The history of digital advertising can be divided into three stages. Search engine ads swept in a first wave. The second was driven by social networks. And now we are facing the irruption of the third advertising wave: retail media . The rise of ecommerce and growing investment in digital ads are combining to reshape the media map in Latin America, with brands and advertisers making an impact like never before.
This was the focus of the panel “The competition for the digital shelf and retail media ”, organized by Comunidad M, in Mexico. During the talk, Mercado Ads , Mercado Libre’s advertising business unit, together with leading brands and advertisers in ecommerce , agreed to highlight the importance of retail media to promote on and off actions and achieve a 360° strategy .
Participating in the panel:
-Pablo Sánchez Liste , chief digital marketing, Communication, Public Affairs & Sustainability Officer at L’Oréal Mexico.
-Gabriela Vargas , CEO of the international media network Starcom.
-Sergio López Zepeda , president of the Alliance for the Strategic Value of Brands (AVE).
-José Maceda , advertising country head at Mercado Libre.
The rise of a new medium
Retail media are made up of the set of strategies, resources and communication actions available within the platforms and apps of retailers, to increase sales and optimize the positioning of a brand . “This is a trend with unstoppable growth, an ideal field to develop 360 strategies that increase sales and accelerate ROI”, the experts agreed during the talk.
In this regard, José Maceda , advertising country head at Mercado Libre, explained that: “The marketplace offers the possibility of providing personalized experiences throughout the purchase journey, in addition to generating first-hand data that advertisers rely on.”
Each means of communication has its differential. But in the fragmented digital world, impacting audiences requires the combination of several to be successful. And Mercado Ads has three well-defined ones:
1) Relevance: millions of people browsing in the context of purchase.
2) Effectiveness: full funnel branding and performance solutions.
3) Objectivity: first-hand data as the basis for efficient and personalized campaigns.
Protagonists of change
“ Retail media is becoming an engine of innovation, a vital element of marketing, strategy and communication”, pointed out Sergio López Zepeda , from AVE. And he added: “Companies have a place to sell, connect and impact the consumer, collecting information about their behaviors.”
To achieve a prominent position in the digital gondola, it is key to know what information the brand has. “Hence the value of first-hand data to capitalize on branding , identifying formats to bring brands closer to the consumer at key moments,” explained Gabriela Vargas , from Starcom.
During the panel, Pablo Sánchez , from L’Oréal México, reviewed the strategies implemented by the brand, which allowed the online beauty division to go from representing 1.3% of total income for L’Oréal México in 2019, to 14% in 2022 . ” Retail media is a channel that is here to stay, an excellent complement to omnichannel campaigns with offline to build traffic and visibility for companies,” said Sánchez.
One of the milestones that L’Oréal México has had in Mercado Libre refers to the meteoric sales of the L’Oréal Paris Revitalift Serum, which became the best-selling product during the 2022 Hot Sale, compared to all categories of Free Market.
Finally, José Maceda commented that Mercado Ads added a new advertising solution: ADS in Mercado Pago, the #1 fintech in Latin America, to further expand the points of contact throughout the customer journey. “We do branding and performance at the same time, which gives us a high margin of creativity on the site to interact with users and see what works best,” said Maceda.
