Growing Ecommerce – The Retail Growth Podcast

Google's August 17 bidding update didn't move CPCs. It moved advertiser behaviour — and most of the market reacted to a change that never touched them.The update removed the conservative buffer that artificially lowered bids on campaigns limited by budget. Those campaigns had been quietly over-delivering efficiency for years by picking up cheap, high-value clicks. Google's position: performance now trends toward the target you actually set, over one to two conversion cycles.Mike Ryan pulled the first data across smec's managed accounts. CPCs have not moved in any notable way — anyone showing you day-after impact is showing you noise. Nobody opened their budgets either; the share of campaigns flagged as limited by budget stayed flat. Instead, advertisers raised their targets: the median tROAS in affected campaigns moved 4% the week before the change and 12% the week of it.Then it gets strange. Campaigns that were never limited by budget — 75 to 85% of the population, and an enormous share of total spend — raised their targets by a median of 9%. No tool prompted them. No exposure. They tightened out of fear. Spend fell roughly 10% that week.Which is where the opportunity sits. If a large share of the auction has gone defensive for no reason, the slack is available to whoever doesn't follow. Full data drops mid-to-late September.Key Takeaways- Google isn't raising your CPCs — it stopped artificially lowering your bids on budget-limited campaigns.- No notable CPC movement yet, and conversion data is still too green to read.- Advertisers chose targets over budget: median tROAS up 12% in affected campaigns, while the limited-by-budget share stayed flat.- Campaigns that were never affected raised targets 9% anyway. A fear reaction, not a strategy.- Market spend fell around 10% that week — the opposite of what the change was designed to achieve.- If your campaigns aren't limited by budget, hold your targets or push harder. Expect the window to close going into Q4.Resources & Links- Mike Ryan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikeryanretail/- Chris Scharmueller on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-scharm%C3%BCller/- smec Campaign Orchestrator: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/platform/About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.comLinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbhNewsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/

ChatGPT Ads are live in 31 European markets — but your account can't use tROAS, remarketing, demographics or an API yet. Here's what to actually expect.OpenAI announced on 18 August that ChatGPT Ads are rolling out across Europe, and advertiser demand is already enormous. Mike Ryan and Chris Scharmueller go through what advertisers really get on day one — and where the expectation gap is going to hurt.The headline: this is not a self-serve platform in Europe yet. Right now you need a certified agency or ad tech partner to run ChatGPT Ads, with self-serve promised "later this summer" (at the time of recording, that window is closing fast). Advertisers already live on self-serve in markets like the US can target Europe today, which makes international teams the unintentional early winners.Then we go feature by feature against Google Ads, using our own comparison table:Keyword targeting: doesn't exist. You get contextual hints, roughly equivalent to Google's search themes — and there's a real question whether OpenAI ever adds keywords, because keyword targeting would make ChatGPT look like Google Search.Demographics: not available. No age, gender or income targeting, at a time when Google is giving that control back even in PMax.Geography: country level only. No region, postcode or radius targeting — workable for national brands, a problem for anyone local.Customer Match: hashed emails and phone numbers, but with a ~25,000-match minimum that rules out most SMB lists. Google has no minimum.Remarketing and lookalikes: not available.Bidding: CPM, CPC and a conversion objective (oCPC) — but no tROAS and no value-based bidding of any kind. Nothing that connects your bids to your actual margin.Measurement: pixel plus a conversions API, Meta-style, with up to a two-day lag — against Google Tag's near real-time data and enhanced conversions.Product feed: genuinely good. OpenAI's ACP feed specs are strong enough that Google has borrowed from them. This is where they're closest to parity.Campaign management: no public API yet.The one structural advantage ChatGPT Ads have in Europe: Google hasn't launched ads in AI Mode here. For now, ChatGPT is the only way to buy placement next to an AI answer — and that window will close.Which leads to the real argument of the episode: if every platform claims your revenue, you need a measurement layer above the platforms. Marketing mix modelling stops being a nice-to-have and becomes priority number one — including a live client example where MMM showed Meta contributing far more than platform reporting suggested.Our take: arrive at the party early, but don't judge it by quarter-one performance, and don't spend a euro you can't attribute independently.Key Takeaways:Europe gets the stripped-down version. No keyword targeting, no demographics, country-level geo only, no remarketing or lookalikes, no tROAS or value-based bidding, and no public API. Add a 25,000-match minimum on Customer Match and most SMB lists are out. Plan your test around what the platform can actually do, not around what you assume it does.The one real advantage is temporary. Google has not launched ads in AI Mode in Europe, so ChatGPT Ads are currently the only way to buy a placement next to an AI answer. Expect Google to close that gap in Q3/Q4 — so if that is your reason to test, test now.Measurement is the decision, not the channel. Every platform will claim your revenue, and ChatGPT will be no different — on a pixel plus conversions API with up to a two-day lag. Marketing mix modelling stops being a nice-to-have: without an objective layer above the platforms, you cannot prove whether ChatGPT Ads are incremental or just re-attributing clicks Google would have won anyway.Three months is not a verdict. Demand right now is FOMO-driven and expectations are running ahead of the product. Go in framed as a test, give it longer than the usual quarter, and do not shift performance budget until incrementality is proven.—Resources & Links:Access all our webinars, reports, and playbooks in our Knowledge Hub: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/knowledge-hub/How is your industry stacking up in the market? Find out with smec's Google Ads Benchmarks: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/smec-market-observer/Earlier episode on OpenAI's CPC model and the $60 effective CPM: Don't Buy ChatGPT Ads Until You Watch This (Plus: The Google Cloud vs AWS Cage-Match)About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.comLinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbhNewsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/

