Retail data has evolved from custom audience building within a handful of networks to becoming a critical component that enhances first-party data sets, creating more dimensional customer understanding when integrated through clean room environments.
“When you’re looking at Acxiom data plus retail data, it just makes a more three dimensional picture more so than if it was just one data set,” Amie Owen, global chief commerce officer at IPG Mediabrands, told Beet.TV contributor David Kaplan during Advertising Week New York.
This shift reflects broader changes in how retailers approach data sharing, moving from closely guarded assets to collaborative resources that improve targeting efficiency and reach real customers rather than probabilistic audiences.
(Single) path to purchase
IPG Mediabrands uses data to understand audience behavior across the complete purchase journey rather than artificially separating brand awareness from conversion activities.
“It’s not necessarily looking at brand versus the conversion. It’s looking at one single path to purchase for that given audience,” Owen said. “The data is real time and it allows us to understand how that person’s going to intercept whatever we’re trying to do, whether it be a message or a conversion message.”
This unified approach sits on top of Acxiom’s identity infrastructure, providing the foundation for understanding who audiences are, how they engage with specific tactics, and how they actually purchase.
Misconceptions persist
Marketers continue to associate retail media exclusively with conversion moments rather than recognizing it as part of a continuous engagement stream. This narrow perception creates adoption hurdles alongside premium pricing concerns.
“When people look at retail media, they associate it with conversion and they associate it if you’re in the shopping mindset. And so therefore it’s a moment of time, it’s not a stream of moments of time,” Owen said.
Categories that don’t sell directly through websites face additional challenges in justifying retail media investments, even though retail environments offer valuable touchpoints for reaching target audiences regardless of immediate purchase capability.
Tech reshapes behavior
The convergence of data and technology has transformed shopping behaviors across all demographics, from baby boomers using AI for shopping to Generation Beta children making voice-activated Amazon purchases.
“If you asked me five years ago if my Boomer father would be using AI to go shopping, I would not bet on that at all. I would also, in the same vein, not bet that my 7-year-old son who is a Gen-Beta would be shopping on Amazon with his voice,” Owen said.
Social commerce has compressed purchase consideration to seconds, exemplified by the phenomenon where consumers move from awareness to conversion in approximately seven seconds on social platforms.
Audience building
The combination of Acxiom’s shopper intelligence with Integral Ad Science’s product visibility data creates powerful narratives about audience behavior and product performance that drive efficiency-focused client conversations.
“Acxiom is all about understanding who the shopper is, where they’re actually shopping, and what their media behaviors are,” Owen said. “Paired with our acquisition with Integral Ad Science, it’s actually how products are showing up in the actual landscape. We look at the two together and it’s actually driving a super powerful story.”
This integrated view addresses the constant client demand for efficiency by connecting audience identification with tactical execution and measurement.
Retailer collaboration
Retailer attitudes toward data sharing have shifted dramatically, with more openness to collaborative data usage that benefits all parties through improved targeting precision.
“From a retailer perspective, they’re opening up their arms a little bit saying, ‘Use my data. It’s actually more efficient. It will target the right person.’” Owen said. “That actually is allowing the marketplace to react differently to the data. When in the past, that wasn’t really a thing, they kind of just held it very close to their chest.”
This evolution from protective data ownership to collaborative data stewardship enables clean room integrations that enhance existing data assets rather than replacing them.
“It’s not that the data’s changing, it’s how we use the data that’s changing,” Owen said. “Now, it’s about how do you actually integrate your data in a clean room, or how do you actually use the data to actually drive a change in the marketplace?”