Senior director of the MeLi ads platform also talks about growth expectations for this year
“Retail Media is a path of no return”. Fabiana Manfredi, senior director of Mercado Ads, a Mercado Livre platform that has been expanding more and more year after year.
The executive, in office since May 2021, points out that RM, in countries like the United States and China, is no longer a trend to be a fact. “(Retail Media) was driven by context, and this is a behavior change that we are not going to go back on.”
“We had a three-digit acceleration last year, and this year should continue like this too, it will be greatly enhanced, as we have many opportunities to capture”, he says.
Retail Media is a one-way street, right?
Retail Media is a path of no return, not only because of what is already seen in the United States and China, in relation to the penetration of e-commerce in retail, and how much the share of digital ad spend and even Retail Media in ad spend has been accelerating . I remember that, when I joined Mercado Livre at the time, people were still working remotely, I heard people saying that it was a peak, and I said no. First, because we see that it is no longer a trend, because in the United States and China it is already a fact. Second: because it was driven by the context, but it is a change in behavior that we are not going to go back on. I wouldn’t consider, for example, not buying online, but today I don’t shop at the supermarket anymore. My purchases are 100% online. And I even distribute it between the heaviest purchases and routine purchases. So, I think the opportunity is there, the context is not going to go back, and for us, from Mercado Livre, it was interesting because we could follow this acceleration of the context. Again: the behavior does not change. The pandemic accelerated, including one of the moments when we worked the most, from a logistical point of view, especially when everyone was at home. We were already preparing, and we had a push in the pandemic, but we managed to reap the rewards of years of dedication, dedication of time, investment.
What does Brazil still need to learn from the markets ahead when it comes to Retail Media?
Brazil has to mirror itself in successful cases that exist abroad, in the first place. We have to leave the common place to drink from sources that are already built. It is necessary to know that, today, data is important and to understand that being able to be where the consumer is, throughout his journey in this journey, is important. Some clients sometimes tell me that they only want to do a performance, but I ask if they don’t also want to talk to that guy who hasn’t discovered it yet. I think the industry needs to look at the opportunities that already exist and see how the search for this opportunity accelerates.
Speaking of investment, Mercado Livre recently announced an increase in infrastructure.
Yes, we announced a bigger investment in infrastructure and technology than last year. It was BRL 19 billion against BRL 17 billion in 2022. We follow the new path, the objectives are set, and they always end up being adapted according to the needs of consumers. For example: we not only managed to take advantage of this moment, and the level of service improved, based on what we believe is experience and fast delivery, but we looked at many insights that were booming and accelerated projects that were planned for the future. In six months, we launched the supermarket project. This is a feature of the Free Market. BBB 23 is another example: we decided to enter Big Brother in three hours. The sponsorship of Flamengo was closed in less than two days.
How was the year 2022 for Mercado Ads?
I’ve been very good, and I’m very happy to talk, but also, looking at a context that has not been trivial for all players. On our side, again, we have some audiences that we are already working with, with the sellers (distributors within the platform), a lot with industries, and with advertising agencies. We had a three-digit acceleration last year, and this year should continue like this as well, it will increase a lot, because we have many opportunities to capture.
What are the challenges of this market today?
We’ve been talking a lot about performance and branding, and this is a challenge according to the industry’s cycles, and the agencies, I believe, have the responsibility to push the integration of these cycles more. There is a build needed to be done, and I have two dice about it. First: 80% of product searches already take place in market places and, second, eight out of ten searches are generic. That is, people search for ‘sneakers’, for example. This is the behavior of market places, so it’s interesting to work at the end of the funnel, but also at the top. And at the top of the funnel, last year, we launched everything we had in display format, with attribution of sales and results in real time. We were a market place company, which developed Mercado Pago, one of the main fintechs in Latin America, and today it is also the first in Latin America in e-commerce, in Retail Media. So, we’ve been bringing the business from the ecosystem as needed, and we’ve greatly accelerated the development of the platform as a true adtech.
