Today’s retail media landscape is highly competitive. Standing out, especially as a small business, requires a comprehensive and well-informed strategy. That starts with leveraging the right channels – and the right number of channels.
According to our 2024 Retail Media Pulse Report, the most successful small and mid-market businesses (SMBs and MMBs) are adopting multi-channel strategies — leveraging platforms like social, search, and Amazon Ads together to reach customers at multiple touchpoints, create resilience through diversification, and drive stronger ROI.
On average, SMBs and MMBs are using 3-4 retail media channels as part of their approach.
Why? Relying on a single channel can expose businesses to unnecessary risk.
Diversifying your retail media strategy ensures that if one channel underperforms or faces challenges, others can pick up the slack. Everything from account access issues, platform performance, or even market dynamics can influence a channel’s viability – making diversification a critical competent for a resilient retail media strategy.
Additionally, this diversification allows businesses to reach customers at every stage of their journey, from discovery to purchase. While Social platforms typically tackle brand awareness and nurture objectives, they are farther removed from more conversion-centric channels like Amazon Ads or Walmart Connect.
By leveraging a mixture of multiple channels SMBs and MMBs are not only meeting customers where they are -- but also optimizing for ROI and return on ad spend (ROAS) by creating a full-funnel strategy.
It’s then unsurprising that SMBs rank Search, Social, and Amazon as their most important platforms in order of importance. Meanwhile, MMBs rank Amazon ahead of Social, but include the same top three.
Our research also confirmed that Amazon Ads and Google Ads are still the most effective channels for generating ROI. We’ve found that while Amazon leads in bottom-funnel conversions, platforms like Meta (Facebook and Instagram) play a key role in upper- and mid-funnel conversions.
By investing in these core channels, 65% of MMBs have seen measurable improvements in performance, with many maintaining or increasing their ad spend in these areas through Q4 and beyond.
Equally, 81% of SMBs are increasing investment in social media, specifically with the objective of improving brand awareness, and 79% are ramping up their investment in search.
As investment increases across these channels, integrating data from each one to inform your strategy in others grows integral for competitiveness. Our findings show that 43% of SMBs who achieved high levels of integration across channels report significantly better ROI and overall performance.
Another emerging trend highlighted in the 2024 Retail Media Pulse Report is the growing role of AI in retail media.
Respondents across all sectors cited increasing expectations for AI in refining targeting, optimizing bidding strategies, and enabling real-time campaign adjustments – but noted the gap in retail media platforms including these levels of innovation.
That’s exactly why over 5,300 brands, from SMBs all the way up to enterprise, leverage Quartile.
With Quartile, businesses can seamlessly manage and automate multiple retail media channels, ensuring each is optimized for maximum performance and adjust bids, placements, and more by the hour.
That’s exactly how The Warming Store, a temperature-controlled apparel store, was able to leverage a diverse cross-channel marketing strategy to increase Amazon order by 160% YoY while still increasing their Facebook revenue by 68% YoY. Learn more about their story here.
A multi-channel strategy is now table stakes, and SMBs and MMBs that invest in integrating their strategies across search, social, and Amazon are seeing the highest returns.
As businesses increase their investments heading into 2024, adopting a diversified and flexible approach to retail media will be critical to maintaining competitive advantages.
To get a full view of the trends and strategies that will shape retail media, download the 2024 Retail Media Pulse Report and ensure your business is ready to thrive in Q4 and beyond.