Macy's Amazon Ad Network Partnership | Fast Five Shorts
Sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Mirakl, Ocampo Capital, Infios, and Quorso. Macy's becomes the first major retailer to partner with Amazon's retail ad service, allowing advertisers to buy sponsored product ads through Amazon's platform. Chris and Anne analyze whether this short-term revenue grab compromises Macy's long-term independence.
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Transcript
Advertisers will soon be able to buy Macy's media network through Amazon.
Speaker A:According to Adweek, Macy's Media Network, the retailers advertising arm today announced a partnership with Amazon's retail ad service, the e commerce giant's ad tech product for other retailers.
Speaker A:The deal allows advertisers to buy sponsored product ads on Macy's e commerce website through Amazon ads platform and retail ad buying platform or firms, sorry, like pacview, Macy's is the first major retailer to sign on to Amazon's ad product since the product debuted in January.
Speaker A:Chris, I have a question for you.
Speaker A:Are you pro or con the idea of Amazon becoming Macy's ad Network frenemy?
Speaker B:Oh wow.
Speaker B:Generally speaking I, I don't like moves like this.
Speaker B:I mean I think it generally when you see this, it's a result of what I would call very short term thinking to get dollars quickly into your coffers.
Speaker B: ce websites back in the early: Speaker B:But for Macy's.
Speaker B:If I look at the Macy's side of the story, it tells me a couple things.
Speaker B:One, they want those dollars, they want those dollars from retail media and two, they don't see a good way to build the capabilities themselves or to partner with somebody else that can provide what Amazon does.
Speaker B:And then the third point I'd make around Macy's is the ships are, I mean they had a good, I guess they had a good earnings report from what I read really quickly this morning.
Speaker B:But you know, they're still in trouble, they're not out of the woods yet.
Speaker B:And so Amazon, you know, the ship is somewhat sinking and so Amazon ads is potentially that bilge pump that gets those dollars in, into, into Macy's.
Speaker B:So can I fault Macy's for it?
Speaker B:No, because the luxury of time is not on Macy's side.
Speaker B:So you know, I'm not surprised.
Speaker B:I wouldn't be surprised if we see other people start to go this route because you know, retailers that we say on the show all the time are creatures of habit.
Speaker B:One starts doing it, the others start to follow.
Speaker B:But it's not a move I would make.
Speaker B:No, not at all.
Speaker A:Yeah, I agree.
Speaker A:I mean, I don't know that Macy's has another option here.
Speaker A:And to your point, if you're looking at what Macy's needs to focus on to stay relevant right now, retail media is not, you know, an area of expertise that they have.
Speaker A:So this does, I think make sense to me.
Speaker A:Whether or not I would do it might be another question.
Speaker A:But I think that, you know, partnering with Amazon, while potentially dangerous down the line, may be the best or only way for them to truly capitalize on all of the money to be made from these ads.
Speaker A:I mean, if you look at Walmart or, sorry, at Macy's, that is a standalone retail media network right now, who's interested in buying that?
Speaker A:But if you can, if you can use Amazon ads as the engine that's starting to serve up content, it might be more relevant for the people visiting the Macy's.com page.
Speaker A:They'll be able to see, you know, how this, how these ads are performing for them relatively quickly to determine, you know, whether or not this is a path they want to keep going, going towards.
Speaker A:But I do feel like they do need Amazon right now to fuel growth for their retail media business and to get them the most money possible here.
Speaker A:But maybe they'll be able to come out of it.
Speaker A:Maybe this is just a short term thing and Macy's can focus and double down on the things that gave them that great earnings report and then they could pull away down the road.
Speaker B:Yeah, I mean, that's interesting because like, you know, I, you know, as you're sitting, as you're sitting there talking and as, as I'm thinking back to what I said too, I think, you know, it makes me like this move, you know, even more for Macy's potentially because you're right.
Speaker B:Retail media, A successful retail media strategy or getting more retail media dollars is not evidence of you having a good retail business.
Speaker B:Having a good retail business will fuel your retail media business.
Speaker B:And you have, you cannot put the cart before the horse.
Speaker B:And so if that's what the leadership is doing here, then, you know, kudos to Macy's, which I can't remember the last time I said that in any way, shape or form for Macy's and maybe with the possible exception being their marketplace.
Speaker B:But yeah, I think that's a good point.
