Sainsbury’s launches Amazon-style ‘Shop in Shop’ function for brands

Sainsbury’s has launched a new Amazon-style ‘Shop in a Shop’ function for brands to advertise on its website, as part of its latest expansion of its Nectar 360 retail media network.

The new tool – which is dubbed Branded Shops and sits within Sainsbury’s Nectar360 e-commerce media platform – will enable brands to create customised, fully branded landing pages within Sainsbury’s website infrastructure. They will be able to list a curated range of up to 100 products in a single location within the web portal.

The service is similar to the model operated by Amazon, and Asda’s Branded Page service.

For an additional promotion fee, brands will be able to improve the shopability of their products against other brands stocked by Sainsbury’s. They will also gain additional insight into how customers interacted with their page, for example the products they clicked on or added to their cart.

Nectar360 has partnered with CitrusAd to create the proposition, which can be live in as few as 10 days once a brand signs up.

Brands will be able to customise their page through a selection of pre-designed templates, and manage the page and layout independently once it is live. Harry’s, Gillette and BrewDog are among those to currently have portals live on the Sainsbury’s website.

“This is not just a first for us, but in the retail sector as a whole, so we’re very excited to see how our clients respond,” said Alice Anson, Nectar360 director of digital media.

“We are constantly looking at ways to deliver an easier, quicker and more intuitive experience on the platform. Our self-serve model puts the power in the hands of clients.”

CitrusAd EMEA CEO Alban Villani hailed the move as “the next stage” of the company’s partnership with Sainsbury’s.

“As part of this, we are always looking at ways to innovate and offer fresh ideas and new features to retailers and suppliers,” Villani said.

“Through our retail media technology, suppliers on the platform have already been able to maximise their presence with tailored sponsored product campaigns, ensuring they reach the right shopper at the right time.

“We are now taking this to the next level and look forward to seeing the results over the next few months.”

Like other retailers, Sainsbury’s has been expanding its retail media and loyalty network, as it looks to increase its revenue from data, advertising and digital marketing.

As part of Sainsbury’s Next Level strategy, unveiled by CEO Simon Roberts in February, Sainsbury’s anticipates it will make £100m from Nectar360 – which runs Nectar, Sainsbury’s in-house loyalty platform and its data insights capability – by 2027.

The launch of Branded Shops follows speculation late last year that Sainsbury’s was gearing up to launch its own online marketplace model, and had, according to The Times, been courting high street fashion brands including Jigsaw and White Stuff to list on the website of its clothing brand Tu.

Last week, Nectar360 signed an advertising technology partnership with The Trade Desk, that would enable brands to use insights garnered from Nectar members to inform advertising campaigns outside Sainsbury’s retail media network.

Also published in: The Grocer