Retail marketers are rethinking what constitutes the digital shelf. Fairly than starting on retailer product pages or search results, the shopper journey often starts earlier through social media, streaming platforms, digital out-of-home (DOOH) promoting, and other discovery channels.
Elizabeth Brooks, SVP of client experience at Brkthru, said retailers should broaden how they define the digital shelf because consumers often begin forming brand preferences well before they actively seek for a product.
Many retailers still define the digital shelf primarily because the search engine results page (SERP) or the product detail page (PDP). Because of this, much of their marketing investment stays targeting lower-funnel tactics reminiscent of paid search and affiliate marketing online.
Retailers are seeing diminishing returns as acquisition costs rise, competition for high-intent keywords intensifies, and conversion efficiency becomes harder to keep up. By the point many consumers begin comparing brands, their preferences may already be taking shape, yet much of outlets’ marketing investment stays focused on the ultimate stages of the buying process.
“By the point they hit a search engine, they’re searching for a brand and are well beyond categories,” Brooks told the E-Commerce Times.
Escaping the Lower-Funnel Trap
Traditional e-commerce marketing has focused heavily on lower-funnel tactics reminiscent of paid search and affiliate marketing online, where consumers already reveal purchase intent.
The expectation has been straightforward: invest where buying intent is strongest, and conversions will follow. That approach is becoming less effective as acquisition costs rise, competition for a similar keywords intensifies, and conversion efficiency becomes harder to sustain.
Brands that focus totally on capturing existing demand may miss opportunities to influence shoppers earlier within the buying journey, potentially increasing customer acquisition costs.
Investing earlier in discovery channels can shape how consumers search, evaluate, and ultimately purchase products. Brooks said brands that construct awareness through social media, streaming, and DOOH often see stronger branded search activity, higher conversion rates, and more qualified site traffic later within the buying process.
The E-Commerce Times spoke with Brooks about how consumer discovery is changing retail marketing and what brands should measure as shoppers encounter products before they search.
E-Commerce Times: How does Brkthru define today’s digital shelf?
Elizabeth Brooks: The digital shelf was once where the transaction happened: the PDP, the search results page, or the retailer listing. Those are still incredibly necessary, but they’re not the start of the shopping journey.
Brkthru thinks of the digital shelf as every touchpoint where consumers form preferences, not only where they make a purchase order. That might be a TikTok video, a connected TV ad, a creator review, a DOOH screen near a store, a streaming audio spot, and even an AI-generated answer. By the point a consumer lands on a retailer’s site, they could have already got a brief list of their head.
How should brands respond as discovery shifts to streaming platforms and social media?
Brooks: So the query for brands isn’t just, “Are we showing up on the PDP?” It’s “Are we showing up early enough to shape what the patron looks for once they get there?”
That’s the actual shelf shift. The shelf isn’t only a destination anymore. It’s the memory, preference, and intent we construct before the patron ever types a search query.
Why can relying too heavily on lower-funnel tactics turn out to be a costly strategy?
Brooks: I’m an enormous believer in search and affiliate once they’re utilized in the correct role. The problem is when brands expect those channels to do all of the work.
Paid search is superb at capturing demand. An affiliate may be very effective at closing demand. But neither is of course designed to create demand at scale.
When a brand hasn’t invested in discovery, it often finally ends up paying a premium to compete for a similar generic, high-intent shopper everyone else wants. That’s where it becomes a tax. You’re paying more to intercept a consumer on the very end of the journey since you didn’t influence them earlier.
Does greater discovery spending result in more branded searches?
Brooks: Yes, and that’s one of the interesting signals to look at. When discovery media is working, you usually begin to see a healthier search profile.
Consumers move from broad, category-based searches like “best trainers” or “natural skincare” toward more specific branded searches. That shift matters because branded search typically signals familiarity, preference, and stronger intent.
Social and DOOH do that in several but complementary ways. Social provides consumers with context, storytelling, reviews, and repetition. DOOH gives the brand physical presence and native relevance.
Together, they make the brand easier to recollect when the patron later searches.
What metrics best indicate that this strategy is working?
Brooks: We search for signals reminiscent of branded search lift, changes within the branded-versus-non-branded query mix, direct traffic, on-site retailer search behavior, add-to-cart rate, and conversion rate from branded terms. The goal isn’t to eliminate non-branded search.
Non-branded search still has a job. The goal is to cut back overdependence on expensive generic intent by creating more owned, branded intent.
How does discovery media affect traditional site metrics like bounce rate and time on site?
Brooks: Pre-sold consumers behave otherwise. They’re not wandering. They’re validating. That may improve traditional metrics like bounce rate because shoppers have more confidence once they arrive. They recognize the brand, understand the worth proposition, and are more likely to have interaction with the product page or progress further along the acquisition path.
Time-on-site is a little bit more nuanced. Sometimes, a pre-sold shopper spends more time exploring reviews, variants, bundles, or related products. Sometimes they spend less time because they got here in with a transparent decision and convert quickly. So I’d caution brands to not read shorter sessions as a negative by default.
What other metrics should brands consider?
Brooks: They need to ponder higher questions. Did discovery media reduce friction? Did it increase product page engagement, add-to-cart rate, checkout starts, conversion rate, or repeat visits? Those are the metrics that tell us whether the patron arrived with intent already formed.
How does DOOH support the digital shelf, and the way do you measure its impact?
Brooks: DOOH is totally an awareness channel, but it surely’s not only an awareness channel anymore. DOOH is powerful since it creates brand presence in the actual world, often near moments of need.
A consumer might even see a message while commuting, shopping, walking through a downtown area, or moving through a trade area near a retailer. That exposure can later show up as branded search, direct traffic, store visits, product page engagement, or purchase activity.
What role does measurement play?
Brooks: We will have a look at exposed versus unexposed audiences, geo-based lift, website visitation, app activity, retailer search trends, foot traffic, and sales where data is obtainable. So, for me, DOOH isn’t only a billboard. It’s a memory trigger. It helps the brand feel present, familiar, and nearby, and that may directly influence how a consumer behaves once they encounter the digital shelf later.
For instance, the lounge has turn out to be a discovery environment again, but with a lot better targeting and measurement than traditional TV ever had. Ad-supported streaming enables retailers to inform a richer story with sight, sound, and motion while still reaching audiences with greater precision.
The missing link is attribution. Too many brands still evaluate streaming as if the one worthwhile motion is a direct click, and that’s just not how people behave. The view may occur on TV, the research may occur on mobile, and the acquisition may occur later through a retailer app or marketplace.
How should retailers adjust their marketing strategies?
Brooks: To attach those dots, retailers need to have a look at household-level exposure, search lift, site lift, app activity, incrementality, and branded demand. The chance is to treat streaming not as a disconnected awareness buy, but as a demand-creation channel that may influence what happens within the mobile cart.
Also, retailers should reallocate capital based on the marginal return of every dollar. If non-branded search or affiliate is plateauing, shift a few of that spend to discovery channels with clear measurement in place. This doesn’t mean taking money away from performance. It means funding the inputs that make performance perform higher.