Retailers, among other advertisers, had already been exploring how third-party cookies’ elimination would alter targeting capabilities based on activity in Google’s Chrome web browser. That journey has opened up new opportunities for alternatives. Examples include those offered through retail media networks that leverage first-party data on customers.

In a July 22 blog post, however, Anthony Chavez, a vice president working on Google’s Privacy Sandbox initiative, explained that his company is changing course.

Google’s decision to cancel third-party cookies deprecation

“Instead of deprecating third-party cookies, we would introduce a new experience in Chrome that lets people make an informed choice that applies across their web browsing, and they’d be able to adjust that choice at any time,” Chavez wrote. “We’re discussing this new path with regulators, and will engage with the industry as we roll this out.”

Google originally started its Privacy Sandbox project to explore options for user privacy on the open web. Up until this week, that vision did not include third-party cookies, the code used on websites that can live on in web browsers across multiple site visits to track user activity and inform targeted advertisements delivered to those users. Along the way, the Privacy Sandbox team has been working with industry and government representatives to craft new solutions.

“Throughout this process, we’ve received feedback from a wide variety of stakeholders, including regulators like the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), publishers, web developers and standards groups, civil society, and participants in the advertising industry,” Chavez said. “This feedback has helped us craft solutions that aim to support a competitive and thriving marketplace that works for publishers and advertisers, and encourage the adoption of privacy-enhancing technologies.”

Timeline for third-party cookies deprecation

Ultimately, Google decided that its favored path will mean implementing these new settings within Chrome and without pushing ahead with cookies deprecation. That process began after a formal announcement in 2020, eyeing 2022 for full deprecation. In April, the deadline was moved into 2025 as Google acknowledged the CMA’s need to review proposals, as well as “ongoing challenges related to reconciling divergent feedback from the industry, regulators and developers.”

“As this moves forward, it remains important for developers to have privacy-preserving alternatives,” Chavez stated this week. “We’ll continue to make the Privacy Sandbox APIs available and invest in them to further improve privacy and utility. We also intend to offer additional privacy controls, so we plan to introduce IP Protection into Chrome’s Incognito mode.”

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The smaller screen size can make it more difficult to find products, so Casio UK and its G-Shock watch website, have been using content personalization and artificial intelligence (AI)-powered search in an effort to boost conversion. So far, it seems to be working.

One way has been through creating a sense of urgency. Casio UK has tested FOMO (fear of missing out) messaging on its website. Monique Green, ecommerce manager at Casio UK, told Digital Commerce 360 that an SKU with less than 10 remaining units for sale will display messages such as “last chance” or “only five left in stock.” This has driven conversion rates up to 18%, according to Casio.

Using technology from Nosto, Casio UK’s website will display how many times a product has been viewed (on its Casio site) or purchased (on its G-Shock website) in the past 24 hours. Nosto is a commerce experience platform (CXP) that offers automation and AI tools to provide insights on ecommerce data.

Casio sells watches, calculators and musical instruments. It has different ecommerce websites for:

• North America
• Latin America
• Europe (including a separate website for the UK and Ireland)
• The Middle East and Africa
• Asia and Oceania

Casio UK taps Nosto for personalization tools

Although Casio sells wholesale, it said it wants to encourage shoppers to buy directly from both its Casio and G-Shock websites. Using a Nosto feature, Casio and G-Shock’s UK websites have achieved a 40% conversion rate on a retention campaign that triggers a pop-up message offering consumers a discount code. The catch is that it appears when a shopper copies and pastes product details to potentially search online for the same product elsewhere.

Danny Power, head of digital at Casio UK, told Digital Commerce 360 that the retailer’s focus “has been on DTC improvements in the past 5 years anyway, to understand the customer more and serve content that fits.”

He added that Casio UK had “a lot” of customers shopping directly on its websites during the pandemic, but that tailed off over the past few years and is building back up toward peak levels.

“Stock was difficult to move to retailers as their warehouses shut, so customers had to come direct during [the COVID-19] pandemic,” Powers said.

Additionally, Green said, Nosto will generate a pop-up on Casio UK’s site suggesting returning visitors pick up where they left off. That pop-up would take consumers to pages they’ve already visited, nudging them to convert.

