Officially launching last month, One Roof offers customized advertising products built around data-driven trends and consumer behavior within the home category.
Lowe’s envisions the network serving as an “extension of our partners’ marketing teams, helping them develop custom, comprehensive approaches designed to deliver on their business goals.” The current offering (and what’s under development) will cover sponsored search, on- and off-site display, social, and on-site native content, along with measurement and closed-loop reporting. They’ve already partnered with both Criteo and Citrus to handle sponsored search. On the display side, they’re in the process of scaling on-site inventory while also selecting off-site activation partners.
Lowe’s has said more than 100 partner brands participated in beta testing for the network, including Kohler, Samsung, and GE Lighting. They even released some preliminary results, noting one kitchen and bath partner achieved a 700% ROAS. Several other vendors saw returns over 1,000%.
Beyond their ROAS proclamations (which, as always, should be taken with a grain of salt), there is inherent value in a few things related to One Roof:
Unique Data
Like all retail networks, One Roof is designed to harvest and weaponize the wealth of consumer data a particular retailer (in this case, Lowe’s) has at their disposal. But unlike all retail networks, this version will provide in-depth access to audiences built around the home lifestyle customer. The only other retail network that can boast such an offering is The Home Depot, which launched a similar effort (Retail Media+) a few years ago.
Ground Floor
As with any new retail media network, advertisers can capitalize by getting in on the ground floor. For advertisers whose target customer fits the typical Lowe’s consumer profile, this is the perfect opportunity to drive quick gains at an efficient cost-per-click –especially via sponsored search. Competition is typically low; therefore, CPCs can be had at an incredibly efficient rate. Advertisers can quickly bolster their presence for category terms and drive new customer ROAS before the competition arrives.
Ability to Choose
Again, the more networks the better. It provides advertisers with a choice. Even going as granular as the home improvement category, advertisers can now choose between The Home Depot (Retail Media+) and Lowe’s (One Roof).
It will be interesting to see how The Home Depot responds. Lowe’s had been running sponsored search for quite some time. They ran first with Criteo and recently offered the option for advertisers to run with Citrus as well. It was only a matter of time before Lowe’s put out their own, larger scale retail media network together.
Overall, the proliferation of retail networks isn’t a trend that’s going to stop. Retailers are seeing the inherent value in their data and looking to aggressively monetize it. While Amazon, Walmart, and Target have laid the groundwork, other retailers are simply following in their footsteps.
