In some advertising circles, you may have started to hear the expression "commerce media" emerging. This is because it is a new approach to digital advertising that is changing the way commerce is conducted. However, commerce media is one of those terms that seems simple, but when someone tries to explain it, most people get confused
Commerce media is the advertising that connects consumers to products and services throughout the entire shopping journey, both in physical and digital touchpoints, directly linking advertising investment to transactions
Although it seems simple, commerce media is a multifaceted advertising approach that is still very new. Below are ten key facts about commerce media to clarify its fundamental principles
1. Commerce media is an evolving new concept
The term gained popularity with the release of advertising revenue from the Amazon platform, in 2022,accompanied by a promise of unprecedented access to commercial data for the brands, in addition to a new revenue stream for retailers. Despite the increase in subscriptions to commerce media, the ecosystem has a long way to go to fully harness its benefits.
2. Commerce media is independent of the sales channel
Commerce media involves the connection of all media that can be associated with online and offline sales transactions, or that use commercial data to enrich and optimize audience segmentation. The modality is the offering of products in physical stores, marketplaces and e-commerces, or still content and news platforms.
3. Commerce Media does not exist without data and AI
A segmentação e definição de públicos-alvo da commerce media tem base em dados comerciais (sinais e transações de intenção/viagem do cliente no mundo real) para informar as decisões de marketing, improve segmentation, create efficient and effective ads and provide optimized consumer experiences.
This is only possible through artificial intelligence, that is capable of analyzing and working with commercial data to develop predictive models that enhance recommendations and biddings. They can also help publishers improve their audiences for monetization.
4. Commerce media multiplies revenues also for non-advertisers
Many types of businesses can benefit from the modality, including advertisers, agencies, data analysis platforms, of media measurement, among other players that support media operators in driving results, multiplying, thus, your recipes.
5. The biggest inhibitor of commerce media is fragmentation
There is no single approach to commerce media –each player in commerce (retailers, marketplaces or e-commerces have their own way of negotiating ads, define audiences, policies and use data. For the brands, this hinders the reach of your target audiences, as well as the measurement of ROI from the campaigns. Thus, an effort to standardize and unify the market can be the main improvement to increase revenues for all participants.
6. Commerce media is not retail media
Retailers are among the first players in commerce media, but the modality has new players,the newcomers, But other industries, like the automotive, airlines, hotels and the sharing economy, bring their own unique datasets and capabilities, as well as different types of transactions.
7. Commerce media adds insights that go beyond retail
For not being just multi-commercial, but also multi-sectoral, commerce media has datasets of behavior and transactions from a broader scope of environments and audiences. These insights can further improve segmentation and personalization, in addition to expanding the marketing mix.
8. Commerce media expands opportunities in the digital ecosystem
Commerce media expands the scope of traditional programmatic channels, by connecting onsite and display experiences at points of sale and offsite on the open web and physical stores. The modality creates opportunities for non-endemic advertisers on retail websites, allows publishers to implement commerce-oriented monetization strategies and empowers media buyers and sellers to identify the value of their first-party data
9. Commerce media is omnichannel and full-funnel
Commerce media is not limited to reaching customers at the point of sale, but in all channels, and throughout all stages of the purchase funnel –since points can be assigned to transactions. This means that the strategy can be attributed from the initial research stage to the final purchase –awareness, consideration and conversion
10. Commerce media is multiformat and multichannel
To connect with consumers throughout the funnel, commerce media adopts a variety of formats and channels, far beyond the sponsored ads traditionally associated with retail media, including also video, display, contextual, shoppable ads, CTV, OOH and SMS, among others
Currently, open internet commerce media is fragmented, with demand-side platforms (DSPs), supply-side platforms (SSPs) and retail SSPs operating separately. But, as privacy continues to be a priority throughout the ecosystem, marketing professionals and media owners will seek more integrated solutions to manage, scale and activate first-party data and addressable audiences. The commercial media space is expected to advance rapidly in these areas, making it easier for marketing professionals and media owners to work together to deliver richer experiences to consumers
