Originally published in Adweek
Key takeaways
- 56% of U.S. media buyers plan to increase commerce media spend this year, but 55% cite missing cross-network measurement standards.
- New-to-brand definitions, lookback windows, and attribution rules differ by network, so results across networks can’t be compared directly.
- Off-site commerce media is growing twice as fast as on-site, carrying purchase signal away from the retail environment that created it.
- A shared identity layer lets brands recognize the same consumer across every network, and Experian’s independence from demand-side platforms (DSPs) and supply paths keeps that layer neutral.
Commerce media keeps expanding, and brands are running campaigns across more networks than ever. Most still can’t say which network performed better.
More media networks haven’t produced a more complete view
Investment keeps climbing, and 56% of U.S. media buyers plan to increase commerce media network spending this year, often by reallocating from social, display, and search budgets. Nearly half of advertisers, 47.5%, now fund those campaigns from two or three separate budgets.
Every network in that mix brings its own identity system, audience definitions, and measurement approach. Brands add the fourth or fifth network expecting a fuller picture of performance. Instead, they get more numbers that no one designed to sit next to each other.
I don’t think commerce media has a data problem. Every network has audience data and purchase data. Consistency across them is what nobody has built yet.
The inconsistency lives in the definitions
Take new-to-brand, the metric meant to separate new customers from repeat buyers. It means different things at different networks. Lookback windows differ. Some definitions apply at the brand level, others at the product line. Some count in-store purchases, others count only digital. View-through credit varies across display, video, and connected TV (CTV). Attribution windows vary by partner and by format.
Audience portability compounds it. Retailer audiences often can’t move across platforms, so teams rebuild the same strategy in several systems and hope the definitions roughly align.
Over half of advertisers, 55%, name the lack of cross-network measurement standards as a top challenge. A campaign can look stronger on one network than another for no reason other than a different reporting rule. You can’t move budget on numbers that don’t compare or show incremental lift, and yet most teams are trying to.
Off-site growth makes this harder to ignore
On-site inventory is approaching its ceiling. Sponsored results now appear on 99% of product search pages at Amazon and Walmart, and ad density has reached as high as 50% on key retail search pages. Off-site spending is growing at twice the rate of on-site.
Off-site carries commerce signal away from the environment that created it. Every handoff is a point where the audience definition, the match rate, and the measurement logic have to hold. These are solvable problems, and they show up in the same form at every handoff, which makes them worth solving once instead of campaign by campaign. Fragmentation that stayed manageable inside a retailer’s own properties becomes something to design for the moment the signal travels.
Interoperability starts with a shared identity layer
Brands and networks need a common way to recognize the same consumer wherever a campaign runs. That layer has to draw on retailer, brand, and campaign signals together, and it needs consistent definitions from one network to the next. Get that right and performance sits on common ground, even with every network’s particular reporting rules.
That layer matters more as AI takes over more of the optimization. Models inherit whatever inconsistency sits in the data beneath them, so audience definitions that shift from one network to the next degrade every decision that follows. Better models won’t fix a fragmented identity layer, but they will scale its errors faster. Networks can get ahead of this by settling the identity layer first, standardizing audience definitions so they hold on-site and off-site and give the models downstream something dependable to learn from.
Signal expansion belongs in the same conversation. First-party data reflects the customers who logged in, joined the loyalty program, or completed a transaction. Irregular buyers, emerging segments, and high-value prospects who are actively in-market show up faintly or not at all in that view, even though signal about them exists elsewhere in the ecosystem. A shared identity layer that connects to a marketplace of data providers closes part of that gap, and it does so without asking any network to hand over raw records.
This is also what opens commerce media to brands that will never own a media network. Most companies sitting on valuable first-party data don’t have the traffic or the assortment to build what Amazon and Walmart built, and they don’t need to. Combining signal with trusted partners produces audiences larger and more valuable than any one of those brands holds alone. That’s how a brand participates in commerce media without becoming a media company.
