Wickes Retail Media to Connect Brands with Home Improvement Customers

Why It Matters

The network gives brands direct, data‑driven access to a highly engaged home‑improvement audience across channels, unlocking new revenue streams and deeper customer engagement for Wickes. It also sets a benchmark for retail media adoption in the DIY sector, driving competitive advantage.

Key Takeaways

• First retail media network in UK home improvement sector
• Integrates online signals with 230 physical stores
• COREid graph enables precise cross‑channel audience targeting
• 96% of sales touch a store, boosting ad relevance
• Flexible ad options for manufacturers and specialist trade brands

Pulse Analysis

Retail media has rapidly become a cornerstone of e‑commerce monetisation, and Wickes’ entry signals the sector’s maturation. The UK home‑improvement market, valued at over £30 billion, is increasingly digital‑first, with shoppers researching projects online before visiting stores. By launching a dedicated media network, Wickes taps into this behavioural shift, offering advertisers a venue to reach customers at the exact moment they are planning, researching, or purchasing, thereby increasing ad relevance and ROI.

The partnership with Epsilon brings the COREid identity graph into play, unifying first‑party data from Wickes’ website, mobile app, and in‑store interactions. This unified view enables granular audience segmentation—DIY novices, design‑focused consumers, and trade professionals—across both on‑site placements and off‑site programmatic buys. Advertisers can now test, learn, and scale campaigns with real‑time insights, reducing waste and driving higher conversion rates. The integration of offline purchase data further enriches attribution models, offering a holistic picture of campaign performance.

Strategically, Wickes’ retail media platform diversifies its revenue beyond product sales, positioning advertising as a recurring income stream. The initiative also strengthens its ecosystem, encouraging brand loyalty as manufacturers gain a direct line to end‑users. As other big‑box retailers observe Wickes’ model, we can expect a ripple effect, prompting broader adoption of retail media networks in the DIY and home‑improvement space. This evolution will likely accelerate data‑driven marketing investments and reshape how brands allocate budgets across the retail funnel.