• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, April 10, 2024

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.4% in March -- a measure that does not include food and energy costs rose by just as much. The pace matches the prior two months, the U.S. government reported Tuesday.

Overall inflation in the 12 months through March was 3.5%, compared with 3.2% as of February.

As the CPI index continues to inch up, retail media continues to grow at a much faster pace.

For some companies, the trajectory continues to outpace traditional media such as paid search. One research report points to trust in recommendations from retailers rather than search engines. 

Skai recently released its spending and pricing trends across retail media, paid search and social advertising. Retail media spending grew 14% in March, while the average cost per click (CPC) rose 7%, among Skai clients, The average spending per day rose 6%.

Some 59% of retail media accounts spent more in March than February compared with 23% who spent less.

The average price of a click rose for 48% of the accounts and decreased for 17%, with the remaining share for each metric seeing no change.

Of the segments that showed movement in both spending and pricing, the largest was when spend and CPCs increased. That accounted for 35% of all retail media accounts. Another 44% showed no change in either spending levels OR the price per click.

Skai said paid search did not grow as much as retail media among its clients. Spend grew 13% in March, while the average CPC remained flat. The average spend per day rose 5%.

Half of search accounts spend more in March then in February. About 24% spend less. The average price of a click rose for 35% of the accounts and fell for 38%. The remaining share for each metric saw no change.

It turns out that U.S. shoppers are nearly twice as likely to be influenced by ads served to them on the websites of retailers they already shop with compared with marketplaces, according to a research from Intellias, a software engineering and digital consultancy company.

Of the 1,000 U.S. shoppers surveyed, 25% have been influenced to buy products advertised to them on retailers’ websites, and 15% have been persuaded to buy items after being served ads on retailers’ apps. 

Compare this with 13% who purchase products after seeing an advertisement on a third party marketplace and 14% who saw a branded ad on social media. 

Some 54% of the consumers participating in the survey said they would be more likely to buy items advertised to them by a trusted retailer, while another 55% said they would be more likely to try out a new brand they had not purchased before if a retailer they regularly shop with recommended it.