Do not disturb

Obi is regarded as the retail media pioneer in the home improvement sector. The Wermelskirchen-based company – in this case, one could also say: and the Cologne-based team, as the initiative is being driven forward significantly from that location – is investing not only heavily in the technology, but also in the pitch to their customers, who are, to a large extent, their suppliers.

Perhaps also to dispel the impression that retail media has little to do with the real-life experience of a DIY store in physical retail spaces, they regularly explain their case in Obi’s headquarters in Wermelskirchen – or, to be precise, in Wermelskirchen-Tente: for the second time, customers were invited to the ‘Retail Media Live’ event at the former Obi store there. Just under 300 of them turned up in mid-April.

And this is what their argument looks like: Retail Media is targeted, fast, efficient and measurable, for one key reason: this form of advertising is (or at least is supposed to be) relevant to the customer. Put simply: a customer who has just bought a lawnmower should not, please, be annoyed with adverts for lawnmowers.

The team in Tente emphasised this message time and again. Patricia Grundmann, in particular, did so. Her name, above all, stands for Retail Media at Obi: she built up the division, which was founded eight years ago.

Obi is now massively expanding its retail media business. This year, all stores in the DACH region will be equipped with four digital pillars each, each featuring a 55-inch portrait-format monitor. Other countries will follow. A total of 2,600 pillars will be installed, which can be controlled for advertising campaigns via Obi’s retail media system.

In addition, Germany’s second-largest DIY store operator has now set up an ad server for Italy, with Poland to follow in the second quarter. This allows advertisers’ campaigns – most of whom are suppliers, so-called endemic partners, though there are also customers from outside the industry – to be centrally managed and delivered.

The fact that a lot is happening in the division at the moment was also palpable in Tente in other respects. There, the rebranding of the company’s retail media subsidiary was also announced – staged to great public effect with the ever-present beaver mascot: Obi First Media Group has become Obi Advertising. The company says this is intended to underline its technological…