In the face of the looming recession, e-commerce continues to skyrocket. Today’s consumers are mainly focused on savings and discounts. as well as comparative shopping.
In this market, independent publishers should consider their own commerce offerings and embrace their ability to take full advantage of these new capabilities. Publishers can reap the benefits through product sales, reviews, and comparisons.
Shoppable online advertising is evolving beyond static banners and pop-ups. Today’s innovations are far more actionable than your standard, static units. And, at the same time, conversions are easily measured. Further, some offer sophisticated targeting abilities, allowing publishers to seek out consumers actively in a buying mindset. Collectively, these innovations are known as commerce media.
To reflect this, new deal-focused media companies have risen along with deal-focused coverage and commentary on traditional publishers for this increasingly savings-focused audience. Many have seen a parallel growth in traffic over the past few years as e-commerce has risen in prominence.
For example, CNN Coupons presents itself as a one-stop guide to the hottest savings and even offers exclusive rewards from major retailers. Independent publishers should also seek to expand their commerce capabilities as the e-commerce industry expands.
Commerce Media: Linking Impressions with Conversions
Commerce media is a powerful way for advertisers to drive conversions and sales by closing the loop between advertising impressions and commerce transactions. Previously, publishers and advertisers had to play a guessing game when it came to measurable sales driven by an advertisement’s impression. But these innovative technologies allow publishers to offer more relevant advertising for their audiences
Comparative, deal-focused shopping is on the rise, and publishers can capitalize on their specialized audiences by expanding their consumer focus with this technology. As e-commerce continues to skyrocket, many major retailers are sensing the tides and are actively searching for strong partnerships amidst a diversifying marketplace.
New innovations within the commerce media space will give publishers the edge in curating their unique audiences and driving sales in key verticals that align with their coverage.
Driving Commerce & Competition
Sure, you could get by the old way of setting your traffic through an SSP and receiving CPM bids. But those not taking advantage of these technological developments sell themselves at a steep discount. With these capabilities at their disposal, publishers can now aim to deliver meaningful advertising — rather than annoying your consumers, you can endeavor to provide value to the content on your site with information, comparative shopping options, and the ability to quickly and easily complete a purchase.
How you build out your commerce capabilities has become even more interactive. Many solutions allow you to easily highlight a retailer’s catalog of products with dynamic pricing information. This level of customization enables you to easily integrate shoppable advertising into your site’s identity.
What Are Shopping Ads?
In order to craft the best possible strategy, it’s important to take a look at the number of options available, to select the products that will work best for your brand.
Integrating shoppable ads allows you to properly monetize your site based on your ability to provide advertisers with conversions.
Shopping ads are a popular technology to share important product information with your consumers, including an image, price, brand name, and more. This technology has evolved from simply displaying a single offering. Today’s shopping ads can include:
- An internal hyperlink directly to the displayed product.
- A rotating display of products within a specialized category or from a particular brand.
- The ability to complete a transaction directly within the ad unit from the publisher’s site.
For publishers, shoppable ads can directly benefit your site. Integrating shoppable ads allows you to properly monetize your site based on your ability to provide advertisers with conversions. This can earn you a far more competitive cost-per-click (CPC) rate than other major solutions in the marketplace, such as Google AdSense.
Another popular solution is sponsored listings. These solutions pull directly from organic listings on a website and promote them in highly-visible (often top-of-page) positions. These are commonly found in the major players’ arsenals— such as Amazon or eBay — and independent publishers should also take advantage.
A combination of innovative new technologies will help publishers get ahead in the market, by offering a speedy and simplified shopping experience, driving results for advertisers and consumer loyalty.
How to Get Started
Publishers hold more power than they expect in the shifting e-commerce market, and influential retailers are listening. It’s time for publishers to take advantage of their specialized audiences and maximize their commerce capabilities.
Authenticity is key for those looking to get started or increase their offerings.
One way to begin is by adding content geared toward shopping and transactions. For example, a publisher with a gardening-focused site may want to share articles about the best types of flowers or vegetables for beginners. When thinking about how to monetize your content properly here are a few tips to consider:
- Keep an open mind.
- Think beyond the walled gardens to extend your advertising reach.
- Shoppable advertisements can prove you drive sales and often offer a more competitive CPC rate.
With the powerful combination of authenticity, new technological solutions, and the advantage of an open mind, independent publishers can curate a competitive suite of commerce capabilities, bringing increased value to their audiences and advertising partners.