Growing Ecommerce – The Retail Growth Podcast: Recent Episodes
Smarter Ecommerce
Feed your growth mindset. Ecommerce is growing, and so are the challenges and opportunities for online retailers. In the Growing Ecommerce podcast, Mike Ryan and other smec experts are joined by industry leaders in ecommerce, digital marketing, and data science. By sharing business trends, practical solutions, and best practices, this podcast helps online retailers solve the challenges of tomorrow.
Meta, Google, and Amazon just posted Q2 2026 earnings — and the numbers reveal exactly where ad costs are headed next for advertisers. Plus: Shein's IPO filing shows what happens when ad dependency meets a broken profit model.
Chris and Mike break down all four Q2 earnings calls that matter for anyone running paid search or social budgets right now. Meta's ad revenue jumped roughly 27% year-over-year, but almost none of that growth is coming from new users — it's coming from higher ad load and rising frequency on existing accounts, which is why per-unit ad costs are climbing even as impressions go up. CapEx grew 55% year-over-year and net income actually dropped 14%, which is part of why the stock got punished despite the growth headline.
Google/Alphabet told a different story: search ad revenue is up 17% to over $60 billion, even as growth decelerated for the first time in years — still one of the strongest showings of any company this size. Cloud revenue is up 80%, and Google tied its ad growth directly to AI Max, which the company says is monetizing "billions" of net-new search terms that weren't served by ad inventory before. Chris and Mike table the "how does AI Max actually work" deep-dive for next week's episode — subscribe so you don't miss it.
Amazon's ad business grew 26% to roughly $19.8 billion, led by sponsored products, with no signs of slowing. And Shein's newly filed IPO prospectus reveals a business that's almost entirely dependent on paid advertising — 95% of its 2025 marketing budget (around $6 billion) went to ads, growth has stalled since the U.S. de minimis exemption ended, and the company isn't hitting the "Rule of 40/50" profitability-plus-growth benchmark institutional investors look for.
This is a market-earnings recap for PPC managers, in-house ecommerce marketers, and agencies who need to know what's actually driving ad costs and platform strategy this quarter — not just headline numbers.
Growing Ecommerce is brought to you by Smarter Ecommerce (smec).
Learn more: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
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PPC #GoogleAds #Ecommerce #MetaAds #DigitalMarketing
About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.
The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.
As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
Everyone selling in Europe has heard the pitch: use a third-party CSS and get a "20% discount" on your Google Shopping bids. Mike Ryan and Chris finally settle what that number actually means — and it’s not a discount at all. They break down the real math behind Google Shopping Europe’s mandatory margin, whether a multi-CSS strategy still makes sense in 2026 (spoiler: it doesn’t), and why the fear of "bidding against yourself" across multiple CSS partners is a myth Google has gone out of its way to debunk.
Then: a lesson for every advertiser, EU or not. If bid is the only real differentiator between a PMax shopping ad and a Standard Shopping ad serving the identical product, what happens when you run both at once? Mike shares fresh CPC data across shopping-only, hybrid, and PMax-only accounts suggesting the answer is: your account gets hotter. Whether or not you technically "bid against yourself," running overlapping campaign types may be quietly inflating your CPCs — and Google’s new Channel Diagnostics report might be a tacit admission of exactly that.
In this episode:
• Myth #1: the "20% discount" claim — it’s purchasing power, not a discount
• The real math: how Google Shopping Europe’s mandatory margin actually hits your bid
• Do you still need a third-party CSS in 2026? (Yes — here’s why)
• Myth #2: does a multi-CSS strategy still make sense, or is it a "last-mover penalty"?
• Myth #3: are you bidding against yourself with multiple CSS partners?
• The bigger lesson: what happens when bid is the only ad rank differentiator?
• Fresh CPC data: shopping-only vs. hybrid vs. PMax-only accounts
• Google’s new Channel Diagnostics report for PMax — a tacit admission?
• The verdict: hybrid PMax + Shopping setups can work, but only with a real strategy
Growing Ecommerce is brought to you by smec (Smarter Ecommerce). Learn more: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
👉 Running PMax and Shopping side by side? Tell us what you’re seeing in your CPCs — drop a comment.
GoogleAds #CSS #GoogleShopping #PerformanceMax #PPC #Ecommerce #GrowingEcommerce #SmarterEcommerce
About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.
The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.
As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
A small regional court in Germany just handed down a ruling with global consequences: Google is liable for what its AI Overviews say. The "AI can make mistakes" disclaimer? Insufficient. Text generated by Gemini counts as Google’s own words — and Mike Ryan and Chris break down why this precedent could quickly spread from publishing to shopping, consumer protection, and the product recommendations AI assistants are already making every day.
Then: a victory lap. Five weeks ago we called it — the EU’s July 1st de minimis change would break the business model of Temu, Shein & AliExpress in Europe. Now the data is in (and quoted by Reuters): Temu fell from 70%+ of advertisers facing daily competition down to just 23%. Shein dropped to 5%. We cover what the €3-per-item fee actually does, why one major German fashion retailer is overspending by 70% to grab the open market, and why UK retailers should brace for what comes next.
In this episode:
• The German libel ruling: why Google’s AI disclaimer didn’t protect it
• "Those are your own words" — hallucinations as legal exposure
• Why the precedent could spread to shopping, consumer protection & false advertising
• The feed as deterministic anchor: why Google grounds its AI in merchant data
• The €3 de minimis fee — and why it’s worse than a 10% tariff
• smec’s data in Reuters: Temu 70% → 23%, Shein down to 5% of advertisers
• The playbook: profitable CPCs are on tap — but maybe not for long
• Shein’s IPO trouble, the shift to Europe & the warning for the UK, Canada & Australia
About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.
The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.
As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
We turned Google Ads into a World Cup bracket. Three head-to-head rounds, two hosts, no referee — just the campaign types and bid strategies advertisers argue about most.
In this episode of Growing Ecommerce, Mike Ryan and Chris go feature vs. feature:
🥊 Round 1: AI Max for Search vs. Dynamic Search Ads — is DSA's sunset delay (now pushed to early 2027) proof it still has a job to do, or is final URL expansion the reason AI Max wins the AI-search era?
🥊 Round 2: Performance Max vs. Standard Shopping — Standard Shopping is getting text customization, new AI-native ad formats, and its own DSA-style final URL expansion. Does that close the gap with PMax, or does PMax's built-in dynamic remarketing still make it the better fit for top sellers?
🥊 Round 3: Target ROAS vs. Maximize Conversion Value — is "maximize conversion value" just Google asking to be trusted with your budget, or is a demand-led bid strategy the more productive way to think about ROAS once you zoom out past the daily noise?
No hedging, no both-sides-it — Mike and Chris each pick a side and defend it.
About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.
The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.
As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
Starting August 17th, Google is quietly rewriting how Smart Bidding treats campaigns that are limited by budget — and if your account is currently over-delivering on Roas, this affects you directly.
In this episode, Mike Ryan and Chris break down Google's upcoming change to budget-limited campaigns, why "over-delivering" Roas is being treated as money left on the table, and the carrot-and-stick logic behind Google's new Bid Target Adjustment tool.
Whether you're comfortable with your current Roas buffer or actively trying to scale, this episode explains exactly what will shift under the hood — and what to do before the change hits.
What you'll learn:
- What changes on August 17th for budget-limited campaigns
- Why campaigns over-delivering Roas are Google's real target
- The two mechanical levers Google can pull to force Roas down (worse clicks vs. higher CPCs)
- Why smart bidding is structurally conservative — and why ~25% of campaigns always over-deliver
- The new Bid Target Adjustment tool and what it's really nudging you toward
- How this connects to Google's broader push (Demand Gen budget pacing, flight-based budgeting, Smart Bidding Exploration)
- The workaround: smarter product segmentation and campaign structure
About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.
The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.
As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
AI is coming for your checkout — and the infrastructure behind it is called Universal Commerce Protocol.
In this episode, Mike Ryan breaks down exactly what UCP is, why Google and Shopify built it together, who's already on board, and what ecommerce brands actually need to do to prepare.
Whether you're being pressured by an AI mandate at work, confused by wildly conflicting advice online, or just trying to understand what "agentic commerce" actually means for your business — this episode cuts through the noise.
What you'll learn:
- What UCP is (and what it's not — it's NOT an AI browsing your website)
- Why OpenAI's competing standard (ACP) already lost
- Who has endorsed UCP: Google, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Shopify, Walmart, Zalando and more
- The core implementation steps — without boiling the ocean
- New conversational feed attributes available globally right now
- UCP analytics coming to Google Merchant Center
Mike's key takeaway: Don't panic. Start with Google. Improve your feed. The rest will follow.
About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.
The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.
As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
Google just announced the biggest change to search in its history — and not everyone is happy. At Google I/O, the search bar became a search box, signaling a full shift toward conversational, Gemini-powered search. The market is already reacting: DuckDuckGo rocketed from around position 400 to the top 100 in the app stores almost overnight, right around the May 20–21 launch. Mike Ryan and Chris unpack what a privacy-and-no-AI search wrapper suddenly surging tells us about consumer appetite — and why the relentless pace of change is exhausting retailers and experts alike.
Then: fresh eMarketer data puts the AI advertising hype into much-needed context. AI ad spend in the US sits around $32B in 2026 (roughly a third of Google’s search spend), but ~80% of it is just AI-search-adjacent — ads above and below AI Overviews. The chatbot-driven slice everyone is panicking about? Tiny. We dig into why OpenAI’s $100B ad ambition looks unrealistic, what the 2030 projections actually say, and why the real takeaway for CMOs and CDOs is: prepare, but don’t abandon your bread and butter.
The throughline: everything is changing, and everything is staying the same. With limited budget and talent, the retailers who win are the ones who resist FOMO, pick their battles, and keep investing in the core campaigns that still drive the business.
In this episode:
- Why Google’s “bar to box” change is its biggest search shift ever — and what it implies about how Google wants you to search
- DuckDuckGo’s surge from ~position 400 to top 100: a clear sign some consumers find the new box too much
- Why the pace of change may now be too fast even for Google itself
- AI Max for Shopping vs. PMax — the strategic misalignment Google may not even see
- Why standard shopping is here to stay (and the comeback we called early)
- The new eMarketer data: ~$32B AI ad spend in 2026, ~80% of it AI-search-adjacent
- Why OpenAI’s $100B ad goal and the 2030 chatbot-ad market projections don’t line up
- The real CMO/CDO playbook: prepare efficiently, beat the FOMO, protect your bread and butter
About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.
The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.
As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
Google's new AI-powered Shopping ads can now decide which of your products wins the click — and it's optimizing for the user, not for your margin, your brand, or your strategy. This Gemini-built format writes its own product descriptions and may re-rank which product gets shown, beyond your bid. Mike Ryan and Chris dig into what that means for retailers who suddenly have less control over what gets pushed. Plus: ChatGPT is finally bringing Product Listing Ads (PLAs) to its results — a solid first step, or a Bing-style copycat play?
The real story: "more relevant to the user" is not the same as "best for the retailer." As automated channels get more aggressive at matching products to searches, advertisers risk quietly losing control of which products actually get sold.
In this episode:
→ What Google's AI-powered Shopping ads actually are — a new format inside AI Max for Shopping, not an umbrella term
→ "Intelligent product identification": how Gemini may re-rank which product is shown, beyond the bid
→ The retailer's blind spot — Google optimizes for click-through rate; you optimize for the business
→ The coffee-machine problem: when the highest-converting product isn't the one you need to sell
→ Why the best Google Ads outcome isn't always the best business outcome
→ ChatGPT's PLAs: a solid, feed-based first step — or a Bing-style copycat play?
→ What OpenAI's $100B ad ambition means for what comes next
The throughline: AI executes, but only you know what your business needs to achieve. The retailers who win are the ones who keep translating business goals — margin, brand priority, profitability — into the channel, instead of letting the platform decide.
📌 Growing Ecommerce is brought to you by smec (Smarter Ecommerce). We help ecommerce brands move from platform-driven to business-driven PPC — combining AI-powered software with human expertise to optimize Google Shopping and Performance Max toward real business goals.
🔗 Learn more: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com 🎧
Subscribe so you don't miss an episode — and if this was useful, a comment or a share genuinely helps.
GrowingEcommerce #ChatGPTShoppingAds #GoogleAds #ShoppingAds #PerformanceMax #PMax #PPC #Ecommerce #GoogleShopping #PaidSearch #RetailMedia #smec
About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.
The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.
As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
The EU is finally using its teeth on Chinese e-commerce — and the auction landscape is already shifting. Mike and Chris break down what falling CPCs in Europe mean for your accounts, why the July 1st customs change could matter more than any fine, and the playbook for grabbing market share before the window closes.
Then: a major Google Marketing Live feature almost nobody is talking about. Google's new AI Performance Insights and the "Share of Voice" metric in Merchant Center finally show your product visibility inside AI Overviews, AI Mode, and Gemini — across both organic and paid. We cover what it does, where it lives, and the one big gap Google still leaves wide open.
In this episode:
• Why the EU crackdown on Temu, Shein & AliExpress is a sign of what's coming
• Average CPCs dropped ~2.3% in May 2026 — and up to 5% in some categories
• The July 1st customs exemption change and what it does to Chinese sellers' margins
• The playbook: tROAS as a signal, AI Max search, demand-led growth & smart bidding exploration
• JoyBuy — the unregulated Chinese player to watch
• Google's new AI Performance Insights & Share of Voice metric in Merchant Center • The black box that still remains: campaign-level data
Growing Ecommerce is brought to you by smec (Smarter Ecommerce). Learn more at smarterecommerce.com.
