Retail media ad spending in the US is expected to reach $100 billion by 2027, according to Insider Intelligence data. While the retail media opportunity is massive, it requires reaching consumers across a growing number of channels and adapting in real time to an ever-changing consumer. Thankfully, retail media networks don’t have to predict the future to be ready for it.
To be prepared for growth, businesses should be able to easily customize their retail media offerings and scale growth to capture this opportunity. Google’s AI-powered solutions and retail media networks are the new power pairing to accomplish that. While prepackaged retail media solutions can be limited in scale, Google—which receives billions of searches every day across properties like Search, YouTube, Google Assistant, and Maps, per the company’s data—can help complement retail media growth at scale. Google’s reach helps capture new demand by bringing in valuable first-party audiences and audiences in the market for your products, while retail media networks convert demand into purchases to grow your retail media program.
According to Google internal data in January 2022, 15% of all Google searches have never been searched before, making Google Search and Shopping necessary levers to reach and inspire consumers throughout their journey. Google’s AI-powered products help interpret billions of unique contextual signals to cast a wide coverage net. Features like through broad match—which allows your ad to show up on searches that are related to the meaning of your keyword—can help your ads appear on new, high-performing queries and emerging trends, all while paying only for the clicks that convert. Performance Max infuses Google AI technology into bidding, budget, audience, creative, and attribution to optimize to your retail media goals across Google’s properties.
Take leading consumer electronic retailer’s in-house media company Best Buy Ads as an example. Best Buy wanted to respond to the changing business landscape and new consumer expectations. To achieve this, Best Buy Ads decided to test two AI-powered ads products. The solutions increased return on ad spend by 33% and boosted omnichannel revenues by 42%. That’s why more than 80% of Google advertisers now use AI-powered bidding solutions to unlock the full potential of Search, reach their performance goals, and respond and reach consumers amid shifting trends.
Video plays an important role in consumers’ shopping journeys, giving them the information they need to move from inspiration to consideration to purchase. With the need to make every dollar work harder, advertisers aren’t just focusing video efforts on awareness or action. They’re finding effective ways to create future demand and convert existing demand through YouTube. Take Nordstrom Media Network as an example. In 2022, the company added browsable product imagery below its video ads, which encouraged viewers to visit Nordstrom’s website and make a purchase. This strategy proved to be a huge success, with one brand partner achieving double-digit omnichannel return on ad spend.
To learn more about how Google helps reach shoppers in valuable moments of discovery and capture new performance opportunities as they emerge in real-time to scale your retail media growth, check out Think with Google and tune into Think Retail on August 29 to build your holiday blueprint.
—Shawn McGahee, Head of Retail Media, Google