The Future of Commerce Media Isn’t Retail. It's Everywhere

To many parts of the advertising landscape, there’s the singular gravitational pull of retail media at the center. And then there’s commerce media, a multivaried grab bag coming up on the periphery, constituting retail’s extraneous parts.

There’s no argument that commerce media is having a moment. However, it's about much more than retail. And while retail media networks maintain stable growth, commerce media has room to climb higher.

Travel, financial services, automotive, and B2B brands are all starting to apply commerce media strategies in their own ways. These distinct verticals don’t have a lot in common in the commerce media space, except one.

Individual brands within those verticals are able to tap into their respective deep customer relationships. And those verticals tend to cross over, given a consumer’s various mindsets and interests. After all, an airline passenger likely drives a car, and they contact their banker about a loan or an insurance agent about a policy. They could also be a decision-maker at an enterprise software company.

But as advertising dollars flow into commerce media networks to a greater degree, success isn't guaranteed.

Data Differentiation

Commerce media has benefited from the powerful forces that led to its emergence: an oversaturation of sameness in retail media. There’s an acute demand for differentiated consumer engagement that delivers meaningful results — and supports continued (or increasing) investment in all commerce channels.

Given the changes in consumer behavior and the tech landscape as artificial intelligence becomes more commonplace, expect to see the commerce media arms race heat up even more.

First- and second-party data is the fuel. However, as valuable as that data is, not all of it is created equal.

Certainly, not all data is utilized as well as it could be. The key differentiator in this data starts with the depth of understanding of your customer base, and then the breadth and uniqueness of your customer pool. And that depends on where you lead in your sector.

Take Dick’s Sporting Goods for example. It has a corner on sports shoppers. That market positioning gives it something truly special to offer advertisers. Similarly, Chase Bank brings financial behavior insights that no retailer can match, while United Airlines understands travel patterns in ways that ground-based businesses simply don't.

These commerce media brands aren't just collecting data, they're using it in an interoperable way that allows for different ways to engage with customers and brand cross-over opportunities to drive incremental revenue.

Meet Customers Where They Are

Starting with channels instead of customers is another area where brands get things wrong. If 90 percent of a retailer's transactions happen in-store, ads on its website will likely be less effective. The strategy must follow the customer, not the other way around.

This isn't saying you don't need CTV or display. You probably do. It’s about understanding that when you create a commerce media network, as with any marketing effort, knowing the right mix of data, engagement signals, and even measurement preferences that connect advertising to the right consumer at the right place and time is more than half the battle.

Building for Tomorrow's Commerce

In the early days of retail media, the big players could round up the usual channels, add some audience targeting and secret sauce, and expect billion-dollar returns. That formula doesn't work anymore.

Brands need to use a simple litmus test: “How do I continue to make products discoverable for customers in ways that match how they want to shop?"

This requires building for greater adaptability. Whether the future lies in AI-powered experiences, social commerce, CTV, or channels we haven't even imagined yet, successful commerce media networks will need to respond to consumer demand literally in the moment.

It’s tempting to apply retail marketing playbooks to commerce media strategies. However, the future of commerce media isn't just retail; it's everywhere your customers are.

Lynn Rupprecht is the commerce media practice lead and an advisor at MadConnect, the Intelligent Connectivity Layer (ICL) powering the new era of modern marketing and advertising.