We got Google wrong this year — and episode 50 is where we admit it, correct it, and share the one thing every advertiser should double-check in their own account. Chris and Mike mark 50 episodes with a "summer school" retrospective: the calls they got wrong, the lessons they're taking into H2, and a rapid-fire lightning round to close it out.The confession: earlier this year, both hosts were flatly bearish on Google's AI outlook, at a moment when the consensus view across the industry was the same. That call was wrong — Google's AI-powered search business turned into one of its strongest growth stories, and the hosts hold themselves accountable for it on air, along with an equally wrong lowball prediction on OpenAI's ad revenue trajectory (they said it wouldn't hit $100 billion; they now think it's headed toward double that).There's also a real, correctable mistake here for advertisers: an earlier assumption that a change to Target ROAS functions would apply across all campaign types. It doesn't — it only affects campaigns limited by budget, and if you assumed otherwise, this is worth checking against your own account.From there, the conversation turns to a broader lesson about pace: even Google's own teams may be struggling to keep up with how fast AI-driven search and shopping behavior is changing — which means FOMO-driven, reactive decision-making is a real risk for advertisers right now. The fix the hosts land on isn't more hustle, it's a "correction layer" — a person, podcast, or process that keeps you honest about what's actually changed versus what's just noise — paired with a reminder that the fundamentals (data strategy, clean data feeds, solid paid search structure) still matter most.The back half is lighter: personal "chalkboard" lessons (including "ROAS is a lever, not a goal" — a line straight out of smec's own playbook), a debate about whether AI-assisted writing is making everyone sound the same, and a desert-island lightning round covering which ad platform, which app, and which single KPI (spoiler: not cost per click) the hosts would keep if they could only pick one.Growing Ecommerce is brought to you by smec (Smarter Ecommerce). Thanks for 50 episodes — see you after a short summer break.#PPC #GoogleAds #Ecommerce #DigitalMarketing #ROASAbout Smarter Ecommerce (smec):Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.comLinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbhNewsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/

