EP45 – The secrets behind Türkiye's Retail Media success with Kina Demirel, Mimeda

Retail Media Therapy's special episode is live from Istanbul with guest Kina Demirel, Managing Director, Mimeda Your host is Colin Lewis. Recorded live in Istanbul at Mimeda's studios ahead of a major retail media event hosted by Mimeda for 500 brand representatives – one of the largest retail media gatherings in Turkey.

Kina Demirel has spent 30 years in retail, originally drawn to loyalty programmes while studying in the UK. On returning to Turkey she joined Migros, running their loyalty programme before expanding into marketing and media. Around 15 years ago, Migros began advertising to brands using customised segments from loyalty data – the precursor to what became Mimeda.

Mimeda was founded four years ago as a standalone retail media company, spun out of Migros. It is the first retail media company in Turkey. Mimeda has grown from 10-15 people at launch to close to 100 employees.

Key Insights & Takeaways: Hybrid shoppers are your most valuable customers. Consumers who shop both in-store and online have significantly larger basket sizes. Mimeda actively encourages brands to run campaigns across both environments.

Integrated campaigns multiply effectiveness. Using a single retail media channel produces a meaningful sales uplift. Combining in-store and online channels doubles the effect. Integrated campaigns consistently outperform single-channel buys.

Don't abandon your customer at the store entrance. If a brand invests heavily in TV, social, and outdoor, they must also be present throughout the in-store journey. From entrance to exit, Mimeda's screen and digital shelf network ensures the brand stays connected to the shopper – because without that presence, shoppers get lost in the maze.

Search is the critical starting point online. 65% of online shoppers begin with search. Brands that are not visible in search are effectively invisible to the majority of online shoppers.

Influencer ROI can be proven. By linking influencer content directly to Mimeda's sales data via trackable URLs, Mimeda can attribute purchases to individual influencers – distinguishing high-performing talent from those delivering only awareness.

People & Structure — roughly a 10x increase in a few years. Teams span:

The Road Ahead: From Retail Media to Smart Media Mimeda is evolving its positioning from retail media network to "smart media" – leveraging superior consumer data to serve as a strategic partner to brands, not just a media vendor. Grace & Co | Retail Media Experts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.