👉 Leave a review and drop a comment — we are curious what you guys think about this development.
ecommerce #GoogleAds #PerformanceMax #PPC #Temu #Shein #GoogleMarketingLive #AIsearch #MerchantCenter
About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.
The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.
As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
Meta has overtaken Google in ad budgets - and for ecommerce advertisers, that changes everything.
It means Google is on the offensive. It means the pressure to split your budget between platforms is about to intensify. And it means that if you're not set up correctly on Google's AI surfaces right now, you're already losing ground to competitors who are.
In this episode of Growing Ecommerce, Mike Ryan (smec's Head of Ecommerce Insights) and Chris share firsthand takeaways from GML 2026 — both the San Francisco and Dublin events — with unfiltered takes on what actually matters for your campaigns.
What we cover:
→ Google vs. Meta: The "War of the Titans" and why Google's messaging to advertisers is getting aggressive
→ AI Max for Shopping: Why standard shopping campaigns may have limited eligibility in AI surfaces
→ New AI-native ad formats: Conversational discovery ads, feed-based text ads, and why the line between shopping and search is collapsing
→ Ask Advisor: A great idea — but oversold to an irresponsible degree (Mike's take)
→ Universal Cart: Multi-retailer, cross-platform checkout — and Google's Amazon moment
→ What the shift to agentic commerce means for how you monetize clicks
Cut through the hype. Know what to act on.
🔔 Subscribe for bi-weekly ecommerce PPC insights from smec — managing €680M+ in annual ad spend for 350+ global retail clients - for more content like this
Learn more: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.
The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.
As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
Google just dropped a PMax special — and there's a lot to unpack.
In this episode of Growing Ecommerce, Mike Ryan and Chris break down three major updates reshaping how ecommerce advertisers run Performance Max and Shopping campaigns in 2025:
-
Network exclusions for PMax: You can now opt out of Search Partner Network AND Google Display Network directly inside PMax. Years in the making, and a massive lever for both performance and brand safety. We walk through why it matters, when to use it, and how to check your own data first.
-
Shopping Performance View: A new level of product-level reporting coming to PMax and Demand Gen campaigns via the Google Ads API. See performance by brand, category, product type, and item ID — the same parity you get in standard Shopping. Huge for anyone who's tried and failed to understand feed performance inside Max.
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AI Max for Shopping: The biggest one. Google is rolling out an optional AI layer for standard Shopping campaigns with three features:
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Text customization: Google rewrites your product titles dynamically per query
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Final URL expansion (FUE): Google picks landing pages from your site — including category pages
-
Optimal format selection: Text ads can now appear inside your Shopping campaigns
We discuss what this means for advertisers who run standard Shopping for control, whether there's real redundancy with Search and PMax, the campaign overlap and CPC escalation risk, and why Mike thinks this is actually bigger than AI Max for Search.
Standard Shopping: confirmed not dead. Google is investing in it.
Growing Ecommerce is brought to you by smarter ecommerce (smec) — helping online retailers optimize paid search through AI-powered software and human PPC expertise.
PerformanceMax #PMax #GoogleShopping #AIMaxForShopping #GoogleAds #EcommerceMarketing #PPC #SearchPartnerNetwork #GoogleAdsUpdates #PaidSearch
About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.
The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.
As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
In this episode of Growing Ecommerce, Mike Ryan and Chris Scharmueller dive into the much-anticipated updates to the OpenAI ads platform and break down Google's staggering Q1 earnings report.
While OpenAI has finally transitioned their ad platform from a primitive Excel spreadsheet to a proper User Interface, their highly publicized shift to a CPC model is raising major red flags. We break down the math behind their highly constrained $3 to $5 max CPC range, revealing how it mathematically equates to the exact same astronomical $60 effective CPM they originally launched with. We discuss why advertisers should demand more transparency and control before shifting their performance budgets to ChatGPT.
We also unpack Google’s unstoppable Q1 momentum. With a massive $110 billion in revenue and an 80% spike in earnings per share, Google is silencing the "death of Search" narrative. We explore their impressive 19% core Search growth, the staggering 63% surge in Google Cloud that is heavily outpacing AWS and Azure, and why Google's massive $180 billion CapEx guidance for 2026 solidifies their dominance in the AI arms race.
Key Takeaways:
• The OpenAI Ad Trap: Don't be fooled by OpenAI's new CPC bidding model. By forcing advertisers into a strict $3 to $5 CPC range, the platform is essentially maintaining its premium $60 effective CPM under a disguise. Advertisers should hold off on shifting performance budgets until real incrementality and transparency are proven.
• Search is Still Thriving: Despite the ongoing narrative that AI will kill traditional search engines, Google's core Search product grew by 19% year-over-year. The search giant's core advertising flywheel remains the most reliable engine for ecommerce growth.
• Google Cloud is Winning the AI War: Google Cloud (GCS) achieved a staggering 63% year-over-year growth, heavily outpacing Amazon AWS (28%) and Microsoft Azure (39%). Powered by deep Gemini integration and proprietary TPUs, Google’s vertical integration puts them in a unique position to dominate the next decade.
Resources & Links:
• Access all our webinars, reports, and playbooks in our Knowledge Hub: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/knowledge-hub/
• How is your industry stacking up in the market? Find out with smec’s Google Ads Benchmarks: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/smec-market-observer/
About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.
The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.
As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
In this episode of Growing E-commerce, Mike Ryan and Chris Scharmueller dive into the end of an era: Dynamic Search Ads (DSA) are officially dying.
While Google's new AI Max for Search currently sits at a tiny 1.5-2% adoption rate, the mandatory migration of all DSA campaigns by September will trigger an instant hockey-stick growth curve. We explain exactly what you need to expect from this sunset, how the auto-migration handles broad match and URL expansion by default, and why advertisers need to start testing AI Max immediately before the Q4 holiday crunch.
We also unpack the diverging automation strategies of the tech giants and the catastrophic drop in Meta Advantage+ adoption. After peaking at 40%, its cost share has nosedived to a concerning 20%. We discuss why this downward trend calls Mark Zuckerberg's "fully automated" vision into question. Plus, we explore the latest Meta Pixel updates and why Meta wants a feed-less future while Google doubles down on structured data.
Key Takeaways:
- The AI Max Hockey Stick: Do not be fooled by the current low adoption rate of AI Max for Search. Once the legacy DSA campaigns (which currently hold about 15% cost share) are auto-migrated in September, AI Max will become a dominant and highly relevant campaign type overnight.
- Meta's Automation Problem: Advantage+ adoption is on a multi-quarter decline, dropping to just 20% cost share. Without substantial product improvements, Meta will struggle to achieve the fully automated, hands-off advertising ecosystem it envisioned.
- The Feed vs. Feed-less Divide: Meta is attempting to offload feed management by using AI to scrape landing page data directly via the Meta Pixel. Conversely, Google relies heavily on detailed data feeds to ground its AI and maintain quality control.
Resources & Links:
- Access all our webinars, reports, and playbooks in our Knowledge Hub: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/knowledge-hub/
- How is your industry stacking up in the market? Find out with smec’s Google Ads Benchmarks:
https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/smec-market-observer/
About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.
The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.
As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
In this episode of Growing Ecommerce, Mike Ryan and Chris Scharmueller break down the latest shifts in the battle for AI dominance and the future of online shopping.
We analyze the quiet death of OpenAI's Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP). With major tech giants—including ACP co-founder Stripe, as well as Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon—joining Google's Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) Tech Council, we explore what this consensus means for the future of e-commerce standards and why these companies chose to back Google's infrastructure over ChatGPT.
We also look at where ChatGPT's outbound traffic is actually going. With 20% of its e-commerce referrals landing on Amazon—and roughly 30% of its overall referrals directing users right back to Google or YouTube—we question the long-term impact on user experience and whether OpenAI is just feeding the monopolies it is trying to disrupt.
Plus, we cover Google's rollout of "AI mode" to Chrome users in the US, featuring a new side-by-side browsing experience, and discuss the looming threat of mass arbitration facing Google in the wake of its 2024 antitrust loss.
Resources & Links:
- Access all our webinars, reports, and playbooks in our Knowledge Hub: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/knowledge-hub/
- How is your industry stacking up in the market? Find out with smec’s Google Ads Benchmarks:
https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/smec-market-observer/
About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.
The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.
As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
Google just quietly won the agentic commerce war — and most ecommerce retailers haven't even noticed. In this episode of Growing Ecommerce, Mike Ryan and Chris break down the three UCP (Universal Commerce Protocol) updates Google just shipped, why OpenAI's ACP is already falling behind, and the structural advantages that make Google's lead almost impossible to catch.
If you run Performance Max campaigns, sell on Google Shopping, or want to understand where ecommerce is headed in the AI era — this is the episode that connects the dots.
Inside this episode:
- The 3 new UCP capabilities that just went live: cart building, catalog capability, and identity linking — and why "boring" updates matter more than hype
- Why OpenAI's ACP dropped to single-item checkout while Google moved ahead
- The Walmart Sparky chatbot inside ChatGPT — the workaround that proves OpenAI's pipeline is broken
- How Google Pay and Google Wallet quietly lock retailers into a walled garden
- Google's flywheel: how the shopping graph + audience graph + structured knowledge graph data create a moat LLMs can't replicate
- Why this time is different from Buy on Google's 2018 failure — and what changed in Google's leverage over retailers
- Why pipeline-based agents (UCP) will win over browser-based agents — and how this is really the logical endpoint of headless commerce
- The only thing that could realistically stop Google: regulators
Topics covered: UCP, Universal Commerce Protocol, agentic commerce, Performance Max, PMax, Google Shopping, AI mode, ChatGPT shopping, OpenAI ACP, agentic checkout, Google Pay, Google Wallet, headless commerce, Merchant Center, knowledge graph, shopping graph, Walmart Sparky, AI overviews, conversational attributes.
About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.
The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.
As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
In this episode of Growing E-commerce, Mike Ryan and Chris Scharmueller unpack two massive stories highlighting the current realities—and potential delusions—of the tech and retail sectors.
First, we discuss the quiet and staggering fall of Allbirds. Once a Silicon Valley staple and D2C darling valued at a massive $4 billion, the sustainable shoe company has reportedly sold for a fraction of that cost. We explore what their trajectory tells us about the overestimation of the D2C model and why the fundamentals of traditional retail still matter.
Then, we dive back into the OpenAI ad platform. OpenAI recently released a bullish projection: they expect their ad business to cross $100 billion in revenue by 2030. We take a critical look at the current state of their ad interface—which currently resembles Google Ads from a decade ago—and discuss why hitting that revenue target will require an unprecedented, disruptive evolution of their product.
Key Takeaways:
- The D2C Reality Check: Allbirds' massive devaluation highlights a broader trend: many D2C brands were valued as high-growth tech companies rather than traditional retailers. As market conditions shift, the core competencies of traditional retail—and the value of retail middlemen—are becoming apparent again.
- OpenAI's Steep Climb: While OpenAI projects a massive $100 billion ad business by 2030, their current platform is rudimentary. It operates on a flight-based approach with a fixed $60 CPM and relies on basic keyword matching, limiting its appeal primarily to large brand advertisers rather than the performance-focused mass market needed for that scale of growth.
- The Comparability Problem: OpenAI's ad platform will inevitably be compared to highly sophisticated, always-on ecosystems like Google Ads and Meta. To capture significant market share and reach their revenue goals, OpenAI must evolve beyond a basic UI and deliver a product that proves strong incrementality and Return on Ad Spend (ROAS).
Resources & Links:
- Access all our webinars, reports, and playbooks in our Knowledge Hub: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/knowledge-hub/
- How is your industry stacking up in the market? Find out with smec’s Google Ads Benchmarks:
https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/smec-market-observer/
About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.
The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.
As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
Is the “Zero-Click” shopping era finally here, and are European retailers ready for a three-way war between Amazon, Temu, and JD.com’s Joybuy?
In this episode of Growing Ecommerce, Mike Ryan and Chris Scharmueller unpack a huge week in e-commerce. First: Meta’s new Stripe partnership for in-app checkout. With OpenAI and Google both struggling to make native checkout work, can Meta finally crack the “zero-click” model and keep shoppers fully inside its platform?
Then comes the real clash of the titans. JD.com has launched Joybuy in Europe, going straight after Amazon and Temu. We share exclusive Google Ads data showing how aggressively Joybuy is already outranking incumbents. But unlike Temu, Joybuy isn’t just burning cash for growth. It’s building a sustainable base and investing in local logistics, making it a serious hybrid threat.
Finally, Mike shares updated market penetration numbers for Amazon and Temu across Europe. The picture is clear: Amazon dominates wealthy Western European markets, while Temu has seized the Central and Eastern European markets Amazon largely ignored.
📊 Key Takeaways & SEO Insights:
- Meta’s In-App Checkout: Meta is working with Stripe on native checkout via ACP instead of Google’s UCP. If it works, platforms gain even more leverage by keeping both shoppers and customer data in-house.
- The Joybuy Threat: JD’s Joybuy is taking a more disciplined, Amazon-like route into Europe. It’s setting efficient growth baselines while aggressively outranking established retailers in Google Ads.
- The Amazon/Temu Divide: Comparing Monthly Active Users to total internet users reveals a sharp split. Amazon leads in high-GDP Western Europe, while Temu dominates much of Central and Eastern Europe, including striking penetration in Poland.
- The Chinese “Involution”: Intense competition in China is pushing giants like JD, Alibaba, and PDD (Temu) to seek growth in Europe—raising the pressure on local retailers..
Resources & Links:
- Access all our webinars, reports, and playbooks in our Knowledge Hub: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/knowledge-hub/
- How is your industry stacking up in the market? Find out with smec’s Google Ads Benchmarks: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/smec-market-observer/
About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.
The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.
