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Department store chain Belk is standing up an advertising business.
The company is starting an ad arm called Belk Media Network that will sell ads to brands trying to reach the retailer’s shoppers.
Belk is a regional department store chain with nearly 300 stores in 16 Southern states including Texas, Florida and Maryland. Belk competes with retailers including Macy’s and Kohl’s.
Belk has hired Neal Sheridan, a former Macy’s ad exec, to lead Belk Media Network. Part of Sheridan’s role requires setting a vision for how the ad business fits into Belk’s IT, ecommerce, merchant and marketing teams, according to a job posting.
“You will have the opportunity to launch and establish the goals of the partnerships while creating the strategic vision of the RMN,” reads the job posting.
Belk is currently hiring for a sales manager responsible for creating sales materials and relationships with advertisers and third-party companies.
A spokesperson for Belk confirmed that the retailer plans to formally launch the ad business this fall but declined to share additional details about the program.
Retail media is getting too niche
Belk is eyeing a piece of the $140 billion that advertisers will spend on retail media this year, according to Emarketer. However, Amazon dominates and is expected to grab 74% of those budgets.
A growing number of retailers are fighting over the remaining portion of retail ad budgets. Retail tech firm Mimbi estimates there are more than 200 retail media networks.
Four retail media experts that ADWEEK spoke to said that the increased competition will make it hard for Belk to compete for big budgets. Unlike Belk’s competitors Macy’s and Kohl’s, Belk doesn’t have stores across the entire U.S. — making it harder for advertisers to justify ad budgets that don’t reach a wide swath of American shoppers. Belk is also late to develop an ad business, the experts said.
