Cannes 2023 was a vibrant showcase of creativity and inspiration, evident in the multitude of events and discussions revolving around commerce, media, and experience. While the familiar giants of retail media, such as Walmart, Roundel, Amazon, and Instacart, demonstrated their influential presence, new players made a significant impact on the commerce landscape. Companies like Reddit, Microsoft, Pinterest, and TikTok stepped into the commerce arena, emphasizing that anything anywhere, everything everywhere can be a commerce experience.

Experience took center stage as a prominent buzzword. Traditionally, retailers have primarily focused on the buying aspect, diligently expanding their media networks and capitalizing on their websites' monetization. However, the future lies in emphasizing the experience aspect and the potential of the addressable store. As advertising solutions for these retailers ascend the sales funnel, they generate more traffic to their sites. Unfortunately, this often leads to a suboptimal experience for the consumer, relying heavily on search, while lacking in inspiration and discovery. It holds true that "the internet solved buying, but it broke shopping."

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Balancing the removal of friction with maintaining a positive shopping experience is crucial. It's important for shoppers to find what they need without compromising the overall quality of their shopping journey.

• According to Forrester research, a decline of 1 point in experience leads to a 2% loss in sales. This highlights the direct correlation between customer experience and sales performance .

• Retailers should aim to be more than just a platform for selling products; they should also focus on building brands. By reintroducing surprise and delight moments, retailers can encourage additional purchases and enhance the overall shopping experience.

• Retail media offers an opportunity for brands to establish enduring relationships with customers. This can be achieved by utilizing CRM solutions provided by the retailer partner or leveraging their own CRM data to gain valuable insights into their shoppers.

• The future of retail media will reduce its dependence on conventional search methods. Instead, it will embrace experiential elements like voice and image search and adopt a solutions-oriented approach that aligns with specific shopper needs.