Firms are looking to re-engage buyers on apps: Criteo's Siddharth Dabhade

A brand today would like to capture audiences more at the last stage of the purchase funnel, Siddharth Dabhade tells Ritwik Sharma

What is the major retail trend that can help an internet advertising company like Criteo?

The retail journey is complex. Instead of spending time on media like TV, a lot of brands are seeing the value of capturing audiences when they are lower down the funnel and at the buying stage in a store or website. This trend is on the rise and Criteo has come up with a solution that will enable retailers and marketplaces to monetise their shopper audiences who are in the last stage of buying on their websites or apps. For a brand it also makes a lot of sense because the audience is in the market for their product, category or even brand and hence for them to capture this audience gives most RoI.

Earlier, brands used a bulk of their budget in brand building. But this trend could change things in a big way. A brand would like to capture audiences more at the last stage of the purchase funnel, rather than build itself from the grounds up. This is where we are partnering with retailers and brands and we are creating pooled data assets which involve retailers and brands sharing their shoppers’ email ids in an encrypted format.

Could you elaborate on the targeting brands need to do at the last stage of buying?

If I go to a marketplace such as ShopClues and I search for formal shoes, I am led to the category page of various brands. At that point we can enable a brand like Adidas to show a banner ad on that page saying there is a special offer for their shoes, or even a special offer for another brand. And a consumer will think, “I was considering one brand but there is also an offer from another, so let me explore that as well.” This happens because of the targeting.

What are the new targeting solutions you are offering?

We have launched two solutions, Criteo Audience Match and Criteo Kinetic Design with video. Criteo Audience Match uses customer relationship management and data to accurately target audience across web, mobile browser and apps. Suppose we are working with a retail client like Shoppers Stop, which has its customer relationship management data that says in the last 90 days these consumers haven’t come to the website or store. We can take that data and target the individuals specifically with an offer. This provides Shoppers Stop a specific targeted way to re-engage their customer base and get them to return and purchase.

With Kinetic Design with video, what Criteo does is retargeting. So if you are on Flipkart and then log in to NDTV, I will show an ad on NDTV for Flipkart. In that ad I will show a good offer on something which you were browsing for earlier. That incentivises the consumer to click on the ad and go back to Flipkart and purchase the product. These have been mostly banner ads till now. With the new solution we will be able to show a video. Kinetic Design already allows more than 17 trillion variations from one base design and display ad. Now, this has been expanded to incorporate video creating personalised video ads that will feature relevant products based on Criteo’s complete understanding of the shopper. Engagement on video is much more than on banner ads. The consumer is more engaged and interacts more, and it increases effectiveness for both the advertiser and consumer.

Have these solutions got traction in India?

We have done case studies with ShopClues and Nykaa. One is on app retargeting. We all know the app ecosystem is growing in India, and shoppers like to buy through an app because it is  more convenient compared to a mobile website. And they find apps to be more trustworthy for transaction because they don’t fail that much. So most companies are focused on growing their app base in India. But now companies are looking at also re-engaging consumers. Otherwise, there are very high chances of consumers eventually uninstalling the apps.

What leading companies have been doing?

What they have been doing for the last two years is distributing their app. Now, what they are doing for the next level of success is app retargeting and engagement. For example, in ShopClues they are more than triple their sales volume, and improved their return on ad spends ten times. So, by basically engaging on the app consumer is able to transact more and that helps in better value for ShopClues. And everybody is chasing profitability now, so that really helps because it's always more expensive to acquire a client but app retargeting is all about retention which costs much less, and that results in more sales and profits. That's where we are helping our clients, retention.