<i>Retail media</i> emerges as a revenue source for retail

Column

Strategy

Innovation

Marketing

December 04, 2024

Retail media emerges as a revenue source for retail

Marketing modality allows the retailer to promote industry products on their own media platforms and track results in actual sales

The year 2024 was marked by a trend that has been on retailers’ lips: retail media. Since the beginning of the year, at the NRF Retail Big Show, the major global retail fair that takes place in New York, and throughout the year, in multiple articles published in the mainstream media, it seems that nothing else matters in the context of retail marketing, especially in the CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods) sector.

What is most important about this trend is its high dependence on data — but that’s just the beginning. It also depends on the integration of primary data, a macro-trend that will revolutionize retail marketing and put companies that know how to leverage it in a position of advantage.

To understand the depth of the concept of retail media, it is essential to look beyond its traditional definition. The tool is not limited to the placement of advertisements on a retailer’s online platforms. In fact, it is a complete media ecosystem that includes both online (e-commerce) and offline (physical stores) environments, as well as the use of channels external to the retailer to attract traffic to their stores.

The great differentiator of retail media compared to other types of advertising is that it allows the retailer to capture revenue from media directly from industries. With this, the retailer can promote industry products on its own media platforms, on-site, off-site, or in-store. And the added value of this promotion is immense, as the retailer, unlike other media operators, can track whether that advertising resulted in actual sales.

He has direct access to sales data and can share these results with the advertiser. This is the “Holy Grail” of media: the ability to accurately measure the impact of an advertisement on sales, something other media platforms still struggle to achieve.

Primary data

The constant uncertainty about the future of third-party cookies has significantly increased the relevance of data from first-party sources, something retailers have in large volumes. By relying less on third-party data, retailers who know how to use their own data well will gain even more segmentation power and precision in their campaigns. This shift places even medium-sized retailers in a position where they can offer interesting differentiators to the industry against giants like Amazon and Walmart.

Brands can access valuable niches from their own strengths, such as the ability to capture traffic at critical moments of purchase intent. The success of retail media depends on integration and the creation of broad networks, both for content distributors and advertisers.

As we have heard a lot, “data is the new oil”, but this famous phrase has a hidden double meaning. If on the one hand it is used to express the high value that this data has, resembling a commodity, like fuel, on the other hand, just like “black gold”, data only has real value when it is extracted and refined.

The industry

In Brazil, the industry has frequently stood out for knowing how to use data strategically in its operations. Heineken and Seara are examples of how data intelligence can transform the relationship with the consumer and the efficiency of campaigns. These companies have deeply explored consumer behavior to adjust their marketing strategies, improving both communication and precision in audience segmentation.

Nowadays there are several approaches to better understand retail consumer behavior. One of the best-known companies in this market is Nielsen, which conducts door-to-door surveys to collect information directly from street stores and shopping malls and supports the industry with consulting to better understand purchasing behaviors.

More recently, a new category of solutions has emerged, based on artificial intelligence (AI). Leveraging massive data aggregation, anonymized to comply with LGPD and analyzed through machine learning, these are cloud-based SaaS platforms that offer a self service data intelligence environment, where the brand or even the retailer itself can analyze its consumer’s behavior from various predefined angles and build its own analysis segments.

Increasingly, AI itself suggests analyses and points out possibilities that may be interesting to verify, transforming itself into a true insight generating machine, seeing patterns amidst the cacophony of data that would hardly be observed by the human eye.

An example in this category is TOTVS Index – Tail., which is capable of processing, analyzing, and combining various data sources on a large scale. The tool performs a complete radiography of consumer behavior, based on real purchase data collected across the country, as well as sociodemographic and web navigation information, enabling access to information from over 2.6 billion purchases in more than 3,000 supermarkets, made by 26 million shoppers from all over Brazil.

Regardless of the methodology used – manual or automated –, these analyses aim to generate insights about the brands’ customers, competitors, consumers, and customers who stopped buying, in addition to also providing information such as average ticket, average number of items in the shopping cart, prices, etc., providing relevant data not only for sales strategy, but also for communication, marketing, pricing, distribution, and even product development. By focusing on consumer behavior, these companies can not only increase sales but also create a more relevant and personalized experience for customers.

The future

Retail media is more than just a trend; it is a profound transformation in how retail can generate revenue and connect with consumers using their data. The ability to leverage their own properties, combined with their knowledge of what was actually sold, to drive marketing campaigns that deliver real results, places retailers in a unique position, allowing them to offer a media product that has no competition. On the other hand, industries that know how to leverage this opportunity will be ahead in the market, taking advantage of the power of these new media platforms to maximize their campaign results.

Who wrote this column

Elói Assis

É diretor-executivo de produtos para os segmentos de Varejo e Distribuição da TOTVS desde setembro de 2018, comandando uma equipe de mais de 800 pessoas. Formado em marketing pelo Mackenzie, cursou o MBA em Gestão de TI pela Live University.

