In the ever-evolving world of retail media, success requires more than just adopting emerging technologies – you need to integrate them strategically. As highlighted in Firstmovr’s “The Maitrix” webinar series, AI and automation are now critical to drive performance. From leveraging Meta’s advanced GenAI capabilities to optimizing retail media campaigns with data-driven insights, brands are quick to adopt new tools are gaining a significant edge over their competitors.
Below, we dive into insights shared by industry leaders from the most recent Firstmovr session on how AI is reshaping the future of advertising and retail media.
Meta’s GenAI Tools: Transforming Creative Strategy in Advertising
The advertising landscape continues to evolve at a rapid pace as GenAI, automation, and optimization takes center stage. Meta, one of the world’s largest digital advertising platforms, is leading this shift with its powerful suite of AI-driven tools. According to Meta, its Advantage+ Shopping campaigns deliver impressive results, with an average Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) of $4.52, compared to the platform’s overall ROAS of $3.71.
The Power of GenAI in Creative Strategy
As Meta’s Global Product Lead, Juliana Wu, emphasized during her session: “Creative is the #1 variable advertisers can impact to drive performance.” By leveraging GenAI, advertisers can drive creative diversity and resonate with various audience segments more efficiently. Meta’s expanding “creative toolkit” includes capabilities like text and graphic generation, animated images, and video asset enhancements for native distribution.
The Benefits of AI-Powered Campaigns
Brands that have been quick to adopt Meta’s GenAI tools have already seen a significant impact, with brands seeing an 11% increase in click-through rates and a 7.6% boost in conversions, on average. These tools prove their value by optimizing performance metrics while reducing the manual effort required. However, as Juliana points out, these are “creative tools” meant to enhance—not replace—the expertise of skilled marketers and copywriters.
Staying Ahead of the Curve
As Meta continues to release new GenAI tools, understanding where Meta is investing in ad tech can offer insights into broader industry trends, even if Meta isn’t a primary focus in your media mix. The top takeaway from Juliana’s session? Embracing GenAI is not just a time saver; it’s quickly becoming necessary for brands to adopt. As consumers grow more accustomed to AI-generated content, marketers must adapt their strategies to stay ahead.
The New Reality of Retail Media: AI as a Necessity, Not an Option
In the world of retail media, running ads can no longer rely on a “test and learn” approach. According to Profitero’s 2024 Benchmark Study, retail media is not only continuing to grow—it’s also where brands are facing their biggest challenges. With the sheer volume of data flooding the retail ecosystem, brands are struggling to accurately report and optimize their strategies. As Profitero’s VP of Commerce, Caroline Ballard, covered during her session, leveraging AI is no longer a competitive advantage but a requirement to stay relevant.
The Imperative of AI in Optimizing Retail Media
Within Retail Media, AI truly shines with integration and aggregation. In other words, the best way to leverage large quantities of sales & marketing data is with AI capabilities. To successfully bridge the gap between input and output, Caroline notes, data must meet some specific criteria:
- Breadth: Comprehensive data that covers competitor pricing and availability.
- Granularity: Daily, store-level digital shelf signals.
- Reliability: Consistently accurate data with minimal outages or lag.
- Accessibility: Ideally, this data is gathered through API integrations and exports. Then, automated tools can action these insights immediately.
One example of a tool that covers these points is Pacvue’s Share of Voice dashboard. It can track competitor Share data on the ASIN, category, or keyword level, updated hourly This data feeds into the larger Pacvue suite to inform campaign strategy or short term, tactical shifts. Data is important, but it’s only useful when it’s put to use.
The Results of AI-Driven Strategies: A Case Study
Profitero’s collaboration with Pacvue has proven the transformative power of AI in retail media. By leveraging digital shelf analytics, a leading coffee manufacturer saw a 293% increase in ROAS, a 38% boost in new-to-brand (NTB) sales, and a 57% reduction in cost per acquisition (CPA) on Walmart Connect. These results highlight that brands using AI to harness the full potential of retail data can achieve remarkable improvements in their performance metrics.
Bottom Line: Brands Need to Balance Automation with the Basics
Automated AI capabilities, guided by skilled practitioners, are essential for converting vast quantities of retailer data into actionable strategies and tangible outcomes. However, the complexity of today’s data landscape means that adopting solutions promising “true automation” without strategic oversight can be a trap. Brands need to remember the fundamentals: how to find and understand new opportunities, reduce wasted spend, and build robust data infrastructures in order to continuously scale and optimize their efforts. Success in retail media today means balancing AI-powered automation with tried-and-true marketing principles.
The Power of AI in Retail Media: Bridging Insights and Action
It’s important to emphasize that AI isn’t a single solution, it is powering every aspect of retail media. A proper retail media solution leverages AI automation to bolster efficiency and scale operations, while also enabling powerful tools for niche use-cases.
AI Across the Retail Media Ecosystem
AI’s strength lies in its versatility, which is why Pacvue integrates AI tools across our platform. Pacvue’s AI Copilot, powered by a Large Language Model (LLM), processes natural language queries to instantly provide insights on performance metrics, operations, and best practices.
To help brands stay ahead, Pacvue’s Generative AI builds creative strategies that align with seasonal and industry trends, simplifying the content creation process within our suite. Review AI takes the heavy lifting out of analyzing brand and competitor reviews, surfacing trends that shape your advertising approach.
Balancing AI with Human Expertise
AI has permanently changed the retail media industry and the world, but it’s important to understand its limitations. Think of AI like Iron Man’s suit: dozens of advanced features, lightning quick calculations, impressive computational power. But how much can that suit really accomplish without the person inside – their vision, intuition, and experience? As we continue to introduce advanced AI tools to our suite, we will always stress the importance of human expertise to be truly successful.
Final Thoughts
The future of retail media is AI-driven, there’s no getting around it. It’s critical to understand that this technology alone won’t lead to success, however. Strategic application of AI tools requires human expertise, creativity, and vision. Brands that leverage automation, optimize creative output, and refine their digital shelf presence with intention will find the most success in this increasingly competitive industry.
