In this article…

Retail media has been on everyone’s radar for a while. Commerce media has also established itself as a significant player in the AdTech industry over the past few years. While retail media focuses on engaging customers within a retailer’s ecosystem, commerce media goes beyond these boundaries to capture the entire shopping journey, spanning multiple touchpoints, channels, and platforms.
But what is commerce media, and why should we care?
Commerce media is here to stay
Estimated to hit $33.86 billion this year and more than double by 2028, the hunt is on to capture as much of retail media’s projected ad spend as possible. However, given the numerous verticals expanding their retail media strategy to include any touchpoint within the commerce channel, it might be time to lower the retail media flag and hoist the LUMA dubbed “commerce media flag.”
So why are Travel, Financial Services, and other verticals focusing on the commerce media ship?
- Authenticated and digital users (usually app-driven)
- Consented data that provides unique insight into the household’s or consumer’s intent/purchase behavior
- Emerging focus on advertising as an important revenue stream for the future
With all this “data” at their disposal — why is it not smooth sailing for commerce media to build an ad-supported business? What’s missing for them to acquire the lucrative billions efficiently and effectively?
Why retail media networks are important
Retail media networks (RMNs) are now a major tool for brands to connect with shoppers. These networks gather valuable data from customers who browse and shop on e-commerce sites and apps. What makes RMNs so powerful is that they allow brands to advertise directly to people who are already interested in buying, leading to more successful sales.
For marketers, RMNs offer a clear way to reach potential customers and ensure their advertising dollars are well spent. But as competition grows and consumer habits change, these networks must keep improving. To stay ahead, brands will have to find new ways to use RMNs effectively, linking them with other parts of the commerce media world to unlock even greater results.
Differences between building a loyalty program and developing ad products
Loyalty programs are the backbone of commerce media networks; however, creating a loyalty program is much different than building an advertising product. It requires commerce companies to bring on additional people, technology, and partners to execute flawlessly.
There are four areas to consider:
1. Organizing your data at scale
To successfully build an ad-supported business at scale, data must be organized to initiate action (targeting and/or measurement). However, this requires changes in company culture. Both the business and technology infrastructure must be updated. Additionally, commerce media companies must update their mindset around creating and selling products.
2. People
We have seen this story before, with large opportunities comes the requirement for new talent. Where are we seeing commerce media companies recruit from? AdTech and MarTech. Whether it’s engineers or data scientists, business development and partnership leads, or even your direct sales team, the poaching has begun. To build a successful business around advertising, experts are needed who can navigate the waters.
3. Partner vs. build
The Requests for Information (RFIs) and Requests for Proposals (RFPs) for any combination of agency, demand-side platform, supply-side platform, customer data platform, identity graph, clean room, and beyond are piling up. One trend is clear: commerce media companies are looking for collaborative partners to provide a true strategic partnership to take on the complexities of the transition away from retail media.
4. Identity will remain the keystone to success
All commerce media companies have some identity data that reveals a slice of their customers’ viewpoint. Yet, unlocking the broad view of these audiences is crucial to success. These companies need to use the “full pie” to see well-rounded profiles, gain the reach required to access them across many channels, and turn opportunities into revenue.
Advertisers can finally close the loop with commerce media networks
Commerce media companies with real-time transaction data enable advertisers to see true ROI on their ad spend when products move off the shelves. Measuring real product lift/sale touch points across multiple channels will put performance and measurement front and center. Programmatic was the promise of performance advertising. Well, commerce media may finally fulfill that vow, creating enough value for companies to make it a real competitor to social channels.
While retail media will always exist, the transition to commerce media has become increasingly popular and is here to stay. The journey might not be a straight shot to perfect results, but the data, partnerships, and resources are out there and ready to hop aboard to help guide commerce media companies to success.
The future of commerce media
Commerce media shows no signs of slowing down. More industries are seeing the benefit of making every customer touchpoint an opportunity to drive sales. Whether through social media shopping or in-app purchases, commerce media pushes businesses to create smoother, more connected shopping experiences for consumers.
In the future, brands won’t just compete on prices or products — they’ll stand out by offering simple, seamless shopping experiences across all devices. With better data and tools to track consumer behavior, brands will be able to personalize their ads and measure their success in real time. Commerce media allows brands to see a direct link between their ads and sales. Those who can adapt and keep up with these changes will come out on top.
Create a connected customer view with Experian
At Experian, we empower RMNs to unlock the full potential of their first-party data through comprehensive identity and audience solutions. Our data-driven capabilities enable RMNs to build a deeper understanding of their customers, optimize audience targeting across channels, and create enriched, actionable segments that drive measurable outcomes.
By seamlessly connecting our offline and digital data, we help RMNs organize identities into households, device IDs, and more. Each household is enriched with valuable marketing insights, allowing you to gain better customer understanding, create targeted advertising, and reach the right customers across different devices. Additionally, you’ll be able to measure the effectiveness of your advertising efforts.
