How ecommerce businesses can own their advertising future, monetize traffic, and expand revenue with strategic retail media programs powered by GAM

The Retail Media Revolution Has Begun

Retail media—the practice of ecommerce companies monetizing their site traffic and first-party data via advertising—is reshaping digital marketing globally. According to eMarketer, retail media ad spending is projected to surpass $165.9 billion in 2025, representing over 21% of global digital ad spend[11].

This explosive growth presents ecommerce businesses a strategic opportunity to expand revenue by owning retail media capabilities rather than outsourcing or relying solely on product sales.

Optimics has extensive experience supporting leading Czech publishers with designing and implementing advertising monetization solutions. Building on thissolid base of expertise with ad serving and data activation technologies, our team is pioneering the application of Google Ad Manager (GAM) for retail media in ecommerce, enabling clients to launch controlled, scalable retail media initiatives.

Prominent local retail media adopters like Rohlík Ads and Alza Ads exemplify the trend of ecommerce platforms unlocking new revenue from owned media[12][13].

Why Retail Media Matters: Beyond Vendor Marketing

Ecommerce retailers often start their retail media journey with vendor marketing — promoting brands whose products they sell both on-site as well as off-site. Retail media also extends the opportunity by inviting non-endemic advertisers and connected services such as mobile carriers, streaming platforms, and lifestyle offers that align with shopper interests but don’t transact on the site directly. This unlocks additional revenue streams without compromising product sales.

In the Czech market, retail media CPMs for premium, highly targeted placements typically range from100 to 300 CZK, significantly higher than social media CPMs, which are usually below 100 CZK, and Google Display Network rates often under 30 CZK[14].

Google Ad Manager: The Ideal Platform for Retail Media

Google Ad Manager is a flexible, mature platform allowing ecommerce businesses to fully own their retail media stack with powerful features including:

Forecasting Module to predict inventory and revenue opportunities.

Custom Key Values enabling precise targeting by segments or product categories.

Placement Groupings to organize and sell inventory efficiently.

Support for third-party impression and click trackers for transparency and advertiser trust.

Smart Rules and Revenue-based Yield Priorities to dynamically optimize campaign delivery for revenue.

Creative Rotation allowing varied ad creatives per placement.

House Ads as fallback to fill unsold inventory with internal promotions.DSP Integration: access programmatic buyers not only via DV360, but also Adform and other major DSPs connected through Google Ad Exchange, enabling controlled programmatic sales while excluding open auctions and Adsense fallback[15][16][17].

GAM’s free tier supports high-volume ad serving without upfront software costs, streamlining retail media monetization.

Expanding Advertiser Horizons: Monetizing Connected Verticals

Retailers can broaden their advertiser portfolios by inviting brands from connected verticals:

- Electronics retailers engage mobile providers, streaming services, and gaming companies.

- Home goods sellers open slots to insurance firms, contractors, and home improvement brands.

- Health and wellness platforms welcome fitness apps, nutrition companies, and healthcare services.

These advertisers access trusted, premium shopping audiences without selling products through the retail/ecommerce platform itself.

How Optimics Enables Your Retail Media Success

Building on decades of supporting top Czech publishers in advertising monetization, Optimics leverages deep domain and technical expertise to help both retail and ecommerce companies:

- Strategically design retail media programs aligned with their business and vendor ecosystems.

- Implement custom Google Ad Manager configurations optimized for retail media needs.

- Deliver hands-on training to empower internal teams to operate independently.

- Provide ongoing support and development for advanced features, including native ads and data reporting integrations.

Our comprehensive service ensures ecommerce brands can rapidly launch retail media capabilities, build operational knowledge internally, and grow sustainably with expert backup.

Conclusion: Own Your Retail Media Future

Retail media is no longer just for global giants. Any larger ecommerce business can create a new revenue stream by owning its retail media ecosystem. Google Ad Manager provides a cost-effective, scalable, and transparent foundation for building these programs—allowing retailers to maximize revenue while maintaining control over data, pricing, and brand safety while integrating with various self-driven, but also broader one to many revenue opportunities.

Optimics combines strategic insight with technical mastery to help clients design, deploy, and operate their retail media channels, turning ecommerce traffic and first-party data into lasting competitive advantage, transparency and added value for both the publisher as well as advertisers.

Sources

[1] Building a Retail Media Business with Google https://admanager.google.com/ home/resources/building-retail-media-business-with-google-ad-manager/

[2] Retail media advertising for e-commerce https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/intl/en-apac/marketing-strategies/data-and-measurement/retail-media-

advertising-ecommerce/

[3] For e-commerce, the time for digital ads is now https://admanager.google.com/home/resources/for-e-commerce-the-time-for-digital-ads-is-now/

[4] Power your retail media business with Google https://blog.google/products/admanager/power-your-retail-media-business-google/

[5] Building a Retail Media Network with Google Marketing ... https://www.cardinalpath.com/blog/building-a-retail-media-network-with-google-marketing-platform

[6] How to Set up a Retail Media Network https://incubeta.com/insights/retailers-how-to-get-started-with-your-retail-media-network/

[7] Retail Media with Data Streaming: The Future of ... https://www.kai-waehner.de/blog/2025/03/21/retail-media-with-data-streaming-the-future-of-personalized-advertising-in-commerce/

[8] Enhance E-commerce with Google Ads & Digital Shelf | Topkee https://www.topkee.com.sg/dynamic/google-ads-digital-shelf-ecommerce

[9] CitrusAd Case Study | Google Cloud https://cloud.google.com/customers/citrusad

[10] Google and Criteo onsite retail media integration gives ... https://internetretailing.net/google-and-criteo-onsite-retail-media-integration-gives-retailers-access-to-demand-from-search-ads-360/

[11] Worldwide Retail Media Ad Spending 2025 https://www.emarketer.com/content/worldwide-retail-media-ad-spending-2025

[12] Retail media - Rohlik Group https://ads.rohlik.group/retail-media

[13] Alza otevírá svůj reklamní systém alzaAds pro další ... https://www.mediaguru.cz/clanky/2025/08/alza-otevira-svuj-reklamni-system-alzaads-pro-dalsi-dodavatele/

[14] 2025 CPM Prices in Digital Marketing https://www.match2one.com/cpm-inflation-in-digital-marketing/

[15] Take Control of All Your Ad Sales - Google Ad Manager https://admanager.google.com/home/capabilities/

[16] Turn on advanced features - Google Ad Manager Help https://support.google.com/admanager/answer/15080369?hl=en

[17] Ad Manager elements https://support.google.com/admanager/answer/6012282?hl=en