“If I want to put a banner on the site, that’s a bit different,” she said. “I would go in and manually do that. But a lot of the things like PLP, products gone out of stock, that would drop to the last page. No one wants to see an out-of-stock product they can’t buy. So that’s, I’d say, like 90% just working in the background.”

Product recommendations

Casio UK said it also uses Nosto’s product recommendations feature “to help consumers find the right products quickly.” The retailer said it uses A/B testing to optimize where those recommendations appear across its site. That can include triggering a notification on a product listing page that a newer model of a product is available. This is driving 26% of sales on G-Shock’s UK site and 11% on Casio UK’s.

Green said Casio UK doesn’t have options on its site to save a product for later or to compare it with another product. However, the site shows recently viewed products at the bottom of the page as consumers are browsing.

“So for example, our GA 2100 is our best seller, and we have it in like four different colors,” Green said. “So before, you would only see that product when you clicked on it. Now, when you click on that product, you can see the different colors also on the PDP.”

Improving search functionality

Casio said Nosto’s AI-powered search makes it easier for consumers — especially those on mobile — to find products on its website by entering attributes including color, shape, or product names.

12% of Casio and G-Shock UK’s site visitors use the search bar during their buying journey. But Casio said its “previous search functionality suffered from a lack of advanced product data processing, meaning it couldn’t provide relevant matches to complex queries unless the team spent time manually linking attributes for each product.”

Other technology Casio UK uses

Green said Casio UK also uses Yotpo for user-generated content. Yotpo is a retention marketing platform that retailers can use to produce reviews, text messages, email, subscriptions and more. Casio UK also uses Hotjar, which offers website heatmaps and behavior-analytics tools.

Heat maps are “really useful, especially when you’re trying to see what’s annoying people or bugs,” Green said. “Or if someone’s clicking on something loads and it’s not working, it helps you pick up things on the website. … But because it requires you to go back and watch it, it’s quite time consuming.”

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Cookies have long been an essential piece of online advertising, mainly because they track a consumer’s activity across the internet so advertisers can serve them relevant ads. They power what the research firm eMarketer estimated would be a $600 billion annual online advertising industry in 2023.

Now, Google is phasing them out after years of concerns over privacy. Meanwhile, cookies’ retirement has been repeatedly pushed back. Most recently, Google delayed its plans to enact the phaseout by the end of 2024 into early 2025 after restricting cookies for 1% of all Google Chrome users in January.

“We recognize that there are ongoing challenges related to reconciling divergent feedback from the industry, regulators and developers, and will continue to engage closely with the entire ecosystem,” the tech giant said in an April blog post. 

That gives retailers some more time to fine-tune their plans.

How do retailers use third-party cookies?

Cookies are a tool retailers use to reach consumers and show them relevant advertisements. They’re used to keep consumers logged in to a retailer’s website, identify them and serve them ads. 

For example, cookies allow a retailer’s website to maintain a consumer’s shopping cart if she closes and later reopens the website. Moreover, they allow advertisers to show ads related to products a consumer was already looking at. 

Google’s cookie deprecation refers to third-party cookies, the kind that are used to serve these curated ads.

Despite the long lead time for the phaseout, advertisers still lean on cookies. A 2023 Adobe survey of 2,667 marketing and customer experience leaders found that 75% rely heavily on cookies. 45% spend at least half their advertising budgets on cookie-based targeting.

Nevertheless, 51% of those surveyed also qualified cookies as a “necessary evil,” suggesting that they’re on the hunt for a better solution. Even so, 49% said they don’t have access to enough resources to rethink advertising strategy in a post-cookie world.

Retail media networks present an alternative strategy 

Retail media networks are shaping up to be part of the solution for some of the largest retailers. They are a type of advertising platform where retailers can sell ad space on their own digital channels to third parties. Advertisers can target their ads using the retailer’s first-party data on customers, including information from loyalty programs. Ads can be placed on retailers’ websites, within mobile apps or in stores via screens and displays.

They’re advantageous both as a way of targeting ads and as an additional revenue stream for retailers. 

Many retail media networks are explicitly courting retail advertisers with the threat of a cookieless future. 

