Criteo’s lengthy dominance in offering demand for retail media has let the corporate cost comparably excessive charges whereas lagging on expertise like advert serving, sources informed ADWEEK. An organization spokesperson disputed the claims about its expertise, and mentioned its charges mirror the worth it delivers to purchasers.
Criteo was an early winner when a brand new slate of outlets first began constructing promoting companies throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, mentioned James Avery, CEO and founding father of Kevel.
On the time, Criteo competed principally with CitrusAd—which has since been acquired by Publicis Groupe and now sits inside its Epsilon knowledge unit—and PromoteIQ, which was acquired Microsoft, however now doesn’t take new purchasers, in keeping with the tech large.
Now, Criteo is going through off in opposition to a brand new wave of corporations like Kevel, Koddi, Moloco, Pentaleap, Topsort, and Vantage, who pitch subtle tech to unravel the rising challenges retail media sellers face. Criteo’s opponents are additionally leveraging extra programmatic promoting, an space they declare Criteo has been sluggish to embrace. An organization spokesperson disputed that and mentioned its strategy to programmatic is “intentional and designed to fulfill the wants of particular retailers.”
Many of those rival corporations say they will present much-needed demand to retail media sellers. Moloco, for instance, claims its up to date infrastructure helps retailers compete for advert {dollars} in opposition to the likes of Google and Meta, mentioned Jon Flugstad, senior director of enterprise growth at Moloco. Pentaleap connects with demand-side platforms like Teads to supply that programmatic demand, mentioned CEO and founder Andreas Reiffen.
Criteo’s rivals are additionally inking offers with companies like Pacvue and Skai to make use of APIs so advertisers can simply purchase retail media throughout a number of websites—and keep away from shopping for by means of Criteo.
Many of those upstarts additionally promise to assist retailers adapt to the altering manner folks discover and purchase merchandise, as giant language fashions and AI-powered shopper brokers impression commerce.
“We’re in a substitute cycle,” mentioned Regina Ye, co-founder and CEO of Topsort. “New options are centered on product and engineering, and the way agentic tech and AI from Silicon Valley will impression retail media.”
The incumbent is holding robust—for now
Criteo’s enterprise isn’t exhibiting indicators of bowing to the competitors but.
The corporate made $60 million on its retail media enterprise within the second quarter, up 11% yr over yr. It has an prolonged partnership with Microsoft, which is recommending that retailers that used PromoteIQ transfer to Criteo.
And it’s bolstering its tech to fill out its capabilities. Within the final six months, it added video advertisements, and enabled programmatic shopping for of onsite show advertisements. It additionally inked a partnership with Mirakl to convey extra small-and mid-size third-party advertisers into the retail media networks that it powers.
CEO Michael Komasinski mentioned Criteo’s opponents aren’t impacting its product roadmap: “I don’t suppose I’ve seen something that radically adjustments what we’re doing,” he informed ADWEEK. “However we take all competitors critically, even the small ones.”
