The Cyber Five (the period between Thanksgiving Day to Cyber Monday) is the most anticipated time for retailers as an influx of gift-givers cash in on the best deals of the year. With a record 196.7 million shoppers, this Cyber Weekend was especially interesting to analyze programmatic buying behaviors as retailers navigated a looming recession and the industry shifted its focus outside of third-party cookies.
Previously, in 33Across’ September Programmatic Cookieless Trends Report, which was created to help publishers and programmatic buyers obtain new insights into emerging buy-side and sell-side trends for cookieless inventory on the 33Across exchange, we noted that retailers have been slower to adopt cookieless buying compared to other verticals; however, the holiday season proved to be the perfect time to supplement their programmatic buying strategy. With less competition than cookied inventory, cookieless buys secure high-quality impressions with higher win rates and at a lower cost, helping to alleviate current macroeconomic pressures.
Here are the top 5 things that we observed:
How Retailers Can Take Action
The substantial growth in cookieless spending during the Cyber Five indicates that retailers will continue to invest in non-cookied inventory. A stronger programmatic investment in cookieless inventory gives retailers the upper hand since they can reach consumers with less competition and at lower CPMs. As the industry moves away from the third-party cookie, retailers should test cookieless retargeting and audiences. With today’s economic pressures, retailers are more conscious of their bottom line, so investing in cookieless inventory will position them ahead of their competitors and ready them for when the third-party cookie finally disappears.
Contact us to learn more about cookieless buying.
By: Lisa Mollura | VP of Marketing at 33Across
