Convenience retail media can “supercharge” brand recall by four times compared to campaigns in larger stores due to shopper frequency and the uniqueness of the format, a recent study has found, highlighting that advertising in a convenience retail is more impactful as compared to traditional media.
According to an analysis by the Co-op’s retail media network in partnership with Lumen Research, due to smaller store sizes, formats and high shopper frequency, advertising messages within convenience stores would be seen and recalled by more people, more often.
Furthermore, in a convenience store, the presence of mixed-category aisles leads to customers encountering a wide variety of advertisements within the same space.
The study aims to explore the recall power of advertising in a convenience retail setting.
The Lumen Research methodology involved shoppers navigating either a small or large Co-op store on a BBQ shopping mission, engaging with a mixture of categories from protein, produce, frozen, ambient and BWS while wearing eye-tracking glasses.
These devices monitored what the shoppers were viewing, the duration of their gaze and retinal movements.
It also assessed viewability and opportunities to see, indicating instances where advertisements could have been seen without direct focus. Upon leaving the stores, shoppers were tested on brand recall and completed brand choice surveys.
Results indicated that larger, supermarket-sized stores do generate brand-building with shoppers. However, when comparing smaller Co-op stores to larger-format outlets, attention and recall was found to be significantly enhanced in the convenience setting.
The data revealed that a shopper who walks into a convenience store has twice the visibility of the advertising, triple the attention and quadruple brand recall compared to a large store.
“Traditionally, in-store advertising has been viewed by media buyers as a pure sales activation tool that was great for last-minute promotions but not for brand-building.
"However, this groundbreaking evidence now spotlights retail media, especially in a convenience setting, as one of the most powerful brand recall tools,” said Kenyatte Nelson, Chief Membership & Customer Officer at Co-op.
“The results from the Lumen Research study showcase the unmatched impact of Co-op’s small-format convenience stores, and the findings position in-store advertising as a dual-purpose channel, driving both short-term sales and long-term brand growth.”
Mike Follett, CEO of Lumen Research, added, “Our research with Co-op confirms what we already knew – attention drives action. In small stores, shoppers revisit aisles multiple times and so encounter the same ads and messages multiple times, creating a higher frequency of exposure.
"That builds memories through aggregate attention, which drives memory-based outcomes such as awareness, consideration and intent.”