“For Walmart Connect, Walmart DSP will provide a solution to huge challenges that brands and agencies teams will face with the cookie deprecation process,” Jonathan Fasano, head of product at Walmart Connect Mexico said in April.

Walmart Connect is Walmart’s retail media network.

“Brands will begin to seek media with vast amounts of consumer purchase data, and we already have it through Walmart Audiences, which will also enable us to understand new audiences and potential new buyers for different categories,” he continued.

Target’s Roundel retail media network has similar information on its website.

“When the cookie apocalypse hits, it will wipe out the current way the industry has built audiences and the performance measurement capabilities used to measure the effectiveness of those audiences,” the website says. “If you don’t have real database and identity resolution tools at the ready to build targeted audiences and measure closed-loop media performance, you will suddenly find yourself relying on pre-digital proxies and methods of measurement.”

It presents the solution of advertising to Target customers through Roundel.

Albertson’s, Macy’s, Best Buy, Home Depot and many others also have retail media networks.

Other strategies as third-party cookies are phased out

Advertisers have proposed other solutions for ad targeting after cookies are finally phased out.

For example, the advertising company Criteo suggests tracking consumers with alternative IDs as a replacement for third-party cookies. These are “browser-based technology which seeks to emulate the functionality of the third-party cookie in a privacy-safe way,” Criteo says.

Alternative IDs work in two ways. The first, deterministic IDs, are based on consumers’ personal information after obtaining their consent and using first-party data. Conversely, probabilistic IDs attempt to identify consumers without any first-party data using signals like IP address, device type and operating system.

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) may also play a role. Using zero- and first-party data to personalize experiences for consumers can be challenging and costly to scale up. Supplement retailer GNC is using generative AI to turn that data into “hyper-personalized” recommendations, former chief information officer Scott Saeger told Retail Touchpoints.

Data clean rooms are another approach touted by Amazon and Walmart. They allow two actors — for example Walmart and an advertiser — to share their first-party data for more insights and precise ad targeting. The benefit of data clean rooms is that they can maintain privacy on the original data set.

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The growth story this year shows no signs of slowing down. For evidence, look no further than major retailers — including Walmart, Home Depot, Saks and others — that have expanded, rebranded, created or otherwise shared new plans for their retail media networks.

More could be coming. In December 2023, Deloitte published a poll finding that 64% of retailers said they plan to implement a retail media network by the end of 2024.

What are retail media networks?

Retail media networks are a type of advertising platform where retailers can sell ad space on their own digital channels to third parties. Advertisers can target their ads using the retailer’s first-party data on customers, including information from loyalty programs. Ads can be placed on retailers’ websites, within mobile apps or in stores via screens and displays.

Retail media networks also open up a new revenue stream for retailers.

Here are the most important developments so far in 2024.

1. Albertsons works with Criteo

Albertsons Media Collective, the advertising piece of the grocery chain, is working with commerce media platform Criteo to expand in-store retail media offerings for advertisers. Criteo is helping Albertsons develop new ad formats, like sponsored video and commerce displays, it said.

Albertsons Media Collective can use a combination of first-party data, in-store sales and other shopper information to give advertisers better ad-targeting abilities.

Albertsons is No. 24 in the Top 1000, Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of North America’s leading retailers by online sales.

2. Instacart uses Google shopping data for CPG partners

Instacart announced in January that it would make Google Shopping accessible to Instacart advertisers.

“Instacart’s closed-loop platform and first-party retail media data are critical differentiators for CPG brands,” said Laura Jones, chief marketing officer of Instacart. “Today, our team works with more than 5,500 brand partners to help them grow their businesses and drive incremental sales. With our collaboration with Google, we’re now able to layer our valuable retail media data over Google Shopping ads’ capabilities to enhance audience signals for our CPG partners’ campaigns off of Instacart,” she said.

Instacart is one company experimenting with retail media networks.

The grocery delivery company also debuted ads on Caper Carts. Instacart described them as AI-powered smart carts that will make personalized recommendations through advertisements. Recommendations will be based on the time of year, ongoing promotions, and other products already in the customer’s cart, Instacart said.

3. Macy’s Media Network recruits VP from Walmart Connect 

Macy’s hired Michael Krans as a vice president in March who is in charge of running the Macy’s Media Network. Krans spent the two years prior at Walmart Connect, Walmart’s retail media network. 

