What types of businesses can launch a commerce media network?

Retailers established commerce media as a major advertising category, but today, the opportunity to build a media business  extends to travel companies, financial institutions, food delivery platforms, automotive marketplaces, and other commerce businesses. These industries all have something advertisers increasingly value: direct relationships with customers and first-party data that reveals what those customers are interested in buying.

So which businesses are best positioned to launch commerce media networks, and what makes their advertising opportunities valuable? This blog identifies how your assets can create opportunities to connect advertising to business outcomes by reaching  consumers at relevant moments,  thus generating additional revenue.

What makes a business a good candidate for commerce media?

Great commerce media networks are made up of four key characteristics:

1. First-party customer data: Information about purchases, preferences, transactions, or other meaningful customer behaviors. 
2. Relevant customer touchpoints: Websites, apps, physical locations, or other environments where advertising can reach customers.
3. Commercial intent: Moments when customers are researching, comparing, purchasing, or engaging with products and services.
4. Measurable outcomes: The ability to connect advertising activity to meaningful results, including transactions, bookings, or other customer actions.

Not every company will have the same combination of these assets, and within each category, the opportunity will look different. 

Which industries can build commerce media networks?

Retail and grocery

Retailers have an established advantage in commerce media: they understand what shoppers search for, browse, and purchase. That information helps brands reach consumers close to a purchase decision.

Retail media started as an expansion of in-store Shopper Marketing campaigns. When online shopping surged, retail media networks emerged as well, offering sponsored products, display advertising, and video ads to help advertisers reach customers at the point of purchase. Today, retailers are building connected customer journeys across in-store, onsite, and now increasingly offsite campaigns that use data to reach shoppers beyond owned websites and apps. 

At this stage, retailers are now introducing new advertising inventory, demand, yield, and channel expansion, using measurement to demonstrate incremental value.

Travel and hospitality

Travel businesses have access to a particularly valuable type of customer intent: knowing when and where consumers are investing a significant amount on a vacation, work trip, or other major travel journey. 

They may have the opportunity to reach a customer across several touchpoints. For example, an airline may understand where a customer plans to travel, when the trip will happen, and what additional services could be relevant. Similarly, a hotel booking platform can connect advertisers with travelers actively researching destinations and accommodations.

Advertising opportunities can extend across the journey:

• Destination research and trip planning
• Flight and hotel searches
• Booking and confirmation experiences
• Pre-trip communications
• Airport, lounge, and other travel environments
• Loyalty and post-trip engagement

These touchpoints create opportunities for endemic advertisers, such as hotels promoting their properties, as well as near-endemic advertisers offering transportation, activities, or travel-related services. This allows travel networks to connect media to booking outcomes while supporting awareness, consideration, and customer loyalty for different brands.

Financial services

Depending on the organization, products, applicable permissions, and privacy requirements, a financial services company has a host of signals that identify relevant categories of spending and customer interests. This data  creates potential opportunities for advertisers seeking to reach audiences based on commerce behavior rather than broad demographic assumptions.

Unlike traditional retail media networks, financial services networks may begin with non-endemic advertising because their advertisers do not necessarily sell products directly through the financial institution. It might not be the right consumer experience to launch ads within a banking app, but allowing brands to target the consumer offsite is a major value add to those advertisers. 

For these networks, trust and governance are especially important. Data permissions, transparency, appropriate use of customer information, and control over advertising experiences need to be built into the offering from the beginning.

Restaurants and food delivery platforms

Food delivery platforms and restaurant businesses can offer insight into purchase frequency, ordering habits, preferences, and recurring consumption patterns. These signals can support advertising opportunities for restaurants, consumer brands, and other relevant advertisers.

For example, a delivery marketplace may offer sponsored listings that help restaurants reach customers actively deciding what to order. These companies have an array of small businesses that are actively trying to promote their shops, and that long-tail revenue builds up quickly.

Quick-service restaurants might use their first-party data to help advertisers reach relevant audiences through offsite channels. For instance, a loyalty audience at a fast food company might be valuable to another business looking to target the same demographic. And, the frequency of customer interactions can make these environments particularly valuable for advertisers looking to encourage repeat purchases and build loyalty.

Automotive marketplaces

Automotive purchases often involve long consideration periods, making their offering vastly different than a retail or delivery network. However, during that consideration period, there are significant opportunities as  consumers may research different vehicles, compare prices, evaluate financing, and revisit marketplaces multiple times before making a decision.

That journey creates valuable opportunities to influence customers before the final transaction. Automotive media networks can use search activity, vehicle interests, location, and other relevant signals to help advertisers connect with consumers during the research process.

Unlike a network where a purchase may happen within minutes, an automotive network may need to demonstrate advertising influence across a much longer customer journey.

Home services and online marketplaces

Home services platforms and other marketplaces can connect advertisers with customers who have specific, often location-dependent needs. A consumer researching a home renovation, for example, may be interested in several related products and services before making a final decision.

These networks can build offerings around customer intent, local relevance, and the ability to connect advertising to inquiries, bookings, or completed transactions. The opportunity is to identify moments where relevant advertising helps customers move toward a decision.

How do commerce media opportunities differ across industries?

While the underlying business model is similar, each industry brings different advantages.

These differences matter because a commerce media network should be designed around the business’s unique relationship with its customers. A model that works for a grocery retailer may not be the right starting point for an airline or financial institution.

How do you determine whether your business has a commerce media opportunity?

Start by evaluating the assets you already own.

• Assess your customer data. What do you know about customers’ interests, transactions, and behavior? Can those insights support meaningful audience targeting while respecting privacy and consent?
• Map your customer journey. Where do customers research, compare, and make decisions? Which moments could support relevant advertising?
• Evaluate advertiser demand. Which brands would value access to your audiences? Are they already commercial partners, adjacent businesses, or advertisers outside your core category?
• Identify measurable outcomes. Can you connect advertising exposure to transactions, bookings, inquiries, or other relevant results?
• Consider the operating model. Do you have the organizational ownership, technology, and processes needed to run an advertising business?

These questions establish whether a media network can deliver value for advertisers while supporting the broader business.

Building a commerce media business around your strengths

Strong commerce media networks are rooted in the unique value they offer to advertisers. A successful network must be built around their customer relationships, meaningful commerce signals, relevant advertising opportunities, and the ability to demonstrate results.

For a deeper look at how companies across industries can launch and scale media networks, explore Building Commerce Media Networks by Koddi, a Wiley custom publication.