B&Q, John Lewis and Tesco pilot new retail media initiative

Kingfisher-owned DIY giant B&Q, department store business John Lewis, and stablemate grocery retailer Waitrose will join Tesco in a series of projects through the newly launched dunnhumby Network Alliance.

The alliance is designed to “address the retail media fragmentation that has remained one of the sector’s biggest challenges” by providing brands with “access to audiences and inventory across a range of retailers, audience providers and media owners” through a single route for marketing campaigns.

While retail media is a growing business area for many big retailers, the various propositions on offer sometimes seem siloed and therefore can be unsatisfactory to potential media buyers seeking consistency and simplicity.

B&Q, John Lewis, Tesco, and Waitrose are “exploring partnership opportunities through a series of pilots with more retailers set to join”, Dunnhumby said. The pilots will start this summer “with the aim of enabling retailers, brands and agencies to plan, activate and measure marketing investment across multiple retailers and media owners”.  

Dunnhumby chief executive Josh Bottomley said: “Brands are demanding scale, consistency and transparency, but fragmentation has held the market back. This ground-breaking alliance is made possible through Dunnhumby’s unique position in the market, bringing the industry together under a shared framework, making it easier for brands to activate, measure, and grow through retail media.”