Google is about to provide businesses and advertisers entry to prime retail media placements on ecommerce websites akin to Finest Purchase, Costco, and Goal.
The deal, introduced on September 10, 2025, connects Google’s Search Adverts 360 (SA360) platform with a community of greater than 200 enterprise-level retailers by way of Criteo’s promoting and commerce platform.
“With Criteo’s expansive community of retailer companions, we’re serving to advertisers join with clients at a important second of their procuring journey,” mentioned Invoice Reardon, basic supervisor, enterprise platform at Google, by way of a press launch.
Digital Retail Media
Retail media is exploding. Adtelligent estimated that worldwide retail media spend would attain $145 to $165 billion in 2025, up from $59 billion in 2019.
In the US, the market is valued at greater than $60 billion and is rising at roughly 20% per yr, in response to varied sources.
Advertisers use digital retail media primarily to advertise merchandise bought on the given retailer’s web site. Thus many retail media advertisers are literally the shop’s suppliers, boosting gross sales by way of the retail channel.
Digital retail media has taken off, partially, as a result of it depends on first-party buyer knowledge and doesn’t require intrusive cookies or advanced privateness protocols.
Walled Gardens
A number of “walled gardens,” i.e., closed platforms or ecosystems operated by a single firm, dominate the market. Of those, Amazon is way and away the chief.
In Q2 2025, Amazon’s advert income reached $15.69 billion, a 23% year-over-year enhance, hitting a file 9.36% of the corporate’s complete income and marking it because the fastest-growing section.
Amazon has leveraged its large ecommerce market and best-in-class procuring knowledge. Collectively, these create a self-reinforcing promoting flywheel that drives conversions for advertisers and income for Amazon.
Good Knowledge
Amazon’s retail media flywheel works as a result of the corporate controls your entire course of, from preliminary buyer acquisition to remaining buy, amassing all of the behavioral knowledge alongside the way in which. It has first-party knowledge that’s actual, latest, and related.
In comparison with third-party knowledge, Amazon and almost any walled-garden promoting answer can be rather more efficient at concentrating on consumers and producing gross sales.
These closed ecosystems additionally assist with measurement. For the reason that adverts are working and changing in a walled backyard, promoting attribution is straightforward.
Enter Google
Whereas Amazon is the undisputed chief in digital retail media, Google is the king of digital promoting typically. The corporate generated roughly $71.3 billion in promoting income throughout Q2 2025, representing a ten.4% year-over-year enhance.
Some $54 billion of that Q2 income was particular to look promoting. A good portion of that income passes by way of the corporate’s SA360 platform. That demand will now hook up with Criteo and its retail media community.
This deal is a big shift for the market. Previously, Google’s retail-related promoting merchandise, akin to AI-assisted PMax or Buying Adverts, have centered on driving site visitors to retail web sites. The thought was that somebody would question on Google search, see an advert for a related product, and go to the retailer to purchase it.
With Criteo’s assist, Google can now supply a extra full option to promote to customers. Its platform not solely guides advertisers to retail websites, but in addition consumers on these websites to particular sponsored merchandise.
Google vs. Amazon
In a way, the Google and Criteo deal targets Amazon’s dominance in digital retail media and walled gardens typically.
Google beneficial properties a foothold within the digital retail media market, offering SA360 advertisers with the chance to increase search campaigns into high-intent procuring environments, all with unified measurement and attribution.
Manufacturers that had been utilizing retail media now have another. Somewhat than concentrating promoting spend in a number of dominant ecosystems, the Google-Criteo integration opens entry to a broader vary of retail advert placements.
It opens some entry to a few of these walled gardens, and, as a number of pundits have put it, fosters competitors and “democratizes” retail media.
Antitrust
Whereas Criteo and Google had been in discussions for a while, the deal’s announcement got here simply days after Google survived what might have been a devastating antitrust ruling. It was additionally lower than two weeks earlier than a second treatment listening to.
In August 2024, a U.S. District Court docket discovered Google responsible of sustaining an unlawful monopoly over the overall on-line search and textual content promoting markets.
Main as much as the September 2025 treatment listening to, some observers thought that Google can be required to divest a few of its merchandise, such because the Chrome browser.
No Breakup
As an alternative, the court docket, on September 2, 2025, dominated that Google change its habits, together with:
- Refraining from coming into into unique search engine contracts,
- Sharing some search knowledge with certified rivals.
In a separate April 2025 case, a federal decide discovered Google responsible of illegally monopolizing key segments of the digital promoting market. The treatment listening to for this case is scheduled for September 22, 2025.
Google’s “democratizing” take care of Criteo might be a sign to the courts that the corporate goals to encourage competitors.
