By Kimeko McCoy • August 8, 2024 •
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Ivy Liu
The threat of Google’s crumbling third-celebration cookie ended in a growth in the retail media network shriek as they had been viewed as a cookieless resolution. Nonetheless, after years of uncertainty, Google had a exchange of coronary heart, and determined to abet cookies in Chrome after all leaving users to contemplate if they wish to be tracked. Even with cookies reputedly support on the desk, retail media’s growth spurt gained’t sluggish any time soon, in accordance with three agency professionals who inform RMNs are silent rate the funding.
Entrepreneurs’ push for first-celebration knowledge is anticipated to continue, they acknowledged. Especially given there’s silent uncertainty around how many users will enable cookie monitoring versus killing them off. So long as retailers are hawking their wares, advertisers are shopping for.
“Does it take a minute bit of the pressure off [to find alternative identifiers]? Certain,” acknowledged Jennifer Kohl, chief media officer at VML ad agency. However, she added, “We delight in now to abet waiting because you never know when Google is going to mission one more assertion that would moreover just be, per chance no longer a total 360, but a minute left turn.”
By the pause of this yr, worldwide retail media spending is position to surpass $150 billion, in accordance with the World Advertising and marketing Research Center (WARC). That resolve represents a close to $18 billion leap from the 2023 total. Agency professionals acknowledged they set up a query to that growth to continue, given retailers’ first-celebration knowledge remains precious and offers marketers exact-time information about buyer browsing habits.
“Within the waste it [Google’s cookie deprecation decision] buys a minute of time, a brief reduction, I train. However finally, the road has already been started,” acknowledged Callen Johnson, digital media operations director, SMG, a network of specialist commerce agencies.
Essentially the most up-to-date pitch for retail media networks is that they’re label-safe environments, first-celebration knowledge love troves, and an opportunity for an advertiser to reward up nearer to the level of sale. No topic Google’s cookie apocalypse, that pitch holds ravishing, acknowledged Ethan Goodman, evp of digital commerce at The Mars Agency. Retail media networks are silent better geared up to connect advertisers with audiences than other media providers and networks, he added.
“Whether or no longer cookies continue to exist or no longer, that first-celebration knowledge is silent better and of increased quality than many of the information that’s on hand in any other case,” Goodman acknowledged. “If the rest, lots of our purchasers are projecting that they’re going to be flat to increased on retail media going forward.” (He did no longer provide explicit retail media employ figures.)
Since Google first launched its cookie deprecation years ago, marketers knew they would must originate up weaning themselves off of their reliance on Google’s cookies. A closing date for the cookie deprecation became looming, striking the wheels in motion to accumulate different ID solutions — no longer less than that became the case for some marketers. For years, the tech extensive’s timeline to decimate cookies became shrouded in uncertainty and some marketers remained reliant on cookies even up till this June.
Clients aren’t shifting greenbacks or attention support to 3rd-celebration cookies, no longer less than no longer yet, in accordance with Goodman. Particularly, marketers delight in yet so as to learn the tea leaves on Google’s cookie thought going forward and if on-line users will decide into cookie monitoring.
Retail media’s growth spurt became supercharged by Google’s third-celebration deprecation plans, turning marketers’ attention to first-celebration knowledge. Predominant gamers in the shriek, love Amazon, Purpose’s Roundel and Walmart Join, noticed opponents from smaller, even regional, gamers love 7-Eleven, Greenback Tree and Hy-Vee grocery chain.
Digiday spoke with four retail media networks for this story, in conjunction with CMX (CVS Media Trade), Uber’s ad industry, TripAdvisor Media and Sam’s Membership Member Score entry to Platform (MAP). None of these inform they thought to exchange their pitch to advertisers in accordance with Google’s third-celebration cookie about-face.
“I’d inform our pitch remains consistent,” acknowledged Ryan Burns, Sam’s Membership MAP head of contrivance. “Nothing changes for us because we now delight in that [first-party data offering] steadfast in spite of what occurs available in the market.”
Nonetheless, in accordance with Kohl and Goodman, Google’s reversal would possibly possibly well moreover mean a slowdown in how many retailers flood the market with ad network offerings. The industry has debated if retail media networks will continue to peek growth as trade marketing and marketing budgets turn into more exhausted. (Trade marketing and marketing budgets are greenbacks corporations employ with retailers to promote their merchandise and enhance sales.) With that in mind, some retailers, in conjunction with The Dwelling Depot, delight in started vying for label marketing and marketing greenbacks versus trade marketing and marketing greenbacks.
“Because the budgets grow better,