蘑菇AV

LiveRamp CEO's growth strategy: Neutral positioning and network effects fuel commerce media and CTV expansion as ad budgets rebound.

By stacking lodging, commerce, and community into one AI-steered flow, Airbnb is building a walled garden for travelers who might opt to replace multiple services for a one-stop shop.

B2B ecommerce growth is outpacing B2B product and electronic sales growth. And ecommerce site sales are taking an increasing share of the market. Macroeconomic conditions, buyers鈥� preferences, and AI use are fueling increased digital transactions, particularly through third-party marketplaces.

Retail and commerce media were huge topics at last year鈥檚 Cannes Lions festival, and this year, the festival is doubling down on the channel by introducing a new retail media sub-category in the Media Lions and Creative Commerce Lions awards. However, 鈥渢he tone is definitely shifting鈥� as the industry matures鈥攁nd faces the threat of tariff-related impacts, according to our analyst, Sarah Marzano.

The news: Cannes Lions 2025 will kick into full swing on June 16, and a wave of media companies and platforms are using the festival to cement their roles at the intersection of creativity, commerce, and culture.

Digital Commerce 360. Mimbi. Pentaleap. Skai. Tech Crunch.

The news: Cannes Lions 2025 marked a shift in retail media strategy, with platforms like Pinterest and Reddit forging deeper ties with retailers. CVS announced a clean room data partnership with Reddit to allow targeting based on shared first-party data, launching a Sensodyne and Advil campaign this fall. Pinterest partnered with Instacart to enable shopping from pins and connect ad exposure to sales via closed-loop attribution. Our take: Social platforms are becoming full-funnel retail media environments. By fusing community context with purchase signals, these integrations aim to blend discovery and commerce in real time鈥攑aving the way for more data-rich, measurable campaigns.

For the first time in its history, the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity awarded medals in retail media鈥攁 sign that commerce-driven creativity has fully arrived on the global stage.

鈥淭he most powerful thing for all these brands is that these overarching digital systems continue to grow and thrive, and we can deliver the highest iROAS for our collective CPG partners across the wider web,鈥� said Espinosa. This collaborative bidding is particularly beneficial in convincing bigger advertisers and media companies to invest in retail media, he said.

Some 62% of US consumers actively search and use promo codes, discounts, or coupons for online purchases, per June 2024 data by SimplyCodes. Consumers dislike sales pitches, but affiliate marketing is a less aggressive, outcome-driven channel. While 41.3% of consumers find ads based on previous online activities "very intrusive," only 14.8% feel this way about exclusive discounts and coupons.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss the unofficial list of the most interesting retailers for the month of May. Each month, our analysts Arielle Feger, Becky Schilling, and Sara Lebow (aka The Committee) put together a very unofficial list of the top eight retailers they're watching based on which are making the most interesting moves: Who's launching new initiatives? Which partnerships are moving the needle? Which standout marketing campaigns are being created? In this month's episode, Committee members Analysts Arielle Feger and Sara Lebow will defend their list against Senior Analyst Zak Stambor and Analyst Rachel Wolff, who will dispute the power rankings by attempting to move retailers up, down, on, or off the list.

"The name of the game today seems to be incrementality," said Jonathan Fasano, business development director at Walmart Connect Mexico and Central America, during a recent 蘑菇AV Summit on commerce media.

WhatsApp鈥檚 importance to Meta goes well beyond social messaging: A forced divestiture could disrupt customer service, commerce, and loyalty worldwide.

Low-cost online marketplaces like Temu and Shein have surged in popularity across the US in recent years, and starting today, both retailers have enacted price hikes due to rising import costs As of January 2025, 44% of US adults have shopped on Temu, while 31% have purchased from Shein, according to data from Morning Consult. Competitive pricing is a key draw for consumers.

鈥淐lients are in more of an expansion, test-and-learn mindset with some of these RMNs,鈥� said Sejal Sheth, vice president of digital commerce and media at Harvest Group. Retail media search ad spending will close in on $40 billion in 2025. Sponsored search listings fueled retail media鈥檚 growth in its early years.

Latin America鈥檚 digital economy will undergo significant changes in 2025 as retail innovation and regulatory changes redefine business dynamics for global and local players alike.

By leveraging Apple鈥檚 NFC technology, Paze can capture in-store sales volume and position itself as a key commerce enabler. Banks bet big on branches as a growth engine and financial hub. Branches are still very important to customers and hold the key to growth for banks.

Other retailers will likely need to follow suit or risk being outpaced in a fast-changing commerce media environment.

And the demand is already there: 39% of US consumers who have used or plan to use genAI have used the technology for online shopping, and 53% plan to do so this year, per Adobe. Most consumers are turning to it for product research (55%) and recommendations (47%). Native shopping features could close that loop鈥攃onverting search into sale, all in one place.

The loss of TikTok in the US would cause a ripple effect across the media, marketing, and commerce landscape. Meta and YouTube stand to gain the most, but there is a long list of other winners鈥攁nd losers.

The company has expanded access to its commerce API, which links Meta ad impressions to third-party marketplace sales. This tool was previously only available to networks with 20,000 or more sellers. Meta is giving some retail media partners direct access to impression logs and product-level performance data, eliminating reliance on third-party measurement providers.