CVS’s retail media boss desires to show 9,000 shops right into a data-driven media massive

That’s the hill Parbinder Dhariwal is ready to die on. For the British-born VP of CVS Media Exchange (CMX), who we stuck up with at Possible in Miami, the way forward for retail media doesn’t relaxation on flashy advert codecs or bold shop rollouts – it rests on rock-solid dimension. Attribution, incrementality, consistency – with out the ones, the channel dangers stalling simply because it hits its stride.

Dhariwal is aware of a factor or two about momentum. Born in Nuneaton, a producing the town within the West Midlands, to Indian oldsters who emigrated to the United Kingdom within the 60s, he’s carved out a occupation spanning B2B publishing, CNet, Spotify and Walmart. Now, at CVS, he’s on the helm of a media community constructed on 9,000 shops, 90 million loyalty participants and a rising military of in-store displays.

And if he will get his manner, the ones displays – from the drugstore ready spaces to the aisle-end development caps – will change into probably the most maximum robust and measurable advert placements in US retail. Not unhealthy for a bloke from Nunny.

“There are two CVS stores between my hotel and the conference centre. It’s only a two-mile walk,” he says, “Look, CVS is massive, 300,000-plus employees, $370bn in revenue. I didn’t realize what a phenomenal business it was until I joined.”

What units CMX aside, he says, is its center of attention on all of the retail ecosystem – now not simply electronic advertisements and off-site concentrated on, however the whole lot that occurs in-store, within the aisle and at the display.

Media that lives within the aisle

Dhariwal lighting up when speaking about in-store displays – now not the futuristic sort, however actual {hardware} deployed throughout 1000’s of branches. CVS now has round 1,900 pharmacy ready house displays and 2,200 “trend cap” displays at aisle ends – “like out-of-home media,” as Dhariwal places it, “but with real-time, closed-loop measurement.”

It’s a space many networks nonetheless deal with as a nice-to-have. For Dhariwal, it’s core to the trade. “Retail media networks talk a lot about digital. But our biggest channel – our most important one – is still in-store. That’s where the action is. That’s where our customers are.”

To turn out it, CVS has constructed out an attribution fashion that ties ExtraCare loyalty swipes to on-screen exposures. No eye-tracking, no sci-fi surveillance – simply timestamped messaging and dependable gross sales information. “We know the average time a customer is in-store. We know when they’ve seen a message. And we can link that to purchase. It’s not rocket science – but it is effective.”

Personalization at scale – for snacks and statins

Unlike the United Kingdom, US pharmacies are full-blown comfort shops. You can pick out up shampoo, cereal, chilly beverages, attractiveness merchandise and birthday playing cards to your option to accumulate your prescription, because of this buyer trips are wildly various.

Dhariwal’s group is the use of that to its benefit, merging native insights with centralized making plans. “The beach stores in Miami will obviously have more sun cream and cold drinks. In Times Square, it’s a different basket. In Brooklyn, another again. We’re working on more granular merchandising powered by data. It’s a front-store initiative – it’s happening now.”

The ExtraCare loyalty programme, which boasts a whopping 90 million addressable participants, is vital to this. “54% of our customers start in the app and then go to a store to complete the purchase. That gives us a clear through-line from digital to physical.”

And that digital-physical handshake doesn’t simply reinforce gross sales – it powers the flywheel of retail media. “It’s not about blasting ads. It’s about being relevant – showing up with the right message, in the right store, at the right moment.”

From dimension ache to efficiency achieve

Measurement, naturally, is a scorching subject. And CMX is leaning in. “We were the first health and wellness retail media network to adopt the IAB’s measurement standards – both digital and in-store,” says Dhariwal. “But we’ve gone beyond that. We use RCT methodology with holdout groups to prove incrementality. That’s the gold standard. Without that, why would advertisers come back?”

It’s a powerful pitch and a vital one. With CTV, social and the remainder of the media pack jostling for proportion of pockets, retail media has to turn out it may well do extra than simply seize impulse buys.

For now, CVS is staying concerned with endemic classes – attractiveness, well being, wellness, OTC meds – and refining its be offering earlier than wading into non-endemic waters. “You can’t just slap any old brand in a store and call it a strategy,” he says. “There has to be value for the customer. Friction is fine, as long as it’s the right kind.”

From Spotify playlists to six-minute buying groceries journeys

It’s onerous to not be inspired by means of the dimensions and pace of Dhariwal’s operation. He’s deployed greater than 4,000 displays, introduced programmatic audio throughout each shop and is getting ready to put in every other 500 front-door stanchions by means of year-end. “I know I can go to a CVS, get what I need and be out in six minutes. That’s the proposition. That’s the value.”

CMX turns 5 this August – nonetheless younger in community phrases – however Dhariwal’s center of attention is obvious: tighten the knowledge, turn out the efficiency and stay the client on the heart. “We’re not trying to do everything. We’re doing what matters – and doing it properly.”

So, how large may just all of it get? “Retail media’s not going away,” he says. “It’s one of the few sectors still heading up and to the right. And when you’ve got the footprint, the data and the trust – well, that’s a bright spot in anyone’s media plan.”