The Macy’s ad network collaborates with advertisers across Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s, helping them target the retailer’s customers. The goal is to lead to discovery and brand awareness among Macy’s customers. It launched the network in 2020.

“Macy’s Media Network is one of retail’s premier platforms for advertisers helping them to connect with highly engaged customers across Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s, giving marketers a host of opportunities to more effectively leverage their media campaigns,” Max Magni, chief customer and digital officer, said in a statement.

Macy’s ranks No. 14 in the Top 1000.

4. Lowe’s and Google team up on a retail media solution

In March, Google announced a retail media solution in partnership with Lowe’s.

The beta uses Google’s Search Ads 360 product to facilitate retail media campaigns. The program extends advertisers’ reach to new third-party channels beyond the retail media network’s owner. 

“With self-service, retailers will be able to selectively share first-party audiences with their brand partners in a privacy-centric way, without exposing user-level data,” Google project manager Ewan Fisher said at the time. “This lets brands reach high-intent shoppers with relevant ads, increasing performance while respecting consumer privacy.”

Google is also looking for future retail partners, he added.

Lowe’s is No. 11 in the Top 1000.

5. Home Depot rebrands its ad operation as Orange Apron Media

Home Depot relaunched its retail media network as Orange Apron Media four years after it first formed. The name is a reference to uniforms its employees wear, and an attempt to differentiate the network from the proliferation of other retail media networks across the industry, Orange Apron Media vice president Melanie Babcock told Digital Commerce 360.

Advertisers can purchase ad space on Home Depot’s website, including on banners and product carousels and in promotional emails. In select stores, they can also buy ads to display on in-store TVs and end caps. 

Home Depot currently reports a few thousand supplier advertisers. It plans to double that number over the next few years, Babcock said.

Home Depot is No. 4 in the Top 1000.

6. Chase brings banking into the retail media network game

Chase ventured into the retail media network space with Chase Media Solutions in April. The digital media business will give brands a way to connect with Chase’s 80 million customers, it said. It said Chase Media Solutions is the only bank-led media platform of its type, with advantages over the more typical retail media networks.

“Like retailers, we have first-party data and a dedicated audience,” Rich Muhlstock, president of Chase Media Solutions, said in a statement. “But what sets us apart is the unrivaled scale and insights from our customers – having long-served as a trusted guide for their financial decisions. Chase reaches across brands, merchants and shopping verticals, providing a comprehensive view of purchase behavior; this strengthens the degree of personalization, helping brands deliver offers that stoke consumer interests.”

Initial partners include Air Canada, Solo Stove, Blue Bottle and Whataburger.

7. Walmart outlines growth plans for Walmart Connect

In early April, Walmart shared updates and goals for Walmart Connect, its advertising business. 

A few of the many changes coming to Walmart Connect include:

• Greater on-site display access
• Advertising for complementary brands that don’t sell through Walmart
• Media partnerships with Roku and TikTok
• Self-service capabilities for in-store advertising
• Better analysis tools

The retailer has made other moves to grow its advertising business, including with its proposed acquisition of Vizio. Walmart could use data from Vizio’s 18 million active users to improve ad targeting for Walmart Connect.

Most recently, it announced an integration with the advertising technology platform Infillion in Mexico. The partnership will allow Walmart to offer its advertisers in Latin America elevated media plans optimized with artificial intelligence (AI), it said.

Walmart Connect generated about $3 billion in sales last year and is growing quickly. In Walmart’s fiscal fourth quarter report, chief financial officer John David Rainey said sales increased 22% year over year.

Walmart is No. 2 in the Top 1000. It is also No. 9 in the Global Online Marketplaces Database, Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of top online marketplaces by third-party gross merchandise value (GMV).

8. Saks creates luxury retail media network

Saks announced the launch of Saks Media Network to connect customers with digital advertisers. The ecommerce retailer said it will be one of the first retail media networks in the luxury retail space.

Saks said it will use the company’s “iconic brand, rich first-party customer data and robust traffic of over 435 million annual site visits,” to increase the revenue of brands that sell on its website through sponsored product ads and display banners.

Several prominent brands that sell through Saks are already using the Saks Media Network, it said, including Stuart Weitzman and Rag & Bone.

