commerce

There are myriad reasons behind any business failure. But the failure of so many DTC brands raises the uncomfortable question: Were we wrong about the value of first-party data?

Conagra-owned brand Birds Eye brings a new approach to online video, social shopping and first-party data.

To better service clients – and help with its own bottom line – Havas Media Network is pushing into specialty services.

The end of third-party cookies is upon us, and independent ad tech is diverging on the best approach for cookieless targeting. Meanwhile, agencies and marketers are zooming out from programmatic to a bigger picture that’s focused on first-party data.

Over the past couple of years, thousands of retail industry trends have been flying around like loose threads. But, through it all, one fact stands above all other mere trends: to the biggest go the spoils.

This week, the AdExchanger Commerce newsletter examined a microcosm of the affiliate marketing and ecommerce business in the form of CNN Underscored, the news company’s product-selling site and content marketing unit.

For many, the holidays start with the post-Thanksgiving shopping weekend. For me, holiday traditions begin in late October, when the Meta ad platform goes haywire. 

A true epoch of ad tech has passed. Criteo’s retargeting revenue was less than half the company’s total earnings in Q3, a first for the company.

On Monday, Omnicom entered the ecommerce marketplace services space in a big way with an $835 million deal to buy Flywheel Digital.

The impact of tech on monetization – from SPO sustainability initiatives to the looming end of the cookie and the challenges of implementing its replacements – has publishers feeling jaded. Plus, for retail media fans: inside the Pantry Wars.

NCSolutions, leader of the old guard of shopper marketing data suppliers, has revamped its go-to market model, culminating this year with a new clean room data product, Insights Stream, which takes the company’s in-store shopping receipts data to the cloud.

DTC brands bring sharpened audiences and keyword targeting to search-based grocery platforms. But can they beat the CPG giants at their own game?

Yahoo Backstage, a sorta SSP, is emblematic of a­n SPO trend that hops over either DSPs or SSPs. Plus: a primer on the ecommerce ad metrics and tools changing how marketers buy digitally, from ACOS to TROAS to cost capping.

DTC brand operators and other ecommerce marketers are attracted to expertise coming from someone who can show how they made it work for themselves “with skin in the game,” says Barry Hott, a marketing consultant and new head of growth for the DTC candy brand Rotten.

Klarna is best known as a BNPL service. But don’t be surprised if you see the Swedish payments company eventually launch its own retail media network, says CMO David Sandstrom.

Shopify Audiences debuted last year with only Google and Meta. In January, Pinterest was added to the mix. Now TikTok, Snap and, notably, Criteo will be able to plug into Shopify for modeled data.

Some form of retail media standardization seems inevitable at this point. But retail media campaigns defy the notion of standardization.

Despite everyone fearing the worst for the ad ecosystem in 2023, Madison and Wall Analyst Brian Wieser predicts Q4 will finish out with 8% growth. He explains why he sees green shoots of growth across the industry.

In just two years, Triple Whale became a popular tool for Shopify merchants and social-based ecommerce sellers. But it did so by getting its data visualization and analytics service into people’s hands at ridiculously low rates.

The aptly named Oddity Tech, an Israeli DTC brand operator, doesn’t fit neatly in one category. It’s a skincare and cosmetics seller, that aims to be a tech and data brand.

It’s called “Prime Day” because you need a Prime, but the other definition of the word “prime” is rather apt. Amazon’s real superpower is its indivisibility.

Machine learning tech is consuming open web ad budgets as big walled gardens consolidate media, data, tech and audiences inside their own fortresses.

Hey readers! This is James Hercher, with the latest AdExchanger Commerce dispatch. This week, we’ll highlight a few recent CPG earnings reports, during which legacy food and beverage brands appear more optimistic about their staying power than their startup competitors.

Melanie Babcock has been at The Home Depot for almost 10 years, starting in marketing. But, recently, she was made VP of Retail Media+ and monetization in February, with her responsibilities shifting to focus entirely on the revenue-generating ad business.

The phrase “subscription fatigue” typically applies to consumers tiring of the ever-growing number of media and entertainment packages. But subscription fatigue could also describe how DTC and ecommerce brands feel about their SaaS costs and vendor rosters.

Recurrent Ventures is ramping up its focus on programmatic direct and PMPs to make up for flagging open auction revenue. Marketers now have access to Recurrent’s 28 publisher brands through Audigent’s private marketplaces.

A legendary anecdote by Restoration Hardware CEO Gary Friedman recounts how, almost 10 years ago, Restoration’s marketing team pushed to double its budget because search ads were converting customers at unbelievably low costs. Friedman asked which of Restoration Hardware’s 3,200 keywords drove sales. “Restoration Hardware” was the top performer – followed by 21 common misspellings of […]

Temu is buying its way into the ecommerce business. Plus, reconciling philosophical views on data privacy with a reality that’s more ho-hum and bureaucratic.

I’m James Hercher, AdExchanger senior editor and your guide this week as we contemplate Temu, an empty shell of an ecommerce business that is propelled by paid media and … not much else.

On Tuesday, Criteo acquired Brandcrush, a small Australian ad startup that manages physical retail campaigns, including in-store signage, coupon circulars, free sampling and miscellaneous inventory that surrounds a grocery store.