As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
OpenAI is facing a projected $25 billion shortfall, and their attempt to monetize ecommerce is already falling apart.
In this episode of Growing Ecommerce, Mike Ryan and Chris Scharmüller ask the billion-dollar question: Is the dream of "agentic commerce" already dead on arrival?
While the media celebrates OpenAI's early $100 million in ad revenue, the math tells a much darker story. Their projected 2026 burn rate sits between $14 and $25 billion. To survive, they need a massive, highly profitable ad network—but their recent retail experiments are failing the test.
We break down why ChatGPT quietly killed off its new "Shopping Research" feature (hint: consumers won't wait minutes for an AI to fetch product recommendations). We also reveal the shocking data from Walmart’s early checkout test within ChatGPT, where in-app conversions were three times lower than standard website traffic.
If ChatGPT wants to steal budget from Google Ads and Meta, they have to prove they can actually drive profitable sales. Right now, the data suggests users simply aren't ready to let an AI agent do their shopping.
Key Takeaways & SEO Insights:
- The Revenue Reality: Generating $100M in two months is impressive, but with Capital Expenditures (CapEx) skyrocketing to compete with Google and Microsoft, OpenAI's projected losses are staggering. Advertising is their most obvious path to close that gap.
- Speed vs. Quality in E-commerce: OpenAI shut down its specialized post-trained shopping model because generating deep product analyses took too long. In retail, friction kills adoption.
- The Conversion Crisis: Early tests with major retailers like Walmart showed that instant checkouts within ChatGPT converted at a rate 3x lower than traditional website traffic. If they can't drive efficiency, advertisers won't shift their budgets.
- The Scraping Band-Aid: OpenAI's reliance on scraping Google Shopping data for product recommendations shows they are still heavily dependent on their biggest competitor to power their agentic commerce dreams.
Resources & Links:
- Access all our webinars, reports, and playbooks in our Knowledge Hub: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/knowledge-hub/
- How is your industry stacking up in the market? Find out with smec’s Google Ads Benchmarks:
https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/smec-market-observer/
About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.
The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.
As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
Ever wonder what the biggest e-commerce brands are discussing behind closed doors? We are opening up the vault. 🤫
In this episode of Growing Ecommerce, Mike Ryan and Chris Scharmueller give you a backstage pass to their recent strategy meetings with some of Europe's largest retailers. We are unpacking the exact playbooks, fears, and tactics dominating the boardrooms of the top 1% right now.
Forget the basic tutorials—this is what the mega-brands are actually testing. First, we tackle Google's controversial new push for "Demand Led Growth" (DLG). Are the top retailers really giving Google unlimited budgets, or is there a smarter way to use Target ROAS to capture demand spikes.
We also break down the reality of the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) and why Europe's smartest marketing teams are obsessing over conversational feed attributes to win the AI search war. Finally, we reveal what CMOs are secretly telling their CFOs: With Chinese giants like Temu driving up costs, cheap incremental growth is dead. Discover why Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) is the new survival tool for 2026.
🔗 Resources & Links:
- Access all our webinars, reports, and playbooks in our Knowledge Hub: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/knowledge-hub/
- How is your industry stacking up in the market? Find out with smec’s Google Ads Benchmarks:
https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/smec-market-observer/
About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.
The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.
As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
Is the "clash of the titans" coming for your profit margins, and is Google about to take away your website traffic?
In this episode of Growing E-commerce, Mike Ryan and Chris Sharma tackle two massive, existential shifts threatening the traditional online retail playbook.
First, we dive into the aggressive European expansion of Chinese e-commerce giants. While JD.com (Joybuy) and SHEIN are making aggressive moves, Temu is completely taking over. We break down the official monthly active user data, revealing that Temu now commands a 40% overall market share in Europe – including a staggering 71.1% market share in Poland and 44% in Germany.
Are European retailers simply becoming collateral damage in this war of attrition?
Then, we unpack a recently granted Google patent that sounds like a sci-fi nightmare for marketers. The patent outlines a system where Google evaluates your landing page, and if it doesn't meet their qualitative standards, they will generate an AI replacement landing page within the ad ecosystem. We discuss what this means for the loss of your tracking data, zero-click purchases, and the ultimate "PMax-ification" of Google Ads.
🔗 Resources & Links:
- Access all our webinars, reports, and playbooks in our Knowledge Hub: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/knowledge-hub/
About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.
The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.
As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
Why did OpenAI quietly kill its shopping feature, and what does it mean for the future of Google Ads? 🚨
In this episode of Growing E-commerce, Mike Ryan and Chris Sharma tackle the reality of the "AI takeover" in paid search. Following Chris's exclusive executive Think Tank with 20 leading CMOs in London, we are cutting through the noise to discuss the 2026 playbook.
First up: The ChatGPT Shopping disaster. We discuss why OpenAI had to walk away from its "thin Google Shopping wrapper" to save its burn rate, and why Google's ad ecosystem dominance is stronger than ever. We also dive into the "Wild West" of agentic commerce, including Amazon's massive legal battle with Perplexity over spoofed traffic and lost ad revenue.
But it's not all drama! The second half of this episode is a pure, actionable deep dive into the future of Google Product Feeds. With AI search queries getting 2.5x longer, we break down exactly how to future-proof your
About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.
The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.
As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
If you want to know how your peers are actually handling the grind, the Google Ads updates, and the "AI takeover," this episode is a must-watch.
We recorded a special edition of Growing Ecommerce live from SMX Munich! Host Mike Ryan is joined by Wijnand Meijer (Co-founder & CEO at TrueClicks) and Frederick Vallaeys (CEO at Optmyzr) to dive deep into the freshly released Global State of PPC 2026 Report.
This isn't just another PDF to gather dust in your downloads folder. Driven by the team at TrueClicks and supported by top industry partners, it’s an unfiltered reality check for the entire paid search industry.
With 1,300+ respondents spilling the tea across 60+ charts and 14,000 words, we unpack the hard insights on agency billing, Performance Max workarounds, and why AI isn't saving us as much time as the tech bros promised.
- The Complexity Struggle: 53% of practitioners say managing PPC is harder than it was two years ago.
- Agency Operations: Agencies managing over $1M/month are doing so with 20% fewer people. Yet, 1 in 5 agencies still charge by billable hours (with heavy geographical differences: only 4-12% in the US/AUS vs. 25% in Europe).
- The PMax Paradox: 48% complain about a lack of granular control, leading to workarounds like standard shopping hybrids (37%) and feed-only builds (17%). Despite this, 65% are satisfied with their PMax results.
- The AI Elephant in the Room: On average, professionals report saving only 5.2 hours a week using AI. Furthermore, 70% state that quality and accuracy (hallucinations) are their biggest AI hurdles.
- The Tool Stack: Surprisingly, 62% of respondents don't use paid third-party tools for analysis or optimization, relying entirely on native interfaces and spreadsheets.
Resources & Links: * Read the full, unfiltered report for free at: www.ppcsurvey.com * A massive thank you to Wijnand Meijer and the TrueClicks team for driving this monumental effort. * Shoutout to all the fellow partners for making this happen: DataFeedWatch by Cart.com, God Tier Ads, Hero Conf, Optmyzr, Producthero, SMX Advanced Europe, Swydo, TrueClicks, and Smarter E-commerce (smec). * Learn more about Smarter E-commerce: smarter-ecommerce.com
About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.
The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.
As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
In this episode of Growing E-commerce, Mike Ryan and Chris from Smarter Ecommerce (smec) tackle the massive news that DSA's time on Earth is limited. With DSA going the way of the dinosaurs, Google is pushing advertisers toward AI Max for Search. But is it actually a worthy replacement?
To find out, Mike breaks down the findings from his brand-new 18-page report, The Ultimate Guide to AI Max. After analyzing 1 year of data across more than 600 Google Ads search campaigns, the numbers tell a nuanced story about incrementality versus efficiency.
We cover exactly what AI Max is, how it overlaps with PMax and Broad Match, and the real cost of those "incremental" conversions. If you are a heavy DSA user, this is the exact data you need to start planning your migration strategy!
📊 Key Takeaways from the 600-Campaign Study:
- The DSA Sunset: Google confirmed DSA will eventually be retired, making AI Max the logical testing ground for future-proofing your search strategy.
- The Incrementality Reality: AI Max does generate more conversions (about 13% more on average), but it comes at a cost.
- The Efficiency Trade-Off: Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) is typically 16% higher.
- ROAS Volatility: While Google claims AI Max maintains similar efficiency, the data shows a very broad, flat distribution of ROAS outcomes—meaning active management is required.
- Cannibalization Risks: 48% of AI Max users are also running DSA and PMax, leading to potential account bloat and self-competition.
🔗 Resources & Links:
- Download the free 18-page Ultimate Guide to AI Max (PDF, Long-form article, and Script): https://smarter-ecommerce.com/blog/en/google-ads/the-ultimate-guide-to-ai-max-for-google-search/
About Mike Ryan:
Based in Austria and originally from Boston, Mike Ryan is the Head of Ecommerce Insights at Smarter Ecommerce (smec) with over ten years of experience in retail and PPC landscape. With a robust background spanning retail operations, product management, and digital ads, Mike leverages his multidisciplinary expertise to drive data-informed strategies that help online retailers optimize their performance in an increasingly competitive market.
About Christian Scharmueller:
As a seasoned veteran in the PPC and Ecommerce space, Christian Scharmüller serves as the CCO & Managing Director of Smarter Ecommerce. With over 12 years of experience at the forefront of ad tech, Christian is a sought-after speaker at major industry events, including SMX and OMR, where he shares insights on high-level e-commerce strategy and the future of retail media.
About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.
The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.
As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
🚨 Breaking Google Ads News: Dynamic Search Ads (DSA) will be going "the way of the dinosaurs." As confirmed by Google's Ginny Marvin, DSA's time is limited, paving the way for AI Max as the future-proof campaign standard.
Is the Google Ads Search Partner Network draining your Performance Max budget? We looked at 1,500+ campaigns and finally have the data to prove it.
In this episode of Growing Ecommerce, Mike Ryan and Chris Scharmueller dive into data from over 1,500 PMax campaigns throughout 2025 and early 2026. The numbers are in—and they are highly concerning for advertisers relying on the Search Partner Network (SPN).
We break down exactly where your PMax impressions are going, why Google is hesitant to give you an opt-out button, and the massive impact SPN has on your ROAS and CPA.
PLUS: We share exclusive breaking news confirmed by Google's Ginny Marvin: the sun is setting on Dynamic Search Ads (DSA).
If you want to stay ahead of the curve and stop wasting ad spend on low-intent, bot-heavy traffic, this episode is a must-watch!
Key PMax Data Insights Shared in This Episode: Based on a trimmed mean analysis of 1,500+ PMax campaigns with 30+ monthly conversions:
- PMax Impression Share (Excluding Search): YouTube (49%), Google Display (17%), SPN (17%), Maps (11%), Discover (7%), Gmail (0.5%).
- Click-Through Rate (CTR): 40% lower on the Search Partner Network.
- Conversion Rate: 63% lower on SPN.
- Cost Per Acquisition (CPA): 73% higher on SPN.
- Return on Ad Spend (ROAS): 63% lower on SPN compared to parent campaigns.
- Invalid Traffic (IVT): SPN holds the highest share of malicious and fraudulent clicks across networks.
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About Mike Ryan:
Based in Austria and originally from Boston, Mike Ryan is the Head of Ecommerce Insights at Smarter Ecommerce (smec) with over ten years of experience in retail and PPC landscape. With a robust background spanning retail operations, product management, and digital ads, Mike leverages his multidisciplinary expertise to drive data-informed strategies that help online retailers optimize their performance in an increasingly competitive market.
About Christian Scharmueller:
As a seasoned veteran in the PPC and Ecommerce space, Christian Scharmüller serves as the CCO & Managing Director of Smarter Ecommerce. With over 12 years of experience at the forefront of ad tech, Christian is a sought-after speaker at major industry events, including SMX and OMR, where he shares insights on high-level e-commerce strategy and the future of retail media.
About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.
The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.
As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
Is ROAS a flawed metric for Google Ads? According to acclaimed ecommerce experts Mike Ryan and Christian Scharmüller, using Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) as your primary "North Star" metric creates a dangerous "Revenue Trap." Because ROAS measures revenue rather than actual margin, it creates an "air gap" that ignores the law of diminishing returns, ultimately hurting the profitability of mature Google Ads campaigns.
In this episode of Growing eCommerce, the hosts break down how to properly use ROAS as a bidding signal and explore the latest transparency updates to Google’s Performance Max (PMax) campaigns.
The Problem with ROAS as a Profit Proxy: Many advertisers use ROAS as a stand-in for profit. However, as campaigns scale, incremental returns flatten out. A 600% ROAS does not guarantee your next ad dollar will yield the same profit margin.
ROAS is a Communication Vessel, Not Just a Goal: Setting a blanket ROAS target across multiple campaigns is a strategic mistake. ROAS is actually your primary bidding signal and pacing tool to steer Google's algorithms.
Dynamic vs. Static Targeting: Advertisers should move away from adjusting ROAS based on "gut feeling" and adopt a scientific, data-driven approach based on specific campaign constraints.
Resources & Expert Links
- FREE smec Advanced Channel Report Script: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/google-ads-scripts/pmax-channel-insights/
About Mike Ryan:
Based in Austria and originally from Boston, Mike Ryan is the Head of Ecommerce Insights at Smarter Ecommerce (smec) with over ten years of experience in retail and PPC landscape. With a robust background spanning retail operations, product management, and digital ads, Mike leverages his multidisciplinary expertise to drive data-informed strategies that help online retailers optimize their performance in an increasingly competitive market.
