Even though retailers already spend the majority of their advertising budget in digital, 80 percent of their co-op funds have traditionally gone into non-digital channels. However, with players like Amazon and Google effectively moving the co-op game to digital, the modern terrain is shifting. Increasingly, we’re going to see retailers and brands evolving their co-op marketing strategies to encompass paid search and product listing ads (PLA).
At present, companies are investing about $70 billion in co-op marketing, but only 20 percent of that is digital. Moving more co-op dollars into digital channels—and specifically paid search and PLA—makes strategic sense for brands and retailers.
