What retailer marketers should be thinking about in 2025

“Advertisers are looking for more end-to-end end-to-end access, working with a smaller set of DSP partners, thinking about how to connect all the touch points and be more personal, to customize that message. All paths must be unified so that we have the right data, the right touch points, the right customer journey.”

Thoughts from a wide-ranging conversation about retail marketing and advertising with Sherry Smith, CEO, Americas, at digital advertising platform Criteo. The discussion started with the possible discontinuation of Chrome by Google.

So what if Google sells Chrome? Any court-enforced sale of Chrome by Google is a long way off. Can traders forget about it for now? “I think that’s a real challenge that we should be thinking about now,” Smith said. “The industry is changing so quickly. We’ve gone back and forth for years about possibly ditching cookies; we have to keep Google in our sights in terms of what might continue to change.”

Smith also talked about the rapid growth of retail media and CTV. He noticed that consumers now follow non-linear paths when shopping. “At Crite, we’re constantly thinking about how this world continues to evolve and how to anticipate it. It’s better to prepare.”

Even so, even after selling Chrome, Google would likely retain its search and advertising business. Changes are already happening in search, not least with the introduction of artificial intelligence into search results. “Retailers need to think about how to make sure they get what they need and the conversions they need,” Smith said. “I think these changes create a unique opportunity for retailers to foster a more competitive, open web environment.”

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

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The search and discovery process has already changed. Chrome sales would have an impact, but the space is already feeling impacts from other sources. “Social media has been on the rise for the past few years in terms of discovery,” Smith said. Another new horizon is the ability to use LLM opportunities to search for products and services. Google may offer AI previews, but consumers can go directly to ChatGPT.

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

The rise of retail media. Crite users are thinking about how they can use all the data they have to work with advertisers, Smith said. “There has been an absolute increase [in retail media] and our goal is to ensure that we help connect the ecosystem. It’s unwieldy to work with multiple merchants one by one, so we’re trying to enable opportunities to not only work with multiple merchants, but to do it globally and in large numbers.”

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

Speaking of publishers, Criteo also works with Hearst, Smith said. “It’s been interesting to see this space develop and I think it will be saturated with those outside of the retail space.”

CTV is right around the corner. CTV is not part of Crite’s remit today, Smith said. “We’re going there tomorrow.” Will we see more Crite activity in the CTV space next year? “I think you’re going to see more Crite upstream, period,” Smith said.