The shopping trip doesn't start at the supermarket door.
It starts with a question.
What's for dinner?
What have we run out of?
What's on offer?
Which store should we visit?
What can we afford this week?
Much of the most important thinking in retail happens before anyone enters a store or opens a retailer's website.
It happens at home.
That's easy to forget as retail media becomes increasingly focused on reaching shoppers close to the point of purchase.
Proximity to purchase is valuable.
But so is proximity to decision.
A promotion seen while a household is planning its weekly shop can influence the list.
A catalogue can introduce a product that wasn't being considered.
A local offer can influence which store gets the visit.
A useful piece of communication can sit on the kitchen table until it's needed.
Perhaps we should stop thinking of the home as simply another media location.
It's a decision environment.
And sometimes the most valuable moment to influence a purchase isn't when the shopper is ready to buy.
It's when they're deciding what to buy in the first place.