Criteo continued its pivot from retargeting to retail media this year, making it one of the biggest players that help retailers and brands buy e-commerce ads.
Retailers were cautiously optimistic going into Black Friday and Cyber Monday this year. While many shoppers celebrated the most “normal” holiday season in years, others were reeling from inflation. Despite this, retailers still saw success from the big shopping weekend, as purchases were higher this year than in 2021.
The data is in for Black Friday, and the beauty category saw double-digit sales growth with shoppers who did their research. According to data from Salesforce, Black Friday weekend sales in the health and beauty category grew 14% year-over-year, making it the third-most-popular vertical after electronics and activewear. Beauty retailers’ site traffic on Black Friday, meanwhile, was up 26% year-over-year and 97% higher than an average day in 2022, based on data from retail technology company Bluecore.
Online shoppers hunting for televisions from the British retailer Argos this week will be inundated with Black Friday offers. Yet among the hundreds of options, an ultra high definition model from Toshiba stands out. That is because the Japanese electronics maker has paid a premium for prominent positioning. Argos will use the data it collects about purchasers to better target future adverts during shopping sessions.
As the competitive world of ad tech and mar tech continues evolving against a backdrop of unsettling economic circumstances, delivering the best performance is top of everyone’s mind. That’s why when we asked you, our Adweek readers, to vote on our fourth annual Adweek Readers’ Choice: Best of Tech Partner Awards—which recognizes the top advertising and marketing technology providers and leaders—you responded with gusto. Thousands of votes were cast across 33 categories.
Real-time insight into where and how people shop is crucial to ensure engagement strategies are aligned to make the most out of every touchpoint along the path to purchase. Criteo’s Holiday 2022 Commerce Trends Report used data from thousands of retailers across millions of transactions to zero in on three critical opportunities for capturing consumers with the right message, at the right time, this holiday season.
Criteo is betting big on its commerce business, which includes retail media and an arm that helps advertisers find and target shoppers on publishers' websites. The company
predicts those areas will make up $1 billion— or 75% — of revenue by 2025.
Criteo has big aspirations for retail advertising. The French adtech firm has pivoted its ad business away from retargeting and towards retail advertising as it gets harder for marketers to use third-party cookies to target and measure ads. At an investor presentation on October 31, CEO Megan Clarken said that Criteo expects to make $1.4 billion in annual revenue ex-TAC in 2025. Criteo's new business solutions, which include retail media and an arm that helps advertisers find and target shoppers on publishers' websites, is predicted to make up $1 billion — or 75% — of revenue. The remaining 25% of revenue will come from Criteo's retargeting business, Clarken said.
Courting agencies is a key element of Criteo’s retail media ambitions. Which is one reason Criteo hired ad agency vet Brian Gleason as CRO in February. Getting cozy with agencies wasn’t always a priority, though. Criteo has direct relationships with more than 20,000 clients. But now that Criteo has commerce and retail media aspirations, it needs to strike agency partnerships, and Gleason’s intimate understanding of how holding companies operate is an asset.
Global tech company Criteo hired two executives to its Americas Client Solutions team. The new personnel will build out Criteo’s Commerce Media Platform to help clients in the direct-to-consumer and performance marketing spaces. Katie Kulik has been named executive managing director, client solutions and Courtey Cochrane is managing director, enterprise. They will support Criteo's roster of clients in the U.S., Canada and LATAM.