About Christian Scharmueller:
As a seasoned veteran in the PPC and Ecommerce space, Christian Scharmüller serves as the CCO & Managing Director of Smarter Ecommerce. With over 12 years of experience at the forefront of ad tech, Christian is a sought-after speaker at major industry events, including SMX and OMR, where he shares insights on high-level e-commerce strategy and the future of retail media.
About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.
The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.
As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
In this episode of Growing eCommerce, Mike Ryan and Chris debunk three persistent myths that are still holding retailers back in 2026. While everyone is distracted by the hype of UCP and Agentic Commerce, many accounts are bleeding efficiency due to outdated structures like the "Heroes & Zombies" matrix and one-dimensional margin buckets.
We break down why these old-school tactics create self-fulfilling prophecies of failure and share what sophisticated retailers are doing instead to balance volume, margin, and the new reality of AI-driven search.
In this episode, we cover:
- The "Zero Click" Wake-Up Call: Why the shift to walled gardens means you need to fix your tactical basics now before the ecosystem changes forever.
- Myth #1: Heroes & Zombies: Why classifying low-volume products as "zombies" is a logical flaw that starves your potential growth engines. We explain the danger of using historical data to doom new products.
- Myth #2: Margin Buckets: Why segmenting campaigns by gross margin % (e.g., 0-5%, 5-10%) is dangerous. Mike shares data showing how this ignores conversion volume and pricing strategies, leading to "death by optimization."
- Myth #3: PMax vs. Standard Shopping: It’s no longer an either/or decision. We discuss the rise of hybrid setups and why Standard Shopping is actually gaining cost share again.
Key Takeaways:
- Don't rely on single-dimensional data: Grouping products solely by ROAS or Margin % ignores critical context like seasonality, price competitiveness, and absolute profit.
- Standard Shopping isn't dead: Even Google is now advocating for hybrid use cases, such as using Standard Shopping for query filtering or specific inventory control.
+1 - The "Self-Fulfilling Prophecy": If you put a new product in a "zombie" campaign with low budget because it has no data, it will never get data. You need a multi-dimensional scoring strategy.
About Mike Ryan
Based in Austria and originally from Boston, Mike Ryan is Head of Ecommerce Insights at Smarter Ecommerce (smec). With 10+ years in retail and PPC, and experience across retail operations, product management, and digital advertising, he helps online retailers turn data into strategies that improve performance in a highly competitive market.
About Christian Scharmüller
Christian Scharmüller is CCO & Managing Director at Smarter Ecommerce and a long-time expert in PPC and e-commerce. With 12+ years in ad tech, he’s a regular speaker at major industry events such as SMX and OMR, sharing insights on e-commerce strategy and the future of retail media.
About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.
The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.
As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
UCP (Universal Context Protocol) is a new infrastructure layer aiming to standardize “agentic commerce.” It breaks ecommerce into modular capabilities (“Lego bricks”) so AI agents can negotiate tasks like product discovery, checkout, and payments across platforms.
This has become an infrastructure war: Google is pushing UCP as an open-source standard versus OpenAI’s ACP (Agentic Commerce Protocol) and Anthropic’s MCP (Model Context Protocol). Big retailers such as Walmart and Zalando are already experimenting with UCP right now.
In this episode of Growing Ecommerce, Mike Ryan and Christian Scharmüller unpack what “Agentic Commerce” means as AI shifts from generating text to taking actions in online shops—and what that implies for your data feed strategy.
In this episode, we cover:
• The Rise of UCP: how agents “negotiate” capabilities like discovery and checkout—similar to early standards wars (e.g., electricity).
• Adoption Reality Check: will consumers let AI buy their sneakers? Mike forecasts ~10% of UCP-based transactions within 2 years; Chris estimates ~5%.
• The Protocol War: how partnerships with giants (Walmart, Zalando) help Google try to win the standard.
• New Merchant Responsibilities: to reduce hallucinations, Google plans 10–12 new feeds/attributes, pushing more structured-data work back to retailers.
About the hosts:
Mike Ryan (Austria; originally Boston) is Head of Ecommerce Insights at Smarter Ecommerce (smec), with 10+ years in retail and PPC.
Christian Scharmüller is CCO & Managing Director at smec, a long-time PPC/ecommerce leader and frequent speaker (e.g., SMX, OMR).
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) helps e-commerce brands optimize PPC with AI-driven automation focused on profit and business outcomes, leveraging first-party data like margins and LTV.
Follow smec for more performance marketing insights:
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Subscribe for more actionable eCommerce insights!
eCommerce #GoogleAds #UCP #AgenticCommerce #AI #DigitalMarketing #RetailTrends #GoogleMerchantCenter
smec is a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, managing €500M+ in ad spend and driving €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue across 350+ global retail clients (incl. THG, Snipes, REWE, Intersport).
More:
Website: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
Why it matters: if agents become the new storefront, whoever sets the protocol shapes access to customers, data standards, and product visibility—so feed quality and structured attributes really matter.
About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.
The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.
As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
In the final episode of 2025, Chris and Mike trade their suits for matching Christmas pajamas to deliver a raw, honest review of the year in digital marketing. 🎄
They break down the biggest surprises of the year, from Google’s unexpected pivot toward transparency to the "Naughty List" players who frustrated the industry. Mike reveals details about his behind-the-scenes meeting with Temu, while Chris explains why Mark Zuckerberg is on his bad side this year.
Plus, we look ahead to 2026. Will CPCs finally slow down? What is "Gen 2 Commerce," and how will AI reshape the shopping experience next year?
In this episode, Mike and Chris cover:
- The 2025 in Review: Highs, lows, and navigating information overload.
- The Naughty & Nice List: Why Google’s PMax updates won us over, and why Meta’s ad strategy is failing agencies.
- The Temu Report: Mike’s personal experience meeting with Temu reps.
- 2026 Predictions: Economic outlook, AI commerce features, and the future of media buying.
Ready to grow your Ecommerce business? Visit us at: https://smarter-ecommerce.com
About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.
The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.
As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
In this episode, Mike Ryan and Chris dive into the fundamental issue plaguing advanced performance advertisers: the lack of data integrity between ad platforms and a retailer’s backend systems. Why are sophisticated retailers taking optimization decisions on ad platform data when their final bottom-line evaluation comes from a different source? Mike calls this the "optimization gulf".
The hosts argue that this disconnect is a major tactical issue that is driving platforms like Google and Meta to pursue cross-channel solutions to regain trust.
Key discussion points include:
- The Single Source of Truth (SSOT) Problem: Why using last-click attribution and optimizing within channel silos led to platforms taking 100% credit for the same purchases.
- The iOS 14.5 Inflection Point: How Apple's anti-tracking policies broke Meta campaigns, leading to the rise of "magic pixels" (Triple Whale, Northbeam) to fix reporting.
- Marginal ROAS vs. Average ROAS: Why optimizing only for average ROAS is a "massive flop" and why you need to understand the concept of marginal return to avoid spending beyond your optimal point.
- Google's Contradiction: We break down Google's claim that its bidding system (PMax) finds the cheapest conversion across all networks, and the subsequent contradiction of why the performance of those individual channels often looks bad in segmented reports.
About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.
The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.
As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
In this post-mortem episode, hosts Mike Ryan and Chris dive deep into the data behind the last peak season to reveal the true cost of Black Friday. They confirm what many performance marketers feared: the event is a "promotional bloodbath where margins are lost".
The numbers are shocking: Google Ads spend was up over 31% year-over-year, but revenue only grew 15%, resulting in a massive 12% drop in Return on Ad Spend (ROAS). But the real trouble is profitability. Mike reveals an exclusive chart showing how the average gross profit margin dropped by 9 percentage points in the final week of November.
What else is covered in this data-driven post-mortem:
- The Dilution of Demand: Why Black Friday search volume has been on a secular decline since peaking in 2018, and why the "doorbuster" concept is dead.
- The Hourly Opportunity: A never-before-seen hourly analysis that pinpoints the exact time when Cost Per Order (CPO) cools down and conversion rates peak, revealing the best time to run your budget.
- Competitor Strategy: A look at how Amazon is continuously ramping up spend, while the competition from Teemu drastically fell off on Black Friday itself.
- The Final Warning: Why the relentless increase in CPCs is the single biggest threat to the middle-of-the-pack online retailer.
About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.
The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.
As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
In this episode, Mike Ryan and Christian Scharmueller dismantle a massive technical flaw in Performance Max: the "Clicked vs. Bought" discrepancy.
In a keywordless world, product targeting is your main lever. But Mike reveals that Google places its bids based on the product a user clicks, while being completely blind to the product they actually buy. This means Google is often bidding on the wrong item, unaware that your user cross-shopped into a lower-margin alternative or a different brand entirely. The result? You might be hitting your ROAS targets on paper, but your actual profit is bleeding out.
The duo reveals the only technical fix for this—Conversions with Cart Data—and debates the ultimate trust exercise: is it finally time to share your Cost of Goods Sold (CoGS) with Google to bid on true profit?
About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.
The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.
As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
Is Google's new AI Max for Search the future, or is it a hidden trap?
In this episode of Growing E-commerce, Mike Ryan and Chris dive into brand-new, independent test data on AI Max for Search and discuss the strategic role of Demand Gen and the future of Dynamic Search Ads (DSA).
The analysis of over 250 e-commerce campaigns reveals significant concerns:
- AI Max delivers an average 35% lower Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) and a higher Cost Per Conversion (CPA) compared to traditional broad match campaigns in retail.
- The conversions AI Max drives are often at a lower Average Order Value (AOV), raising questions about incrementality versus cannibalization.
Mike predicts that Dynamic Search Ads (DSA) is on its way to being fully sunset/upgraded to AI Max by early 2026. The shift signals Google’s move to consolidate broad automation into AI Max and the visual discovery into Demand Gen. The hosts also warn that many advertisers are creating unnecessary data fragmentation and overlap by running AI Max, DSA, and PMAX concurrently.
The key discussion focuses on the Demand Gen Strategy: Demand Gen is best used as a visual discovery engine to compete with Paid Social/Meta and is heavily driven by video ads across YouTube and Shorts. Learn how to use it strategically as a mid-funnel tool to feed Performance Max (PMAX).
What to do now: AI Max is here to stay. Mike and Chris offer advice on how to use AI Max's built-in controls (like negative keywords) to make the feature work smarter for your business.
About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.
The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.
As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
Q3 earnings are in, and the consolidation is real. Hosts Mike Ryan and Chris dive into the gravity-defying numbers, confirming that Google's core ad revenue is up a strong 12.6% year-over-year (YoY), and their massive Cloud backlog sits at $155 billion USD.
Chris states that Google is not the "bee-headed chicken" but remains the dominant "American eagle". The focus then shifts to Amazon, which has truly become a services business (Cloud and Ads), with its retail component no longer the core driver of its wealth.
But the big story isn't the growth—it's the crisis. Mike and Chris reveal a dangerous surge in ad costs: CPCs in PMAX and Shopping are up an alarming 30% year-to-date (since week one of the year), with Shopping CPCs specifically soaring by 36% YoY. Chris warns that this kind of inflation is a "real threat" to Google's business model because it is "forcing especially small and middle businesses out" of the auction.
They discuss whether a competitor like OpenAI could challenge Google by offering "massively discounted CPCs" to eat into market share. Finally, Mike introduces the free smec Market Observer tool that helps online retailers benchmark their CPCs and check competition levels from giants like Amazon and Temu.
About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.
The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.
As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
This episode tackles the most urgent issues retail clients are facing right now: exploding costs and profound market uncertainty.
Hosts Mike Ryan and Chris dive into the alarming trend of increasing CPCs (Cost Per Click), which are soaring at rates of up to 30% in key categories. Chris calls these increases a "fucking pain in the ass" and a potential "business destroyer," especially for businesses with paper-thin margins. They debate whether Google is responsible or if it's purely a market-level crisis, and why Google must find a solution to prevent mid-sized players from running out of money.
The second major theme is the AI search disruption. The hosts discuss the pervasive uncertainty among retailers—from small shops to enterprise clients—about the future of search behavior and the need for a stronger Data Density strategy. They reveal the huge structural change that the average search query in AI mode is 2.5x longer than in standard search. Finally, they discuss the evolving role of the PPC manager, emphasizing the need for system thinking and an openness to human-machine collaboration to thrive.
About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.
The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.
As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
It's here! Ads are officially landing inside your AI search results, and Google’s not asking for permission.
In this episode, Mike Ryan and Chris break down the massive global rollout of AI Overviews (AIO) and AI Mode (AIM). They reveal the experimental phase where ads will soon appear inside the AI content itself, and expose the most critical issue: advertisers currently have neither an opt-in nor an opt-out for these new properties. This means your existing ad budget is being automatically pushed into this new environment—a fundamental shift in search since the smartphone.
But the real disruption isn't just Google—it's OpenAI. They've launched an aggressive e-commerce shopping assistant model, complete with in-chat checkout and integrated with giants like Walmart and Target.Our hosts explain why this completely changes the game, essentially turning the AI into a marketplace. They discuss the only way retailers can survive this new reality: providing maximum information density (feeds, structured data, landing pages) to be visible to the AI, even as you are forced to compete in its new commission-based ecosystem.
About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.
The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.
As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
This controversial episode is tackling the messy side of shopping! Hosts Mike Ryan and Christian Scharmueller dive straight into the news that Zalando is tightening its return policy, issuing warnings and even year-long bans for shoppers with "disproportionately high return volumes".
With fashion return rates soaring (sometimes 30-70%!), they break down why retailers are finally getting serious about profitability and why relying solely on order value is a massive, costly mistake for your advertising campaigns.
But don't panic! We offer the smart, proactive solution: leveraging off-channel first-party data.