Google's AI Max is now serving 1 in 4 of your exact-match ad impressions — and it's quietly reshaping Search and Performance Max campaigns. Chris and Mike deliver the AI Max deep-dive they promised last episode, breaking down exactly how that number gets generated and what it costs you in control.Picking up where Alphabet's Q2 earnings call left off, this episode unpacks Google chief business officer Philipp Schindler's claim that AI Max is "unlocking billions of net-new searches that weren't really monetizable before." The mechanics: when there isn't enough auction competition for a search term, Google either skips serving an ad or falls back to ad-rank thresholds — AI Max exists to monetize that gap by expanding matching beyond your exact and phrase match keywords, using what's effectively broad match under a new name (officially "search term matching").The numbers back it up. Across AI Max campaigns, roughly 80% of the additional impressions come from exact match terms and 20% from phrase match — and once AI Max is activated in a campaign running mostly exact match, about 1 in 4 impressions against those exact-match keywords now originate from AI Max instead of the keywords you actually chose. Chris and Mike weigh the real trade-off here: advertisers who deliberately chose exact match for control are being nudged toward broad-match-style reach, though the ad-group-level opt-out is a meaningful safety valve. Revenue uplift is real per in-platform attribution — but it's driving volume, not necessarily matching Google's claimed efficiency.The second half tackles a related head-scratcher: click-through rates on Shopping and Max campaign types have climbed roughly 17-20% year-over-year for over a year — the opposite of what the "zero-click," AI-Overviews-kill-CTR narrative predicts. Chris and Mike test a mechanical hypothesis (impressions falling 10-12% YoY while clicks hold steady would produce this exact pattern) without claiming it's confirmed, and discuss why ecommerce commercial queries may be more shielded from the zero-click trend than informational, publisher-facing searches — for now.If you manage Google Ads campaigns and want to understand what AI Max is actually doing to your account's match types, this is the episode.Growing Ecommerce is brought to you by smec (Smarter Ecommerce).Learn more: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.comTry smec's free Market Observer benchmarking tool: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/smec-market-observer/  Catch last episode's Q2 earnings breakdown for context: https://youtu.be/yaSBRm-pEFo👥 Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbh/Mike Ryan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikeryanretail/Christian Scharmüller: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-scharm%C3%BCller/About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.comLinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbhNewsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/

Meta, Google, and Amazon just posted Q2 2026 earnings — and the numbers reveal exactly where ad costs are headed next for advertisers. Plus: Shein's IPO filing shows what happens when ad dependency meets a broken profit model.Chris and Mike break down all four Q2 earnings calls that matter for anyone running paid search or social budgets right now. Meta's ad revenue jumped roughly 27% year-over-year, but almost none of that growth is coming from new users — it's coming from higher ad load and rising frequency on existing accounts, which is why per-unit ad costs are climbing even as impressions go up. CapEx grew 55% year-over-year and net income actually dropped 14%, which is part of why the stock got punished despite the growth headline.Google/Alphabet told a different story: search ad revenue is up 17% to over $60 billion, even as growth decelerated for the first time in years — still one of the strongest showings of any company this size. Cloud revenue is up 80%, and Google tied its ad growth directly to AI Max, which the company says is monetizing "billions" of net-new search terms that weren't served by ad inventory before. Chris and Mike table the "how does AI Max actually work" deep-dive for next week's episode — subscribe so you don't miss it.Amazon's ad business grew 26% to roughly $19.8 billion, led by sponsored products, with no signs of slowing. And Shein's newly filed IPO prospectus reveals a business that's almost entirely dependent on paid advertising — 95% of its 2025 marketing budget (around $6 billion) went to ads, growth has stalled since the U.S. de minimis exemption ended, and the company isn't hitting the "Rule of 40/50" profitability-plus-growth benchmark institutional investors look for.This is a market-earnings recap for PPC managers, in-house ecommerce marketers, and agencies who need to know what's actually driving ad costs and platform strategy this quarter — not just headline numbers.Growing Ecommerce is brought to you by Smarter Ecommerce (smec).Learn more: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com Subscribe for the AI Max deep-dive next episode Follow us on LinkedIn#PPC #GoogleAds #Ecommerce #MetaAds #DigitalMarketingAbout Smarter Ecommerce (smec):Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.comLinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbhNewsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/

