UK | The John Lewis Partnership has appointed Kevel to power its on-site retail media network across the John Lewis and Waitrose websites.
It's the Partnerships' latest move to future-proof its retail media offer for brands, with a focus on providing highly personalised, useful content that benefits customers and brands alike.
The Partnership attracts millions of customers every year online, with sixty percent of John Lewis' orders now taking place online, making it an increasingly popular tool for brand partnerships.
Drawing on its AI-powered, API-first Retail Media Cloud, coupled with its experience supporting multi-brand retailers, Kevel has worked collaboratively with the John Lewis Partnership to develop a bespoke advertising platform that delivers advanced targeting.
First-party data enables brands to target customer segments, helping advertisers reach the right shoppers at the right moment. It features easy self-service tools that enable brand partners to go live with custom campaigns more quickly than ever before, and it supports native ads and sponsored listings across the websites.
It also includes new 'ROPO' measurement capabilities and closed-loop reporting designed to reflect customers' 'research online, purchase offline' shopping habits.
For the first time, this allows brands to track whether their retail media has led to sales, even if the purchase is made in-store, by bringing in data such as loyalty card use. This helps close the long‑standing gap in how brands measure the impact of onsite media on in‑store sales.
"This is a huge step forward for our digital retail media offer. With over 160 years in retail, we hold really rich customer insights - and we’re now able to share this with trusted partner brands,” said Kaitlin Craig, a Digital Retail Media Lead for the John Lewis Partnership.
"By targeting our retail media, we can improve the experience for brands and customers alike - whether that’s reminding customers of old favourites, or helping them connect with exciting new brands. The early results are exciting, and we're only getting started."
The platform is being rolled out in phases, with display placements already live across John Lewis and Waitrose. Sponsored product ads will follow later this year.
The Kevel partnership is the latest addition from the John Lewis Partnership as it looks to strengthen its retail media offer for its brands.
"The John Lewis Partnership is exactly the kind of retailer Kevel was built for - a brand with deep customer loyalty, rich first-party data, and the ambition to own its media proposition rather than outsource it,” said James Avery, Founder and CEO of Kevel.
“We're proud to provide the infrastructure that gives them the control and flexibility to build a media network entirely on their own terms."
Epsilon will continue to oversee off-site advertising for John Lewis and Waitrose, including digital display and online video ads served across the open web and streaming services, whilst also offering first-party data and closed-loop measurement.
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