With our support, RMNs can maximize revenue opportunities, extend reach, and confidently demonstrate the value of the network to advertisers.
Contact us today to find out how Experian can help you succeed in commerce media.
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1,000+ ready-made segments, available for activation within Nexxen Audigent, a part of Experian, has officially launched its audiences in the Nexxen demand-side platform (DSP), pairing premium publisher audiences with Nexxen’s streamlined connected television (CTV) and omnichannel buying workflow. Audigent transforms real engagement from premium publishers into over 1,000 ready-to-activate segments—spanning beauty, finance, travel, and more. Three key benefits Signal quality Verified publisher data drives higher match rates and wider look-alike reach. Media impact Reach up to 92 million entertainment fans, 78 million retail shoppers, or 71 million finance intenders across CTV, online video (OLV), and display without guesswork. Privacy and compliance Every segment is built from opt-in, first-party data and delivered through Audigent’s privacy-by-design framework. How Audigent and Nexxen boost your campaigns Now live in the Nexxen DSP, Audigent’s premium audiences plug directly into your existing buying workflow—making it easier than ever to plan, activate, and optimize at scale. Audigent utilizes cookieless, first-party IDs sourced directly from its premium publisher network, allowing advertisers to future-proof campaigns and continue to reach real people across browsers, devices, and CTV. Vertical use cases Auto Target auto intenders as they research new models, then retarget them on CTV during primetime motorsports broadcasts. Retail and CPG Engage retail shoppers with dynamic product ads ahead of peak sales weekends, bridging display and CTV for sequential storytelling. Travel and Hospitality Reach travel planners with destination-specific offers the moment they begin searching for flights. Finance Serve relevant credit card or fintech messaging to finance enthusiasts researching personal finance content. Premium audiences, measurable performance As a part of Experian, Audigent’s audience solution complements our broader identity resolution and activation capabilities, ensuring consistency across every channel. Together with Nexxen’s unified tech stack, advertisers can launch ads faster while respecting consumer privacy. Audience data, targeting, and media all sit in one workflow, making results easy to see and optimize. Contact us Latest posts

Marketing without segmentation is a lot like shouting into a crowded room and hoping the right person hears you. Without a clear way to communicate in a noisy marketing environment, your message gets lost in the mix. With segmentation, you can identify your target audience, speak to their needs, and deliver the right message at the right moment. Companies that use segmentation are 130% more likely to understand customer motivations, resulting in more effective campaigns and deeper audience relationships. In this article, we’ll break down four of the most effective customer segmentation methods, when to use each, and how Experian’s audience solutions can help. What is segmentation in marketing? Segmentation is the process of splitting a large audience into smaller groups that share similar traits, like demographics, location, behavior, or firmographic characteristics. As a marketer, these segments enable you to choose channels, messaging, and offers that resonate with each group. Whether you’re targeting new homeowners in Texas, loyalty shoppers in retail, or small business decision-makers in finance, segmentation helps you stand out to them and get results. Why should marketers segment their audiences? Effective audience segmentation fuels accuracy, performance, and personalization at scale. Here's why you should invest your time and marketing budget in honing your audience segments. Maximize your marketing ROI Nobody wants to waste money talking to the wrong crowd. Using various methods of segmentation, you can focus on those who want to hear from you — and the payoff can be huge. For marketing channels like email, segmentation can drive up to 760% more revenue than non-segmented campaigns. The more targeted your message, the better the return. Create a unified omnichannel strategy Segmentation helps ensure that every channel, from email and social media to display, SMS, and direct mail, operates from the same playbook. Once you define your target audience segments, you also need a trusted identity partner to sync them across platforms and environments. This ensures you can deliver consistent, personalized experiences at every touchpoint and your audience receives the same message in the proper context, regardless of where they engage. Strengthen customer loyalty Roughly 75% of consumers are loyal to brands that “get” them. When you strive to understand your customers, they’re more likely to stay. Segmentation enables you to personalize communications based on your target segment’s values, behaviors, or preferences, encouraging repeat business. Expand into new markets With segmentation, you can analyze existing customers to identify common traits and use that data to pinpoint similar groups in new regions or markets. For example, if your top customers are middle-class parents in suburban areas, you can target lookalike segments in other cities with tailored messaging. This makes it easier to expand with confidence, knowing you're reaching people who are more likely to convert. Lower customer acquisition costs Rather than forcing you to cast a wide net, segmentation enables you to focus your budget on high-potential audiences across channels, reduce acquisition costs, and minimize wasted spend on low-intent audiences. Four segmentation methods and examples Let’s look at four different methods of market segmentation. We’ll define each, share when to use them, and give real-world examples to help you apply them. 1. Demographic segmentation Demographic segmentation breaks your audience into groups based on gender, income, age, education, marital status, occupation, and household size. It’s one of the most foundational segmentation methods because it’s easy to implement and often tied directly to buying behavior. Demographic data makes it easier to get the tone, offer, and channel right from the start. And when you combine demographic segmentation with other segmentation methods, such as behavior or location, the impact multiplies. When to use it Use demographic segmentation when your product or service is clearly more relevant to people in a specific life stage, income bracket, or household type. Among all methods of market segmentation, demographic data is often the easiest starting point. It’s especially effective for industries such as financial services, healthcare, education, retail, and others, where consumer needs change based on demographics. Examples As a real-world example, a health supplement company used Experian data to segment its ambassador program audience into four demographic groups based on lifestyle and household makeup. These included younger singles, value-seeking families, high-income spenders, and older empty nesters. Applying these insights at registration allowed the brand to deliver personalized, channel-specific communications that boosted acquisition and retention. The approach led to stronger engagement and more meaningful customer connections. 