Everyone selling in Europe has heard the pitch: use a third-party CSS and get a "20% discount" on your Google Shopping bids. Mike Ryan and Chris finally settle what that number actually means — and it’s not a discount at all. They break down the real math behind Google Shopping Europe’s mandatory margin, whether a multi-CSS strategy still makes sense in 2026 (spoiler: it doesn’t), and why the fear of "bidding against yourself" across multiple CSS partners is a myth Google has gone out of its way to debunk.Then: a lesson for every advertiser, EU or not. If bid is the only real differentiator between a PMax shopping ad and a Standard Shopping ad serving the identical product, what happens when you run both at once? Mike shares fresh CPC data across shopping-only, hybrid, and PMax-only accounts suggesting the answer is: your account gets hotter. Whether or not you technically "bid against yourself," running overlapping campaign types may be quietly inflating your CPCs — and Google’s new Channel Diagnostics report might be a tacit admission of exactly that.In this episode:• Myth #1: the "20% discount" claim — it’s purchasing power, not a discount• The real math: how Google Shopping Europe’s mandatory margin actually hits your bid• Do you still need a third-party CSS in 2026? (Yes — here’s why)• Myth #2: does a multi-CSS strategy still make sense, or is it a "last-mover penalty"?• Myth #3: are you bidding against yourself with multiple CSS partners?• The bigger lesson: what happens when bid is the only ad rank differentiator?• Fresh CPC data: shopping-only vs. hybrid vs. PMax-only accounts• Google’s new Channel Diagnostics report for PMax — a tacit admission?• The verdict: hybrid PMax + Shopping setups can work, but only with a real strategyGrowing Ecommerce is brought to you by smec (Smarter Ecommerce). Learn more: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com👉 Running PMax and Shopping side by side? Tell us what you’re seeing in your CPCs — drop a comment.#GoogleAds #CSS #GoogleShopping #PerformanceMax #PPC #Ecommerce #GrowingEcommerce #SmarterEcommerceAbout Smarter Ecommerce (smec):Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.comLinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbhNewsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/

A small regional court in Germany just handed down a ruling with global consequences: Google is liable for what its AI Overviews say. The "AI can make mistakes" disclaimer? Insufficient. Text generated by Gemini counts as Google’s own words — and Mike Ryan and Chris break down why this precedent could quickly spread from publishing to shopping, consumer protection, and the product recommendations AI assistants are already making every day.Then: a victory lap. Five weeks ago we called it — the EU’s July 1st de minimis change would break the business model of Temu, Shein & AliExpress in Europe. Now the data is in (and quoted by Reuters): Temu fell from 70%+ of advertisers facing daily competition down to just 23%. Shein dropped to 5%. We cover what the €3-per-item fee actually does, why one major German fashion retailer is overspending by 70% to grab the open market, and why UK retailers should brace for what comes next.In this episode:• The German libel ruling: why Google’s AI disclaimer didn’t protect it• "Those are your own words" — hallucinations as legal exposure• Why the precedent could spread to shopping, consumer protection & false advertising• The feed as deterministic anchor: why Google grounds its AI in merchant data• The €3 de minimis fee — and why it’s worse than a 10% tariff• smec’s data in Reuters: Temu 70% → 23%, Shein down to 5% of advertisers• The playbook: profitable CPCs are on tap — but maybe not for long• Shein’s IPO trouble, the shift to Europe & the warning for the UK, Canada & AustraliaAbout Smarter Ecommerce (smec):Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.comLinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbhNewsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/

We turned Google Ads into a World Cup bracket. Three head-to-head rounds, two hosts, no referee — just the campaign types and bid strategies advertisers argue about most.In this episode of Growing Ecommerce, Mike Ryan and Chris go feature vs. feature:🥊 Round 1: AI Max for Search vs. Dynamic Search Ads — is DSA's sunset delay (now pushed to early 2027) proof it still has a job to do, or is final URL expansion the reason AI Max wins the AI-search era?🥊 Round 2: Performance Max vs. Standard Shopping — Standard Shopping is getting text customization, new AI-native ad formats, and its own DSA-style final URL expansion. Does that close the gap with PMax, or does PMax's built-in dynamic remarketing still make it the better fit for top sellers?🥊 Round 3: Target ROAS vs. Maximize Conversion Value — is "maximize conversion value" just Google asking to be trusted with your budget, or is a demand-led bid strategy the more productive way to think about ROAS once you zoom out past the daily noise?No hedging, no both-sides-it — Mike and Chris each pick a side and defend it.About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.comLinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbhNewsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/

