The exponential growth – and resounding success – of retail media is creating opportunities for other commerce-led vertical sectors to open up their digital assets to advertisers, with the likes of airline, hotel, and financial services brands eyeing the launch of their own data-driven ad platforms.
That is one of the key findings of a new global study by Criteo, entitled “The Great Defrag: how commerce media will unite advertising in 2024”. Based on the views of more than 1,000 brands, agencies, retailers and publishers, it reveals that any company with a unique audience and a monetisation strategy has the potential to add a new revenue stream.
In fact, nearly two thirds (58%) of brands and over half (51%) of agencies would like to see other verticals beyond retail further monetise their digital footprints.
In the meantime, more than eight out of ten (83%) publishers are curious to tap retail media ad spend by embedding products on their web pages, opening up more inventory opportunities for offsite campaigns.
Among the other key findings, an overwhelming proportion of agencies (93%), brands (88%) and retailers (89%) said retail media has had a strong or positive impact on their bottom line in 2023. In fact, eight out of ten (79%) of advertisers agreed retail media spend is more effective in terms of sales than any other channel.
The data also illustrates how retail media has evolved beyond purely sponsored product ads. Overall, 85% of brands and agencies agreed the ability of retail media to drive upper-funnel brand awareness is growing stronger.
Criteo chief revenue officer Brian Gleason said: “Advertisers, publishers and retailers want to make full use of this new media and our mission is to make it as simple as possible. The easier it is for all parties to successfully buy and sell retail media, the faster we reach the potential of this $100bn market opportunity.”
Looking ahead, 69% of publishers are prioritising retail media revenue over the next 12 to 18 months. This is good news for the 56% of brands and 47% of agencies currently investing in retail media both onsite and offsite. Another quarter (24% brands, 25% agencies) are investing only in onsite, but plan to expand to offsite in the future.
To meet offsite demands, 51% of retailers are prioritising investment in this area, while 43% are also working to meet demands for retail media in-store, such as digital screens and point of sale displays in physical stores.
Gleason added: “Ultimately retail media has to emulate the whole journey of the consumer. Offsite and instore are essential components in influencing and guiding decisions, alongside sponsored products and onsite display ads. As retail media moves up the funnel, new demand sources like brand marketing and performance marketing need to be added to the mix.”
As we enter the age of addressability, the “must-have” resource is first-party data and the proposed broader activation in new verticals is what differentiates the category of ‘commerce media’, an evolution from retail media.
With brands and agencies already planning to spend more on the category, there is still room at the table. Some 45% of brands and agencies say they plan to meet 2024 objectives by looking for opportunities to invest in non-retail verticals that offer similar first-party data and closed-loop features to retail media.
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