Saks rolls out retail media network
Saks is opening its first-party customer data to advertisers on its site.
The luxury e-commerce platform is unveiling the Saks Media Network, a program designed to help brands reach its customer base with digital advertising throughout the shopping experience.
Through the Saks Media Network, the retailer is making first-party customer data and traffic of over 435 million annual site visits available to brands to help them design and target sponsored product ads and on-site display banners. Saks’ strategic in-house media team leverages customized strategies designed to match the specific goals of the retailer’s brand partners with opportunities to achieve them, supported by reporting and insights.
Saks is calling the Saks Media Network one of the first retail media networks in luxury retail. Retail media networks began in the discount and grocery/CPG vertical, although in the past few years they have been spreading throughout a wide variety of retail niches.
Upscale department store Nordstrom also operates a retail media network, having taken its in-house media company, known as the Nordstrom Media Network, from pilot into full rollout in 2022.
"With the launch of our Saks Media Network, we are expanding our offerings for brand partners by helping their products reach the right luxury customers when and where they are actively looking to purchase," said Kristin Maa, senior VP, growth, Saks. "Our view of the full shopping journey across the Saks Fifth Avenue digital and physical ecosystem enables meaningful, personalized customer engagement and product discovery, and the Saks Media Network is the next step in leveraging our data-driven insights and industry expertise to enhance the customer experience."
In June 2021, Saks parent company Hudson’s Bay Company and venture capital firm Insight teamed up to establish Saks’ full-price e-commerce business as a standalone entity known as Saks.
Hudson’s Bay retained full ownership of the retailer’s physical Saks Fifth Avenue store fleet, now operating separately as a company called SFA. Saks provides some in-person services through an exclusive partnership with the Saks Fifth Avenue stores.