Starting August 17th, Google is quietly rewriting how Smart Bidding treats campaigns that are limited by budget — and if your account is currently over-delivering on Roas, this affects you directly.In this episode, Mike Ryan and Chris break down Google's upcoming change to budget-limited campaigns, why "over-delivering" Roas is being treated as money left on the table, and the carrot-and-stick logic behind Google's new Bid Target Adjustment tool.Whether you're comfortable with your current Roas buffer or actively trying to scale, this episode explains exactly what will shift under the hood — and what to do before the change hits.What you'll learn:What changes on August 17th for budget-limited campaignsWhy campaigns over-delivering Roas are Google's real targetThe two mechanical levers Google can pull to force Roas down (worse clicks vs. higher CPCs)Why smart bidding is structurally conservative — and why ~25% of campaigns always over-deliverThe new Bid Target Adjustment tool and what it's really nudging you towardHow this connects to Google's broader push (Demand Gen budget pacing, flight-based budgeting, Smart Bidding Exploration)The workaround: smarter product segmentation and campaign structureAbout Smarter Ecommerce (smec):Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.comLinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbhNewsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/

AI is coming for your checkout — and the infrastructure behind it is called Universal Commerce Protocol. In this episode, Mike Ryan breaks down exactly what UCP is, why Google and Shopify built it together, who's already on board, and what ecommerce brands actually need to do to prepare.Whether you're being pressured by an AI mandate at work, confused by wildly conflicting advice online, or just trying to understand what "agentic commerce" actually means for your business — this episode cuts through the noise.What you'll learn:1. What UCP is (and what it's not — it's NOT an AI browsing your website) 2. Why OpenAI's competing standard (ACP) already lost 3. Who has endorsed UCP: Google, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, Shopify, Walmart, Zalando and more4. The core implementation steps — without boiling the ocean5. New conversational feed attributes available globally right now 6. UCP analytics coming to Google Merchant CenterMike's key takeaway: Don't panic. Start with Google. Improve your feed. The rest will follow.About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.comLinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbhNewsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/

Google just announced the biggest change to search in its history — and not everyone is happy. At Google I/O, the search bar became a search box, signaling a full shift toward conversational, Gemini-powered search. The market is already reacting: DuckDuckGo rocketed from around position 400 to the top 100 in the app stores almost overnight, right around the May 20–21 launch. Mike Ryan and Chris unpack what a privacy-and-no-AI search wrapper suddenly surging tells us about consumer appetite — and why the relentless pace of change is exhausting retailers and experts alike.Then: fresh eMarketer data puts the AI advertising hype into much-needed context. AI ad spend in the US sits around $32B in 2026 (roughly a third of Google’s search spend), but ~80% of it is just AI-search-adjacent — ads above and below AI Overviews. The chatbot-driven slice everyone is panicking about? Tiny. We dig into why OpenAI’s $100B ad ambition looks unrealistic, what the 2030 projections actually say, and why the real takeaway for CMOs and CDOs is: prepare, but don’t abandon your bread and butter.The throughline: everything is changing, and everything is staying the same. With limited budget and talent, the retailers who win are the ones who resist FOMO, pick their battles, and keep investing in the core campaigns that still drive the business.In this episode:Why Google’s “bar to box” change is its biggest search shift ever — and what it implies about how Google wants you to searchDuckDuckGo’s surge from ~position 400 to top 100: a clear sign some consumers find the new box too muchWhy the pace of change may now be too fast even for Google itselfAI Max for Shopping vs. PMax — the strategic misalignment Google may not even seeWhy standard shopping is here to stay (and the comeback we called early)The new eMarketer data: ~$32B AI ad spend in 2026, ~80% of it AI-search-adjacentWhy OpenAI’s $100B ad goal and the 2030 chatbot-ad market projections don’t line upThe real CMO/CDO playbook: prepare efficiently, beat the FOMO, protect your bread and butterAbout Smarter Ecommerce (smec):Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.comLinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbhNewsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/

