Colin Lewis is joined by three members of the Douglas Marketing Solutions team for an in-depth look at the beauty and health care giant's approach to retail media.

Heike Schneider, Lena Schütze and Nesma Abdel-Hamid explain the trends, innovation and agility of this inspirational sector. This episode stresses why "data is the engine" of retail media campaigns, and the move from the science of retail media to the art of it.

Joe Cano, SVP of digital ecommerce at Lowe's dropped by the Mirakl Cabana to speak to Colin Lewis, providing insight into the company's strategic initiatives to become the "total home solution" for customers.

Cano, with 25 years in retail and ecommerce, highlights Lowe's focus on customer experience and convenience, particularly through the expansion of their online marketplace. This marketplace dramatically increases product assortment, offering everything from basic screws to high-end saunas and trampolines, aiming to save customers time by providing a single destination for all home improvement needs.

This episode also covers innovation such as the integration of AI tools, including the Milo companion app for store associates and the customer-facing Milo website assistant. Hear how it is designed to reduce friction in the shopping journey by offering tailored product recommendations and DIY advice. Lowe's also demonstrates a commitment to the "pro" or trade customer through dedicated support and training programmes, reinforcing their position as a trusted resource.

Andrew Lipsman is an independent analyst and consultant at Media, Ads + Commerce. His industry coverage specialises in retail media—which he is known for anointing as “digital advertising’s third big wave”— and other areas of the digital media, advertising, and commerce ecosystem. He is also a founding advisor and strategist at retail media consultancy, Colosseum Strategy.

In this episode Lipsman argued that the future of retail media is, in essence, the future of all media. Lipsman stresses that transactional and retail data will become the foundational mechanism for targeting and measurement in the advertising landscape, moving beyond less reliable behavioural data. He elaborates on how retail media networks are evolving from lower-funnel performance to include upper-funnel formats and extend across various retail channels.

Lipsman further contends that retail media will redefine search, display, and even TV advertising by leveraging high-fidelity transaction data to prove true incrementality of sales and brand building, ultimately challenging traditional marketing metrics like Return on Ad Spend.