Why Is Retail Onsite Display Advertising A Must For Retailers

By Flipkart Commerce Cloud

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In an era where having a digital presence is as important as having a physical one, retail onsite display advertising has become an indispensable tool for retailers aiming to drive sales. With 69% of consumers researching online before making a purchase, onsite advertising offers retailers a chance to capture potential buyers’ attention at a critical point in their purchasing journey. This direct form of advertising allows retailers to showcase their products and promotions right where consumers are most likely to engage: on their websites and apps.

In this blog, we explain why onsite display advertising is becoming essential for every retailer. We’ll further explore how these impactful ads can enhance your brand’s visibility and bottom line by converting casual browsers into devoted customers.

What is Onsite Display Advertising?

Onsite display advertising is the practice of showing digital ads on a retailer’s website or mobile apps directly where potential customers are engaged in shopping or browsing activities. It is similar to shelf-talkers, panels, and point-of-sale displays in the brick-and-mortar store, even though it operates in the digital realm.

Just as shelf-talkers and point-of-sale displays draw attention to products and encourage impulse buys in a physical store, onsite display ads aim to achieve the same effect online. They are strategically placed to catch the eye of the shopper, offering promotions, highlighting new arrivals, or suggesting items based on the shopper’s browsing history and preferences. Here is an example of onsite display advertising:

Onsite display advertising, combined with closed-loop measurements and contextual targeting, allows retailers to use their digital real estate to display ads of brand partners. This approach increases the likelihood of conversion.

What is the difference between onsite and offsite retail media?

The key difference between onsite and offsite retail media lies in the location and context of the advertisements. Onsite advertising occurs within the retailer’s platform, directly engaging consumers already in a shopping mindset. On the other hand, Offsite advertising involves placing ads on external websites and platforms (like Google and social media sites such as Facebook and Instagram), aiming to attract potential customers to the brand’s site.

This fundamental difference significantly impacts the conversion. Onsite ads benefit from high relevance and intent, as they reach consumers at a point where they are more likely to make a purchase. Offsite ads, while casting a wider net, may not capture the same level of purchase intent.

Unlike traditional advertising, onsite display ads:

Offer Targeted Visibility and help you reach the right audience at the right time with laser-sharp targeting based on browsing behavior, purchase history, and demographics.
Boost Product Discovery by showing relevant new products, highlight promotions, and encourage cross-selling and upselling, increasing average order value.
Build brand awareness and loyalty through engaging creative formats and targeted messaging, fostering deeper customer connections.

How traditional display advertising differs from retail onsite advertising?

While both display and onsite retail advertising aim to capture the attention of potential customers, they differ significantly in their approach and impact. Display advertising, often used for top-of-the-funnel engagement, casts a wide net to build brand awareness and attract traffic. These ads appear across various websites and platforms, not necessarily where the consumer is shopping.

Onsite retail advertising, however, is inherently more contextual and targeted. It is designed to influence customers who are already browsing a retailer’s website, making it more relevant.

Feature	Traditional Display Advertising	Onsite Retail Advertising
Placement	Across various external websites	On the retailer’s own digital platform
Intent	Primarily for brand awareness and attraction	To influence purchase decisions and enhance product discovery
Context	Less context-specific, broader targeting	Highly contextual, based on real time browsing and search behavior
Engagement	Top of the funnel targeting	Bottom of the funnel targeting

Benefits of onsite advertising

Onsite advertising offers many benefits for both the brands utilizing the ad space and the retailers offering it. For brands, it provides a direct line to engaged consumers, increasing visibility and driving sales for specific products. The targeted retail display ads ensure advertising budgets are spent efficiently.

Retailers on the other hand, benefit from an additional revenue stream through the sale of onsite ad space. Also, by offering relevant products inline with the search intent and consumer preference, retailers can enhance the overall shopping experience, encouraging longer browsing sessions and increased purchase rates. Creating a mutually beneficial symbiotic relationship between the brand and retailer.

To maximize the impact of onsite display advertising for retailers, a robust adtech platform is a must, and this is where FCC’s Ads Manager comes into picture. A pivotal tool for creating and managing retail media campaigns, it offers various ad formats like display ads, product contextual ads, and product listing ads. This versatility allows retailers to monetize their online presence effectively and engage with brands on their retail platforms.

Connect with our retail media experts today to know how FCC can help you boost your retail sales with targeted advertising.

FAQ

Onsite ads are advertisements placed by brands directly within a retailer's owned digital platform, specifically their website and mobile application, leveraging the retailer's first-party data to reach high-intent shoppers already in a buying mindset. These ads are typically visual banner or rich media placements, distinct from standard product listings, and serve to increase brand visibility and influence purchasing decisions near the point of sale.

Onsite display advertising is effective for retail brands because it places highly relevant brand messaging directly in front of shoppers at the critical point of purchase and is powered by the retailer's proprietary first-party data. This environment guarantees high purchase intent, allowing brands to target consumers based on explicit shopping behaviors, like past category views or loyalty status, leading to exceptional conversion rates and measurable sales lift.

The formats supported for onsite display range from simple visual units to highly engaging creative assets, often designed to blend natively with the retailer's site layout. Common formats include standard display banners (e.g., IAB standard sizes), rich media and animated creatives, and native display units that dynamically pull product information like image, price, and ratings from the retailer’s catalog. This is a hallmark feature of the robust retail media technology offered by FCC.

You should track a combination of performance and full-funnel metrics for onsite display, starting with top-of-funnel indicators like Impressions, Click-Through Rate (CTR), and Cost-Per-Mile (CPM). Crucially, mid-to-lower-funnel metrics include Conversion Rate, the total Sales Lift or Incremental Revenue generated, and Return on Ad Spend (ROAS), which is essential for proving the campaign's financial impact.

Attribution for onsite display typically uses a last-touch or view-through model within a defined look-back window, usually 7 to 30 days. Last-touch attribution credits the sale to the click on the display ad that immediately preceded the purchase, while view-through attribution credits the sale to a shopper who saw the ad (an impression) but did not click, yet still converted within the window, a measurement often enhanced by first-party data for accurate incremental reporting.

Onsite display integrates with retail search and sponsored products by providing a full-funnel strategy that captures consumers at different stages of their journey. Onsite display drives brand awareness and product consideration on pages like the homepage and category pages, effectively warming up the audience. This audience is then more likely to convert when they encounter sponsored products or retail search ads on the search results pages, which are lower-funnel, intent-driven placements.

Onsite display complements retail search and sponsored products by enabling a full-funnel strategy. It builds brand awareness and product interest on upper-funnel surfaces like the homepage, category pages, and email—priming users for conversion. These warmed-up audiences are more likely to act when they see lower-funnel ads on search results and category bottoms. This integrated approach keeps the brand visible from first browse to final purchase.

To get started with onsite display on a retail media network, you must first secure a partnership with the retailer or the platform provider, such as FCC, and be onboarded to their ad management console. The subsequent steps involve defining your target audience using the retailer’s first-party data, setting a budget typically on a CPM basis, uploading your display creatives, and defining the page placements and products you wish to promote.