commerce

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.

It’s not hard to understand why Meta is prioritizing ecommerce advertising with Advantage+ Shopping campaigns, Shops and Checkout on Facebook and Instagram. Meta must reignite its overall advertising business.

The ad agency holding company WPP is on the up and up and remains confident in its clients’ continued investment in marketing projects despite a challenging macroeconomic environment. WPP is “well positioned to deliver sustainable, long-term growth” after seeing broad-based growth in 2022, said CEO Mark Read during the company’s earnings report on Thursday.

This week, we dive into Shopify, and its potential as a uniquely positioned purchase data supplier to the advertising industry with a product called Shopify Audiences.

Hey! This is James Hercher, AdExchanger’s senior editor and commerce industry beat reporter. Welcome to the inaugural dispatch of AdExchanger’s Commerce Newsletter.

Growth marketing firm Power Digital has acquired marketing consultancy Sproutward to strengthen its data and analytics chops. The acquisition is Power Digital’s fifth in the last four years.

In 2022, retail media grew to include practically any business with a first-party identity graph, purchase data and a claim to ears or eyeballs. Despite the buzz, however, retail media has a long way to go before the category is mature.

Brand safety has a hypocrisy problem. Violence that gets a pass when it’s a fictional TV show becomes flagged if it’s part of an online news story. But to what end? Plus: what Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales results portend for retailers’ prospects in Q4 and beyond.