Saks’ retail media network also strengthens its relationship with the brands it sells, the retailer said. Its in-house media team creates custom strategies for retailers to drive business to their brands.

SaksFifthAvenue.com and SaksOff5th.com are owned by Hudson’s Bay Co. The parent company is No. 26 in the Top 1000.

9. Best Buy partners with CNET

Best Buy announced a new agreement with tech news website CNET to integrate the publication’s recommendations and content across the Best Buy website, stores, and mobile app. 

The consumer electronics retailer called it a “new retail media model between a media publication and retailer.” Advertisers can share ad spaces across the two companies, leveraging the audiences of both across the funnel. They have a combined 50 million unique visitors monthly, Best Buy said. 

“This partnership sets a powerful precedent for how content and retail media brands can collaborate to bring more opportunities to both consumers and advertisers,” said Lauren Newman, executive vice president of revenue at CNET. “With a focus on data-driven insights, we’re introducing a new standard to help brands expand audience reach and measure the impact across what was previously a fragmented digital media ecosystem.”

Best Buy first launched its retail media network, Best Buy Ads, in 2022. It ranks No. 8 in the Top 1000.

10. T-Mobile announces a retail media network

T-Mobile Advertising Solutions, the company’s ad business, will add a retail media network to its portfolio, it said. The network will extend across 20,000 screens in more than 11,000 T-Mobile stores across the U.S., reaching 58 million consumers each month. Advertisers can reach an additional 7 million consumers each month through the company’s T Life loyalty app, it said.

Finally, T-Mobile also announced a partnership with streaming company Plex to expand its connected TV (CTV) reach. Advertisers can use Plex’s free, ad-supported video on demand to reach consumers with relevant ads, T-Mobile said.

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At the panel, speakers from DoorDash, Kendra Scott and Alimentation Couche-Tard swapped stories about what they have achieved. In doing so, they offered tips for setting teams up for success when merchants begin leveraging data to tackle personalization.

Data best practices for setting a foundation

Just because data is already there does not necessarily mean that a company is ready to begin using that data to begin a personalization project, suggested Kamanasish Kundu, vice president, head of digital and ecommerce, for Kendra Scott. Speaking to the audience, the panelists each shared their own priorities and choices to consider carefully early on.

“When I joined Kendra Scott in January 2023 last year, I think one of the biggest challenges was data,” Kundu said. “We didn’t have enough confidence in terms of the data integrity.”

For Kundu, that presented a problem for the jewelry seller.

“Typically, that’s the foundation of any testing and personalization program,” Kundu explained. “So fast forward six months, we completed our data cleansing and brought in the experts. And we created a full–funnel view, identified or pinpointed all the friction points in the journey, and that became the foundation of our testing and personalization program.”

Kendra Scott is No. 670 in Top 1000 Database, where Digital Commerce 360 categorizes it as a jewelry retailer. The database ranks North America’s leading online retailers by their annual web sales.

Protecting data

Meanwhile, Kevin Lewis, chief growth officer at Alimentation Couche-Tard, the parent company of Circle K, gave some advice for retaining ownership of company data, even when a partner or vendor presents a tempting offer.

“There’s gonna be a time when someone is going to say, ‘Hey, give us your consumer data and we’re happy to pay for stuff,’” Lewis said. “For those of you who may not be of the size and scale, that’s a tempting trade-off: ‘Help us fund the future by selling the consumer stuff.’ I will tell you, I think that’s a false trade-off.”

What Lewis proposed instead was valuing that data as part of what makes a company competitive and safeguarding it accordingly.

“I’m pretty clear that anybody can build a store and anybody can load it with the stuff that we sell,” he stated. “But at the end of the day, there’s probably two things that will make us unique and differentiated. One, I believe, is our culture, and we’re not going to sell that. Two — over time — is going to be the data we have that allows us to do things that no one else can.”

The consequence, he posed, could be giving another company what it needs down the road to replicate what someone else has accomplished.

Data best practices for creating value

Jessica Lachs, vice president of analytics and data science at DoorDash, echoed Lewis’s sentiments. She noted her own perspective on demonstrating data’s value by prioritizing business impact.