Mike and Chris explain how you can integrate return rate data into your campaigns using tools like Conversions with Cart Data and even Google’s Product Return Rate Predictor. Plus: Mike and Chris take a look at how Google is leading the pack with virtual try-on technology to stop returns before they even happen.
Finally, the boys tackle the all-important Black Friday strategy, discussing the dilution of the sales event and Google's new "triple peak week" thesis: Surging Sunday, Black Friday, and Cyber Sunday.
Links mentioned in this episode:
https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/smec-market-observer/
https://cloud.google.com/vertex-ai/generative-ai/docs/model-reference/virtual-try-on-api
https://github.com/google-marketing-solutions/product-return-predictor
About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.
The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.
As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
In this solo episode, host Mike Ryan tackles the opaqueness of the digital advertising industry. He then reveals a previously confidential email from two senior Google executives. This internal communication confirms that Google’s “PMAXification” phase is over. While their old approach was to push Performance Max as the end-all solution, their new strategy is a broader, more complex one centered around a “holy trinity” of campaigns called the PowerPack.
Mike breaks down the roles of the three campaign types in the PowerPack—Performance Max (conversions), Demand Gen (consideration), and AI Max for Search (expansion). He then provides a critical look at how these technologies work together in reality, exposing the redundancies and potential for self-competition that could make a “hygienic, well-organized” account harder to manage than ever before. This is a must-watch for anyone who wants to look behind Google’s curtain and understand where your ad spend is really going.
About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.
The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.
As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
Will Google's new AI strategy kill ecommerce as you know it? In this episode of Growing Ecommerce, Mike Ryan and Chris Scharmueller dissect the biggest news from DMEXCO 2025 in Cologne, Germany, and reveal their bold take on the future of paid search and online retail.
Chris shares his on-the-ground insights from the conference, including his talk on a major stage in front of over 600 people. He and Mike dive deep into why Google Search is still an unstoppable "money printing machine" despite new competitors like ChatGPT and Perplexity.
They discuss staggering online search stats, like the 5.8 trillion search queries that happen globally each year, with over 90% of them going through Google.
But here's the twist: They explore how new AI products like AI Overviews (AIOs) are already creating "zero-click events", which could massively disrupt the classic e-commerce funnel.
Could Google's "buy on Google" feature make a comeback? And if it does, what does it mean for retailers who could become just a "warehouse for Google"?
This episode isn't just about what's happening; it's about what's coming. Don't miss this crucial conversation on how to adapt to the future of e-commerce.
About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.
The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.
As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
Welcome to Episode 10 of Growing ecommerce! Get ready to cut through the noise with your hosts Mike and Chris, as they tackle the real-world implications of three massive forces in the market.
First, they take on Google's newest AI-powered ad product, A/I Max. While Google promises performance, Mike and Chris reveal how it can lead to chaotic bidding on competitor terms and the low-quality Search Partner Network. The hosts also discuss why an "old school" strategy called search query sculpting is more relevant than ever to regain control and maximize your ad spend.
Then, the focus shifts to the critical, yet often overlooked, topic of conversion lag and latency. The hosts explain how this natural consumer behavior creates discrepancies between your ad platform data and your backend sales reports, and why it's a key metric for both marketing managers and business leaders.
Finally, they reveal the latest data on Temu’s staggering growth across Europe. With fresh numbers in hand, the hosts reveal which countries are feeling the most pressure from this new market giant and what this means for local retailers struggling to compete.
This episode is packed with the insights you need to navigate the ever-changing world of ecommerce. Tune in and get ready to level up your ad strategy.
About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.
The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.
As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
Welcome to Episode 9 of Growing Ecommerce! In a world buzzing with AI hype, we're cutting through the noise to ask the big question: Is this the next dot-com bubble, or a long-term, foundational shift for the future of business?
Join hosts Mike and Chris as they debate the financial health of the tech giants driving the AI revolution and challenge the notion that AI has delivered on its promised productivity gains. They'll also reveal some mind-blowing data on Google Shopping's mysterious lack of market shock when Amazon's ads disappeared, and expose the "hellscape" of Google Merchant Center account suspensions.
Tune in to get the full picture behind the headlines and learn what’s truly happening in the world of ecommerce.
About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.
The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.
As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
In this week’s show, Mike Ryan and Chris Scharmueller dive headfirst into the "PMAXification" of the advertising landscape, a term Mike coined to describe how platforms from Google to TikTok are rushing to automate your ad spend.
But just as we thought the black box was here to stay, Google is making a surprising U-turn, opening up more control and data for advertisers. We'll break down if the other platforms, like TikTok with its mandatory GMV Max campaigns and Meta with its "AI-first, no control" strategy, will follow suit.
Don't go anywhere because things get even spicier. Mike starts a "crusade" against Google's Search Partner Network, exposing why some of the "partnerships" are a little unsettling and what brands need to watch out for.
And finally, in a lightning round you won't want to miss, the hosts go head-to-head on the most important question in tech right now: is AI a bubble, yes or no? One of them is a believer, and the other is a skeptic, and it's not who you think.
About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.
The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.
As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
Is AI a wolf in sheep’s clothing for Google's empire? Mike Ryan and Christian Scharmueller are back to spill the tea on the biggest players in ecommerce!
This week they're dissecting Google's "fortress" of a business and Meta's uncanny ability to sell us things we didn't even know we needed. Our hosts will also dive into the mysterious case of Amazon's Google Shopping Ads blackout and try to figure out if it was a secret negotiation tactic or just a costly mistake.
Plus: Chris and Mike are checking out how JD.com is making bold moves in Europe with unexpected partners like IKEA and Media Markt.
Grab a coffee and join the chaos! And if you don't want to miss our next unfiltered take on the industry, hit that subscribe button.
About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.
The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.
As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
Google is positioning AI at the center of its advertising ecosystem with substantial changes to search, shopping, and campaign management. The new "PowerPack" approach combines Performance Max, Demand Gen, and AI Max for search campaigns, though questions remain about how these components will work together without cannibalizing each other.
• AI Overviews and AI Mode represent massive shifts in search, with Google generating answers directly and using "query fanning" to search multiple queries behind the scenes
• Ads will be integrated directly into AI Overviews and AI Mode conversations, changing how users interact with advertising
• "Agentic" shopping experiences allow Google's AI to make purchases without users visiting websites, potentially transforming e-commerce
• Smart Bidding Exploration allows Google to miss ROAS targets by 10-30% to explore new queries, though the benefit to advertisers remains unclear
• New channel-level performance reporting for PMAX provides visibility into which channels and ad types drive results
• Enhanced New Customer Acquisition features offer more granular exclusion options for existing and warm traffic
• Asset Studio and Product Studio provide new creative tools for building and managing assets
• Commerce Media Suite introduces retail media network capabilities, allowing retailers to make first-party audiences available
• Three new AI Experts (Ads, Analytics, and Marketing Advisor) aim to provide conversational assistance for campaign management
Visit smarter-ecommerce.com to access resources like our State of PMax report, our brand versus non-brand PMax script, and our new PMax script to help understand channel performance reports.
About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.
The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.
As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
We broke the news: Temu hit the brakes – hard. In this episode, Mike and Chris dig into
- Why Temu suddenly killed all ads in the US, and what happened next
- Signs that Temu's ad spend shifted to Europe
- OpenAI’s move into ecommerce, joining Amazon, Perplexity, and Microsoft in the AI shopping race
- Does Google’s silence might signal hesitation or confidence?
- A debate: how profit vs growth is now the defining tension in retail strategy
This one’s all about who’s advancing, who’s retreating, and who’s holding the line in a market full of shakeups.
About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.
The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.
As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
Google’s turning into an answer engine—so why does it feel like the internet’s disappearing beneath it?
In this episode of Growing Ecommerce, Mike and Chris tackle the search shake-up and what it means for everyone from advertisers to publishers:
• AI Overviews (AIO) could kill clicks — We break down how Google’s zero-click model is reshaping the internet and threatening entire business models.
• Can Google hold its ground in the AI era? Or are leaner, AI-native rivals closing in?
• What is “Vibe Marketing” and why are creative teams obsessed with it? We explore the rise of aesthetic-driven strategy in ad workflows.
• Tariffs are back—and they’re shifting ecommerce strategies fast. Why they might force brands to focus on profitability instead of just revenue growth.
• 2025 is not just about riding the AI wave. It’s about surviving the cracks forming underneath.
Whether you're a marketer, brand strategist, or just trying to stay sane in the age of AI illusions and platform power plays, this episode is your no-BS guide to what’s really happening.
🎧 Subscribe for more deep dives into the future of digital marketing, AI, and platform ethics.
💬 Drop your thoughts: Is zero-click search good or bad for the web?
AIinMarketing #GoogleSearch #EcommerceStrategy #DigitalAdvertising #MarketingPodcast #GoogleAds
—
About smec (Smarter Ecommerce):
At smec - Smarter Ecommerce, we specialize in transforming business goals into optimized ad campaigns. With over 16 years of experience in Google & Microsoft Ads, our intelligent software and expert services help retailers achieve superior results.
We're committed to giving you the tools and insights needed to stay ahead in the ever-evolving world of digital advertising.
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights.
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
Instagram #GoogleAds #TikTok #Zuckerberg #DigitalMarketing #AIinAdvertising #BrandSafety #EcommerceTrends #MarketingPodcast
About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.
The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.
As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
Who’s real anymore?
In this episode of Growing Ecommerce, Mike and Chris break down the chaos unfolding across the digital advertising world:
• Instagram is testing AI-generated user profiles — Are we entering a world of fake influencers, and what does it mean for ad targeting?
• Zuckerberg pulls back on content moderation — We dive into the actual data behind Meta’s shift in strategy.
• Google's ads are showing up next to harmful content — A CSAM scandal rocks Google's Display Network. How many brands were impacted?
• TikTok Shop expands to Europe — Could this reshape the e-commerce landscape or is it just another platform grab?
Whether you're a marketer, brand strategist, or just trying to stay sane in the age of AI illusions and platform power plays, this episode is your no-BS guide to what’s really happening.
🎧 Subscribe for more deep dives into the future of digital marketing, AI, and platform ethics.
💬 Leave a comment: How would YOU feel about running ads next to fake AI profiles?
Grab the State of PMax 2025 report—free on the blog or as a downloadable PDF:
https://shorturl.at/ali5A
—
About smec (Smarter Ecommerce):
At smec - Smarter Ecommerce, we specialize in transforming business goals into optimized ad campaigns. With over 16 years of experience in Google & Microsoft Ads, our intelligent software and expert services help retailers achieve superior results.
We're committed to giving you the tools and insights needed to stay ahead in the ever-evolving world of digital advertising.
—
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights.
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
Instagram #GoogleAds #TikTok #Zuckerberg #DigitalMarketing #AIinAdvertising #BrandSafety #EcommerceTrends #MarketingPodcast
About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.
The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.
As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
Digital ads in 2025 are anything but boring. In this episode, Mike and Chris unpack:
- Mark Zuckerberg’s eyebrow-raising claim that ads aren’t important (despite 98% of Meta’s revenue coming from ads)
- Amazon’s move to sell its ad tech to other retailers—friend or Trojan horse?
Plus details from our comprehensive new PMax research:
- How Google’s Performance Max is finally shedding its “black box” label, with fresh data from 500+ accounts
- Why your PMax campaigns need 30–60 conversions a month, no matter what Google says
- Why campaign segmentation should follow business logic, not default categories
Grab the State of PMax 2025 report—free on the blog or as a downloadable PDF:
https://shorturl.at/ali5A
About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.
The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.
As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
Big changes on Growing Ecommerce! Chris Scharmueller joins Mike Ryan for a fresh, unscripted take on the latest in online retail. In this episode:
- Amazon vs. Temu: What Amazon’s “Haul” launch says about their playbook and profit risks
- Perplexity AI: Can it challenge Google by fusing search and shopping?
- Nike’s DTC misstep: When cutting out retail partners backfires
- Marketing strategy: Are you spending where influence occurs?
All that and more, plus a hot take or two. Hit play.
About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.
The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.
As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
Discover the forces reshaping the ecommerce landscape leading into 2025 as host Mike Ryan guides us through a labyrinth of game-changing developments and strategic maneuvers. From the Department of Justice's legal challenges against Google to the emerging battleground between Amazon and Temu, Mike gives insight into how these seismic shifts might just redefine what we know about monopolies, market dynamics, and consumer engagement. Could the verdicts against Google have unintended consequences? How are AI shopping assistants poised to shake the platforms? What is going on with Temu and Amazon's I-hate-you-so-much-that-I'm-going-to-copy-you-exactly strategies?Prepare for a year-end review like no other, as Mike tracks the tectonic movements of e-commerce titans and advertisers. Witness Pinterest’s alliance with Google as it seeks to unlock new monetization avenues, and get a glimpse into Meta's latest updates aimed at refining attribution and take over account structures. With AppLovin's unexpected rise in digital advertising and Microsoft's steady pursuit of relevance, this episode brims with expert analysis and provocative questions about what lies ahead. Whether it's the AI evolution or the competitive dynamics between industry giants, Mike Ryan unpacks the strategies and potential pitfalls in this ever-evolving landscape.
About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.
The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.
As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
Can a new low-price, slow-shipping strategy from Amazon truly rival Temu's direct-from-China model? On this episode of Growing ecommerce, host Mike Ryan dissects some of the biggest headlines from Q2 including Amazon's attempt to fight back against Temu, and Netflix's advertising woes, which led to another VP dismissal just one day after earnings were reported. He also discusses how Pinterest's ad deal with Google is shaping up, changes to Meta's remarketing mix, first reactions to Prime Day, and more.Tune in for an episode packed with insights and strategies that are shaping the future of the industry.
