Once seen as a revenue channel, commerce media is fast becoming the connective tissue between brands, retailers, and consumers. The industry’s focus is expanding from monetization to meaning, a theme that resonated throughout Advertising Week New York.

For marketers, this transformation demands new definitions of precision, creativity, and success, where value is measured not in reach but in relevance.

The collapse of the funnel

The traditional purchase path has disappeared. Discovery, consideration, and transactions now happen simultaneously, often on the same screen.

• That journey compression is redefining precision in marketing.
• “It’s not so much about being present at all times or doing mass reach,” said Catalina Salazar, global head of Wolt Ads, during one session at AW New York. “It’s about nailing that moment where the consumer is open to be influenced and close to the point of transaction.”

It’s no longer about how many people you reach, but how much you matter to the ones you do.

“People still ask, ‘How many impressions can you guarantee me?’” said Reina Govindarajan, vice president of business and corporate development at Rent the Runway at another session. “I don’t know why you want to be guaranteed impressions by people that are not going to transact. Reach the people that count.”

Salazar described the formula as “accessibility, audience, and attribution.”

• Precision is power, she said, and success depends on “high-fidelity audiences that you can activate and measure against.”
• Attribution, she added, must go “beyond clicks and conversion” and into real-world validation which is “the difference between knowing and guessing.”

Storytelling at the point of sale

Despite the increasing role of data, creativity is central to commerce media’s future.

“Retail media has this reputation as where the creative comes to die,” said Salazar. “But data enables us to understand behavior, and content transforms it.”

This opens the door for media networks to act as true collaborators in campaign creation.

• DoorDash works closely with partners to define the story they want to tell and identify the best moments in the customer journey to tell it, according to Peter Giordano, general manager of strategy and platform at DoorDash Ads.
• “We worked with Poppy, who leaned into their colors and visual identity. It was a scroll-stopping moment and over 50% of conversions were from new-to-brand customers,” he said.

Networks can also help ensure campaigns are delivered in more contextually relevant ways.

“You have to show that ice cream is a snack that can fill any moment during the day,” said Daan Westdijk, head of channel and customer strategy at Magnum Ice Cream. “During Thanksgiving we focus more on in-store, but for Mother’s Day, when people are making last-minute buys, we shift to off-site.”

Balancing intelligence and intuition

AI is quickly becoming the backbone of commerce media success.

“Everything we do at DoorDash is rooted in a merchant or advertiser problem. We built [AI-powered] smart campaigns to take the guesswork off the plate of small business owners,” said Giordano, noting these campaigns have resulted in a 15% increase in sales for merchants that are running them, but also a 20% decrease in cost.

AI’s true promise lies in personalizing experiences, not just automating them, according to Salazar.

• “We understand what you put in your basket with what else,” she said. “Leveraging AI at scale to make that experience seamless, that’s what will make shoppable media take off.”
• For example, Unilever uses AI to localize messaging, tailoring Breyers’ holiday ads to regional pie preferences, shared Westdijk.
• “When you know who people are and where they are, and activate in the moment. That’s critical,” he said.

Technology strategies are also evolving. The choice is no longer “build or buy,” but both.

• “We’re taking a hybrid approach,” said Michael Krans, vice president of Macy’s Media Network. “Even for a single initiative, we might buy a part of it and build a part of it.”
• Rent the Runway takes a similar approach.
• “We built our entire platform from scratch, but now we buy when it means the customer journey will be that much more exceptional,” said Govindarajan.

But even the most sophisticated tech stack is only as strong as the people using it.

“I can’t execute on a full 360 if my social team isn’t in bed with me and my brand team isn’t aligned,” said Govindarajan. “We’ve stopped working in silos.”

This was originally featured in the Commerce Media Weekly newsletter. For more marketing insights, statistics, and trends, subscribe here.