INTERVIEW: Designing Retail Media for Scale and Relevance: Helene Trad on Kingfisher’s Approach

Why It Matters

Kingfisher’s scalable, relevance‑first retail media model demonstrates how multi‑banner retailers can grow ad revenue without compromising shopper experience, setting a benchmark for the home‑improvement sector. It also signals a shift toward retail media as a core, strategic touchpoint for suppliers seeking direct engagement.

Key Takeaways

• Modular media platform unifies measurement, adds banner‑specific activation
• AI powers planning, workflow, and brand‑safe creative review
• Trade customers valued for lifetime revenue and influence on DIY shoppers
• Shopper feedback guides ad volume to prevent media fatigue

Pulse Analysis

Retail media has moved from a niche add‑on to a core revenue stream for large retailers, especially in the home‑improvement space where shoppers juggle online inspiration and in‑store purchases. Kingfisher, the parent of Screwfix and B&Q, faces a unique challenge: reconciling the fast‑paced, task‑oriented buying patterns of trade professionals with the leisurely, project‑driven journeys of DIY enthusiasts. By adopting a modular architecture, the group can apply a single measurement framework across all banners while allowing each brand to tailor formats, placements and messaging to its distinct audience. This hybrid approach preserves consistency for advertisers and relevance for shoppers.

Artificial intelligence underpins Kingfisher’s retail media engine at every stage. Programmatic buying, audience segmentation and budget allocation are driven by machine‑learning models that predict the most effective touchpoints. AI also automates creative compliance checks, ensuring brand safety at scale as the platform moves toward a self‑serve model. For trade customers, AI‑enhanced segmentation captures lifetime value metrics, recognizing that a single tradesperson can influence dozens of homeowner purchases over a career. Meanwhile, B&Q’s inspiration‑driven shoppers benefit from AI‑curated product recommendations that follow them across digital and physical channels, reinforcing a seamless project journey.

For suppliers, the shift is equally profound. Retail media is no longer a peripheral negotiation tool; it is a shared growth lever that delivers timely, context‑rich exposure at the moment of purchase intent. By reaching both professional buyers and DIY consumers through a single, data‑rich platform, brands can launch new products, test innovations and measure impact with unprecedented granularity. As AI continues to refine targeting and measurement, the retail media landscape will likely see broader adoption of self‑serve solutions, tighter integration with loyalty programs, and deeper collaboration between retailers and manufacturers. Kingfisher’s blueprint offers a roadmap for other multi‑banner retailers aiming to balance scale, relevance and shopper trust.