Networks need infrastructure, and neutrality decides whose
A mid-sized commerce media network runs into the same ceiling from the other direction. Owned inventory has a limit, and so does owned data. Growing past both means off-site reach, enriched audiences, and measurement that holds up next to the largest players, and building all of that in-house isn’t realistic for most networks. What they need is infrastructure that supports expansion without giving up control of the customer relationship.
That makes the choice of whose infrastructure a consequential one. Brands and networks should look hard at the commercial position of any partner they put at the center of identity and measurement. A partner with interests in a specific demand-side platform (DSP), supply path, or set of agency relationships gains visibility into every deal that moves through it, and that visibility shapes incentives over time. Networks are right to weigh it carefully.
Experian competes in none of those layers. Our position strengthens when the ecosystem stays open and brands keep the freedom to work across partners, platforms, and evolving technologies. Independence is what makes shared infrastructure possible.
Consistency is the constraint on the next round of growth
Commerce media maturity trails its ambition. 42% of teams believe they have operationalized commerce media, while only 13% qualify as advanced against leadership, technology, measurement, and operations.
Closing that gap depends on identity discipline more than network count. A brand that recognizes the same consumer across every network it buys can compare results, move budget with confidence, and hold every partner to one standard. Without that, each new network adds spend and subtracts clarity.
Consistency is what turns commerce media from a set of separate programs into something a brand can actually manage.
About the author
Kevin Dunn
Chief Revenue Officer, Experian
Kevin Dunn joins Experian Marketing Services with more than 20 years of leadership experience across marketing and advertising technology, most recently serving as Senior Vice President of Brands and Agencies at LiveRamp. In that role, he led growth across retail, CPG, travel, hospitality, financial services, and healthcare, overseeing new business, account expansion, and channel partnerships.
Kevin is known for building cohesive, accountable teams and leading with optimism, clarity, and a strong sense of shared purpose. His leadership philosophy centers on empowering people, driving positive outcomes for clients and fostering a culture where teams can grow, take smart risks, and succeed together.
Latest posts
While the weather outside is frightfully hot this summer, it’s never too soon to start thinking about the holidays – and consumers are more likely to start their holiday shopping early this year. To get you ready for the 2022 holiday shopping season, we looked back at consumer shopping trends from 2019-2021. What did we learn and what trends do we expect to see this year? Let’s look back. A look back Over the last three years, average consumer spending has increased. Record 2021 holiday sales came amidst a wave of COVID-19 cases, rising inflation, labor shortages, and supply chain problems. Despite these challenges, consumers continued to let it snow when it came to spending during the holiday season. 2022 has been a year with its own economic roadblocks – the war in Ukraine, rising gas prices, and recession concerns. Yet 2021 was a banner year for holiday sales despite its obstacles, and we predict similar trends in the 2022 holiday shopping season. What trends do we expect to see for the most wonderful time of the year? 2022 predictions While consumer spending remains strong, changing economic conditions continue to shape shopper behavior. To develop our predictions for 2022 holiday shopper behavior, we focused on four key areas: When consumers shop Where consumers shop What consumers purchase Consumer media preferences Now, let’s make our holiday campaign planning checklist and check it twice. When consumers shop Chestnuts roasting on an open fire. Jack Frost nipping at your nose. Those aren’t the only ways to know when the holiday season has begun. Shoppers tend to spread out their holiday purchases across multiple months and were more likely to start shopping earlier. To understand holiday retail sales trends from 2019-2021, we identified four shopper segments: Early Shoppers Traditional Shoppers Late Shoppers Random Shoppers What differences did we see between our four shopper segments? Early shoppers made almost half of their holiday purchases in October Random shoppers spread out their holiday purchases evenly across multiple months Late shoppers made almost half of their holiday purchases in December Traditional shoppers made almost half of their holiday purchases in November While December continues to dominate holiday sales, October has started to gain traction over the last three years, and November remains