EP43 – Omnichannel success with Tesco Media's ex-strategist Florian Clemens

Episode 43: Building Omnichannel Retail Media (Part 1) Hosts: Viv Craske & Colin Lewis Guest: Florian Clemens – Former Director of Strategy, Proposition & Measurement at Tesco Media; former global accounts leader at Amazon Advertising

In this episode of Retail Media Therapy, Viv and Colin are joined by retail media veteran Florian Clemens to unpack the complexity of building a true omnichannel retail media business. Drawing on his experience at Tesco Media and Amazon Advertising, Florian breaks down the four major supply sources in retail media, the core principles for designing retail media propositions, and how retailers should think about demand – from large CPG partners to marketplace sellers and agencies.

This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation, focusing on inventory supply and advertiser demand in retail media.

Why Omnichannel Retail Media Is Hard

Building retail media on top of a retail business involves managing multiple moving parts simultaneously:

Ad inventory across physical and digital environments Retail priorities vs advertising priorities Technology and data infrastructure Advertiser expectations shaped by large platforms

Florian emphasizes that retailers must coordinate many internal interfaces while building a credible media proposition.

The Core Framework: “Win–Win–Win”

Florian highlights a guiding principle for retail media strategy:

Every retail media product must work for three stakeholders:

Shoppers – Ads must enhance or at least not harm the shopping experience Advertisers – Campaigns must deliver measurable results Retailers – The activity must drive revenue and category growth

If any of these fail, the retail media product quickly breaks.

Retail Media Supply: The Four Major Inventory Sources 1. In-Store Media 2. Onsite & App Media 3. Offsite Retail Media 4. CRM & Loyalty Media

Example activation: Clubcard challenges Customers earn points for increasing spend on a product Brands fund the loyalty reward Brands only pay if customers convert

Demand Side: Where Retail Media Revenue Comes From Major suppliers generate a large share of revenue through Joint Business Plans. Retail media can support broader category growth strategies. Retail media becomes part of joint commercial planning, not just advertising.

Smaller brands often lack traditional brand budgets. Retailers must support them through: Self-serve ad tools Performance-driven retail media campaigns Agency support similar to Amazon marketplace models

Marketplace Sellers Marketplace sellers often assume retail media works like Amazon. But discovery dynamics differ. Example challenge: Shoppers may not search for categories like garden furniture on grocery sites.

Non-Endemic Advertising: Non-endemic brands represent a major future opportunity. But retailers must offer: High-impact placements (video, homepage takeovers) Brand measurement tools Strong category guidelines Retailers also need clear internal policies about which non-endemic advertisers are acceptable.

Agencies and the Future of Commerce Media Florian predicts a major shift: “Commerce is eating advertising.”

Two agency worlds are emerging: Performance Agencies: Want retail media platforms to behave like Amazon. Focus heavily on sales outcomes Brand Agencies: Interested in upper-funnel opportunities. But still expect campaigns tied to sales impact

Retail media’s promise is combining brand and performance measurement into a single ecosystem.

Key Takeaways Retail media must deliver value to shoppers, advertisers, and retailers simultaneously The four major supply sources are in-store, onsite/app, offsite, and CRM Retailers must balance relevance and inspiration Future growth will come from offsite media and non-endemic advertisers Agencies and brands increasingly expect commerce-driven advertising outcomes

What’s Coming in Part 2

In the next episode, the discussion continues with: How retail media teams work with internal retail stakeholders The technology stack required