“What happens in your store definitely should not just stay in your store. Every signal—from what people pick up to what they pause on to what closes the deal – should travel.”
That observation from Karin Tracy, Group Lead, Retail & E-commerce at Meta, captures one of the biggest shifts in retail today. Every click, every product view, every email open and every purchase generates data. The question is no longer whether retailers should collect it. The question is whether they’re fully capitalizing on it.
The world’s largest retailers—Amazon, Walmart, Target and Home Depot—have transformed their websites, apps, email programs and customer data into advertising platforms, creating entirely new revenue streams by selling access to the audiences they’ve built.
While you may not have a large enough audience to launch a billion-dollar retail media network, you can borrow the strategy. The opportunity to strengthen supplier partnerships and extract more value from the audience you’ve already built may be larger—and more accessible—than you realize.
The shift many retailers haven’t noticed
For decades, retailers viewed marketing as a cost center. You spent money on advertising to drive customers into your store. The more traffic generated, the more opportunities to sell.
That model still works. But the retailers creating the most value today have started looking beyond the transaction. Think about the audiences you’ve spent years building, nurturing and maintaining:
- Your email list
- Your website traffic
- Your social media followers
- Your loyalty program
- Your customer database
Large retailers are using customer data to strengthen supplier partnerships, create targeted marketing opportunities and generate value beyond the transaction. You might assume that strategy is reserved for companies like Amazon, Walmart or Home Depot. In reality, it’s less about scale and more about recognizing the value of the audience you’ve already built.
As Jared Dombey, Head of Orange Apron Media at Home Depot, noted, “The fundamentals of what has driven our success can really be applied to any supplier at any investment level.”
The moment you stop seeing your website, email list and social channels as marketing tools and start seeing them as audience assets, new opportunities begin to emerge. You’re no longer thinking only about selling products. You’re thinking about how to create more value from the audience you’ve already earned.
You already own media
Most mattress retailers don’t think of themselves as media companies and that’s understandable. You’re in the business of selling mattresses, furniture and sleep solutions, not publishing content or selling advertising. But consider the assets your business already owns:
- An email database built over years of customer interactions
- Website traffic generated through advertising and search
- Social media audiences you’ve spent time and money growing
- Customer reviews and testimonials
- Digital showroom screens
- Blog articles and educational content
- Customer purchase history and buying patterns
Individually, they’re marketing tools, but collectively, they’re a direct connection to a well-curated audience. And that’s exactly what makes retail media so powerful. Home Depot’s Orange Apron Media business wasn’t built simply because Home Depot sells home improvement products. It was built because Home Depot understands who its customers are, what they’re researching and where they are in their buying journey. Those customer insights create value for suppliers looking to reach specific audiences.
The good news? You don’t need millions of customers to apply the same thinking. Let’s say you have an email database of 15,000 past customers and you use that list to promote sales events, holiday weekends and clearance opportunities. What if you used it differently?
- What if you created a quarterly sleep wellness newsletter featuring expert advice, sleep health content and product education?
- What if you segmented your audience and delivered targeted content to customers who purchased a mattress five years ago and may be entering a replacement cycle?
- What if you built an educational series around adjustable bases, pressure relief or cooling technologies and invited supplier partners to participate?
Suddenly, your email list is a media property. The same principle applies to your website. Introduce a buying guide, mattress comparison tool, sleep health articles and FAQ pages and you’re creating opportunities for your customers and suppliers.
Retail media is really co-op advertising 2.0
The phrase retail media makes the concept sound complicated. In many ways, mattress retailers have been participating in versions of retail media for decades through co-op advertising.
Manufacturers contributed funding while retailers provided access to local audiences. Both sides benefited from increased visibility and sales. The difference is how the channels have changed. Yesterday’s co-op advertising often looked like:
- Newspaper inserts
- Radio spots
- Television commercials
- Direct mail campaigns
Today’s opportunities are digital:
- Sponsored email newsletters
- Educational content series
- Social media campaigns
- Website buying guides
- Video content
- In-store digital screens
The principle is exactly the same. Suppliers want access to relevant audiences. Retailers already have those audiences.
Consider a retailer that sends a monthly email newsletter to 20,000 subscribers. Instead of filling every issue with promotions, they create a seasonal sleep education series featuring topics like sleep hygiene, temperature regulation or mattress replacement cycles. A supplier partner could help support the content, contribute expertise or provide educational resources.
- The retailer delivers more value to its audience
- The supplier gains visibility with a highly relevant customer base
- The customer receives useful information instead of another sales pitch.
Everyone wins.
The same thinking can be applied in many places in your business.
- A mattress buying guide on your website could feature educational insights from supplier partners
- Digital screens in your showroom could showcase brand stories, product demonstrations or sleep wellness content
- Even social media campaigns can become collaborative efforts that extend beyond traditional product promotion.
3 ways to put retail media thinking to work today
You don’t need a dedicated retail media team, sophisticated technology stack or millions of website visitors to start applying these concepts.
1. Turn your email list into a content platform
Most retailer emails fall into one of three categories: promotions, promotions and more promotions. And that’s understandable. But another sale isn’t the only way to create value.
Instead of sending another holiday sale announcement, consider creating content your audience genuinely wants to receive.
- Sleep health tips
- Mattress buying advice
- Seasonal sleep challenges
- Wellness content
- Sleep expert interviews
- Product education
These types of communications keep your brand top-of-mind between purchase cycles while creating opportunities for supplier participation.
2. Use Customer Data to Create Smarter Campaigns
One of the biggest advantages retailers possess is first-party data.
- You know who bought a mattress last year
- You know who purchased five years ago
- You know who financed, who bought an adjustable base, who upgraded to premium products, who purchased pillows – but not a mattress
Imagine creating a mattress replacement campaign specifically for customers entering the five-to-seven-year ownership window. Or an adjustable base education campaign targeting customers who previously purchased a mattress but never upgraded their sleep system. These campaigns are more relevant to consumers and even more valuable to supplier partners because they reach highly specific audiences with highly relevant messages.
3. Put Your Existing Assets to Work Harder
Many retailers already own underutilized media assets:
- Digital screens in the showroom
- Buying guides on the website
- Blog content
- Social media channels
- A Google business profile
- Customer reviews
A showroom screen can do more than loop promotional messages. It can educate shoppers about sleep health, showcase product innovations or tell supplier brand stories. A mattress buying guide can become a resource that attracts shoppers months before they make a purchase decision. A customer review program can generate trust signals that influence both consumers and AI-powered shopping platforms.
Stop renting attention – start leveraging it
The largest retailers have built entire businesses around their data. It’s time to ask yourself:
- Do you know the size of your email audience?
- When was the last time you sent something that wasn’t promotional?
- Which suppliers would benefit from access to your audience?
- What customer segments are sitting in your database right now?
- Which assets are you underutilizing: email, website, social or in-store screens?
In an era of rising advertising costs, increasing competition and longer purchase cycles, the most valuable inventory in your business may not be sitting on your showroom floor. It may be languishing in your database. Stop viewing your audience as a byproduct of your business and start viewing it as one of your most valuable assets.
