Ecommerce brands
Retail media, search and social — ad spots sold next to the products people are already looking at, priced mostly by result rather than by impression, and real listings that publish a rate.
Which channels usually fit
An ecommerce brand is usually buying attention at or near the moment of a purchase decision, which is what retail media, search and shoppable social all sell — a different buy from a display banner on an unrelated page.
Commerce
A sponsored product listing or placement on a retailer's own site or app, next to the products a shopper is already browsing.
Search
A sponsored result on the term someone actually typed — the highest-intent placement most ecommerce budgets buy.
Social
A shoppable or sponsored post, often linking straight to a product page rather than a landing page.
How you'll actually buy
Retail media and search ad spots are usually a self-serve console inside the platform itself; some of the larger retail networks put a managed account on top of the same console once spend grows. Social ad spots follow the platform's own ad manager. Check each listing's buying method rather than assuming one door for all three channels.
What you'll be asked for
A product feed or catalogue
Retail media and shoppable social both need your products connected before an ad spot can run — this sits outside the listing, in the platform's own onboarding.
A performance basis, not a flat fee
Most ad spots on these channels are priced per click, per sale or per thousand impressions rather than a flat placement fee — check the basis on the listing's rate before comparing two sellers.
A minimum spend or order, where one is stated
Where a seller records one, it is a typed minimum on the listing, not a line buried in its terms.
What to check first on a listing
The published rate and its basis
What you pay per — impression, click or sale — changes what a number means more than the number itself does.
Self-serve or managed
Whether you can turn a campaign on yourself or need an account manager once spend passes a threshold.
The audience it actually reaches
Traffic and market on the listing, before assuming a retailer's ad spot reaches shoppers outside its own site.
Sellers on retail media, search and social with a published rate
Sellers with a recorded ad spot on the channels above and a real published number, ordered by audience, biggest tracked first.
Questions
What is the difference between retail media, search and social ads for an ecommerce brand?
Retail media runs on a retailer's own site or app next to its products; search runs against what someone typed; social runs in a feed, sometimes linking straight to a product page. Each has its own guide, linked above, with the sellers and pricing this directory has actually read.
Is ecommerce advertising always priced per click or per sale?
No — it varies by seller and by ad spot. The rate on each listing states the basis it is actually priced by; do not assume one model across every channel.
Do I need a minimum order size to start?
Only where a seller states one. Where it has been read, it is recorded as a typed minimum on the listing rather than left in prose — an unrecorded minimum means nobody has checked, not that there is none.