a core shopping month. Everybody knows a turkey and a mistletoe help to make the season bright but knowing when your consumers are most likely to shop will help deck your campaign planning halls. Jingle bell rock your way to holiday sales that shine bright with our tips to prepare for earlier shoppers: Offer targeted promotions earlier in the shopping season Target your ads based on the shopping habits of your customers throughout the season Where consumers shop There’s no place like home for the holidays but most consumers aren’t shopping from home. Despite the rise in online shopping, brick and mortar locations continue to dominate holiday sales. October is the most popular month to take a one-horse open sleigh to a store, and consumers gather around the fire to online shop in November and December. With most shoppers preferring to shop in-store, and e-commerce popularity growing, it’s critical to think about bridging the gap between your online and offline presence for the consumer. Are you offering multiple paths to purchase with solutions such as BOPIS (Buy Online, Pickup In-Store)? Go down in history like Rudolph with our tips to prepare for more in-store shopping: Focus on in-store shopping experience technology (self-checkout, VR, QR codes, scan to pay, etc.) Offer multiple paths to purchase to connect your online and physical presence through methods such as BOPIS (Buy Online, Pickup In-Store), BORIS (Buy Online, Return In-Store), and ROPO (Research Online, Purchase Offline), etc. What consumers purchase When it comes to holiday gifts, for some, only a hippopotamus will do. Compared to pre-pandemic, shoppers are spending more at apparel stores and mass retailers. Spending at specialty retailers, warehouse clubs, and on office, electronic, and games is almost the same across holiday and non-holiday shopping months. Time for toys and time for cheer may be year-round, but are there any correlations between where consumers shop (online vs. in-store) and what they purchase? Our data found that shoppers who bought from mass retailers were more likely to shop online, while shopping for apparel and warehouse clubs was done at a physical store location. Put this insight to the test by thinking through how you can target your consumer based on where they shop in-store and online. You just might find that hippopotamus at a brick and mortar mass retailer location! Consumer media preferences Do you see what I see? While we are seeing a shift to digital media channel preference, consumers still engage with traditional media channels like direct mail and the traditional newspaper. Successfully connecting with your customers involves capturing their attention through the right channel. We found that our four shopping groups prefer a mix of traditional and digital media channels. What does your media channel mix look like? Hark! The herald angels sing of ways to adapt to the change in holiday spend and media preferences: Align your activation efforts to digital, but don’t forget about traditional channels Expand your targeting and activation focus beyond in-store vs. online Download our new 2025 report For a deeper dive into our predictions and actionable insights you can use to take your holiday campaign planning home for the holidays, download our new 2025 report, in collaboration with GroundTruth. Experian data can help you refine your content and creative strategy to achieve maximum ROI for each campaign across all your channels. Download now Get in touch
Hashed Email is a privacy-safe digital identifier that can further enrich and expand the functionality and utility of The Tapad Graph with access to Tapad + Experian’s universe of email data. This provides maximum coverage for targeting and measurement when combined with household and individual IDs such as Cookies, MAIDs, CTV IDs, and IP Addresses. Gain back a clearer view Recent data from DMA shows that 51% of people have held the same email address for over 10 years. Email address data by its nature is authenticated and reliable due to its longevity. When leveraging Hashed Email as an extended functionality of The Tapad Graph, we are able to link on average 5 email addresses to each individual, reaching up to 90% of households across the US. Hashed Email expands the customer view by adding new email address identifiers into The Tapad Graph that associate with traditional digital IDs and cookie-less IDs emerging in the marketplace. Reduce fragmentation; and instead of viewing the emails as multiple customers, with Hashed Email they can be viewed as one user profile. When enabled, clients who wouldn’t traditionally have access to first-party customer emails are able to associate and link privacy-safe emails to individuals and their households. Brands and retailers can use Hashed Email to extend these linkages across offline purchases associated with each email; connecting traditional digital identifiers between walled gardens, activation in programmatic media buys, and addressable