35 © FORRESTER RESEARCH, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Commerce media networks should outsource technology where possible. Agility and features are key to successful media networks, and many of these solutions (e.g., measurement, audience targeting, auctions) are readily available from best-in-class partners. Commerce companies don’t have the talent or time to develop these capabilities in-house. Sophisticated measurement will be key to commerce media growth. Merchants must have well-constructed customer data platforms to provide true incrementality metrics to brands and advertisers. Improved measurement is also likely to reduce tension during joint business planning meetings. Offsite inventory is a promising commerce media frontier. As third-party cookies disappear, large commerce players are well-positioned to serve relevant ads. Offsite and in-store ads are much larger advertising opportunities than current onsite solutions. Commerce media companies should align their monetization teams and e-commerce. When goals are aligned and reporting structure is linear, ad placement is less likely to clutter pages, new ad formats are tried, and additional site traffic becomes even more important. Generative AI can address talent limitations. Because tests and different creative iterations can be limited by people who can create and run those tests, generative AI promises an infinite amount of copy and images for testing, personalization, and experimentation. Small commerce media networks should aggregate and form a supply-side cooperative. Most commerce companies are not large enough to warrant being a walled garden. By joining a larger network and sharing relevant insight, they function like long-standing catalog-marketing cooperatives. Key Recommendations
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