Advertisers can reach more target audiences by diversifying their spending on retail media, says Melanie Zimmermann, general manager of global retail media at Criteo, in this interview with Beet.TV contributor Jon Watts at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Special thanks to CVS Media Exchange (CMX), Criteo, LiveRamp and Snap for Business for sponsoring our series. Visit Beet.TV for this video (https://lnkd.in/gqiYwdDr) and much more! #beetcannes #canneslions2024 #commercemedia #retailmedia #adtech Join us at the Beet Retreat Berkshires, July 21-23 🏞 https://lnkd.in/ewhG-SSV
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I think over the last few years, pretty much every retailer has launched a retail media network. It's also a very relevant industry challenge. Brands have always looked for effective ways to acquire new customers, and there's truly no better way than to acquire customers than to reach them right when they're shopping. >> So why is Criteo such a powerful presence in the retail media market? >> I think there are a few key things that set us apart from others. One is we have always been grounded in results, we've always been performance-focused. And so we are bringing outcome orientation to retail media, whether that's on-site or off-site, in a unified way. We're also partnering with retailers and really enabling them to grow. We've made it very easy for them both to launch and to scale their retail media networks, and we're more than just an ad tech player, we're truly a business partner. We can help a retailer launch their own private marketplace, but we also are connecting them to a broader ecosystem of platforms that allow them to access incremental demand. >> So what are you learning from this work with retailers about what good looks like? What do retailers have to have to really succeed in this new marketplace? >> In order for retailers to succeed in the marketplace, they of course, need to have all the fundamentals of being able to serve retail media, whether that's on site or offsite. And that has become quite easy for retailers to figure out. They have late mover advantages, as I call them, because they can take advantage of the platforms that exist in the marketplace. But I think for retailers to truly be successful, they have to be client-focused, specifically taking the needs of the advertisers into account. And for the advertisers, it's becoming increasingly fragmented. We see that globally, Amazon represents more than 70% of retail media ad spend, but they are not representing 70% of e-commerce. So there's an opportunity for advertisers to diversify their investments, and that is not easy for them. And so for us to help the retailers, will help to ultimately help the buy side as well, by providing tools that make it easier to buy across. >> So how is the growth of retail media investment changing the relationships retailers have with brands? Does it create a new dynamic? >> Yes, I think that a lot of retailers are first leaning into the relationships they have directly with the brands, and that's great. I think that both the retailers and the brands value those strategic dialogues they can have about how to move their business forward. But then also the retailers are getting to a point where they're thinking about how do you go beyond trade because you're going to hit a point where you cannot further increase the advertiser's cost of sales. And so you need to position yourself as a partner for national media buyers that are looking for more than what a traditional trade can provide. And so I think that's where we're at a really interesting point in the industry's growth, where the industry, in my observation, has been fueled by shopper media dollars. And we are at an intersection of time where the industry is going to start fueling more national media dollars into retail media, but only if we get the fundamentals right. So what are we learning about what works for brands in retail media space? Which brands are really seeing benefits from reinvestment to retail media? >> We see many industry verticals investing, but I see particularly the beauty industry as one that is heavily invested. I think they've always been very data focused. They wanna connect to customers in a very relevant way and there are direct-to-consumer endeavors of beauty companies. But also the wholesale continues to play a really important role avenue for them to acquire new customers. And so I think we see industry verticals invest across the globe, but certainly the beauty industry as well as CPG will stand out. >> So inevitably we're hearing can, there's gonna be a lot of talk about AI this year. What's the opportunity for AI in the retail media space? >> AI can really take targeting to the next level. I think that when you reflect on the industry today, there's still a lot of traditional IO-based managed services campaigns out there that are still very manually optimized. And I think with the essence of AI, there's an opportunity for us to bring more outcome orientation to the campaigns, and making it more efficient for the retailer, but also ultimately more performing for the buy side.To view or add a comment, sign in
