The retail industry commits by far the most dollars to digital advertising in the US. It has accelerated ad spending with above-average growth every year since 2020, fueled by the rising importance of ecommerce and digital channels in the consumer journey. By comparison, online ad spending by most other industries we track has seen far greater fluctuations from year to year over the same period. Retail’s ad spending growth will see sustained growth this year and next before other industries start to catch up on spending in 2025.
Key stat: Among US consumers ages 18 to 44, 53% prefer digital to phone when receiving help with a product- or service-related question, while just 35% of consumers ages 45 to 75 favor digital to phone, per Verint.
The explosion of generative AI has moved the “dream” of one-to-one messaging personalized for each consumer closer to reality—but concerns remain. Here are four questions surrounding personalization right now.
Brand marketers have to be strategic as a challenging 2023 has taken its toll on marketing budgets. CMOs worldwide expect to spend 9.1% of company revenues on marketing compared with 9.5% in 2022, according to May data from Gartner. And considering revenues are also lower for many companies, that pie is getting even smaller.
Hyundai’s in-vehicle payments system can add more hands-free utility, attract more potential buyers, and bring in payments revenues
Kroger’s sales sag as grocery prices stabilize: That new state of play could drive the grocer to look to high-margin retail media to drive growth.
Google will require strict disclosures from AI-generated political ads: The company announced the rule change ahead of the most expensive election season yet.
On today's podcast episode, our vice president of Briefings Stephanie Taglianetti hosts a mock-debate-style analyst showdown on Meta versus TikTok. Analyst Debra Aho Williamson and director of Briefings Jeremy Goldman go head to head, advocating on behalf of Meta (Debra) and TikTok (Jeremy) to prove which social platform is the bigger threat in three areas: getting people to spend time on each app, meeting advertisers’ needs, and AI innovation.
While Meta, Google, Apple, and programmatic display are all investment areas for M&C Saatchi Performance, the agency is shaking up some approaches for 2024. “We’re investing in all the tried-and-true performance basics,” said Jonathan Yantz, managing partner at M&C Saatchi Performance. “But we’re most excited about the CTV [connected TV] and influencer/creator spaces, since both are so dynamic now.”
Mobile advertising will keep growing at a rapid clip despite headwinds from privacy laws and genAI. Even so, app publishers will explore additional ways of making money for premium content. This may have an impact on the type and price of ad inventory in the future, although the volume of IAA should remain strong.
Nearly 96% of advertisers worldwide will include attention-based metrics in at least some of their media buys this year, according to May data from DoubleVerify.
Instacart rolled out several updates to its Instacart Storefront platform: It added AI-powered conversational search and an in-store mode to its omnichannel digital commerce platform.
Mcommerce is driving most of the growth in online sales. Of the $96.87 billion extra spent on ecommerce in the US this year, mcommerce will contribute 61.4%. The channel hasn’t escaped the wider slowdown in ecommerce, but sales via mobile devices are still growing at twice the rate of sales via desktop devices.
Key stat: US influencer marketing spend will grow more than three times faster than social ad spend in 2023, and it will remain ahead through 2025, according to our forecast.
Mobile wallet integration makes checking out more convenient, while composable commerce gives brands the ability to customize and alter their tech stacks to fit their specific needs. Generative AI helps to enhance personalization and product recommendations, and one-click checkout buttons speed up the payment process.
Ulta expands in-store ecommerce fulfillment to 400 locations: Stores fulfilled nearly 40% of the retailer's digital orders.
Should we just let the branch go extinct? The end of summer in the US led us to pause and reflect on how banking continues to evolve under the influence of digitization and whether the branch still should have a place in banks’ and credit unions’ go-to-market strategies. Today, we’re kicking off a multi-part series looking at the current state of the branch, what consumers think of it, and how some banks are attempting to reinvent their branch networks to strengthen customer relationships.
Competition in the VR/XR ecosystem is heating up, and strategic hardware-software alliances could accelerate competition for Apple's premium products.
Effect House by TikTok rolls out: As TikTok broadens its AR horizon, creator incentives play a pivotal role in its evolving digital strategy.