TV. With the holiday season quickly approaching, access to Hashed Emails will instantly increase scale, connectivity and improve measurement when efficiency, personalization and holistic attribution are pivotal to marketing strategies. Let’s visualize how quickly the customer journey can become fragmented when email addresses that belong to the same person are not associated. Mary has 3 email addresses that she frequently uses. One for social media accounts Email ID 1, one for shopping accounts Email ID 2, and another for work Email ID 3. Mary is a brand loyalist to a top national retailer and whenever there is a new season, there is a high likelihood that she will purchase the latest seasonal decor from that store. She recently did some holiday shopping in-store where she purchased nearly the whole holiday line. Email ID 2 was used to send her a receipt. However, Mary annoyingly receives the store’s ads on Facebook for holiday decor that she had already purchased. This is because the retailer has not yet identified that Email ID 1 and Email ID 2 belong to the same consumer. If the retailer were to leverage Hashed Email, they would be able to identify that both email addresses used belong to Mary. This association connects her multiple email addresses together, enables her offline purchases to sync with her online activity, and helps to determine the most accurate ROAS. Hashed Email is a cookie-free added view into consumer behavior for control over messaging and for measurement. When leveraging it’s possible to report back across all channels and devices in a universal format to know when and how conversions are taking place. Don’t leave valuable data on the table Hashed Email has use cases beyond reducing wasted media impressions. Hashed Email’s full capabilities extend to campaign measurement and attribution modeling. When utilizing The Tapad Graph combined with Hashed Email, know from the first touchpoint to the last where your customers are engaging. But more importantly, know where households and the individuals inside of those households are converting across all of their digital devices, by using traditional digital IDs, cookie-less IDs, and Hashed Email to associate, measure, and correlate online and offline purchases. Imagine what your campaigns could look like this holiday season if you expanded your graph with up to 5 additional IDs per household. This impact could be a game-changer to scale this holiday season. Hashed Email is a reliable cookie-less digital identifier that expands your customer universe that connects online and offline activity while improving the customer experience and reducing wasted media spend. Enabling Hashed Email for the holiday season is not an opportunity that should be passed on. Where do you sign up, you ask? Get in touch
Identified in The 2021 Digital Advertising Trends Report published by Postclick, marketers are striving to improve and enhance their segmentation and targeting strategies in their digital ad campaigns. Carlos Lopez, SVP of Brand Planning at Digitas Health predicted that in 2021, the challenge will be to overcome the death of third-party cookies and still deliver a personalized advertising experience. It’s fair to say that his prediction will still be impacting marketers past 2021 with the delay of cookie deprecation. These goals along with the constantly changing digital landscape paint a challenging picture for even the most advanced marketers. Marketers can be prepared for the next era of digital marketing by finding the right mix of partners that offer privacy-safe, cookie-free solutions. Smart marketers will employ these solutions and compare these results with data from cookies. The Tapad + Experian Take The Tapad Graph enables brands, agencies, and ad tech platforms to identify and target individuals and households across their digital touchpoints. With this data, they can personalize messages across devices, measure and optimize throughout the customer journey, and then report back on conversions at the individual and household levels. Tapad, now part of Experian, leverages a machine learning algorithm that determines these connections at scale by using probabilistic models with authenticated, privacy-safe, real-time data. There are a myriad of cookieless IDs emerging in the marketplace, and it’s not likely going to be a one size fits all situation. In order to be prepared for the next era of digital marketing, marketers should diversify ID partners and be proactive with testing while the cookie is still around to benchmark against. With Switchboard, a module within The Tapad Graph, we’ve been able to develop connections between traditional digital identifiers (IP Addresses, MAIDs, CTV IDs) and the new wave of cookieless IDs (UID2.0, Panorama ID, ID5 ID) that will be utilized in the future. Here’s an example of what The Tapad Graph and Switchboard looks like at the Household level with various traditional digital identifiers and cookieless IDs. Get in touch