About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):
Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.
The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.
As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.
Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:
smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh
Newsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/
Rob Davis is Acquisition Marketing Director at THG Beauty, a division which is responsible for £1.2B of THG's total revenues, and which includes brands such as LOOKFANTASTIC, Cult Beauty, and Dermstore. Rob tells how growth in the Beauty ecomm sector is shaping up, and which tech and consumer trends he's watching now. Plus, we get Rob's take on economic trends including the resilience of the luxury market and mythbusting the Lipstick Effect. Lastly we get Rob's take on Google's automation and new AI features. It's a great conversation that might just change the way you view Health & Beauty.
Join Mike Ryan for a discussion of his highlights from GML 2024. Was the event overshadowed by Google I/O? Do advertisers need to worry about the biggest shake-up ever to Google's SERP? He answers these questions and unpacks the news around core ecommerce feature announcements like profit bidding, interactive Shopping ads, and improvements to asset and video reporting in Performance Max campaigns. All in all it was a good GML for paid teams, but a worrying one for organic teams and publishers. Mike explains it all in this episode.
Learn about the future of marketing from Daniel Smulevich of Jellyfish, as he guides us through the MarTech revolution in a landscape brimming with change. This episode isn't about chasing shiny new tech; it's about strategic problem-solving and making tech work for your marketing needs.We dissect the tech FOMO that grips the industry, using platforms like Roblox as cautionary tales, and emphasize the importance of thoughtful tech adoption. Daniel describes the imperative for realignment of data and analytics roles, which need to shift from mere tech support to strategic business advisors. We also discuss choosing between creating your own technology or investing in off-the-shelf solutions. either way, you must ensure that your decisions are informed by deep industry knowledge and the right balance of manual and automated processes.This episode is a must-listen for any marketer looking to stay ahead in a dynamic, data-driven world.
Temu's advertising has been at the center of countless headlines in recent months. However, journalists don't know advertising well enough and don't have the data necessary to tell the full story. Mike has monitoring Temu for months – and mega-advertisers like Amazon, Wish, and eBay for years. He ties together all of his research on Temu so far into a single story exploring their dramatic rise, and their performance impact on other advertisers. This episode isn't Wall Street analysts or regular consumers, it's for ecommerce advertisers and operators, and it's a story that no one else can tell.Please note there is a lot of data in this episode and you might want to watch the video feed for the best experience.
Mike shares updates about two trending areas to watch this year. First is the rise of marketing mix modelling. He digs into Google's new Meridian model, including a refresher on Marketing Mix Modelling, a reminder of Meta's competing offer (Robyn), and Meridian's USPs. Then he shares a big change in the marketing activity of fan favorite Temu. We'll leave you in suspense on that one – listen to find out!
Discussed in this episode:
A recording of Mike's webinar, "What's IN and what's OUT in 2024 ecommerce?"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HF27Tjm4po
Get a heap of ecommerce & marketplace insights from Vinnie O'Brien, whose expertise from eBay to DTC brands sets the stage for a riveting discussion. Together with host Mike Ryan, he tackles the contrasting marketplace ecosystems across the US and EU, dissecting how these differences influence business tactics, and debates whether retail media networks are now indispensable in today's digital economy. For up-and-coming brands, Vinnie gives his seasoned perspective on navigating Amazon's platform and the discipline required to succeed. He also addresses the contentious emergence of marketplace software providers like Miracle. This episode is a must-listen for anyone in the e-commerce space looking to refine their strategy and understand the broader industry landscape.
We delve into the pivotal role operational excellence plays in the infancy of a brand, the cost of negative customer experiences on repeat business, and the strategic decisions that new brands face in an increasingly competitive digital arena. Whether you're a retailer, a brand owner, or an e-commerce enthusiast, these stories reveal the crucial elements of scaling and sustaining a profitable online presence.
Unravel the complexities of the ecommerce universe as we sit down with Stefan Wenzel, veteran leader from eBay Germany, Otto Netherlands, and McLaren Automotive. This episode holds a wealth of insights, from understanding Otto's metamorphosis into a leading marketplace to examining the undercurrents that differentiate established goliaths like Amazon and eBay from emerging powerhouses Temu and SHEIN. Stefan's seasoned perspective guides us through the convoluted terrain of marketplace dynamics, acquisition strategies, and customer experience nuances that only a true expert can decode.
The swift ascent of SHEIN and Temu in western markets is dissected, revealing how these juggernauts are attempting to overcome the classic chicken-and-egg marketplace conundrum through futuristic logistical and manufacturing strategies. Oh, and ads. Lots of ads.
Join us as we navigate the choppy waters of ecommerce remarketing with Phillip Ivellio-Vellin, exploring the ramifications of the impending Digital Markets Act (DMA) and Google Consent Mode's implementation deadline of March 6, 2024. This episode promises to equip you with the knowledge and strategies to t thrive in an environment where privacy regulations and tech giants' policies collide.
From the implications of user consent to the future of cookie tracking, our deep dive into the evolving digital landscape is a must-listen for every marketer and ecommerce professional seeking to maintain a competitive edge.Phillip offers his expert insights on the delicate balance between data compliance and business performance, shedding light on the industry's pivot towards prioritizing user privacy without sacrificing remarketing efficacy. Hang on as we dissect the future of ad campaigns and present an outlook on how these seismic shifts are poised to change digital advertising strategies.
Google's guidance on consent management requirements in the EEA and UK:
https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/14505993
Are you ready to uncover the future of Google Ads? Brace yourself as we navigate the rapidly evolving landscape of Google's advertising platform, with a specific focus on the rising dominance of Performance Max (PMax), Demand Gen campaigns, and YouTube shorts. Mike dissects how PMax is transitioning from a mere extension of Smart Shopping campaigns to a possible replacement for all campaign types, and grapples with the changing nature of this technology.He dives into the prospect that PMax could replace keyword search campaigns, an idea that Google is at least flirting with, as evidenced by a recent survey. Mike further attempts to disentangle the relationship between PMax and Demand Gen campaigns, and predicts a sharp rise in YouTube Shorts ads throughout 2024. This future could be a mixed bag for different kinds of advertisers, presenting both challenges and benefits. So gear up and join us on this enlightening exploration as we decode what future holds for Google Ads!
Unveiling the hidden world of Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising and software development is none other than one of the founders of True Clicks, Wijnand Meijer. Meijer joins us to guide us down his unique path into PPC and software development - a journey sparked by a simple idea to bridge a gap in the market. This lightbulb moment led to the genesis of the PPC Survey, a community-led initiative that aims to share invaluable, up-to-the-minute data within the PPC industry. Since its May 2022 inception, this project has garnered an overwhelmingly positive response.
Fasten your seatbelts as we navigate the most recent findings from the PPC Survey, revealing the inner workings and sentiments within the industry. We bring to you the reality of job satisfaction in the PPC realm, where seeing the fruits of their labor is the highlight for as many as 62% of industry professionals. Don’t miss our discussion on the financial angles of PPC management, where we uncover that managing a single account leads to higher spend levels for in-house teams. We also shed light on the top pain points for PPC agencies, with the crown taken by unrealistic client expectations. And let’s not forget the future - we're talking scripts and AI in PPC!
Our deep dive doesn't stop there. We take you through the projections from the PPC Survey of 2024, laying bare key trends and forecasts. This data-heavy chat covers the rising trust in Microsoft compared to other platforms, such as Google, Twitter, and Amazon, and the average number of scripts running in each account. From the projected spend for major campaign types to satisfaction levels with Google Ads features, we've got it all. Whether you’re a seasoned PPC professional, or taking your first steps in the industry, this episode is packed with priceless insights into the current and future state of PPC. You don't want to miss it!
Wondering about the hidden potential of product segmentation in ecommerce? Join as we peel back the layers on this fascinating topic. We'll discuss the tension between efficiency and scale, and explore how product segmentation can help you navigate these opposing forces. Discover the relevance of the 1970s BCG Matrix in today's ecommerce world, learn about the role of algorithms in solving the fascinating "multi-armed bandit" problem, and get insights into Google's Shopping Graph and Audience Graph.
We'll dissect the intricacies of the modified BCG matrix ("heroes and zombies"), weighing its pros and cons. Get ready to see how a multi-dimensional approach, which considers a balance of performance data and off-channel data like margin, can offer potential benefits. We'll debate the limitations of two-dimensional models and the potential of AI in understanding multi-dimensional spaces. As we reach the end of our journey, we'll reflect on the challenging economic climate and its impact on marketing effectiveness. Let's challenge traditional best practices and consider the vast possibilities of product segmentation together. This episode promises to change the way you look at product segmentation!
Are you ready to peel back the curtain on Google's shadowy world of search auctions? Prepare for a shocking journey that will explore the murky details of Google's alleged auction manipulation, as revealed in the Department of Justice antitrust investigation. This is an absolute must-listen for anyone in the e-commerce space, as we navigate the mechanics of their reserve price increases, the mysterious RGSP system, and the controversial practice of 'squashing.' We'll dissect how these manipulations effectively push up the average Cost Per Click (CPC) and what this means for advertisers.
We're going to get up close and personal with the RGSP - Randomized, Generalized Second Price auction - system that Google uses to decide auction winners and runners up. It's a system that, on the surface, seems advantageous for consumers and advertisers alike. But as we dig deeper, we'll expose potential side effects and its anti-competitive implications. Through this episode, you'll gain a greater understanding of the 'squashing' system, its role in Google's revenue growth, and why these tactics might just paint a picture of greed. We'll explore the conflicts of interest and trust issues that arise when the auctioneer also plays bidder. This episode is all about the why, the how, and the what now – you won't want to miss it!
Ever wonder why Amazon seems to always be ahead of the curve while Google seems to be playing catch up? Join me and James Hercher from AdExchanger as we pull back the curtain on the lucrative yet often under-discussed world of e-commerce and D2C. We dive into the intersection of commerce, media, and advertising technology, highlighting why Amazon's risk-taking approach grants them the edge ahead of Google and how human input continues to be pivotal in automation-dominated platforms.
Can you imagine AI taking over creative tasks and producing original content? As our conversation evolves, we delve into the stagnating ad market and the rise of AI, specifically its influence on businesses. James shares intriguing insights on companies like Colgate-Palmolive, which are leveraging AI for dynamic product listings to shape future customer experiences. We explore the potential and limitations of AI in the creative space, igniting a stimulating debate on AI's capacity for originality.
As we examine the future of advertising, we touch on the increasing role of cloud computing. We consider the impact of tech giants like Amazon and Google in developing services like identity resolution and data clean rooms. We also evaluate the implications of automation on customer service and the potential opportunities that companies like Google and Pinterest have in retail media. This episode offers an enlightening exploration of the ever-evolving world of e-commerce and advertising technology, packed with insights and observations that you won't want to miss!
Ever wondered how small advertisers navigate the labyrinth that is Google Ads? We dive into the thick of this challenge with Collin Slattery, founder of Taikun Digital, as we address the growing complexities of mid-funnel marketing. From Google's demand-gen campaigns and YouTube Shorts to the rise of Google's automation - we scrutinize it all.
Discover the ins and outs of Google's automation platform, its pros and cons, and how it's changing the landscape for advertisers both big and small. Colin, a veteran in the industry, brings his unique insights to the table, as we explore the diminishing transparency and control stemming from increasing automation. We'll compare Google's demand-gen campaigns with Meta's and Facebook's ad-to-cart optimization, pitting the tech giants against one another.
In the final leg, we zoom out to the larger picture, examining the impact of VC-backed brands overspending on acquisition and the influx of Chinese investments. Brands like Allbirds and shopee are under the microscope as we assess their aggressive marketing strategies. As we round off, we'll also touch on the recovery of Facebook's attribution data through modeling, and the current attitudes towards Google and Facebook. So why wait? Tune in for an episode packed with insights from the ever-evolving world of digital marketing.
What if I told you that the elusive world of Performance Max campaigns could be demystified? That's right, after an exhaustive year-long investigation, analyzing over 3000 campaigns, I've begun to crack open the black box of Performance Max. Together with the help of data experts, we will shed light on the hidden facets of these campaigns and guide you through the labyrinth of mystery placements and estimations. We’ll even unpack the unique challenges faced by multi-brand retailers and reveal the surprising trend of PerformanceMax leaning heavily into mobile traffic.
Curious about how many campaigns are perfect for you? Wondering how different catalogs and products might affect your segmentation? We’ll answer that and more. We'll delve into popular frameworks around product segmentation and the most favored bid strategies. We'll reveal why maximizing revenue or conversion value is the most prevalent strategy. But that's not all. We're also going to dive deep into the PerformanceMax efficiency, analyzing how these campaigns are meeting the target return on ad spend, and what exactly happens when campaigns exceed the ROAS target.
Now, you might be thinking, can Performance Max truly be trusted? How can we verify its effectiveness? Well, we have got you covered. We'll discuss the potential pitfalls and verification process of Performance Max campaigns. By sharing insights from multi-brand retailers who have used Performance Max, we aim to help you make informed decisions about this campaign type. So, buckle up for an episode filled with rich insights, compelling analysis, and valuable takeaways. Let's crack the Performance Max code together!
Ready to unlock the power of Amazon Ads? Join us for a fascinating deep dive into the world of Amazon advertising with our special guest, Stefan Bures, founder and CEO of metoda. Stefan is here to share his wealth of knowledge on Amazon Ads, offering a unique lens into its history, strengths, and how his company metoda is helping equip the retail industry to compete with Amazon. Expect to be enlightened on DSP linkout campaigns, product segmentation, and the concept of retail readiness.
