Contextual Commerce: A Key Alternative in The Cookieless Future

What Is Contextual Commerce and Why Should Marketers Care About It?

At Chicory, we have championed contextual commerce since long before it was in vogue. With changes in consumer behaviors, updates to consumer data privacy laws, and the deprecation of third-party cookies, contextual commerce has become an increasingly integral part of a marketer’s strategy, particularly in the CPG vertical, and much more widely discussed. 

Contextual commerce is a future-proof marketing strategy that transforms commerce-oriented content into a shopping moment—without relying on first or third-party data for targeting. Popular examples of contextual commerce in the grocery space include in-recipe advertising, complementary product recommendations, and commerce-enabled links within food content. Each of these reaches consumers with hyper-relevant messaging during high-intent moments of the grocery shopping journey

The Moment Of Inspiration Becomes The Moment Of Influence

Contextual commerce allows CPG brands to reach consumers during true moments of inspiration while they are engaging with contextually relevant content. Contextual commerce advertising technology enables the ability to purchase products directly from the content (e.g. recipes) that inspired them.

There are multiple benefits of leveraging contextual commerce. In a recent study that Chicory conducted with FoodDive, we found that current contextual users report that the three advantages of the strategy are: 

  • Its ability to acquire new customers (77%)

  • Its scalability (65%)

  • Its ability to reach customers in high-intent moments (50%) 

    • Source: Chicory/FoodDive report 

To gain new customers today, it’s paramount that brands consider the context in which consumers shop. As the name indicates, contextual commerce allows commerce to happen in the most contextually relevant space for that vertical. When buying clothing, for example, consumers are often inspired while browsing fashion blogs or influencers' social media pages where they can shop their outfits directly through curated links.

For those in the CPG and grocery industries, there is no context — or content — more relevant than the digital recipe.

Interested to learn more about contextual commerce and how Chicory can help you activate this strategy today? Say hello@chicory.co.

For Brands, Thought LeadershipGuest User