IAB Europe, the leading European-level industry association for the digital and marketing ecosystem has today (September 8th, 2022) released its ‘Guide to Ecommerce for Digital Advertising’ to provide an introduction to ecommerce and retail media advertising in Europe. 

The Guide, which is aimed at buyers that are starting to explore opportunities in this category, provides insights into how ecommerce works, the available ad formats, and considerations and best practices for the digital advertising ecosystem. 

As people increasingly use online channels to shop for goods and services, the relative importance of ecommerce and retail media in the broader marketing mix is only going to grow and IAB Europe estimates that it could reach €24.8bn (£21.5bn) by 2026. 

This introductory guide highlights some of the ad formats, buying methods, measurement options, and key considerations and best practices for buyers using ecommerce or retail media advertising. As the category develops, IAB Europe will continue to support buyers and the whole ecosystem in their retail media journeys. Working across the industry we will continue to provide advice, recommendations, and market intelligence as appropriate. 

IAB Europe’s chief economist, Daniel Knapp comments; “Since the pandemic, Europe has seen an explosion of retail media networks. Fuelled by changing consumer shopping habits, 1st party data, and closed-loop attribution, ad spend is following quickly. Retail media ad spend in Europe was €7.9bn (£6.85bn) in 2021. Although that includes Amazon with an estimated 75% share, endemic retailers and commerce platforms are growing market share. As the looming recession puts a dent in ad spend growth, we expect retail media to outperform the market.”

Commenting on the value of ecommerce and retail media advertising for brands, David Sequeira, managing director EMEA, Skai said; “We are at a time where advertising budgets require more accountability, consumers demand more personalised experiences and data deprecation makes open web advertising more challenging. Brands are rethinking their marketing strategies in favour of channels where consumers are open to advertising, not reliant on cookies and can easily be tied back to the bottom line. Retail media, with its rich first-party data, ticks all of the boxes.” 

Commenting on the importance of good creative for ecommerce advertising, Tom Ellis, director of ad creative, Yahoo! said; “Formats like shoppable ads have brought ecommerce opportunities right up to the top of the marketing funnel. They don't have to be complex and they are not complex to produce in order to deliver great results and conversions for clients. Having a clear call to action, price, and product image is key, combined with partners that can place the ads in the right environments and context to inspire action in consumers in the moment." 

It’s been a collaborative effort to produce this European-level industry guide for ecommerce advertising, with contributors including Criteo, PubMatic, Perpetua, Skai, Xandr, and Yahoo! 

The Guide to Ecommerce for Digital Advertising can be downloaded from IAB Europe’s website here.