Transaction-signal data is a secret weapon in commerce media

Most advertisers are familiar with retail media networks (RMNs), where brands can leverage retailers’ shopping data and inventory to precisely reach shoppers. The success and rapid growth led by big retailers like Amazon and Walmart have fueled the proliferation of retail media networks to hundreds globally, including among specialty retailers and even convenience stores. CPG marketers and any advertisers selling through these channels are no doubt familiar with the offerings of RMNs and how they fit into a media mix.

Advertisers who do not sell through retail may be less familiar with the broader category of commerce media, however. Back in 2021, Eric Seufert of Mobile Dev Memo wrote: “Everything is an ad network,” and the now-famous (at least in ad tech circles) phrase appears more prescient than ever. If a business has customers, transactions, and attention, it can monetize that ecosystem like a media owner: commerce media expands beyond retail to include nearly every company that is not a media business but can further monetize an existing customer relationship through data and attention. Like retail media, the value of commerce media lies in accessing first-party transaction data from platforms that already have a relationship with your prospective customers.

Commerce media unlocks this opportunity for virtually every category across B2C and B2B companies. Commerce media is especially valuable if your customers transact frequently and the platform offers meaningful signal. If your customers use rideshare, travel on airplanes, spend on credit cards (or don’t), or buy concert tickets, commerce media networks from companies like Uber, United’s Kinective Media, American Express (or PayPal or Klarna), Ticketmaster, (among many others) may have an existing relationship with, and a unique way to reach, them.

Harnessing transaction data

Companies that facilitate transactions have valuable information on customer patterns. They know exactly what people buy, how much they spend, how frequently they transact, and the broader context of their purchase behavior.

We have historically relied heavily on intent signals to drive strategy: search queries, content consumption, website visits. These indicate what someone is thinking about doing in the future. Transaction data reveals what someone has done with their money, providing important targeting information on your target consumer. It can cut through aspirational browsing to reveal validated behavior and inform what an audience might do next.

A case in point. It’s often difficult to find high-net-worth individuals; many of them are busy, and when we target them with third-party data, we know they are also inundated with advertising from our competitors.

A commerce media approach to this problem could be firstly to target inflight entertainment (IFE) screens in first- and business-class cabins on flights from key target markets to luxury travel destinations, eg New York to Milan in summer and Geneva during ski week. Then, follow up with programmatic by running display and CTV advertising targeting those taking two or more international luxury vacations in the last 12 months. Then, uplift is measured to evaluate total business lift in the target market – eg, New York – to determine incrementality. Establishing a data clean room with the commerce partner could help to determine the most effective targeting tactics while maintaining the security of customer data.

Combining airline or travel marketplace segments via programmatic partners provides an opportunity for response, while reserving IFE screens for context-specific creative provides attention breakthrough during downtime.

Evaluating opportunities

The expansion of retail media to commerce media means moving from ‘shelf space advertising’ to ‘transaction data activation,’ widening the opportunity for marketing teams to test new types of data that align with ideal customer attributes. Consider asking yourself the following prompts to uncover commerce media opportunities for testing: where do our target customers transact in ways that reveal meaningful intelligence? What transaction behaviors correlate with the likelihood of needing our offering? Can we access transaction data signals that our competitors aren’t leveraging? Can we create custom audiences or triggers in addition to off-the-shelf segments? Is there value in reaching my audience at the point of transaction, or is a pattern of behavior more important?

Forward-thinking brands are building commerce media data strategies that deliver precision based on the unique transaction properties of retailers, further defining and validating consumer profiles. As privacy regulations tighten, first-party transaction data remains a valuable source of verified behavioral intelligence. Harnessing the opportunity to reach your customers based on where they transact can enable marketers to stand out and drive incremental growth.