What retailer marketers should be thinking about in 2025

“Advertisers are looking for more of a full-funnel approach, from end to end, working with a smaller set of DSP partners, thinking about a way to connect all the touchpoints and to be more personal, to tailor that message. The paths all need to unite to be able to have the right data, the right touchpoints, the right customer journey.”

Thoughts from a wide-ranging conversation on retail marketing and advertising with Sherry Smith, executive managing director, Americas, at digital advertising platform Criteo. The discussion began with the possible divestment of Chrome by Google.

So what if Google sells Chrome? Any court-compelled sale of Chrome by Google is a long way down the road. Can retailers forget about it for now? “I think it’s a realistic challenge we should be thinking about now,” said Smith. “The industry is changing so rapidly. We went back and forth for years over the potential deprecation of cookies; we have to have Google in our sights in terms of what could continue to change.”

Smith also talked about the fast growth of retail media and CTV. He noted that consumers are now taking non-linear paths when they shop. “At Criteo, we’re constantly thinking about how this world is continuing to evolve and how to anticipate that. It’s better to prepare.”

Nevertheless, even following a sale of Chrome, Google would presumably retain its search and advertising businesses. There are already changes happening in search, not least with the AI input in search results. “Retailers need to think about how to ensure they are getting the eyeballs they need and the conversions they need,” said Smith. “I think these changes create a unique opportunity for retailers to foster a more competitive, open web environment.”

If a sale happens, Chrome would likely continue under new ownership. Any issues it faces would help Firefox, Microsoft Edge or Safari. But life would go on as usual. “As far as what the end result would be,” said Smith, “I’m not entirely sure. I think we’re trying to look at different outcomes for our partners to think about.”

Dig deeper: DOJ seeks sale of Chrome in Google antitrust case

The search and discovery process has changed already. The sale of Chrome would have an impact, but the space is feeling impacts from other sources already. “Social has been on the rise for the past several years as far as discovery goes,” said Smith. Another new horizon is the ability to use LLM capabilities to search for products and services. Google may offer AI Overviews, but consumers can just go direct to ChatGPT.

“One thing our clients are focused on,” said Smith, “is how they make their website experience frictionless and easy to navigate and offer more predictive-type search. App development for retailers is going to be really interesting — how they continue to offer an omnichannel-type experience for shoppers in-store.”

The rise of retail media. Criteo’s customers are thinking about how they can leverage all the data they have in order to work with advertisers, Smith said. “There has been an absolute rise [in retail media] and our goal is to make sure we’re helping to connect the ecosystem. It’s cumbersome to work with multiple retailers one-by-one so we are trying to enable capabilities to work across not only multiple, but to do it globally and at scale.”

Isn’t the term “retail media network” becoming too narrow, because it’s not just retailers that have large first-party datasets that can be leveraged to create relevant audiences. Publishers do too, for example. “We work with delivery partners outside the retail space,” Smith said. “Uber is a very big client of ours. How are these companies thinking about that valuable data and how they can monetize it and create some type of commerce network?”

Speaking of publishers, Criteo works with Hearst too, said Smith. “It’s been interesting to see this space evolve and I think it’s going to be saturated with those beyond the retail space as well.”

CTV is right around the corner. CTV is not part of Criteo’s purview today, said Smith. “It is where we are going tomorrow.” Will we see more activity from Criteo in the CTV space next year? “I think you will see more of Criteo in the upper funnel, period,” said Smith.