3 Ways to Prepare for the Future of Commerce

The way we shop has changed. Here's how advertisers can prepare for what's to come and deliver richer experiences across the open internet.

According to eMarketer forecasts, ecommerce sales are expected to increase by double digits again in 2022.1 This kind of growth shows that shoppers aren’t just shopping online out of necessity, but because they’re getting real value from their digital experiences.

But with more demand comes more competition. For marketers to win and keep customers, they need to deliver richer experiences in all the places and moments consumers shop. The strategies below can help marketers do just that by expanding reach across the open internet, activating first-party data, and implementing a solid commerce media strategy. 

Mythbusting Contextual Advertising

Why Every Marketer Should Test It.

Invest in future-proofed advertising on the open internet 

Consumers are taking more of their shopping journey above and beyond walled gardens, and with industry change on the horizon, it’s critical to be testing capabilities, products, and solutions that are effective and will continue to be effective in the future, including: 

Contextual advertising  

It’s back and better than ever. Criteo’s unique contextual capabilities enhance traditional contextual targeting with first-party commerce data to focus ads on the publisher domains and categories that will have the most impact. 

CTV advertising 

The rise of video streaming means marketers that have a huge opportunity to reach targeted audiences when they’re hyper-engaged with high-quality content. Criteo’s CTV capabilities let you tap into privacy-safe, addressable inventory and reach viewers likely to engage with your products. 

Retail media 

The strategy that’s sweeping the open internet has everything going for it: Brands can reach shoppers at the digital point of sale, and retailers can turn their first-party data and audiences into a new revenue stream. Criteo’s retail media technology is purpose-built to enhance partnerships between retailers and brands to deliver more product sales and value for all. 

 

Build a first-party data plan for the addressable media future. 

With the end of support for third-party cookies planned for late 2023, the key to effective advertising in the addressable media future is first-party data. 

First-party data is any information that marketers and media owners receive directly from their users. This information can come from both online and offline sources, such as the company’s website, app, CRM, in-store sales, social media, surveys, and more. Using first-party data will enable you to reach shoppers across their increasingly hybrid journey – on the open web, on retailer/brand websites, and in-store – and deliver effective ads, including relevant product recommendations. 

Criteo’s First-Party Media Network helps marketers and media owners preserve and increase addressability by onboarding, enriching, and activating first-party data to drive addressable audience reach and personalize campaigns. This helps brands, agencies, retailers, and publishers achieve superior outcomes across the open internet. 

Develop a commerce media strategy that’s built for tomorrow.  

Commerce media is a form of digital advertising that combines commerce data, AI and a privacy-first approach to target consumers throughout their shopping journey. In addition to helping marketers and media owners drive commerce outcomes (sales, revenue, leads), commerce media: 

  • Fosters a diversity of content, products, and services on the open internet, which gives consumers access to more choice and different ways to discover. 
  • Creates a better experience for consumers–only delivering ads for things they’ve actively shown an interest in, and only from advertisers that they have consented to. 
  • Enables businesses to reach targeted groups of consumers using all the channels and formats that make sense for that group. It’s not about buying CTV or retail media ads, it’s about say, reaching Millennials in-market for robot vacuums—wherever they are. 

Criteo is building a Commerce Media Platform where marketers and media owners can turn the world’s largest open commerce dataset into high performing addressable advertising on the open internet. With our First-Party Media Network and commerce-focused AI, we can offer unique and highly effective audiences—along with the tools to activate them—to bring richer experiences to consumers on the open internet. 

To learn more, download our report: 

1Source: eMarketer, Global Ecommerce Forecast 2022 

Michelle Pruett

As Global Head of Content at Criteo, Michelle leads a high-performing, multi-disciplinary team of marketers packaging insights, copy, design, and video into integrated campaigns. Her own writing has been featured in Entrepreneur, Business Insider, AdWeek, eMarketer, and more. Before joining the ...

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