— RESEARCH
Insights for Loyalty Ecosystems
Industry research from BCG, EMARKETER, and leading analysts on the growth of commerce media networks — and why non-retail enterprises with first-party loyalty data are best positioned to capture the next wave.
Commerce Media Is Rewriting the Rules of Customer Connection
BCG surveyed 200 buyers of retail and commerce media and found that 86% say commerce media powered by first-party data drives higher performance than other forms of digital marketing. The article introduces a four-quadrant framework for evaluating commerce media networks and outlines how non-retail companies can build successful CMNs by driving value through first-party data, enabling scale through self-service tools, and proving results with closed-loop measurement.
Key Insights
86% of advertisers say 1P-data-powered commerce media outperforms other digital marketing
Walmart now derives almost a third of enterprise profit from its commerce media business
94% of advertisers are interested in media network alliances and lifestyle partnerships
Non-retail companies need to identify unique journey moments and customer signals to differentiate
Commerce Media at an Inflection Point: How to Win with a Full-Stack Approach
McKinsey identifies five operational priorities that separate winning commerce media networks from the rest. The challenge for most networks is not knowing what to do, but how to execute — requiring new skills and roles, deeper data and technology integration, and tighter coordination across commercial, product, and analytics teams. Leading CMNs are redesigning how they plan, build, sell, and measure media rather than layering point solutions onto legacy models.
Key Data Points
Be explicit about where to win: benchmark against buyer alternatives and concentrate investment on a few differentiated strengths
Industrialize measurement: integrate incrementality and performance measurement into a single system — trust, not data volume, drives durable spend
Make omnichannel real: define audiences once and activate across on-site, off-site, upper-funnel, and in-store channels with holistic reporting