Retail is all about maximizing the return on the cost of assets (mainly products and services). But one of the biggest items for retailers, the physical space that houses their business, is usually not well monetized.

Amazon and Walmart have noticed this and are monetizing the physical space they occupy in the digital realm through advertising.

Advertising on Amazon is still relatively small, but it accounts for nearly 10% of total revenue, which is more than an Amazon Prime subscription, for example. Walmart is also growing its advertising business, bringing in more than $2 billion of his to retailers last year, albeit small compared to total revenue. And they’re not the only ones. Nine of the top 10 largest US retailers have their own media networks.

These retailers realized they had a valuable audience for marketers to reach, and realized that advertising could monetize their digital footprint, an underutilized asset.

With brick-and-mortar retailers facing the dual pressure of declining foot traffic and a challenging economic environment, it is also important to identify ways to better monetize assets to increase revenue.

So, while you may not have the digital footprint of Amazon or Walmart, you do have a sizable and desirable audience of people walking past your store window and coming into your store every day.

If Amazon and Walmart can become de facto media companies by monetizing access to people who engage with them, so can you, through OOH ads delivered on digital screens in store windows. I can do it.

And there is no more time to do so. OOH advertising is booming.

According to the Standard Media Index, OOH advertising grew a whopping 70% in the first quarter of 2022 and increased another 42% by May. For comparison, the next largest advertising channel in terms of growth was digital, which grew 24% year over year in Q1 (albeit from a much larger starting point).

It’s easy to understand why OOH ads are on the rise. It’s in the ‘real world’ so it’s closer to the point of purchase. And his OOH ads, which need immediate attention, turn out to be highly engaging, creative, and often funny.

With its appeal and effectiveness, and the advent of digital screens that can be easily installed anywhere from petrol pumps and charging stations to public transit kiosks, OOH advertising can now be delivered anywhere, and in the process, businesses can actually On, host media companies.

For example, Volta offers free EV charging at stations in exchange for exposure to advertising served at stations. It’s no different than a magazine monetizing physical space to sell ads. As a result, while these companies (ranging from taxis to transit kiosks) are mainly about services and products, they are now also media companies. So is Volta a charging station company or a media company?

Of course, Amazon and Walmart are still retailers first and will continue to be. But think about it: Amazon’s ad revenue has surpassed YouTube’s and is growing at a faster pace. Walmart believes it could become a top 10 advertising platform in the future.

We may not reach each other, but we share the need to better monetize the available assets. Shop windows are the first place to look because they want to provide access to their audiences and brands are willing to pay, as Amazon and Walmart have demonstrated.

Of course, daily store window foot traffic varies greatly from urban to suburban or rural settings, and every hour, every day, anyone can enjoy the 10,000 people who walk past Macy’s store window in Manhattan. Not really. But as with most businesses, the number of people you are exposed to in your store windows every day is probably on the order of a few hundred. $ to $500 can be realized. This is an important source of increased revenue.

So make sure you’re monetizing all your assets, including physical space, now that the pressure on retailers is mounting. Along the way, you can enjoy being a retailer and a media company at the same time.

Joe Kunigonis is Smartify Mediais a digital outdoor and retail digital advertising platform that helps businesses and commercial property owners realize the media value inherent in their physical space. He has held multiple executive and founder roles within the industry and is an industry veteran and subject matter expert in digital outdoor advertising, programmatic, real estate and location-based technology for DOOH and Retail Tech Industries. Kunigonis has over 25 years of experience in outdoor advertising, media and retail digital with his signage.