Your product? On point. Your brand story? Snatched. But your advertising approach? Anarchy. Which means your marketing spend? Squandered.
Serving your best product experience by placing ads on as many channels as possible isn’t so much a strategy as it is a shot in the dark. You might capture a few customers here or there, but can you back it up? (With data, that is, but dance moves could work, too.)
Consider commerce media, which uses data to connect brands with consumers at the most critical point in their buying journey: making a purchase. Here’s a foundational breakdown of commerce media and its benefits for optimizing marketing spend.
Commerce media is a data-driven advertising approach that connects brands with consumers at the point of purchase — whether on retailer websites, marketplaces, or across digital channels. It blends retail media, programmatic advertising, and shopper data to create highly targeted, performance-focused marketing campaigns.
Considering commerce media vs. retail media, commerce media is a broader blend of tactics, whereas retail media is more focused.
Commerce media is an advertising strategy with various digital channels and data-driven tactics. Retail media involves sharing targeted ads with online shoppers at the point of purchase.
However, retail media focuses specifically on ads within a retailer's ecosystem, such as sponsored product listings on ecommerce sites. Commerce media includes retailer websites but goes beyond them — informed by data — to marketplaces and other digital channels.
Commerce media is a broader advertising strategy, but what are the benefits of commerce media for brands? This approach can benefit brands in at least five ways, all funneling into optimized marketing spend.
If a shopper is browsing on Amazon, for example, they’re likely there for the frill-free, wide selection, easily comparable prices, and, above all, fast shipping. They’re ready to buy.
Commerce media drives sales at critical moments when shoppers are actively ready to buy, such as with sponsored product ads on Amazon.
Image Source: Amazon
Eager shoppers exist on more platforms than just Amazon, of course. According to Salsify’s “2025 Consumer Research” report, more than two-thirds of shoppers (68%) spend an hour or less on product research, with nearly a third (30%) spending just 10 to 30 minutes.
First-party data is data collected directly from customers, including first-time buyers, long-time customers, and members of your target audience who engage with your brand.
Commerce media uses first-party data for better targeting, leveraging retailers’ customer data to deliver personalized ads. And personalized ads can pack a real punch.
According to the “Ecommerce Pulse Report: Q4 2024” from Salsify and the Digital Shelf Institute (DSI), 37% of shoppers say they make purchases more often due to personalized product recommendations.
Meeting shoppers where they are (that is, the channels they spend their time on) with similar products they already like makes for easier sales — even if consumers weren’t planning to purchase.
There’s nothing worse than effort that feels wasted, like trying to win over a significant other’s least convivial loved ones at a dinner party. You tell your most charming story, but the punchline simply doesn’t land.
Similarly, not having your brand’s story land with potential customers leaves you flushed, your talents questioned, and your budget diminished — a horrifying trifecta.
But with commerce media, your focus is on high-intent shoppers who are actually already interested in what your brand has to offer — whether it’s your unique product catalog, ethics and values, reputation, perspective, and so on.
This dramatically improves return-on-ad-spend (ROAS), so you’re not shelling out your best to consumers who don’t have the time, care, or budget to allocate to your business.
We don’t need to remind you that shoppers are shopping everywhere, all the time. They’re shopping on smartphones at home. They’re shopping in-store. They’re shopping on smartphones in-store.
Commerce media connects online and offline shopping (hello, omnicommerce!). If your brand is solely reliant on retail media, for example, you’d have to hope consumers orbit into related ecommerce sites to be served sponsored content.
Commerce media tracks consumer behavior across ecommerce, social media, and even physical stores, so you don’t miss a beat or a touch point.
In that same vein, commerce media enhances brand visibility because it means your brand is being served across more ecommerce channels and even in competitive retail spaces through strategic ad placements.
This plays well into the growing phenomenon of “always-on” or ambient shopping, which refers to a shopping experience that occurs seamlessly and spontaneously, often while a person is engaged in other activities like browsing social media, streaming videos, or using apps.
Image Source: Instagram
An overwhelming majority (69%) of shoppers say they participate in this passive buying behavior, with millennials (76%) and men (75%) being the groups most likely to purchase while multitasking, according to Salsify’s latest consumer research report.
You can increase your chances of being seen even further by keeping up with ecommerce trends.
Your brand isn’t limited to the benefits of commerce media listed here. If you already have a practically perfect product, a stellar brand story, and a remarkable reputation, all you need is data to inform your advertising approach. The sales data to come will surely back that strategy up.