You may also like

October 02, 2026

Determinants of supermarket location in São Paulo

A study investigated the determining factors for supermarket location in the state of São Paulo, with the objective of investigating the factors that explain the presence and expansion of these establishments, considering socioeconomic, demographic, and market dimensions. Data from the 2010 and 2022 Demographic Censuses of IBGE and information from the National Registry of Legal Entities of the Federal Revenue of Brazil were used to build a georeferenced database. A Random Forest classification model was applied, adjusted by grid search with cross-validation, prioritizing the recall-macro metric due to the imbalance of the dependent variable, which represented the presence or absence of supermarkets within a 50-meter buffer. The results indicated that supermarket location is strongly associated with demographic, income, and population characteristics in the surrounding area. The analysis of variable importance showed that sociodemographic factors, such as elderly literacy, household income, and the presence of other food establishments, exerted significant influence, especially in the immediate vicinity. The findings reinforced the hypothesis that the spatial distribution of supermarkets is not random, being conditioned by socioeconomic characteristics and the commercial structure of the territory, offering subsidies for business decisions and urban planning.

Keywords: Spatial Analysis; Machine learning; Expansion; Commercial location; Supermarkets.

Neuroscience And Learning In Education

October 02, 2026

Anti-Racist Education: Inclusive Educational Practices and Social Development

Antiracist education, understood as a structuring axis of inclusive education and social development, was investigated in the Brazilian context. The study aimed to identify and analyze, based on legal documents and teachers’ perceptions, educational practices capable of promoting antiracism in school and society, and how the implementation of Laws nº 10.639/03 and nº 11.645/08 contributed to social justice. A qualitative and documentary approach was adopted, with analysis of educational legislation, curricular guidelines, institutional reports, and academic literature. Complementarily, a semi-structured questionnaire was applied to 295 Basic Education teachers. The data were evaluated quantitatively and qualitatively, through thematic content analysis, and validated with bibliographic studies. The results revealed a paradox: despite a robust legal framework, the implementation of antiracist policies proved fragile and sporadic, with a lack of teacher training, adequate teaching materials, and monitoring. Significant educational inequalities between white and black students were found to persist, and most teachers acknowledged the occurrence of racism in schools, but without clear institutional protocols. Neuroscientific analysis showed that racism negatively impacts students’ cognitive and emotional development. It was concluded that antiracist education is central to quality education, requiring political commitment, public investment, and intersectoral articulation. The integration of Neuroscience in teacher training and the production of qualified materials are crucial to strengthen the school’s role in building a more just and inclusive society.

Keywords: Social Development; Antiracist Education; Social Justice; Law 10.639/03; Inclusive Educational Practices.

Neuroscience And Learning In Education

October 02, 2026

Paths of Inclusion: Perceptions of Parents and Teachers on the Schooling of Students with Dual Exceptionality in the Brazilian Context

Dual Exceptionality, characterized by the coexistence of High Abilities/Giftedness and neurodevelopmental disorders, represents a complex phenomenon that challenges traditional identification and schooling models. The study aimed to understand the perceptions of parents or guardians, teachers, and other education professionals regarding the schooling of students with Dual Exceptionality in the Brazilian context, investigating challenges, pedagogical strategies, and possibilities for inclusion based on equity. The research adopted a qualitative, exploratory, and descriptive approach, and collected data through an online, voluntary, and anonymous questionnaire answered by 25 participants. Discursive data were analyzed using thematic content analysis. The results indicated that knowledge about the topic is often built from personal and professional experiences, revealing gaps in systematic training. Difficulties were identified in identifying these students, in teacher training, and in implementing individualized educational plans, pedagogical flexibility, and curriculum enrichment. Socio-emotional repercussions, such as frustration and low self-esteem, were reported. However, some schools demonstrated inclusive practices based on equity, articulating specific needs and potentialities. Although the results do not allow for generalizations, they highlighted the need to strengthen professional training and the articulation between school, family, and specialized services. It was concluded that the inclusion of students with Dual Exceptionality requires practices that simultaneously recognize their difficulties and potentialities, ensuring equitable conditions for participation, learning, and development.

Keywords: Human development; Teacher training; School inclusion; Neurodivergence; Pedagogical practices.