“Data is at the core of everything we do at DoorDash and is why I love my job so much,” Lachs said. “We measure everything we possibly can, and I think that that is one way you can make a really great case for investing in the data, which is to show that when you do, you see real business impact that you can quantify and that can help you make some of these trade-offs.”

At DoorDash, that may involve A/B tests, switchback tests or what Lachs calls “quasi-experimental methods to be able to size the impact of product features.” DoorDash handles hundreds of thousands of SKUs on its app.

Ultimately, she considers this approach a differentiator for the company.

“I think that that’s something that is really unique to us and something that is a competitive advantage for us,” Lachs said.

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“There are millions of high-quality items on Etsy in hundreds of categories that make great gifts for every occasion, budget, and recipient’s interests. Yet, we know that we aren’t often the first place people think of or come to when they’re on a gifting journey,” CEO Josh Silverman said in a statement. He notes that only 12% of U.S. shoppers say Etsy is a top place to shop for gifts, citing internal Etsy research.

Etsy ranks No. 17 in Digital Commerce 360’s Global Online Marketplaces database. The database ranks the 100 largest such marketplaces by third-party GMV. Digital Commerce 360’s 2023 Global Online Marketplaces Report includes key insights into the biggest players in the database.

How does Etsy Gift Mode work?

The tool prompts the gift giver to answer a few questions about the gift recipient. First, Etsy asks who the gift is for, with more than 20 possible responses including husband, wife, mother, and grandparent. Then, the giver selects the gifting occasion and can choose from several categories the recipient is interested in. There are 15 categories, including travel, sports and crafting. Gift Mode prompts the user to choose at least three categories for the best results.

Etsy uses machine learning to sort the intended gift recipient into one of 200 personas based on answers to those questions. Then it surfaces gift recommendations for that person. For example, Gift Mode suggests matching pajamas or custom pet portraits for someone with the “Pet Parent” persona.

Gift Mode also has features for the recipient. The gift giver can opt in to create a teaser for the recipient, which can include a note, tracking information, and a sneak peek at the item, Etsy says. The marketplace positions this as an option for last-minute gifts that might not arrive before the intended date.

Etsy aims for more gifting consideration

This is just one part of Etsy’s plan to grow as a gifting destination, the marketplace said.

“Our vision is to create a gift-shopping experience that supercharges everyone’s gift-giving potential. From consideration, to discovery, to logistics, we will be a tailor-made, one-stop experience for every gifting occasion. Our first order of business is creating a product experience built specifically with gifting in mind,” Silverman said.

Etsy will continue investing in Gift Mode and adding new features, he said. The marketplace also plans to heavily market the new tool, with plans for TV advertisements during the NFL playoffs and Super Bowl.

In a November earnings call, Silverman had mentioned other ways Etsy was hoping to grow its gift sales. He noted an improved gift finder that predates Gift Mode, and an on-time delivery guarantee for gifts. In May, Etsy launched wedding registries.

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Kohl’s, No. 23 in the Digital Commerce 360 Top 1000, is planning a series of livestream and related digital events to drive online and in-store holiday shopping.

But whether a more interactive holiday marketing strategy will help to revive sagging sales remains to be seen.

For its fiscal third quarter ended Oct. 28, Kohl’s reported sales of $3.84 billion, a decrease of 5.2% from sales of $4.05 billion in the prior year. Third quarter net income was $59 million versus $97 million in the prior year. Comparable store sales declined 5.5%.

“Our strategies to reposition Kohl’s for improved sales and earnings performance remain in the early stages,” says CEO Tom Kingsbury.

Kohl’s strategies for driving sales

In recent months, Kohl’s has been leveraging its customer loyalty program to drive in-store and ecommerce sales. And this holiday shopping season, Kohl’s is planning on an expanded digital and interactive shopping experience to drive revenue, the retailer says.

For example, Kohl’s has launched Kohl’s Storybook Magic, an online shareable content and gifting inspiration platform. When using the platform, customers will be able to input details about themselves or their gift recipient, such as their favorite hobbies and interests. From there, a gift generator will use AI technology to provide a customized story catered to the recipients’ personality.

