While many commerce media programs exceed ROI expectations, retailers still struggle across technology, processes, and logistics

PubMatic , an independent technology company delivering digital advertising’s supply chain of the future, today released a new study commissioned by Forrester Consulting finding that retailers see tremendous upside for commerce media revenue but increasingly consider partnerships and technology support as critical factors in meeting objectives.

In the study – which surveyed 309 commerce media strategy decision-makers at US- and UK-based retail and travel organizations – respondents said nearly 2% of their overall revenue comes from commerce media today with hopes this will more than double to reach 4.37% in the future. Additionally, more than 50% of retailers said they are planning to change their technology vendor to further enhance their capabilities. Data privacy is top-of-mind for decision-makers as they consider technology partners, alongside deploying tech solutions that are unified, flexible, customizable, and scalable.

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“Commerce media is in its infancy stage and growing rapidly,” said Peter Barry, VP of Addressability and Commerce Media at PubMatic. “Retailers starting to participate in commerce media have seen success, but they are still experimenting and evaluating whether their current technology partnerships enable them to make the most of their valuable media properties and consumer relationships.”

The study suggests that commerce media offers transformational benefits to retail businesses, with over 96% percent of retailers saying their programs currently meet or exceed ROI expectations. However, more needs to be done, as the decision-makers surveyed said current solutions lacked scale, positive buying experiences, and measurement abilities. The study found that many retailers lack the internal expertise to deploy their commerce media programs strategically, which leaders cited as the greatest key to success.

“Commerce media networks will need to outsource technology where possible, as many commerce companies don’t have the talent or time to develop these capabilities in-house,” said Barry. “By making some smart investments and operational changes, companies across verticals can benefit from this in-demand new advertising channel.”

The study also found that high-success retailers are considerably more effective in three core components of a commerce media strategy:

• securing the necessary resources and partners to scale;
• the ability to prove ROI; and
• the ability to balance monetization with customer experience.

The research further suggests a range of best practices for retailers that want to leverage successful commerce media programs, including investing in technology, aligning monetization teams with ecommerce, and forming a supply-side cooperative.

In July, PubMatic launched Convert, its unified advertising platform for commerce media. The solution empowers commerce media networks with a single, self-service platform that streamlines the complex and fragmented commerce media marketplace. It brings together essential monetization and optimization capabilities across sponsored listings, CTV, video, and display ad formats.

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