Meijer’s Derek Steele on building a Midwest retail media powerhouse

With the number of retail media networks exploding in recent years to over 200, major retailers are looking to claim a piece of the market.

For Meijer — the family-owned grocery chain with over 500 Midwest locations — owning its home turf is the differentiator. According to Derek Steele, Meijer’s group vice president for marketing and customer strategy, larger competitors may boast greater size and reach, but they lack access to the distinct regional audiences Meijer has cultivated.

“We really dominate within those areas,” Steele says on the latest episode of The Current Podcast. “We understand that customer. Our data would show that over 50% of the households within our trade area are shopping at a Meijer store. So we would argue that you really can’t reach that unique audience that we have if you’re not engaging with Meijer.”

The Meijer Media Network has opened new doors for the brand, allowing it to enter conversations and partnerships with brands than it hadn’t previously reached. It also enables a more comprehensive, full-funnel approach to customer acquisition.

Steele also explains how the COVID-19 pandemic turned retail media from a “nice to have” to a crucial part of its business, unifying measurement across in-store and digital channels. And in a surprising twist, he recounts how he started out as an engineer on the space shuttle program — an unexpected path that led him to where he is today.