The writing’s on the floors, shelves and aisles!

In an age of accountable media and tough calls, nothing kills two birds with one stone like Retail Media…
They came, they heard, and hopefully they were sold. The inaugural Malaysian Retail Media Forum made its debut at the Royal Lake Club last month. The Forum tackled the issues of shopping trends, customer experiences and expounded on the most critical touchpoint in the buying cycle.

The idea of having the Forum was the brainchild of Harmandar Singh, Regional CEO, MARKETING Magazine. Having recently launched MARKETING, he was only too aware of the challenges faced by marketers, brand managers and media planners to find the perfect media mix: “Retail media is about placing the reminder and benefit at the place where the buying is happening, the last mile. MagiqAds rose to the challenge of hosting the Forum and the industry is appreciative.” Sailendra K. Executive of MagiqADs Sdn Bhd added that retail media may provide workable solutions. “We have a situation, in-store where consumers are actively engaged in making selections, comparing prices, comparing product benefits.


You really have to think about all the times you went to the supermarket thinking you were only going to buy one or two things and walked out with three shopping bags – we are all buyers at heart!” Nuchnapa Warunwutthi Strategic Marketing Consultant of Bodhi Tree Knowledge in Thailand, a thought leader in the Retail spoke on ‘The measurement of the in-store activities in retail environment’. She quipped, “In the last few years, in-store activities have been receiving attention from marketers for its dual effective role as a brand communication tool as well as a sales tool. However, only by measuring the ROI of each in-store activity are marketers able to maximise their in-store investments.” Andreas Vogiatzakis, MD of OMG Malaysia tackled the next topic: Stretching your Media Ringgit in Trying Times. He shared recent research findings on the intricacies of the consumer decision making and path to purchase, and the role retail media plays in it. International award-winning Creative Director Graham Kelly shared his ideas on Getting Creative with Retail and presented some creative Promo campaigns, which had Point-of-Sale impact. This was followed by a Panel Discussion moderated by Harmandar Singh, featuring VK Sailendra – Executive Director of MagiqADs, Rahul Thappa – MD, MindShare, Andreas Vogiatzakis – MD, OMG Malaysia and Nuchnapa Warunwutthi – Strategic Marketing Consultant, Bodhi Tree Knowledge Co.,Ltd., Thailand. Sai concluded the discussion, “ADEX in 2008 grew by 15% to a staggering RM5.5 Billion.

Two of the main contributors were Press and Television with RM3 billion and RM 1.8 billion respectively. Point of Sale/Retail Media accounted for only 1% of this ADEX at RM57.8 Million. In the US and other mature markets Point-of-Sale advertising account for 5% of total ADEX. This represents a potential growth in excess of RM200 million within this category in Malaysia!”