comprehensive Data on Attribution and Incrementality

For CPG brands, data is the key to ensure their return on investment (ROI) is validated. It is critical for CPGs to attribute their media spending to specific consumer actions. To do this, data must show the consumer saw the offer and they redeemed the offer. It is also critical for brands to show incrementality like shifts in consumer behavior. For example, a brand can track whether a consumer who hasn’t previously purchased a specific product or shopped at a certain retailer starts doing so.  RMNs provide attribution and incrementality data but only at a singular retailer. Because they are retailer agnostic, FMNs provide comprehensive redemption data on national offers and across all retailers. In addition, FMNs can aggregate and analyze redemption data across the retailers creating actionable insights for CPGs and better ROI and incrementality measurement compared to RMNs.

5. There’s An Emerging Opportunity for CPG Brands:

Why are CPG’s just now learning about FMNs? Well, FMNs have been around for over a decade but only retailers could advertise using them. On their own, banks only know where consumers shop and not what they buy. In the past two years, a select few third-party vendors have partnered with banks to provide the missing SKU-level basket data that make it possible for CPGs to advertise on FMNs.

Redefining the Future of Consumer Engagement

Financial Media Networks represent a significant evolution in how brands can connect with consumers in today’s competitive marketplace. By leveraging first-party data provided by financial institutions and their SKU-level data partners, FMNs allow for CPG brands to create highly personalized and effective marketing strategies that resonate with consumers’ preferences and purchasing behaviors. As FMNs continue to grow, they will redefine the landscape of marketing and advertising.

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