A number of big retailers, including Macy’s, Target, Walmart and Staples, are offering more relevant native product listing ads on mobile, enabling brands to reach out to browsers based on real-time shopper data.

The retailers are partnering with HookLogic to enable brands whose products they offer to bid on ads, which are dynamically generated based on existing retailer data and appear in-feed on a mobile site or in-app. The ads can help drive traffic to product pages and incremental media revenue from mobile properties.

“For retailers, in-feed and in-app ads are the most shopper-friendly way to drive incremental media revenue,” said Jonathan Opdyke, CEO of HookLogic.

“Being native and clicking within the site or app also ensures it does not impact their conversion rate and transactional revenue,” he said. “In-feed ads also drive the best performance for their brand partners, yielding very high click through rates and a direct path to driving a sale for the brand.”

Real-time relevancy
To run a native ad on a retailer’s app or mobile site, brands place a bid, with their product listing ads appearing on all of the retailers in HookLogic’s exchange where their product is available.

The list of retailers in the exchange includes Macy’s, Target, Peapod, Sears, Staples, Walmart and Toys R Us. Many of these retailers previously offered native ads on desktop through HookLogic.

The platform uses real-time shopper data to serve product ads that are relevant to each shopper and click directly into the retailer’s site for a seamless shopping experience.

The units typically take up 20 to 40 percent of the screen when in view.

Capitalizing on mobile traffic
For brands, they can access SKU-level closed loop sales attribution to measure the return on spend.

For retailers, the program can help drive traffic to product pages and sales for the brands advertising.

HookLogic already offers a similar program on mobile to online travel agency sites such as Expedia.

The news reflects how ecommerce media programs are moving to mobile as traffic grows. Retailers, who invest heavily in developing mobile apps and sites, are looking to capitalize on this traffic.

At the same time, there is a demand for native advertising opportunities on mobile as brands look to deliver more seamless engagements. Product listing ads are popular in mobile search already and consumers have come to recognize this format.

“With HookLogic, a brand bids once and their native product listing ads appear on all of the retailers in our exchange where their product is available,” Mr. Opdyke said. “Ads are dynamically generated based on existing retailer data, meaning there is no creative design or approval needed.

“The ads drive qualified traffic to product pages on retailers that sell the brand’s products and provide SKU-level closed loop sales attribution to measure return on ad spend,” he said.