by Ciaran Deering, Head of Online, The Grove Media
Over the past few months, you will no doubt have seen commerce media everywhere in the trade press. Dedicated commerce media awards and even a league table have been launched and there have been countless news stories and articles published. Its recent prominence has only been eclipsed by all things AI.
But while there’s been heaps of attention, commerce media isn’t conceptually new. Marketing across the consumer journey through to point of sale has existed for decades. However, the scale, standardisation and strategic power commerce media has acquired – in a relatively short space of time – is why it’s become such a topic de jour.
The shift of power in commerce
Commerce media has evolved from shopper marketing, which was largely brand‑led. The shift to commerce media reflects a transfer of power toward retailers and platforms.
Retailers have stepped up as media owners; big time. The likes of Amazon, Walmart and Tesco are now monetising attention, not just shelves. This has led to advertiser‑friendly buying models, self‑serve platforms and programmatic integrations – all of which now sit under the commerce media umbrella.
Privacy regulation, cookie deprecation and signal loss have made authenticated, transactional data the most valuable planning currency in media. Retailers and commerce platforms now command real identities, real purchase behaviour and real attribution. This shifts power away from probabilistic audience models toward deterministic demand signals.
Commerce media’s real innovation is arguably financial
The real breakthrough is closed‑loop revenue accountability. This is why commerce media budgets are increasing – and why, in some cases, spend is moving out of traditional brand budgets. While media formats and placements continue to evolve, commerce media’s momentum is driven by its ability to link spend directly to sales.
Commerce media can be best understood as the industrialisation of purchase‑journey media using first‑party transaction data. At its core, it brings together:
- Retail media inventory (on‑site, off‑site, in‑store, addressable)
- Activation using deterministic, transaction‑level first‑party data
- Influence across the entire purchase journey
- Closed‑loop measurement tied to real sales
So if you’re a successful online brand, surely, you’re already doing all the right things? Possibly. But what the emergence of commerce media does is force coherence across activities that were previously fragmented. In doing so, it makes it easier to benchmark performance, identify gaps and assess best practice across the essential areas of media.
If you’re assessing your approach to commerce, or taking your first steps in this direction, here’s The Grove’s commerce media checklist.
Data: Establish a strong first-party foundation
Commerce media performance relies on first-party data, so brands need to have a centralised CRM platform with clean, segmented customer data. Key areas of customer segmentation include: new versus existing, high-value and lapsed. Ensure you have clear consent capture that’s aligned with UK GDPR. And while it might seem obvious, you should have the ability to build and upload audiences to all your platforms.
Your approach to tracking must be robust. At a minimum, this means:
- All key pixels and tags installed and tested
- Accurate conversion values passing back to ad platforms for ROAS bidding
- Key events firing correctly; not just purchase, but add to cart, view content etc
- Google Consent Mode configured. This enables measurement and modelling while respecting privacy preferences
- Consider server-side tracking for each ad platform if not already in place. This sends sales data from your own server to ad platforms via API, reducing reliance on cookies
Reported revenue should broadly reconciled across ecommerce, analytics and media platforms. If your data can’t be trusted, your media can’t be scaled confidently.
Commercial clarity: Focus on profitable growth
Commerce media must drive profit, not just revenue. So, before activation, you need to define clear KPIs: ROAS, CPA, new customers, margin contribution. You must set acceptable cost thresholds based on margin, and be clear about your acquisition and retention priorities. Margin visibility is essential, so be aware that optimising to revenue alone can distort investment decisions.
Marketing, ecommerce and sales teams must also align on several key factors: promotional calendars, stock availability, distribution priorities and trade agreements. Retail media effectiveness is heavily influenced by these commercial fundamentals, so at The Grove we work closely with clients to clarify this landscape.
Retail Readiness: Optimise the Product Environment
Commerce media amplifies product pages; it does not repair weak ones. So before scaling retail investment, you must ensure that your product imagery and descriptions are as strong as possible. Check you have search-optimised titles and clear value messaging. And it, again, it may sound basic, but ensure you have reliable stock levels and actively review your product environment and approach.
Retail media should not be treated simply as paid search. Start focused, prove impact and then expand. At The Grove, we start with an audit of product feeds to ensure best practice.
Measurement: Build capability in stages
Measurement is not one size fits all. You should have a maturity roadmap approach to measurement, which is aligned with your organisational readiness.
Early stage:
- Platform reporting and GA4
- Clear ROAS and CPA benchmarks
- Consistent naming conventions
Mid stage:
- Incrementality testing
- New versus existing customer reporting
- Retailer closed-loop measurement
We strongly advise avoiding investing in complicated measurement too early. Establish reliable channel performance before investing in advanced modelling.
Execution discipline: Stay focused and iterative
Commerce media rewards clarity and speed, and it’s all about testing your way to success. So, to maximise impact, avoid fragmenting small budgets across too many platforms. Separate out brand, performance and retail budgets. Prioritise product-led and conversion-focused creative, and refresh this regularly. Remember, commerce creative should be product-centric and built for feed environments. not simply adapted brand assets.
While the move from shopper marketing to commerce media has seen the emergence of retailers and platforms as dominant forces, the shifts in technology, data and media have opened a world of democratised and affordable commerce opportunities for far more brands. But with this opportunity has come a greater need to ensure you’re doing everything right to maximise revenue and profitability. At The Grove we’re here to help our clients achieve this.
