il media: A guide for PPC marketers //

Many people are aware that Amazon, Walmart, and Instacart offer paid search on their sites. You may not be aware of their participation in Google Shopping, Google Shopping Display, programmatic and social media.

Retail media (also known as commerce media) is driving customers to retail sites that can transact multiple brands and items in a single transaction. Commerce media is driving consumers to retail sites where they can buy multiple brands of products in one transaction.

This is particularly true for retailers who stock everyday essentials, as they provide a way to encourage regular visits both online and off.

Elizabeth Marsten shared all of the essentials and insights she had on the retail media landscape in 2023 during her session at SMX Advance.

What is retail media, and what are its benefits?

Retail media is a form of paid search. Each business offers some form of paid search to help them harvest demand.

Retail media is different from paid search because it’s divided into two categories: onsite and offline.

• 
  Onsite
  
  • Search Sponsored (Product Ads)
  • Display banners
  • Browse through the categories
  • Discounts
  • Offers

• 
  Offsite
  
  • Display programmatically (ideally via a curated web network)
  • Social media
  • Email newsletters
  • Push notifications / SMS
  • Google Shopping PLAs
  • OTT

What is retail marketing?

The foundation of retail marketing is first-party data collected by companies over the past three decades. These data have helped marketers better understand their customers and how they behave. They’ve also shaped what we call retail marketing.

• Imagine how much Kroger, for instance, knows about you, if you buy groceries from Kroger on a regular basis. You may have started your loyalty program using your phone number. This is what you enter each time you check out. Marsten added that it doesn’t matter if you use an app or self-checkout.
• “At the check-out stand, you’ve probably been entering this phone number for at least 20 years.” Even when you got cash back and bought Twix or gum in the early 2000s, you still entered your phone number in case. Technically, this data has allowed us to create much more targeted advertising for products you may actually want.”

What is the paid search marketer to know?

In the last 30 years, marketers have collected data about consumers in three major digital waves.

• Google Ads and similar products by companies like Microsoft, Yahoo, and Microsoft were launched in 2002. It took 14 years for tech giants to reach $30 billion advertising revenue.
• Social media sparked the second wave in 2008. It took brands like Meta, Twitter and Reddit 11 years to reach $30 billion in advertising revenues.
• Retail media was the third wave that began in 2016. In just five short years, this sector reached the $30 billion target.

Marsten explained why retail media evolved so rapidly by saying:

• If you’ve worked at Google or Microsoft for the past 10 years, you might have noticed there aren’t many big changes. For example, some may remember when Google changed the name of the Content Network into the Display Network. These are some of the most significant changes in digital advertising that have occurred over time.
• This is what we see every six months in retail media. This is how quickly things change and evolve.

Why In-Store is still Important

Retail media is very important for retail because it operates differently than D2C websites.

• “I am concerned about the digital touchpoints, such as the in-store sales and sales at the shelves. Marsten explained: “They show us how to interact with customers over and over.”

Marsten then went on to discuss Walmart’s $3 billion advertising revenue from last year. Walmart has big plans for retail media expansion in the future. One advantage that it has over Amazon is its stores.

• “That’s over 4,700 touch points just in the United States.” “Think about how many times people go to the store for essentials. I’ll be there each time, both inside and outside with my digital abilities,” she said.

Google Shopping PLAs

Target Roundel allows retail marketers to purchase Google Shopping Ads that appear in Google SERPs. You will fund the experience of target.com for customers who click on your link.

You can use Target Roundel in order to increase in-store sales by using Google searches to fill your marketing budget. Many major retailers, such as Best Buy or Home Depot, use it. But there are some details to take into consideration:

• The product must be available in the store.
• Roundel is a limited reporting system that allows for mid-flight reporting (monthly).
• Included in store sales
• They could be complementary or competing.

• It does take a moment to report. You do get sales in the store. You will get credit for that. You will be credited for this. It’s pretty cool. Keep an eye out for it in terms of its capabilities and potential. “I’m excited to see what their roadmap for next year looks like.”

What is the relationship between retail media and Microsoft?

Microsoft has many connections with retail media, including:

• Hardware : In-store screens, Xbox
• Activation : Promote IQ and Microsoft Ads.
• ChatGBT Research / Automation
• PowerBI Insights
• Data: Azure / Project Oakes
• CDP : Dynamics 360 Customer Insights

How does Google work with retail media?

Retail media, like Microsoft, also has a close relationship with Google.

• Hardware : Pixel and Nest
• Activation for DV360 (DV360 360), YouTube, Google Ads, and SA360.
• Research / Automation : Trends and Bard
• Insights :Google Analytics and Looker.
• Data: Google Cloud and Pair
• CDP : Customer Data Platforms on Google Cloud

Masrten commented on the relationship between retail media and Google:

• “As with Microsoft, if a retailer had a Google stack and worked with Google’s many different capabilities, it would be easy to activate a brand across multiple channels and platforms. We’ll also get there eventually. We’re still working at it. “This is a huge wave, and we are still going!”

Takeaways

Marsten finished her presentation by highlighting the four main points that she wants marketers to remember when it comes to retail marketing:

• Many similar options There are many similarities between the people who work together.
• It’s a bit confusing: There are some similarities between Google and Microsoft in terms of how they developed their capabilities.
• Stores. Stores. There are still many opportunities to connect stores. Consider how much money is transacted through a shop and the potential of an in-store shopping experience.
• Look for overlap between PPC (Google, Microsoft) and Retail Media. You can be sure that these companies will not be left behind when it comes retail media.

The first post Retail Media Guide for PPC Marketers was published on Search Engine Land.