Retail Media and AI Agents Move at the Speed of Trust

Retail media moves at the speed of its people. Shopper habits, trust between retailers and brands, and comfort with handing work to AI all set the pace more than any piece of technology.

Travis Clinger (LiveRamp) joins Drew Cashmore (Vantage and Chair, MiR) on this episode of Media Mondays to unpack what that means for building a lasting retail media network.

INSIDE THE EPISODE:

SHOPPERS MOVED FASTER THAN REGULATIONS

Many in the industry expected regulators or Google to end the cookie by 2020 or 2021. Instead, shoppers moved to streaming TV and AI platforms so quickly that the cookie stopped mattering on its own. Reaching those shoppers now means matching the emails and phone numbers they share with each platform they use.

TRUST IS THE SLOWEST STEP

Retailers know what shoppers actually buy, online and in stores, and that proof is valuable enough that even airlines are now selling ads. Getting that data into a brand's hands takes far longer. A single data-sharing agreement can take six months, and suppliers repeat the process with every retailer they work with. Standard contracts and access rules would let the whole ecosystem move faster.

AI AGENTS NEED PERMISSION FIRST

Anyone can build an AI agent. Getting IT, security, and legal to approve one that touches company data takes much longer, and for good reason. LiveRamp is building every new feature for agents, but most work on its platform is still done by people, and tightly limited, trackable agents are likely to fill that role until companies are ready to hand over more.

Listen above to hear why the retailers that make their data easiest to trust and use are the ones built to last.