From Adolescence to Adulthood: Expediting commerce media maturity with technology

Commerce media is in a transitional phase. The opportunity to evolve into a true commerce ecosystem is significant, but progress depends on how effectively the industry can integrate media, data, technology, and the customer experience into one connected ecosystem.

These challenges were a central focus at this year’s IAB UK Retail Media Growth Summit, where much of the discussion centred on what needs to be solved for the industry to scale in a more coordinated and sustainable way.

Commerce media has firmly established its importance, but the industry finds itself stuck in an awkward phase between adolescence and maturity, sporting many of the familiar tell-tale signs of the teenage years. Growth has often outpaced coordination, resulting in inconsistency across markets and platforms. Much like teenagers, the industry feels unpredictable and inconsistent, displaying strong emotions to scrutiny, low discipline, and social awkwardness.

At the IAB UK’s Retail Media Growth Summit, I explored how technology is helping commerce media networks move beyond their “gangly teenage” phase, as described in a Wall Street Journal headline. By addressing structural challenges, technology can help the industry build a more connected, consistent, and mature ecosystem.

How tech can help commerce media emerge from its gangly teenage phase

1. Connected & Integrated Development 

The next phase of commerce media growth will come from reducing operational friction through more connected workflows. Many companies are investing heavily in API-connected workflow layers that reduce retailer-by-retailer manual work and create more unified planning, activation, and reporting environments.

At SMG, our thinking has centred on orchestration too, most notably through Plan-Apps, our purpose-built operating system that connects planning, activation, measurement, and optimisation across the commerce media cycle.

2. Stability & Adaptive Decision-Making

AI-driven automation is increasingly embedded in campaign operations, helping organisations respond faster as pricing, inventory, and audience signals shift in real time. This enables teams to manage growing complexity and make faster, more responsive decisions while campaigns are live.

3. Confidence & Accountability

The industry is moving toward more connected measurement environments through clean rooms, unified reporting frameworks, and more consistent approaches to incrementality. The direction of travel is less about a single methodology and more about improving interoperability, transparency, and trust across fragmented ecosystems.

4. Structured Intelligence & Self-Discipline

Companies are investing heavily in AI-powered intelligence layers that support faster movement from insight to action through forecasting, decision support, and proactive recommendations.

At SMG, we’re focused on using years of commerce media performance data to improve planning accuracy, reduce inefficiency, and support better decisions earlier in the process.

5. Ease of Participation

Adtech providers and RMNs are making participation easier through self-service platforms, partner APIs, and more guided workflows, enabling more brands and retailers to participate without requiring significant specialist infrastructure.

Ultimately, industries grow faster when participation becomes simpler. The organisations that reduce friction across planning, activation, and measurement will be best placed to build stronger, more sustainable ecosystem participation.

As commerce media continues to grow, those that harness intelligence layers, like SMG’s Plan-Apps, will mature more quickly and find themselves positioned for long-term success. The path to “adulthood” will be driven by the industry’s commitment to connectivity, collaboration, access, and adaptive decision-making.