Google tests offsite retail media capabilities within Search Ads 360

Google recently announced the addition of offsite retail media capabilities to Search Ads 360 (SA360), billing it as a solution to help retailers and brands sell more products together.

The offsite retail media campaigns offering is currently a closed beta within SA360, with home improvement retailer Lowe’s announced as the first beta partner – set to soon launch its first offsite retail media offering on Google Search and Shopping inventory.

As Google’s deprecation of third-party cookies within Chrome continues, more retailers and brands are turning to retail media as a solution. With brands looking to leverage retail data to power their advertising campaigns, retailers like Co-op are responding by developing internal retail media networks.

Google’s expansion into this space will bring yet another retail media offering to market for brands to consider. Specifically referring to its own retail media solution with SA360, Google said in a blogpost that it “enables advertisers to improve performance by combining unique retailer audiences with Google AI and scale across channels”.

It added: “In SA360, we’ve created a privacy-centric way for participating retailers to enable brands to use their first-party data to fuel AI-powered Performance Max campaigns. In addition, over the coming months, we’ll test features that allow for self-service campaign management for brands and expand the beta to more retailers globally.”

“The thing to watch will be whether retailers reduce their presence as search advertisers and rely more heavily on the brands to advertise for them”

Google’s announcement is not the search giant’s first move into the retail media space, having announced a partnership with retailer Instacart in January of this year, but it signals a doubling-down of Google’s intentions to invest in the solution.

Ryan Schuster, MBA, Associate Media Director of Paid Search at Exverus Media, told PMW: "Google offering offsite retail media empowers brands to do their own advertising, but at their own investment.

“This saves retailers on ad costs and could potentially allow them to generate more revenue from the audience data they provide. Brands that sell through retail partners often don’t have their own websites optimised to drive purchases, but many retailers haven’t figured out how to develop retail media offerings yet. Now, Google could provide the easiest, most accessible path for retailers to develop strong offsite media offerings and enjoy robust measurement capabilities.

“As it rolls out, the thing to watch will be whether retailers reduce their presence as search advertisers and rely more heavily on the brands to advertise for them.”