While commerce media networks expand, retailers can take advantage of the efficiencies and measurement capabilities that they can provide.Retail media networks alone are expected to claim one-fifth of US digital ad spending by 2029, according to EMARKETER’s September forecast.

“Today, we're seeing retailers being pushed to measure results more precisely and to lean on automation to reinvest those dollars efficiently so they can keep growing without letting costs spiral,” said our analyst Sarah Marzano in a session at EMARKETER’s commerce media summit.

Here's how retailers can plan to get the most from expanding commerce media networks in the year to come.

Growing bigger non-endemic audiences

Although some consumers are adopting genAI chats to research and consider purchases, commerce media networks remain a hub for shoppers. This makes commerce media networks attractive to retailers, as well as non-endemic advertisers.

• On-site sponsored product and search ads (36%) are the top revenue growth driver for US sell-side retail media networks (RMNs) over the next 12 months, according to Bain & Company and EMARKETER’s August survey of RMN leaders.

Non-endemic advertisers account for the majority of revenue at the Fanatics Advertising media network, said their vice president of sales, product and PMM, Kevin Longo, in the session.

His team is meeting this advertiser demand with retailers' sponsored listings, display ads, email marketing and other branded opportunities.

The goal is to “leverage our data and ad insertion capabilities to create value for a marketer who doesn't actually sell on Fanatics,” he said.“We've sort of taken a ‘curation-forward’ approach that we think is pretty unique, and it is making some headway in the market.".

Ad tech-enabled self-service

As commerce media networks grow, they can find more efficiency through automation, according to Anne Hallock, vice president of Mirakl Ads, Americas. In the session, she recommended self-service options.

“It truly has to be a self-serve platform, and that's everything from automated campaign setup, all the way through to really unsexy things like how to build them, and how to make sure that you're recognizing that revenue in a really prompt way,” she said.

Self-service is more feasible now with AI tools that help advertisers partner with retailers to build a campaign more efficiently.

“When we look at the AI, it actually starts with campaign setup,” said Hallock. “You're able to actually, within three clicks, launch a campaign, because we have done the work to actually integrate with those systems that are going to tell us the velocity of a product.”

Commerce media networks need to help advertisers and retailers prove campaign results. They can do that efficiently when campaign building and measuring are connected in a self-service experience.

Watch the whole session.

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