AR Lenses are another initiative this holiday season. They emulate AI experiences in providing Kohl’s gift recommendations and influencer storefronts, which are personalized pages on Kohls.com where shoppers can share holiday gifts found at Kohl’s. Each page will be completely unique to the creator, featuring social content on their feeds that include Kohl’s items and a customized assortment that the creator can update in real time with their favorite items.

“We continue to bring in new customers, and we have an opportunity to convert those customers into our loyalty program and get them to shop,” chief financial officer Jill Timm told analysts on a recent earnings call. “We are seeing those customers shop two times more often than our existing customer.”

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“We want to meet the consumer where they are, and they prefer digital experiences — but it’s also really good for our business,” Glaser says. “We get so much more data to inform our future plans and marketing choices from a performance marketing perspective.”

General Mills can be more flexible by offering digital promotions, Glaser says. This includes incentivizing the consumer to take action when they’re most likely to convert.

“How do we build those relationships with consumers?” asks Glaser.

One way General Mills is building incentives for customers is through the Fetch rewards mobile app. Consumers download the Fetch app and create an account. They take photos of their grocery shopping receipts from in-store or online shopping and upload them to the app.

Consumers earn points they can redeem for gift cards. Eligible receipts that have at least one participating brand may receive at least 35 points. Each dollar is worth one point. 1,000 Fetch rewards points are worth $1, for example, and consumers need to reach 3,000 points in order to redeem for gift cards at stores including Starbucks, Macy’s, Amazon, Nordstrom Rack and Home Depot as well as for Visa cards. Fetch charges participating retailers like General Mills a referral fee.

Brand loyalty: What it is and how to build it

There is a lot of data exchanged between Fetch and General Mills, Glaser says.

“We get a ton of data from the Fetch partnership — about 62 million lines of data per day,” he says.

That data feeds into the brand’s customer data platform (CDP), which is a software platform that collects first-party data from multiple sources to help brands create targeted and personalized marketing campaigns.

“Loyalty programs are something that the consumer packaged goods (CPG) space isn’t necessarily ubiquitous — it’s something not all CPGs have nailed,” Glaser says. “We wanted to be intentional. What does that look like? How does it come to life?”

In March 2023, General Mills said it had added 2 million customers to its Good Rewards loyalty program with Fetch within the first six months of launch.

Consumer engagement experience

Fetch has about 18 million monthly active users, with 6 million of those using the app every day, says Robin Wheeler, the chief revenue officer at Fetch. In April 2023, the rewards app said it had surpassed $152 billion in annual gross merchandise value (GMV) across U.S. in-store and online retail sales.

“Fetch isn’t your traditional kind of shopping app,” Wheeler says. “It’s a consumer engagement experience.”

A larger portion of consumers are Millennials and Gen Z, Wheeler says.

“The younger generation is definitely coming to Fetch and I think a lot of that is tied to the experiences they’re seeing on social media,” Wheeler says.

Fetch rewards: adding brands

Fetch shares its general merchandise value scanned daily, Wheeler says. Fetch employees also track potential opportunities.

“We’re reading the trades and keeping up to speed on industries,” she says. “If we’re seeing national brands start to compete with a certain brand of deodorant, for example, our primary goal is to focus on where we’re seeing a lot of activity where we’re not currently rewarding consumers. Because that’s low hanging fruit.”

The company uses this information as it attempts to build relationships with other brands.

“There are plenty of big companies we haven’t started working with, and we need to be there,” she says.

This includes providing carousel information displayed at the top of the app that consumers see when they open it. Whether the promotion is about back to school or another busy shopping period, brands also want to include their offers and create more consumer awareness.

Fetch also has daily spin feature where consumers can obtain a daily reward.

Brands use influencers to reach new customers

This includes learning about the app from social media influencers, Wheeler says.

Fetch can share with brands what consumers are spending based on the receipts they upload to the app. Brands can target consumers, whether they’re loyal customers or “competitive buyers, which you have a to work a little bit harder for,” Wheeler says.

Fetch works with influencer agencies to source talent, Wheeler says. The company monitors influencer content and when it finds the right fit, it reaches out with affiliate links.

While the majority of Fetch receipts are in-store, Wheeler says online receipt uploads are growing.