2. Geographic segmentation This method of market segmentation categorizes people by location, including country, region, state, city, zip code, or even climate. It’s a simple yet effective way to tailor your marketing, as location often influences everything from lifestyle and language to shopping habits and product needs. It’s most often used among brands with physical locations or region-specific campaigns. Whether you're promoting snow boots in Colorado or sunscreen in California, geographic segmentation helps you stay relevant to the local context. When to use it Geographic segmentation is ideal when your offer or message changes depending on climate, culture, availability, or local regulations. It’s also helpful for planning market expansion or testing the performance of different methods of market segmentation across regions. Examples One home furnishings retailer partnered with Experian to understand how customer needs varied across store locations. Using a mix of client data and Experian demographics, we segmented stores based on their surrounding customer base, like urban, white-collar shoppers in metro centers versus lower-income households in more remote cities. These insights enabled the retailer to tailor inventory, marketing strategies, and ad copy for each store type, resulting in more relevant customer experiences. 3. Behavioral segmentation Behavioral segmentation centers on how people live their lives — their interests, habits, and decision-making patterns. It includes factors like past purchases, engagement frequency, brand loyalty, product usage, browsing patterns, and responsiveness to offers or promotions. 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For example, the “All Aisles Online” segment represented large households (often homeowners with families) stocking up on household staples through online orders. In contrast, the “Marketable Mission” segment captured smaller, likely renter households making quick trips for non-essentials. These behavioral insights empowered the retailer to adjust promotions based on the intent behind each visit, strengthen customer relationships, and drive growth. 4. Firmographic segmentation (B2B) Firmographic segmentation is like demographic segmentation for businesses. It groups B2B audiences based on attributes such as annual revenue, location, company size, industry, and organizational structure. You can also segment by job title or decision-maker role to better target key stakeholders. This method is great for aligning your messaging, sales strategy, or product offerings with the unique needs of various business types. A startup in the tech sector will likely respond to a very different pitch than an enterprise manufacturer, and firmographic data helps you speak to both with precision. When to use it Use firmographic segmentation when marketing to other businesses, especially when your product or service has different benefits depending on business size or sector. Examples Recently, a B2B client partnered with Experian to gain a deeper understanding of the revenue potential of their existing business customers. Using firmographic data, we segmented the client’s customers into distinct groups based on the characteristics most strongly tied to spending behavior. For each segment, we calculated potential spend, defined as the 80th percentile of annual spend within that segment. This allowed the client to identify high-value accounts with untapped growth potential. For example, one customer, ABC Construction, had spent $4,750. But based on their segment’s profile, their annual potential was $9,000. That insight revealed a $4,250 opportunity to deepen the relationship through more targeted marketing and sales efforts. Best practices for market segmentation Regardless of the segmentation method you use, the following best practices will help you maximize the benefits of your efforts. Start with clean, reliable data Segments are only as good as the data behind them. If your data is outdated, inaccurate, or incomplete, your segments will result in ineffective targeting and a wasted budget. Utilize accurate, compliant, up-to-date sources like Experian Marketing Data, ranked #1 in accuracy by Truthset, to ensure your targeting is on point. Test and refine segments continuously Business goals, market conditions, and behaviors are constantly changing. What worked last month or even last week might not work today. By adjusting your segments over time, you make sure your marketing stays relevant, focused, and effective. 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Audience solutions powered by consumer insights Experian Marketing Data, one of the most comprehensive and accurate consumer databases in the U.S., is the core of our segmentation capabilities. Backed by over 5,000 demographic and behavioral attributes, it helps you understand not just who your customers are but how they live, shop, spend, and engage, too. Each audience segment is built with privacy and precision in mind, using a blend of demographic data, financial behaviors, lifestyle signals, and media habits. With these consumer insights, we’ll help you uncover meaningful patterns that lead to smarter strategy. Experian’s pre-built audiences Our syndicated audiences are pre-built, ready-to-activate segments based on shared characteristics from age and income to purchase behavior and lifestyle indicators. When speed and scale are a priority, these segments offer a fast, effective way to reach your target audience. 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