| | Optimizely launches AI agents to assist marketers
Optimizely, the digital experience platform (think personalisation, content management, testing etc.), has launched a series of AI marketing agents within its Opal AI assistant interface (introduced last year).
The agents are powered by Google’s Gemini LLMs models, enriched with additional information unique to the enterprise user, such as brand guidelines or existing content. They draw on context within Optimizely One and can answer questions, helping marketers to create campaigns.
If you scroll down Optimizely’s Opal page , you’ll find a little interactive graphic with some shots of the agents in action. There are other SaaS companies with similar agents, notably Salesforce’s Einstein, and aside from their ‘intelligence’ in helping to segment audiences, create content and analyse results, it’s probably fair to say the biggest impact for marketers is in a more efficient workflow. If these SaaS products can be made more intuitive, automating much of the clicking and dragging, in favour of a conversational experience, there will likely be time and efficiency savings to come.
You, the reader, can decide how far you think AI automation will reach into the world of marketing comms, site optimisation and campaign planning.
Walmart sees 27% growth in global ecommerce sales
Walmart released its q3 earnings report this week, announcing 27% global growth in ecommerce sales led by store-fulfilled pickup and delivery and Walmart's marketplace offering. The marketplace itself grew by 42%, with President and CEO of Walmart US John Furner telling investors that, "our customers are looking for more of an assortment than they've had in the years prior to this one from Walmart" with particular "bright spots" in apparel, toys, and healthy food.
Rapid ecommerce delivery is becoming a bigger focus area for the company; in Walmart's international business, more than 2.1 billion items were delivered in the same day over the past 12 months, with 45% of these delivered in less than an hour. CEO Doug McMillon told investors, "If investments in delivery speed cause us to reach profitability [in ecommerce] a little later, that's fine, too. We want to deliver faster."
Overall, Walmart has a "relatively low" market share in ecommerce compared with bricks and mortar, with the company identifying it as a major potential growth area. Walmart's membership income from programmes such as Walmart+ and Sam's Club membership has also grown by 22%, helping to raise operating income.
McMillon also lifted the lid on Walmart's forays into generative AI by revealing that the company is building a personal shopping assistant, which has been in beta for the past five months, that he predicts will "enabl[e] us to provide a better experience than the one that starts by typing into a search bar and getting a list of results to choose from".
Internally, Walmart has already deployed a tool for US employees called My Assistant, which is reportedly fielded 1.5 million questions from 50,000 employees since its launch. McMillon said, "Just as we're enhancing the customer experience with GenAI, we're working to remove friction for our associates, so they can do high-value work that they enjoy like serving our customers and being merchants."
Ad spend moving in house, points to interesting trends for 2025
An Advertiser Perceptions study published back in August continues to do the rounds on marketing industry socials as it paints an interesting picture of the changing world of big media agencies.
Though the big six holding companies were still responsible for nearly 30% of US ad spending in Q1 of 2024, this figure has fallen from 44.6% in 2019. Back then, the holding cos spent almost 5x what brand-direct advertisers did (only 9.7% of all spend was done in house). Now, these two camps are neck and neck. Brand-direct sits at 28.6%, no doubt cause by in-house management of money going into platforms such as Meta and Google.
What does it mean? Well, Advertiser Perceptions posits that brand relationships with independent agencies will become more important, and that media organisations that can sell into these independents or directly to brands will see growth.
Shane O’Leary, Marketing Director at animal health company Zoetis offers an interesting analysis over on LinkedIn. It’s well worth your time, and touches on how retail media may have influenced the numbers, and what the current state of play means for skills and experience across industries. |
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Optimising the Retail Media Opportunity
Part of the Ecommerce channel, this learning plan, includes three courses and a scenario-based assessment. Course 1: Approaching Retail Media Ad Investment Course 2: Activating Retail Media Sponsored Product Ads Course 3: Activating Retail Media Product Display Ads Assessment: Test your Retail Media Learning |
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