Lowe’s Cos. Inc. has added a new dimension to its online networking capabilities, working with technology company Vibenomics to enable it.
The new internet marketing technology is focused on retail advertising. Lowe’s will use it to run audio ads in all of its retail and operating locations.
Early results for brands using this marketing technology have shown increased sales and ad spend, Lowe’s general manager and head of retail media John Storms said. Digital Commerce 360 by email.
“We designed our omnichannel marketing solution platform to reach home improvement customers at every step of their buying journey,” Storms said. “Our marketing starts from the point of inspiration through social channels like Pinterest and Meta, to the point of conversion through Lowes.com and our new in-store tone in partnership with Vibenomics.”
Lowe’s marketing team is “revamping” its retail content network, marketing vice president Bill Boltz told investors in the retailer’s earnings call for its fiscal second quarter.
It continues to “go to a simple platform where we help our network partners achieve different marketing goals from shelf performance and new product launches to seasonal promotions and sales of more products,” said Boltz.
Lowe’s is No. 11 in the Top 1000. Database is Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of the largest online retailers in North America by annual online sales. Digital Commerce 360 classifies Lowe’s as a Hardware & Home Improvement retailer.
Lowe’s adds Vibenomics ads to its content marketing network
Lowe’s launched its content marketing network in 2021. Since then, the company said, it has grown to offer ads for more than 300 home improvement products. Lowe’s online marketing is available for current retailer partners, Storms told Digital Commerce 360.
In March, Google announced a media solution in partnership with Lowe’s. Beta uses the Google Search Ads 360 product to run social media campaigns. It increases advertisers’ access to new third-party channels beyond the network owner.
“Our partnership with Google’s Search Ads 360 is an important step in expanding the capabilities of our online network,” Storms said. “We’re using a managed services model today, but we’re on a journey to automate for our network partners to make it even easier to run campaigns in the future.”
Meanwhile, the new Vibenomics technology that Lowe’s offers is focused on retail stores and media networks. Storms told Digital Commerce 360 that audio ads will help Lowe’s reach its in-store customers.
“With a large mix of DIY and Pro customers visiting our stores, store volume was an important extension of our omnichannel marketing solution,” Storms said. “Access to Vibenomics’ in-store technology helps us reach in-store shoppers by delivering programmatic audio ads at critical moments in the customer’s shopping journey.”
Delivering sales on audio ads
Audio technology Vibenomics provides feedback based on feedback and programmatic activation. It’s similar to radio ads, said Paul Brenner, senior vice president of media sales and partnerships at Vibenomics. A key part of his role is to integrate the work that Vibenomics’ parent company, Mood Media, is doing with screens and audio into the content marketing network.
“It’s a huge audience,” Brenner told Digital commerce 360.
That includes choosing a store management team, feasibility analysis in comparable locations with similar initiatives and marketing calendars. And Vibenomics can often target the times of the day where the emotions are.
“The best target that we offer is the day of the week, the hour of the day, the weight ratio,” Brenner said.
Second to that, he said, is focus based on planning. For example, a garden products retailer might want to target stores in the southeastern United States in February, when the season starts in that region, and then move north when the season starts in places like Midwest.
The goal, Brenner said, “is to bring programming-based models to specialty stores in the area.” Store icons from Vibenomics audio ads introduce the Lowe’s store network. And they do that by allowing Lowe’s and Vibenomics to measure in-store sentiment and audience in a way that matches digital sentiment and audience.
“It’s basically a building site,” Brenner said. “I think that’s what the people at Lowe’s are excited about as we’re developing their store design as a foundation for how we can now build on top of that with automated, faster technology.”
Dealing with online shopping privacy standards
When it comes to the audio ads that Lowe’s used, Vibenomics also works with Placer.ai, a data company that measures location data, foot traffic and more. Placer.ai feeds data into Vibenomics that helps track store-by-store sentiment on an hourly basis.
Vibenomics does not collect demographic information, even with its visual ads. And Placer.ai does not use device information to track location or foot traffic. It uses machine learning and graphics to determine how many people enter stores and for how long. Brenner said the companies follow standards set by the Internet Advertising Bureau.
The IAB is making those standards available for public comment through Nov. 1. In addition, it said, it created standards “to deal with the rapidly growing opportunities of Retail Media and to provide unified definitions, measurement standards, and guidance for advertising platforms and retail spaces. ”
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