January 31 Weekly Retail Roundup

This week in the world of eCommerce and retail media: New AI solutions from Amazon and OpenAI, Microsoft shares its commitment to Commerce media, Instacart tackles the Superbowl, and a new in-store audio platform gains momentum…and funding. 

Amazon Brand Awareness Tool Emerges from Beta 

Amazon’s latest DSP tool, Brand+, became available to all advertisers this Monday. The AI-driven optimization feature, according to Mediapost, is intended to simplify brand awareness campaigns by enabling video ads across Amazon’s properties like Prime Video and Twitch. The Brand+ beta program showed promising results, with advertisers reporting as much as a 10% lift in sales and a 70% increase in website traffic.  

OpenAI Debuts “Operator”, an AI Agent with eCommerce Applications 

Here’s another new AI tool worth looking at, this time from OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. Known as “Operator,” the AI agent offers a host of complex solutions, like making personalized recommendations and performing customer service. By integrating with online retailers, OpenAI hopes the tool can revolutionize and streamline the customer experience and the operations of the retailers themselves.  

Our Take: There has been a common, perhaps repetitive theme week over week, for most of 2024, and likely on through this year – While AI continues to shape every industry, eCommerce and Retail Media are very much on the cutting edge. If you’re in these industries, and if you’re reading this you surely are, it’s not a good time to have AI fatigue. The Artificial Revolution has just begun…  

Microsoft Says it has a New Plan to Tackle Retail Media 

Last year, retail media network PromoteIQ was shut down by its owner, Microsoft. A recent article by Retail Brew highlights how Microsoft’s new strategy is taking shape. The company is focusing on better ad tech integrations, partnerships with retailers through its partnership with Criteo, and, of course, advancing capabilities within artificial intelligence. By leveraging existing strengths in data and cloud services, Microsoft aims to provide brands with superior targeting and measurement tools, a strong moat for a legacy technology company.  

Paul Longo told Retail Brew at CES, “We are 100% in the retail media and e-commerce business;” a strong indicator of the company’s commitment to commerce media. Paul went on to say, “We are committed to commerce media,” confirming our suspicions. 

Instacart Unveils First Superbowl Commercial 

Instacart’s Super Bowl debut is being served up soon. The 30-second spot has been published ahead of time, not uncommon, featuring a joyful onslaught of familiar mascots across top CPG brands. This marks a major brand-building effort for the company cementing itself as a leader in grocery commerce. 

Our Take: Looking at some Instacart’s previous tv ads, there seems to be some deliberate experimentation over striking a particular tone. The tagline from the Superbowl ad “We’re here” was used previously in a vastly different style of ad, with a heartwarming message on connecting families. 

In-Store Audio Startup Qsic Continues Momentum 

AI-powered in-store audio platform Qsic has secured $40 million in funding to expand its ad tech capabilities. According to SmartCompany, this funding will help deploy additional speakers across North America, accelerate product development, and overall enable the startup’s growth.  

The platform provides tools for retailers and brands to deliver targeted, data-driven audio ads, an expansion of the direction the retail media industry has been taking for some time: More data, more ad types, and more digital presence.