We throw light on the unique selling propositions of Amazon Ads, its search ad, and demand-side platform (DSP). Stefan also shares insights into how Amazon Ads have impacted customer satisfaction and how it has contributed to Amazon's growth. We crack open the discussion on the differences between Google and Amazon Ads, providing a fresh perspective on the potential of DSP linkout campaigns as an audience targeting and customer acquisition channel.
Our conversation doesn't end there, as we also explore the significance of setting apt budgets for Amazon Ads on peak days and how heat mapping past seasonal events can help. Stefan and Mike also touch upon the future of digital marketing, taking into account the power of DSP linkouts, the rise of social selling, and the influence of Amazon, Google, and social media channels. We wrap up by talking about the importance of online presence and networking, and how it can pave the way for more opportunities. Don't miss out on this enlightening episode with Stefan Bures. We promise you'll walk away with a new level of understanding for Amazon Ads like never before.
Get ready for a ride as senior product manager at adidas, Onur Polat, steps into the spotlight. His journey from launching a jobs portal in Albania to charting the intricacies of corporations and scale-ups like Criteo and Channable is nothing short of inspiring. We'll be picking his brain about the significance of feed-based advertising in product management, and we promise, his insights are a treasure trove of knowledge you won't want to miss.
We'll be demystifying the 'black box' concept as we explore how the quality of output is a direct reflection of what goes in. We'll also confront the challenging decision between buying and building when it comes to product feeds. Onur's experiences underscore the importance of homegrown capabilities to generate raw feeds. And there's more! We'll be taking a closer look at Google's Product Studio and its potential to provide solutions to product feeds.
But that's not all. We'll be dwelling on the impact of AI tools on companies, with Onur sharing his experiences with the Bing image generator. You'll hear his take on why larger enterprises should approach AI with caution. Our journey with Onur extends to his role in adidas's Paid Traffic Product team, the distinction between the work of product and marketing teams, and the transformative role of CMOs in today's technology-driven business landscape. So, stay tuned. This is one episode that will leave you brimming with new insights and perspectives.
Visit adidas.com for more information about the brand.
Ever wondered what it takes to navigate the world of performance marketing amidst a global pandemic? Join us as we chat with Stefan Huß, Head of Performance Marketing at Lampenwelt, a mid-to-top market lighting brand and part of the Luqom Group. Learn how Stefan's fascinating career journey, which began with Aldi Süd and led him to the world of performance marketing, prepared him for the unique challenges and opportunities he encountered when he joined Lampenwelt just one month before COVID-19 struck.
In this episode, we uncover the ins and outs of online lighting retail and marketing, from Lampenwelt's diverse product range to their advertising strategies and efforts to branch out into the B2B space. Stefan shares how Lampenwelt quickly adapted to the Ecommerce boom, implementing significant changes to their ecosystem, ERP, and management team to ensure the future success of the business. Discover the critical role data plays in driving these decisions and shaping the company's future direction.
Lastly, Stefan provides valuable insights into data-driven marketing strategies, such as Marketing Mix Modeling and profit bidding for paid media. We discuss the importance of automation and artificial intelligence in determining the best investment opportunities and delve into the challenges of using Performance Max to optimize profits in the UK and France. Don't miss this enlightening conversation with Stefan Huß, where we cover everything from data-driven marketing to the future of performance marketing in Ecommerce.
What if artificial intelligence could revolutionize the e-commerce industry? Join us in our captivating conversation with Ralph Mayr, director of Product Management at Smarter Ecommerce, as we delve into the intriguing world of AI and its impact on ecommerce. From high-level concepts like philosophical zombies to current applications in performance marketing, Ralph shares his expert insight from both a consumer and product manager's perspective.
We tackle the moral implications of AI, including whether it should announce itself if it could be mistaken for a human being. Our discussion explores the state of Google search and its results, as well as the ads served alongside them. We examine the growing pains of new technologies like Google's Shopping Graph and conversational AI, and how these developments may improve search experiences for both consumers and advertisers.
Finally, we dive into the latest updates from Google Marketing Live, touching on conversational campaign creation, Product Studio, and more. Learn how chat-based assistance could revolutionize campaign creation and the implications of AI-assisted tools like Product Studio for product images. Don't miss our analysis of the potential long-term effects of these innovations and the trade-offs between time savings and performance. Tune in and elevate your understanding of the ever-evolving landscape of AI and ecommerce!
Welcome to growing e-commerce. This time, Mike is discussing Google marketing live, also known as GML. As the recording takes place between GML and IO (Google's big developer conference), it was a pivotal month probably in the history of the company. Most importantly, ecommerce was at the forefront of GML and it felt very much like an ecommerce event. Listen to the episode to learn about the features coming to Google search and Google ads and what they mean for you. We'll cover conversational campaign creation, product, studio, Merchant Center next and more.
Overall direction of Google technology - 3:00
- Ads are coming to SGE? - 7:20
- How can AI in Google environment support advertisers - 13:10
- Automatic asset generation -18:55
- Product Studio - 23:10
- Merchant Center Next - 29:16
With the introduction of the AI powered BING search, its an interesting time for the world as the advertisers are at an inflection point between learning, testing and generating results. Welcome to Episode 9. of Growing Ecommerce. Today Mike is joined by Fabrice Canel, Principal Program Manager for Bing Search. As he is responsible for crawling and indexing at BING and ultimately for the product relevance and customer expectations, we discuss what's changing with the integration of AI chat into Bing search and what's staying the same? We talk about AI hallucinations, AI for e-commerce, and how search marketers should react to technology.
- AI and search - 8:40
- What is next for AI? - 22:40
- AI questions no one wants to answer - 27:40
- AI in ecommerce - 35:30
Welcome to Episode 8. of Growing Ecommerce. Today Mike is joined by two guests, Kirk Williams, owner of ZATO marketing making his second appearance on the show, and Ben Kruger who's a senior ecommerce growth consultant at Google. In exchange for a packed agenda you get a stimulating conversation about the grand brand-non brand debate in Google ads, the ways in which PMax is like paid social and the discussion about whether or not CPCs matter anymore.
Welcome to Episode 7. of Growing Ecommerce.
Today, Mike is joined by Lucas Gordon, a solution specialist in native advertising at Microsoft. With 20 years of experience in digital media and advertising, working with brands like Revlon, Decathlon and many others, he's particularly strong in real-time bidding technology. Lucas walks us through Microsoft's ad tech offering. Why audience matters more than placement? Why he sees Microsoft as a low fraud environment? And we talk about partnerships including Xander Netflix and Open AI, We really enjoy this conversation and we hope you will too.
Welcome to Episode 6. of Growing Ecommerce. Today Mike is joined by Sam Tomlinson, of Warshawski, a boutique marketing agency in the US. Sam is also teaching at Johns Hopkins, University and Georgetown. Mike caught him while he was attending SMX Munich and discussed the conference briefly before diving into Sam's views on forecasting and emphasizes that forecasting is not out of reach. Then, we switch gears and we discuss the intersection of large language models and search. It's not a new topic to this podcast, but here is a new perspective, Sam explains where he's not quite as convinced
- The importance of forecasting, and its types - 8:53
- Cohort base and Bayesian regression. - 16:20
- How to determine forecast type? - 26:30
- What is good growth to you? - 29:34
- AI in marketing. - 25:37
Welcome to Episode 5. of Growing Ecommerce. Today, Mike is joined by Mike Taylor, who is making his second appearance on the show. He's the co-founder of Vex Power and author of the upcoming book marketing memetics. Last time we talked about testing, marketing, mix modeling and generative aAI, but this time we are digging in: we talk about the prospect for marketers in an age of AI, an interesting field called Prompt Engineering and so-called war of the search engines between the new BING experience powered by chat GPT and google's Bard.
- AI Introduction - 3:30
- Is Ai coming after your job? - 16:40
- Prompt engineering- 22:10
- War of search engines - 28:08
- How wrong are we dealing with AI - 42:22
Welcome to Episode 4. of Growing Ecommerce. Today Mike is joined by his colleague Mark Haupt, smec`s UK commercial director. He brings years of online retail experience in several different contexts to the table as he talks to Mike about the Post Brexit, post - pandemic economic situation in the UK, how Google's Performance Max has landed with the UK market, the increasing allure of Microsoft ads and the agency in-house relationship.
Join Mike and learn more about the paid marketing in the UK .
- The big picture - 4:15
- PMax in the UK - 13:20
- Microsoft and AI content - 28:00
- In House vs Agency - 34:25
Welcome to Episode 3. of Growing Ecommerce.
Today, Mike looks back at ecommerce in 2022. He reviewed the data and prepared a market report for 2022. He first looks at macroeconomic data like consumer confidence and inflation and then talks about trends identified in channel data for Google Ads, Shopping and Performance Max in particular. The focus of the market report is on Germany, Netherlands, UK, and France.
Join Mike and learn what are the key trends to build on in 2023.
Which ecommerce verticals grew in 2022? -1:36
Inflation and consumer confidence, what to make of it? -5:33
Retail mobility vs. Covid stringency - 17:25
Full funnel metrics - 19:31
PMax adoption? - 37:37
Welcome to Episode 2. of Growing ecommerce. Today, we are joined by Scott Kennedy. He's a senior director at Franklin Sports where he's responsible for ecommerce analytics and tech capabilities. In the US, Franklin is synonymous with baseball and baseball for many is synonymous with stats. It is a numbers game, so it's only fitting that Franklin is a remarkably data driven organization and Scott is at the forefront of that. We discussed that data culture in quite some detail, getting into employee mentoring and we discussed Amazon advertising, the amazon data landscape, and the balance of retail and direct to consumer at franklin with advice for smaller brands too.
- Effective stock management- 12:30
- How to build a data driven organization - 15:05
- Amazon for direct to consumer ecommerce businesses - 23:01
- How to build competitive advantage in online retail - 29:45
Welcome to Episode 33. of Growing ecommerce. Today, we are joined by Arend de Ruiter from bol.com, a dutch retailer and retail platform generating over €5 billion in annual revenue.
Arend leads SEA measurement and data activation at this retail giant. We discuss what it's like to advertise 60 million products, how to approach segmentation in supersized accounts, and how to deploy automation in this huge oil tanker like organization.
- Advertising 60 million products - 10:30
- What is the right amount of segmentation - 14:32
- SEO and SEA management - 16:32
- Full funnel marketing and KPIs - 24:59
- What technology to focus on? - 39:00
Welcome to Episode 32. of Growing ecommerce, the last episode of 2022. Today, we are joined by Philip, Ivelio Vellin who is an expert in analytics and tracking.
This time, Mike and Phillip talk about google analytics 4, the complaints, the benefits, and how to get it right. They discussed cardinality, data retention, migration strategy, consent mode, and model data plus server side tagging.
It's a great introduction to the topic and now is actually an opportunity to update your data strategy as Philip explains why this is core to succeeding next year and beyond.
- What is GA4 and what makes it different? - 03:00
- What is cardinality? -10:48
- How do we benefit from GA4? -15:00
- What is a consent mode? - 16:55
- GA4 in ecommerce? - 22:25
Welcome to Episode 31. of Growing ecommerce. Today, we are joined by Tim Aton, COO at Range Leather, where in a classic scale-up fashion, he wears a lot of hats. From paid, and owned media channels to product merchandising to managing shipping and wholesale teams. We discuss approaches to blended ROAS, meta advertising, Facebook in particular, and how is life looking post-iOS 14. Then we move on from marketing and discuss the interplay of marketing and operations.
- Meta & Facebook advertising - 7:12
- Life post-IOS 14 - 15:41
- Blended ROAS in ecommerce - 18:48
- Interplay of marketing and operations - 28:59
Welcome to Episode 30. of Growing ecommerce. Today is a special episode as we break the usual format. Long-time listeners will know we did a Q4 peak season panel back in 2021 and we did it again. Time Mike is in the hot seat joined by his colleague, Agnes Zottl. Many thanks to Maria Holzinger for stepping into the moderator rule. They discuss big-picture environmental trends, what it means to have the most automated Google Ads peak season ever, and how to profit this holiday season. You can have a look at the full interview here.
- Beating Bestseller bias - 03:32
- PMax - the self-driving car - 09:07
- Stock and non-stock challenge for retailers - 11:13
- Holiday season advice for retailers - 15:21
Welcome to Episode 29. of Growing ecommerce. Today, Mike is joined by Mike Taylor, co-founder of Vex Power (vexpower.com) which offers courses for marketers who want to improve their technical skills. He also offers consultancy, growth and experimentation and he's a popular instructor on LinkedIn learning. Microsoft Excel for marketers and memetics (Marketingmemetics.com) are one of his big hits over there. They discuss Mike's stance on testing. When is it a waste of time? When isn't it? And his critiques of personalization. This time, you get walked through marketing, mix modeling, generative AI, and a broader definition of memes.
Welcome to Episode 28 of Growing Ecommerce. In this episode, Mike shares one of his monologues to reflect the changes in advertising, and tackles the ongoing need for modernization, including testing, and account structure. Mike looks at the recent changes in the google ads universe and talks about what it means for ecommerce experts as google becomes the merchant center of gravity.
Welcome to Episode 27 of Growing Ecommerce. In this episode, Mike is joined by Inderpaul Rai, Head of Acquisition at ufurnished.com. Indy has had a remarkable career spanning from small-scale SEO to award-winning paid work on the agency side, to enterprise in-house teams and all the way back to a startup environment. We discuss all that, and along the way we talk about what a modern partnership-driven affiliate model looks like, plus the importance of paid and organic search harmonisation – or in other words, taking a total SEM view. Also, culture is a topic that Indy radiates, and this gets a spotlight as well.