“We have integrations with Amazon and Walmart,” Wheeler says. “We also have emailed receipts. If we have your email integrated and you order from DoorDash, we’re able to scan and pick up that receipt. So emailed receipts are definitely growing.”

Consumers can connect their Fetch account to their email, Amazon and Walmart accounts to earn Fetch rewards.

Fetch social

• 61% of Fetch monthly active users engaged with social features during July, up from 24% in January.
• Daily Reward launched in December 2022. Consumers have played daily rewards over 222 million plays since then.
• People who engage with social features/in-app games are more likely to scan receipts every day and have retention rates around 4-5 points higher than cohorts that don’t engage with these features.

Fetch eReceipts

• On average in 2023, about 10% of all receipts submitted to Fetch were eReceipts.
• About 29% of Fetch users who scan receipts also submit eReceipts.
• Top retailers include Walmart, Target, Sam’s Club, Walgreens, McDonald’s, Starbucks.

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The post Infographic: General Mills incentivizes customers through mobile app Fetch appeared first on Digital Commerce 360.

“Brands and retailers across categories are scrambling to identify how they can best use AI to elevate their ecommerce customer experience and drive revenue,” Elizabeth Buchanan, chief commercial officer at Rokt, said in a press release. “This research provides decision makers with a roadmap for creating new strategies and implementing advanced tech, such as AI, to significantly help improve the online shopping experience in ways that will surprise and delight shoppers.”

55% of Gen Z consumers in the survey also said they were interested in an AI assistant that could make finding new products simpler. 51% said they would try shopping in augmented reality and virtual reality. 

Gen Z survey respondents also said AI could be used in other ways:

• Compare prices (47%)
• Find deals (45%)
• Receive relevant offers and product suggestions (41%)
• Receive personalized assistance (37%)
• Find reviews (28%)

How will AI change online shopping?

Retailers are already implementing AI to save on costs and improve customer experiences. 

For example, men’s grooming DTC retailer Huron uses AI to automate bookkeeping services. Huron uses AI vendor Finaloop to track revenue across its multiple sales channels and manage inventory.

Online electronics retailer Newegg Commerce Inc. is also implementing AI, but in a way that more directly impacts consumers. The retailer uses generative AI to summarize common points that come up in customer reviews in “Review Bytes.” As of September, 20% of SKUs have AI-generated summaries. 

Google recently released a new AI tool that lets consumers virtually try on clothes. Several brands from Digital Commerce 360’s Top 1000 online retailers in the U.S. are already compatible with Google’s tool. Consumers can try on clothes from Anthropologie (part of Urban Outfitters Inc., No. 30), Everlane Inc. (No. 271), H&M, and Loft (part of Ascena Retail Group, No. 33). The tool can also suggest specific products based on customer preferences like color and price across brands. 

However, some retailers are more cautious about the changing technology. Dean McElwee, director, global ecommerce collaboration at The Stanley Black & Decker Company, recently told Digital Commerce 360 why generative AI is “still immature” and not ready to be implemented just yet.

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Oro develops open-source software technology designed to let software developers access its core software code to customize it. It provides open-source software for B2B ecommerce and CRM applications.

Oro goes on a hiring spree

Oro has named Sawyer Frank as its new head of sales. Previously, he headed the global sales team at Elastic Suite, where he designed a marketplace product that led to the company’s acquisition by publicly traded Emerald X Inc., Oro says.

Other Oro new hires include:

• Jourdin Lambright as Oro’s new partnerships manager. Jourdin joins Oro from BigCommerce, where she was a senior channel account manager.
• Oro has named John Parker as enterprise account executive. He previously worked at Elastic Suite and holds an MBA in marketing and a Master of Science in business analytics from Syracuse University.
• Cassidy Bryson joins Oro as customer success manager with previous roles at Akeneo and Accenture and expertise with client challenges with new software implementations. She has a long track record of assisting customers through their digital transformation journeys and identifying key metrics for overall platform success.
• Daniel Mester joins Oro as senior solutions engineer. Prior to Oro, he founded and sold a software-as-a-subscription (SaaS) company.

Oro’s clients include manufacturer Dunlop Protective Footwear, chemicals distributor Azelias, and industrial products distributor Lawson Products. The vendor says it has more than 40,000 technology installations across more than 100 countries.

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