Internet giant to use Nectar data
Agreement will enable targeted marketing
Yahoo! has formed an advertising partnership with coalition loyalty scheme Nectar for supermarket Sainsbury’s, where Yahoo will combine online user data with consumer spending data to target more relevant advertising opportunities for brands.
The programme is called Consumer Connect and is aimed solely at brands sold in supermarkets. Mark Rabe, the MD and VP of sales for Yahoo UK and Ireland, says that these type of brands have been the “laggard” in digital media expenditure because it is difficult to track buying of these kinds of goods online.
Customer Connect sees Nectar and Yahoo! combine their databases for customers who elect to be included in the scheme to link supermarket spending trends with each consumer’s Yahoo! login.
Customers will then be shown adverts relevant to their supermarket purchases on Yahoo!’s network of websites.
The scheme does not make use of data that could be used to identify individuals participating in the scheme. Around 20,000 consumers have already chosen to join the initiative, according to the Financial Times.
Yahoo has been operating the service in the US for seven years under the name Consumer Direct. It is planned to extend the UK service to other countries, as well as third-party sites that run Yahoo-network ads.
In the UK, 25% of all media expenditure is on digital, but Nielsen figures show the supermarket sector only put 1% of its £3.5bn on advertising expenditure into digital media last year.