October 02, 2026

Data Transformation into Strategy: Applied Research for Ecotourism Operation Optimization

The growing demand in ecotourism in Minas Gerais has driven the search for business intelligence to transform customer data into strategic information. The study aimed to structure a data science pipeline to collect, segment, and classify the customer base of an ecotourism operation, in order to optimize marketing actions and anticipate market movements. An exploratory, quali-quantitative research was conducted through a case study. 2,777 transactional records from an ecotourism company, referring to January 2024 to December 2025, were used. The methodological process involved automated data collection (Google Sheets API), processing and enrichment (ETL), validation, and creation of RFM (Recency, Frequency, and Monetary Value) attributes. Dimensionality reduction via PCA and K-Means clustering was applied, with the number of clusters defined by the Elbow method and Silhouette Score. The results were validated with DBSCAN and K-Medoids. The results revealed the identification of three behavioral customer segments: “Loyal”, “Low Value”, and “Potential”. The “Loyal” segment represented the highest accumulated economic value, while the “Potential” segment stood out for its high average ticket and potential for conversion into recurrence. The integration of data analysis techniques proved to be a robust and replicable method for generating intelligence in ecotourism. It was concluded that the structured data science pipeline enabled the behavioral segmentation of the customer base, the statistical validation of the groups, and the creation of a predictive system for new buyers, providing subsidies for data-driven strategic decisions and future analyses.

Keywords: Clustering; Business intelligence; Machine Learning; Customer segmentation; Decision making.

October 02, 2026

Classification of defaulting customers using supervised machine learning techniques

The risk of default in credit operations demanded analytical approaches to anticipate losses. This study comparatively evaluated the performance of supervised machine learning models in classifying defaulting customers in credit card operations. The public dataset “Default of Credit Card Clients” from the University of California Irvine was used, with 30,000 observations and class imbalance. The algorithms Logistic Regression, Random Forest, and Extreme Gradient Boosting were employed. The imbalance was addressed by assigning weights to the classes, and model optimization occurred with the RandomizedSearchCV method, prioritizing sensitivity. Cross-validation results indicated that the Extreme Gradient Boosting model showed a higher capacity for identifying the defaulting class and better discriminatory performance, followed by Random Forest and Logistic Regression, with a sensitivity of 0.8250 and an AUC-ROC of 0.7844 for XGBoost. Interpretability analysis, conducted by the Shapley Additive Explanations (SHAP) technique, highlighted the predominance of variables associated with payment behavior, especially the history of delays. It was concluded that tree-based models, particularly boosting techniques, proved to be more suitable for capturing complex patterns in the data, configuring themselves as consistent alternatives for credit risk management.

Keywords: Machine Learning; Credit Card; Classification; Extreme Gradient Boosting; Credit Risk.

October 02, 2026

Sentiment Analysis on Brazilian Banks on Twitter/X: Comparison between Traditional and Digital Institutions

A study analyzed public perception of Brazilian financial institutions on the Twitter/X platform, highlighting the importance of sentiment monitoring on social networks for understanding reputation and customer experience in the banking sector. The objective was to compare user perception of the image and reputation of traditional and digital banks, based on the sentiment patterns identified in the analyzed manifestations, seeking to identify structural differences between these groups. The methodology was based on the analysis of 1,096 tweets collected between November 2022 and June 2023. Two complementary sentiment analysis approaches were used, the sum and the average of labels, to capture the majority sentiment and nuances of perception. Additionally, the Market Profile Model, with indicators of emotional reputation, reputational risk, neutrality, and polarization, and the Banking Clustering Model, which allowed grouping institutions according to perception patterns, were developed. The results indicated a predominance of neutral and negative sentiments, a higher volume of interactions in digital banks, and structural differences in the emotional intensity of perceptions, with greater stability in digital banks and greater polarization in traditional ones. It was concluded that the combination of analytical and statistical techniques contributed to an in-depth understanding of institutional image in the digital environment, demonstrating the importance of data-driven reputation management strategies.

Keywords: Digital banks; Traditional banks; Data modeling; Opinion mining; Social Networks.

October 02, 2026

Optimization of annual budget planning through project management methodologies

The Annual Budget Planning (POA) is a crucial process for translating organizational strategy into operational and financial goals, but it frequently faces deadline pressures, interdepartmental dependencies, and the repetition of habitual expenses. The study aimed to analyze how the combined application of project management practices and Zero-Based Budgeting (OBZ) can optimize the POA. To this end, a case study was developed in the Brazilian operation of a publicly traded company in the beverage sector, using documentary research of its 2023 results report and an anonymous questionnaire applied to 47 respondents. Documentary analysis indicated growth in net revenue, expansion of gross profit and adjusted EBITDA, and contained advancement of selling, general, and administrative expenses, suggesting cost discipline and operational leverage. The complementary survey revealed a high perception of cascading effect on the schedule, strong support for defining cost package owners, and a preference for technical justification of expenses, in addition to demand for controlled flexibility after the baseline definition. It was concluded that structuring the POA as a project, associated with the rigor of OBZ, increased the process predictability, reinforced accountability for expenses, and broadened the coherence between budgetary execution and economic-financial performance.

Keywords: Cost Control; Operational Efficiency; Zero-Based Budgeting; PMBOK; Beverage Sector.