Why marketers are falling short on retail media this festive season

APAC’s digital advertising landscape is poised for a shakeup as retailers navigate the high-stakes lead-up to the region’s defining double-digit sales season. While the frenzy promises revenue windfalls, the real opportunity lies in a space many are yet to fully exploit: Onsite retail media.

In a fragmented advertising ecosystem driven by first-party data, onsite platforms offer a direct line to profitability—yet many brands are still anchored in outdated strategies. With ad spend climbing and competition intensifying, the question isn’t whether to act, but how fast retailers can adapt to capture their share of this lucrative market.

While traditional digital advertising channels like search and social media continue to dominate, onsite retail media holds a unique edge—significantly higher profit margins. In today’s landscape, where first-party data is the new currency, onsite platforms provide the kind of closed-loop attribution that feels increasingly rare amid fragmented online advertising strategies.

Additionally, the contextual relevance and inherent brand safety of onsite ads offer a much-needed solution to the persistent issues of ad fraud and reputation risks that plague programmatic advertising across the open web. For brands, this means not only higher conversion rates but also deeper customer loyalty and greater lifetime value.

Yet, despite these advantages, many APAC retailers remain tied to legacy offsite strategies, leaving significant opportunities untapped. This gap highlights a compelling case for forward-thinking marketers to integrate onsite retail media into a holistic, data-driven approach. Below are three signs that your onsite retail media strategy might be falling short—and how addressing these areas could drive meaningful results.

You’re not using advanced machine learning to drive performance

If your onsite ads rely on static auction rules or basic targeting without leveraging real-time machine learning (ML), you’re leaving valuable opportunities on the table. Relevance is critical in any ad business, and real-time ML enables the kind of one-to-one personalisation necessary to connect with millions of online shoppers. Traditional cost-per-click (CPC) auctions, while still widely used, often fail to meet the demands for nuanced, outcome-based optimisation. The rise of advanced bidding models, such as Target ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) or Target CPO (Cost Per Order), reflects the growing need for more sophisticated performance metrics.

Bucketplace, a South Korean home and living ecommerce marketplace, exemplifies this shift. To drive product discoverability, the platform integrated machine learning into its ad operations, launching a robust advertising solution for merchants. Within months, it doubled its monthly active advertisers, demonstrating the power of machine learning in achieving ROAS targets and optimising relevance. Without advanced ML capabilities, retailers risk capping their revenue potential and missing out on meaningful performance gains.

You’re not using automation to scale demand

If your retail media ads are tailored primarily for large advertisers through managed services, you might be overlooking the significant revenue potential of smaller and mid-sized advertisers. The combined spending power of these advertisers can often surpass that of blue-chip clients, provided they have the tools to compete effectively.

Automation is key to unlocking this market. It enables retailers to efficiently onboard and manage a diverse advertiser base, especially during peak shopping periods. Higher auction density from increased participation drives up bid prices, generating greater revenue without additional ad placements. Yogiyo, another leading food delivery platform in South Korea, used automation to overhaul its advertising model. By introducing a self-serve campaign manager with real-time optimisation, it expanded its advertiser base by over 25,000 advertisers in just one month, delivering hyper-relevant ads and achieving ROAS-based performance metrics.

You’re not scaling your ad inventory creatively

The myth of ‘limited inventory’ often hinders retailers from maximising onsite ad revenue. Concerns about cannibalising organic product listings or disrupting the user experience often lead to artificial constraints on ad placements. However, these fears often stem from underperforming ad strategies rather than actual inventory scarcity.

By focusing on relevance and improving ad quality, retailers can scale inventory without compromising the user experience. Higher-performing ads not only drive better click-through rates but also reduce the number of impressions needed to meet advertiser goals, enabling retailers to expand inventory by 50-75%. This approach helps brands optimise budgets while enhancing consumer engagement, proving that ad volume, when executed correctly, doesn’t need to detract from organic shopping experiences.

Unlocking the full potential of your retail media ads

Onsite retail media represents one of the most lucrative opportunities for growth in the APAC region, offering high profit margins, enhanced performance, and the ability to leverage first-party data in an increasingly privacy-conscious environment. Retailers who embrace advanced machine learning, automation, and scalable ad strategies stand to unlock substantial revenue gains with minimal additional effort.

As competition intensifies and ad budgets grow, the ability to adapt onsite retail media strategies will separate leaders from laggards. By partnering with cutting-edge commerce media platforms, retailers can transform onsite retail media from an untapped opportunity into a central pillar of their growth strategy, ensuring long-term success in an ever-evolving advertising landscape.

Junho Lee is head of RMP Business for SEA at Moloco.