- Career highlights and lessons learned - 2:39
- Modern partnership-driven affiliate model - 24:19
- Paid and organic search harmonisation - 28:00
- What is next in digital marketing? - 36:31
Welcome to episode 26. of Growing Ecommerce. In this episode, Mike is joined by Alex Greifeld. Alex has a long background in ecommerce and until recently she was a director at Tapestry, which collects brands you'll know from the luxury space like Coach and Kate Spade. Now, she's acting as an ecommerce growth advisor, so she's a really perfect fit for this podcast.
We talked through age-old debates like retention versus acquisition and newer ones like Return on Ad Spend versus Marketing Efficiency Ratio, as well as Customer Lifetime Value versus first-order profit.
Listen to the new Growing Ecommerce episode and learn more about:
- Product, forgotten P of marketing - 02:39
- Customer Retention Vs Acquisition - 04:19
- ROAS vs MER? -17:13
- CLV vs first-order profit? -26:51
- What's next for ecommerce - 36:31
You can hear more from Alex by subscribing to her very popular ecommerce newsletter, No Best Practices: https://nobestpractices.co/
Welcome to Episode 25 of Growing Ecommerce. This time, Mike is joined by Katherine Munro, a data scientist at smec. If you have a stereotype in your mind that data scientists are brilliant, then Katherine will not disappoint you. She is a fountain of knowledge – disciplined and scientific as you might expect, and also incredibly creative in her thinking.
We catch up about some current projects she’s working on and then dive into CLV, or Customer Lifetime Value. What is CLV exactly, what are approaches to calculating or modelling it? How can we use it in an ecommerce setting? We talk cohorts, categories, and KPIs.
- What is it? How to calculate or model it? - 04:19
- How to use CLV in an e commerce setting? -17:13
- The value of CLV for your business? -26:51
- Beyond CLV - 36:31
Welcome to episode 24 of Growing Ecommerce. In this episode, Mike is joined by Kirk Williams - his own professional hero. Kirk is a PPC and digital advertising expert who runs his own PPC micro agency, ZATO Marketing. In this episode, Kirk and Mike ponder about the Google advertising space, both the challenges and opportunities moving forward, as well as the role of data collection and privacy in the ecommerce operating environment. This episode gives an interesting counter or companion perspective to the recent episode with Ginny Marvin -Google Ads liaison. Feel free to have a look at the article Kirk refers to or listen to Kirk host Mike in the podcast episode.
- What is healthy ecommerce growth? - 08:34
- Google Ads and how to optimise campaign performance - 19:12
- Performance Max-Google’s automation concept - 28:02
- Compliant data collection and privacy moving forward - 42:34
Welcome to episode 23 of Growing Ecommerce.
In this episode, Mike is joined by his colleague from smec, Markus Harant. He is an online marketing expert who leads the Programmatic Advertising and Analytics team. In this episode, Markus talks us through the technology behind programmatic, ecommerce use cases, how to view these campaigns, and What's going on with the dichotomy between brand and performance? If you wish to read about Programmatic Advertising instead of listening about it - have a look at the Programmatic Advertising ebook. And news of Microsoft and Xander winning Netflix's ad business
- Technology behind Programmatic and its adoption?
- Top or bottom of the funnel? Programmatic Performance and how to measure it. - 9:21
- Programmatic Advertising budget: machine learning capabilities, cost, and value. - 18:00
- Microsoft to power Netflix’s advertising. What to expect? - 31:18
Welcome to episode 21 of Growing Ecommerce. In this episode, Mike was lucky enough to speak with Ginny Marvin, Google Ads product liaison. She supports communication and the working relationship between Google's product team on the one hand, and the advertisers and partners who use that platform on the other hand. In this episode you get introduced to Google’s latest resources to help you steer your retail business: your guide to search automation, Google Ads best practice guideandperformance max best practices guide.With these resources and everything Mike and Ginny discuss in this episode you’ll dive deeper into:
- From all search engine marketing to client interactions and product updates. How does Google connect with advertisers? 1:34
- The future of Google Ads? Automation, maximized conversions and machine learning capabilities 8:36
- Business or product Insights? Insights that marketers should really be looking to manage campaigns 18:16
- Differentiation in an automated environment 31:00
Welcome to episode 21. of growing ecommerce.
In this episode, Mike is joined by Karin Schallauer, smec’s product marketing team lead who just came back from K5, one of the biggest ecommerce conferences overall in the German-speaking region. Tune in as Karin and Mike take you down the ecommerce landscape and discuss:
- Managing marketplace, supply chain, personalisation, and digital transformation
- Sustainability: the footprint of your sales - 5:47
- Marketplaces: should I stay or should I go? - 11.25
- Social ecommerce: Trend or reality? - 17:34
- Pandemic playing field: disruptions, opportunities, and trends - 27:14
- What is healthy ecommerce growth? - 30.40
Welcome to episode 20. of Growing eccommerce.
In this episode, Mike is lucky enough to speak with Max Hallerstede, CEO of Hallerstede gmbh, a long-running family business in Germany that Max helped bring online under the ecommerce trading brand Kofferworld. What's so special is that Max is a real pro in logistics, purchasing, and pricing and he talks to us about:
How years of consultancy helped him prepare for the disruptions of the last couple of years
How strong brand relationships have secured his business against new competitors
How he has used forecasting and endurance to avoid losses and make profitable sales.
Pricing tools and strategies
It’s just a really great chance to reflect and learn. Particularly, in the current inflationary climate with ecommerce under pressure and everything else going on right now.
Dive deeper into:
00:00 Intro
01:33 TAKING OFFLINE RETAIL ONLINE: How to digitally transform a family-run business?
09:37 HOW TO MANAGE SUPPLY CHAIN? The right tools to measure your stock, sales, and supply
18:02 STEPS TO SETTING THE RIGHT PRICES: Pricing tools, profitability, and operational efficiency.
34:02 HOW TO STAY AHEAD OF PRICING REGULATIONS?
Welcome to episode 19. You can think of it as part 2 to the previous conversation with Christopher Rogl in episode 15 - Performance Max: One campaign to rule them all. In this sequel we will dive deeper into THE trending topic within the Google universeIn this episode, Mike Ryan gives you a brief context for the PMax, a framework for smarter PMax retail campaigns, and ideas for bringing that framework to life.
Mike, smec’s portfolio strategist keeps you up to date with:
- What are Performance Max campaigns?
- Advantages and disadvantages of PMax
- Moving forward with PMax
- PMax Segmentation
- PMax framework and practices
- PMax optimisation
Welcome to episode 18. In this episode, you get a deep dive into the story of healthy ecommerce growth and everything from attribution to efficiency metrics like MER and ROAS through the prism of challenges modern brands and retailers face daily:
the dense ecommerce playing field, the volatile media buying landscape, and the conundrum of profitable marketing efforts.
Mike, smec’s portfolio strategist is joined by David Rekuc, VP of marketing at 4x400, holding company of the direct-to-consumer brand Bambu Earth. Dave is a forward thinking marketing professional with a great deal of knowledge about marketing measurement and the economics of marketing. Among other topics, he describes the detective story of attribution and shares a grounded but constructive take on the current economic conditions.
In this episode, you will get all you need to stay on top of Meta & Google earning reports, DTC Media Buying, and Retail media and marketplace networks. Mike, smec’s portfolio strategist, keeps you up to date with all the changes in the online retail environment keeping the most common challenge of retailers in mind: traffic acquisition.
Looking at the direct-to-consumer business (DTC), the question to answer is: how to acquire customers in an online context? Retailers have to convince people to go to their brand website and view their product when the common perception is consumers are looking for a one-stop shopping experience ( read Amazon).
With changing retail media networks and marketplaces larger retailers explore new business models due to the increasing cost of traffic acquisition. You are essentially in pursuit of better targeting, performance, and clear metrics to drive your retail media network selection in the estimated 100 billion US dollars annual revenue retail media network space. These networks are often characterised by margins as high as 50% so we look at retail media networks and marketplace models, and identify what's happening there.
Meta & Google 2022 Q1 earning reports made available public last week reveal certain challenges and opportunities for the future. Youtube was a particularly interesting one, at least that’s what experts are saying. They faced slowdowns in video consumption from the pandemic due to the post-pandemic behavioral shift of users and increasing competition from TikTok.
Google on the other hand raises concerns about increasing traffic acquisition costs. But we also must look at their click growth, up 12% year over.
Retailers who are winning at acquisition right now are going to be the people who are winning in the longer term.
Competitive differentiation is key to marketing a diverse product portfolio, and it depends on the customer segment you target. It requires in-depth understanding of your customers’ concerns and behavior. Questions we had to ask: What are the jobs our customers do, how can our products support, and what are the competitive alternatives? Here we look at how Sean McGinnis, KURU footwear President and Integrator, breaks the product portfolio down into its product categories, product lines, and added highly-faceted attributes.
This podcast episode takes you through customer-oriented micro funnels to understand how KURU increased its conversion rates.
Performance Max campaigns are a new way of automatically purchasing Ad inventory across Google’s entire network. PMax will replace other campaign types such as Smart Shopping and Local Campaigns later this year – leaving advertisers in a scramble to experiment with and understand this new technology.
This podcast episode keeps you up to speed with the features, challenges and opportunities of PMax campaign implementation. Are you ready for Ad campaigns of tomorrow?
Inflation is here, so is the rise in demand, disruption in the supply chain, and changes in the ecommerce universe. This podcast episode looks at the rise of inflation in the macroeconomic environment and its impact on consumers and online retailers. It aims to provide reasoning to decisions we can take now to deal with the changes in the macroeconomic environment.
How did we get here? Is inflation here to stay?
How are consumers handling the environment?
What is the effect on retailers?
What is the impact on durable consumer products?
How have companies coped with the disruptions in the operating environment?
These are only some of the questions we tackle in this episode. Listen to Ralph Mayr, smec's product manager, and our podcast host, Mike Ryan as they discuss the impact of inflation on online retailers and the ecommerce industry.
This episode looks at smec’s recent participation at NRF 2022, Retail’s Big Show taking place in New York.
How have companies coped with the disruptions in operating environment ?
How are industry leaders keeping their pace with data collection?
What are the main differences in customer experience?
Listen to Ralph Mayr, smec's product manager, Michael Weichselbaumer, smec's director of client data strategy and one of our podcast hosts, Maria Holzinger as they discuss key NRF takeaways and its implications on changing retail environment.
ROAS is a seemingly mundane marketing metric, calculated as the ratio of revenue to advertising costs. And yet it is so much more than that.
In this episode Mike Ryan will talk about ROAS, it's alternatives and why you should consider ditching this metric for something more effective.
Read more in this article: https://bit.ly/3KbV3zz
What does the future of ecommerce hold? How can retailers thrive in 2022 and beyond?
Listen to Brian McBride, former chairman of ASOS & CEO of Amazon UK, Tristan Horx, futurist at zukunftsInstitut, Jan Radanitsch, CEO at smec and podcast host Mike Ryan, Head of Retail Insights at smec, as they talk about how to prevail as an online retailer in the ever changing world of ecommerce.
Join pricing expert Ralph Mayr, data scientist Katherine Munro, and campaign strategist Stefan Stopper for a discussion of holiday promotional strategy, tools, and tactics. This panel discusses challenges and opportunities to profitability including supply & fulfillment, promotion timing & discounting, and the role of automation in marketing campaigns.
Matthew Strelitz, Director of Performance Marketing at the Miami HEAT, explains how the HEAT’S ecommerce model differs from other sports franchises. Their DTC approach has scored big in terms of securing a robust revenue stream in the face of a pandemic-induced sales slump, as well as rewarding internal innovation, enabling agile product launches to capture the latest on-court heroics, strengthening a commitment to inclusivity, and allowing a lifestyle brand expansion.
Mihai Popescu, Head of Digital Marketing at Esprit, shares lessons learned from building teams and driving growth in four fascinating business models: hotel comparison, product comparison, a B2B marketplace, and an iconic apparel brand. Along the way, he offers advice on hiring and OKRs, in-housing and partnerships, and marketing measurement.
Marika Baltscheffsky is CMO at MEDS, an ambitious online shop that is disrupting Sweden’s highly-concentrated pharmacy retail vertical with differentiated branding and strong value propositions. Marika combines her background in psychology with experience both at agencies and platform-side at Google and YouTube. Learn how she leverages a small team to get big attention for MEDS.
Patrick Gilbert, Chief Operating Officer at AdVenture Media and author of the book "Join or Die: Digital Advertising in the Age of Automation", explains how you can harness the power of machine learning and automation to drive healthy growth.
With a background in retail, the digital marketing and data science, Patrick gained invaluable insights into the evolution of ecommerce and is now a renowned thought leader, keynote speaker at Google Partner events and listed among the “Top 50 Most Influential PPC Experts of 2020” by PPC Hero.
Larissa Walker brings a fascinating academic background and years of practical experience scaling startups to her current role as Commercial Optimisation Program Leader at RS Components, a FTSE250 business. Startups that Larissa has helped to grow have flourished, including 1 IPO and 3 acquisitions. Learn about everything from how to launch new products to how to lead digital turnarounds with Larissa.
Polle van Elsacker, independent Marketing Tech Consultant with 11+ years of PPC experience shares his view on current industry developments. Additionally, he sheds light on how to transform businesses in a fast-paced environment into leaders by unlocking unused potential which allows for healthy growth.
Christopher Gutknecht, Lead Acquisition & Optimization at Bergzeit, is an expert practitioner and leader in digital maturity including topics like profit based campaigns, attribution modelling and marketing data warehousing.
Birgit de Vries, Owner of Golfbreker Consulting, has led quite a lot of digital transformation projects and an expertise in digital marketing strategy and change management.
Steve Sheinkopf, CEO at Yale Appliance since 1986, on the advantages of a strong online presence as offline retailer, digital marketing processes, growth and a whole lot more.