The commissioned study, The State of Drive-to-Store Advertising 2019, shows that the worldwide share of drive-to-store investments for retailers will reach €55Bn. in 2019 — 58% of the total advertising spend for the industry. This investment is expected to reach 65% by 2023, or €73Bn., a 36% growth driven by digital-to-store spending.
NEW YORK — On the occasion of Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, S4M, the Drive-to-Store specialist, announced they have commissioned an independent drive-to-store advertising research study from IHS Markit (Nasdaq: INFO), a world leader in critical information, analytics and solutions with over 15 years of advertising-sector expertise.
While many studies by media, format or method of purchase already exist, The State of Drive-to-Store Advertising 2019 is the first research study that assesses the size of the advertising market across all types of media from a drive-to-store campaign perspective. The study surveys 400 advertisers from all retail sectors in support of the market data and forecasts generated by IHS Markit.
Some key figures:
- In 2019, drive-to-store will represent €55Bn. for retailers, 58% of the industry’s total advertising budget globally.
- In the United States, 2019 saw the same percentage attributed to drive-to-store, reaching €19Bn.
- Automotive is the leading sector in drive-to-store investments with €15Bn. spent in 2018.
- In the United States, the automotive industry also takes the lead, ahead of the grocery industry with €6Bn. and €4Bn. respectively in 2018 and €7Bn. and €6Bn. forecast for 2023.
- In 2023, mobile will become the major format for drive-to-store investment, growing from 19% in 2018 to 26% in 2023 globally. In the US, this growth will reach 28% in 2023, up from 22% in 2018.
- The advertising impact, particularly on sales and the number of in-store visits, is the first factor that pushes retailers to invest in drive-to-store.
- Conversely, advertisers who do not measure the impact of their drive-to-store campaigns name their unfamiliarity with the measurement tools available on the market as the main reason for it.
Finding 1: Drive-to-store growth is led by digital
Generating in-store traffic has always been one of retail’s main goals, and advertisers are dedicating an increasingly greater part of their advertising strategy to it. Indeed, drive-to-store continues to grow, with worldwide forecasts showing that it will amount to 65% of retailers’ total advertising investments in 2023, as opposed to 54% in 2018. This growth is strongly led by the digital-to-store, the leading media used by retailers to increase the number of in-store visits. As a matter of fact, in 2023, digital will represent 68% of worldwide drive-to-store spend as opposed to 54% in 2018.
Finding 2: Advertisers are increasingly looking for activations that can be measured and optimized in real time
The rise of digital-to-store can be explained by a growing demand for effective and measurable solutions. These new innovative solutions are a result of the staggering growth in mobile use and its technical specificities, especially when it comes to geolocation data, which enables brands to bridge the gap between the online and offline world. This is why the drive-to-store media mix will evolve tremendously in the coming years, led by mobile and social media, which are considered the two highest performing media channels to generate traffic in points of sales by the advertisers surveyed. Incidentally, by 2023, mobile will become American retailers’ favorite channel, with the study forecasting that they will allocate 28% of their drive-to-store advertising spend to it. In comparison, the study forecasts that retailers will spend only 4% of their drive-to-store budget on out-of-home as well as on leaflets, and only 3% on desktop. Despite these figures, retailers will continue to use traditional media in their media mix to attract consumers to stores. They will, however, turn more heavily to digital solutions like on-demand TV, programmatic audio, and digital out-of-home.
Finding 3: Retailers want to measure the concrete impact of their drive-to-store strategy in stores, giving up more traditional media KPIs
The study shows that advertisers who set up a drive-to-store strategy are mainly looking for ways to measure the concrete impact generated in their points of sale. This way, the number of visits, particularly incremental visits, and sales in stores are the first key performance indicators (KPIs) mentioned by advertisers as a way to measure the impact of their drive-to-store strategy. Traditional media KPIs such as reach, click-through rate and repetition rank last.
Finding 4: Some sectors are more inclined to Drive-to-Store
In the United States, drive-to-store advertising is already well established, and its growth will outpace the wider market to reach around 64% of all retail spend by 2023. The automotive business will maintain its dominance in the drive-to-store market with €7Bn. forecast for 2023, or 52% of their total advertising budget. With that being said, this industry is not the only one which is investing massively in drive-to-store. The grocery and restaurant sectors are the next largest categories with €6Bn. and €5Bn. invested respectively.
Moreover, digital media will dominate the U.S. retail landscape across all categories and will account for almost 70% by 2023. Mobile will maintain its lead in the drive-to-store market with a 28% share by 2023 and social media will grow from 9% in 2018 to 21% by 2023.
To read the entire study, click here : The State of Drive-to-Store Advertising 2019
About S4M
S4M is the first and only advertising technology that connects brands to consumers by bridging the gap between digital advertising and the real-world. S4M created a unified technology for marketers to manage, measure, and optimize incremental visits in real-time to online and physical stores. S4M is committed to transparency and full autonomy for its clients from online impressions until conversions and relies on data obtained only with the user’s explicit consent.
Founded in Paris in 2011 by mobile marketing pioneers, S4M has more than 180 employees worldwide (USA, Europe and Asia Pacific) and services more than 600 advertisers worldwide. The company has ten offices in the US, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America. Discover more: www.s4m.io.
