Q4 is the most significant time of year for retailers, and how you approach your retail media strategy during the holiday season can make or break your performance.
With shoppers spending more on impulse buys, splurging on holiday gifts, and venturing beyond their usual purchasing habits, the stakes are high. Capitalizing on this spending surge requires a comprehensive and informed retail media strategy.
To help guide your approach, we’ve identified four key steps to optimize your retail media strategy and maximize results during this critical quarter based on the results of our 2024 Retail Media Pulse Report.
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Increase Investment in Key Retail Media Channels
As holiday shopping ramps up, the brands that increase their ad spend for the right channels tend to see the greatest gains. In fact, 93% of marketers who are increasing their ad spend during the holiday season expect significant sales growth.
So where should you spend those ad dollars?
While our research found that Amazon Ads and Google Ads are overwhelmingly perceived as the platforms with the best ROI, Meta ads were useful for mid and upper funnel conversion -- and especially successful for brand awareness plays for SMBs and MMBs.
With that in mind, here’s what we found when we asked brand owners and marketing leaders if they're increasing investment in Q4:
Consider how your plan stacks up against other brands of a similar size. For SMBs and MMBs, for example, strategically increasing investments in Paid Social and Paid Search will enable you to reach customers at every stage of the shopping journey – and stay competitive.
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Prioritize Channel Integration for Higher ROI
Every retail media channel provides different levels and variations of customer and performance data – making integration necessary to avoid data silos.
Achieving high levels of integration across your retail media channels is a proven way to drive higher ROI during the holiday season. 53% of all marketers who have integrated their channels report better performance. For enterprises, this integration is even more essential — 71% of enterprises satisfied with their retail media results report high levels of integration as a key factor in their success.
By leveraging performance and customer data from each platform to inform the strategy for others, you’re creating a cross-channel marketing motion that meets customers across the entire shopper journey.
Quartile’s experts, for example, leverage Amazon Marketing Cloud data to build better Paid Social audiences for our customers – creating more targeted, personalized campaigns.
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Leverage Paid Social for Brand Awareness
As SMBs increase their investments in Paid Social, they recognize the importance of brand awareness during Q4.
81% of SMBs are focused on building brand awareness as a key business objective, and social media is the perfect channel to achieve this. Whether it’s showcasing your products through engaging Meta ads or creating brand specific campaigns, social platforms are critical for expanding your reach and capitalizing on impulse purchases during the gift-giving season.
As mentioned earlier, ensure you’re crafting well defined and specific audiences to not waste ad spend on 11 million shoppers in a general demographic instead of 2 million shoppers that are more likely to engage with your brand.
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Utilize AI for Real-Time Campaign Optimization
The holiday shopping season is dynamic, and staying agile is crucial. Over 91% of marketers plan to leverage AI as part of their retail media strategy. Leading AI solutions, like Quartile, will optimize your bids, adjust your targeting and placements, and track performance in real-time -- allowing you to respond quickly to holiday shopping trends.
A great example of this in action is Quartile’s work with Dr. Squatch, a consumer-packaged goods (CPG) brand that sells natural personal care products. As the 2023 holiday season approached, Dr. Squatch partnered with Quartile to boost their brand visibility and connect with holiday gift-seekers.
Using our proprietary AI technology, Quartile helped Dr. Squatch set an all-time sales record while maintaining an efficient media spend. Their advanced algorithms, integrating Amazon Marketing Cloud and Amazon DSP, allowed for precise targeting and campaign optimization that led to a 58.7% increase in average order value and reduced the advertising cost of sales to 5% below their goal.
With Quartile’s AI-powered platform and in-house expertise, businesses can gain real-time insights and optimize their campaigns on the fly, improving ROI and ensuring their ads are seen by the right customers at the right time.
Setting the Stage for Holiday Sales Growth
The holiday season presents a significant opportunity for brands to boost sales, but only if they approach Q4 with a well-optimized, multi-channel retail media strategy. By increasing ad spend in key channels, integrating your strategies, leveraging social media for brand awareness, and using AI-powered tools for real-time optimization, your business will be well-positioned to thrive during the holiday surge.
Ready to dominate Q4? Download our 2024 Retail Media Pulse Report to learn more about maximizing your retail media performance during the most critical quarter of the year.
Key Takeaways
- Increasing ad spend during Q4 can significantly improve sales, with 93% of marketers expecting increased revenue.
- 53% of marketers report better performance with integrated retail media strategies.
- 81% of SMBs are increasing investments in Paid Social to drive brand awareness during Q4.
- AI-driven real-time optimization will be crucial to success, with 91% of marketers leveraging AI.
