Cotswold Outdoor Group Media Portal: the Cotswold retail media network for outdoor and running brands

It sells expertise as much as reach. Cotswold Outdoor Group is a specialist retailer, and its stores offer services such as gait analysis for runners. In a 2026 campaign for the HOKA Mach 7, Runners Need targeted performance runners and customers who had used in-store gait analysis (endurance.biz, 18 May 2026). A general retailer rarely knows that a shopper has just been fitted for running shoes. For a running brand, that signal is worth more than a large but vague audience.

The second difference is size. With about 75 stores and screens in 23 of them, this is a mid-sized network. Its partners are the brands it already stocks; HOKA, ASICS and Nike have used it (Internet Retailing, 7 October 2026). REI's retail media is the nearest outdoor specialist comparison in the US.

Third, the group joined two platforms rather than building one. Zitcha runs the portal for onsite, offsite and booking. Broadsign's CMS and ad server run the screens, with IUF installing and supporting them. Broadsign said its integration with Zitcha lets brands extend one campaign into stores (Broadsign and IUF via Marketing Dive, 5 October 2026). IUF said the project went from tender to a revenue-generating network in twelve weeks.

All figures are company claims and have not been independently audited.

In-store. Screens at the till, on shelves, on totems, in large formats and at the front of store, plus physical brand elevations. The in-store retail media guide explains how in-store media like this is priced and measured.

Onsite. Website banners and sponsored product listings across the group's sites. The HOKA campaign also used homepage placements and CRM emails.

Offsite. Meta and YouTube were named at launch; the 2026 HOKA campaign added paid media on Google (endurance.biz, 18 May 2026). These run through the Zitcha platform.

The network uses the group's first-party customer data across three banners. The published campaign shows segment targeting built from shopping behaviour and in-store services. Cotswold's chief executive, Jamie Kristow, spoke of "in-depth audience insights", without detail on data handling.

Brands receive campaign results, not customer records. We found no description of a clean room or of how audiences are matched on Meta and Google.

The published results compare activated stores with control stores, a standard way to estimate incrementality. Online metrics include click-through rate, email open rate and conversion. Broadsign's software reports in-store delivery. No independent audit has been published. Ask how control stores are chosen and whether results are shared for every campaign.

1. Contact Cotswold Outdoor Group's commercial team or request access to the Media Portal; no public sign-up page was found.
2. Choose banners. Decide between Cotswold Outdoor, Runners Need and Snow + Rock shoppers, or all three.
3. Use the self-serve tools in the Zitcha-based portal for onsite and offsite campaigns.
4. Add screens in the 23 stores with displays, especially near your product's bay.
5. Ask for a control-store read like the HOKA tests, and agree the metrics before launch.

It suits:

• outdoor, running, camping and snow-sports brands stocked by the group;
• launches that need specialist shoppers rather than mass reach;
• brands that want self-serve access with optional store screens.

It suits less:

• brands not sold in the group's stores;
• advertisers who need national scale across hundreds of stores;
• buyers who require audited measurement.

• The group's headquarters and ownership from a primary source.
• Which tasks are self-serve and which need the commercial team.
• Rates, minimum spend and media revenue.
• When programmatic trading of screens, mentioned as a future option, will start.

1. Retail Gazette, "Cotswold Outdoor Group launches retail media network" (3 June 2025). https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2025/06/cotswold-outdoor-retail-media/
2. Cotswold Outdoor Group and Zitcha, "Cotswold Outdoor Group partners with Zitcha to launch new retail media network", release published by the Outdoor Industries Association (19 June 2025). https://www.theoia.co.uk/member-news/cotswold-outdoor-group-partners-with-zitcha-to-launch-new-retail-media-network/
3. endurance.biz, "Runners Need and Zitcha build funnel for HOKA Mach 7 run shoe" (18 May 2026). https://endurance.biz/2026/industry-news/runners-need-and-zitcha-build-funnel-for-hoka-mach-7-run-shoe/
4. Broadsign and IUF, "Cotswold Outdoor Group Expands Retail Media Strategy to In-Store with Broadsign and IUF", release published by Marketing Dive (5 October 2026). https://www.marketingdive.com/press-release/20261005-cotswold-outdoor-group-expands-retail-media-strategy-to-in-store-with-broad/
5. Internet Retailing, "Cotswold Outdoor expands retail media network with new in-store advertising platform" (7 October 2026). https://internetretailing.net/cotswold-outdoor-expands-retail-media-network-with-new-in-store-advertising-platform/