Why Sam’s Club’s ad platform is banking on member data to attract advertisers

In this episode of the Digiday Podcast, Ryan Burns, head of strategy at Sam’s Club Member Access Platform, talks about Sam’s Club’s pitch to advertisers, standing out in a crowded retail media landscape and plans to continue growth.

Below are highlights from the conversation, which have been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

Standing out in a crowded marketplace

I would say it’s a couple of things. No. 1, for sure, is we start with our members in member obsession. And that’s something that’s really unique in this space. We’re not just trying to be another advertising network out there. We are really honed in and focused on how can we provide the most valuable and additive ads experiences for our members, whether they’re shopping with us on-site in-club or even being able to reach them off-site? That’s No. 1. No. 2, and what really makes us differentiated when you look at the market broadly, is the fact that we are a membership model company. So we have the ability to attribute 100% of interactions with members back to them.

Off-site capabilities

I think the most interesting and probably the place where we add even more significant value is on-site plus off-site. But we also have a 600-club footprint in the United States. So we can meet our members in the club as well and we have a variety of ways of doing that. Think about putting up stands in a parking lot, having samples and demos in the club. That blend is the powerful proposition we have. Again, all of that being grounded in our first-party member data that is 100% attributable, even to the point where we can attribute in-club sales back to search ads online. That’s the way I walk [into a pitch meeting].

Going after national budgets and brand dollars

We want to press more into those national opportunities because we have 600 clubs across the country. We have members shopping with us who are 50% digitally engaged, which is an extraordinarily high number in retail. So we know we have great reach online as well with our e-commerce offering. … That’s a great opportunity for a brand marker, whether you’re at an agency or at a supplier, to look and say, “How can I create reach [shoppers]? How can I create awareness?”