Google's new AI-powered Shopping ads can now decide which of your products wins the click — and it's optimizing for the user, not for your margin, your brand, or your strategy. This Gemini-built format writes its own product descriptions and may re-rank which product gets shown, beyond your bid. Mike Ryan and Chris dig into what that means for retailers who suddenly have less control over what gets pushed. Plus: ChatGPT is finally bringing Product Listing Ads (PLAs) to its results — a solid first step, or a Bing-style copycat play?The real story: "more relevant to the user" is not the same as "best for the retailer." As automated channels get more aggressive at matching products to searches, advertisers risk quietly losing control of which products actually get sold.In this episode:→ What Google's AI-powered Shopping ads actually are — a new format inside AI Max for Shopping, not an umbrella term → "Intelligent product identification": how Gemini may re-rank which product is shown, beyond the bid → The retailer's blind spot — Google optimizes for click-through rate; you optimize for the business → The coffee-machine problem: when the highest-converting product isn't the one you need to sell → Why the best Google Ads outcome isn't always the best business outcome → ChatGPT's PLAs: a solid, feed-based first step — or a Bing-style copycat play? → What OpenAI's $100B ad ambition means for what comes nextThe throughline: AI executes, but only you know what your business needs to achieve. The retailers who win are the ones who keep translating business goals — margin, brand priority, profitability — into the channel, instead of letting the platform decide.📌 Growing Ecommerce is brought to you by smec (Smarter Ecommerce). We help ecommerce brands move from platform-driven to business-driven PPC — combining AI-powered software with human expertise to optimize Google Shopping and Performance Max toward real business goals.🔗 Learn more: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.com 🎧 Subscribe so you don't miss an episode — and if this was useful, a comment or a share genuinely helps.#GrowingEcommerce #ChatGPTShoppingAds #GoogleAds #ShoppingAds #PerformanceMax #PMax #PPC #Ecommerce #GoogleShopping #PaidSearch #RetailMedia #smecAbout Smarter Ecommerce (smec):Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.comLinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbhNewsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/

The EU is finally using its teeth on Chinese e-commerce — and the auction landscape is already shifting. Mike and Chris break down what falling CPCs in Europe mean for your accounts, why the July 1st customs change could matter more than any fine, and the playbook for grabbing market share before the window closes.Then: a major Google Marketing Live feature almost nobody is talking about. Google's new AI Performance Insights and the "Share of Voice" metric in Merchant Center finally show your product visibility inside AI Overviews, AI Mode, and Gemini — across both organic and paid. We cover what it does, where it lives, and the one big gap Google still leaves wide open.In this episode: • Why the EU crackdown on Temu, Shein & AliExpress is a sign of what's coming • Average CPCs dropped ~2.3% in May 2026 — and up to 5% in some categories • The July 1st customs exemption change and what it does to Chinese sellers' margins • The playbook: tROAS as a signal, AI Max search, demand-led growth & smart bidding exploration • JoyBuy — the unregulated Chinese player to watch • Google's new AI Performance Insights & Share of Voice metric in Merchant Center • The black box that still remains: campaign-level dataGrowing Ecommerce is brought to you by smec (Smarter Ecommerce). Learn more at smarterecommerce.com.👉 Leave a review and drop a comment — we are curious what you guys think about this development.#ecommerce #GoogleAds #PerformanceMax #PPC #Temu #Shein #GoogleMarketingLive #AIsearch #MerchantCenterAbout Smarter Ecommerce (smec):Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.comLinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbhNewsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/

Meta has overtaken Google in ad budgets - and for ecommerce advertisers, that changes everything.It means Google is on the offensive. It means the pressure to split your budget between platforms is about to intensify. And it means that if you're not set up correctly on Google's AI surfaces right now, you're already losing ground to competitors who are.In this episode of Growing Ecommerce, Mike Ryan (smec's Head of Ecommerce Insights) and Chris share firsthand takeaways from GML 2026 — both the San Francisco and Dublin events — with unfiltered takes on what actually matters for your campaigns.What we cover:→ Google vs. Meta: The "War of the Titans" and why Google's messaging to advertisers is getting aggressive→ AI Max for Shopping: Why standard shopping campaigns may have limited eligibility in AI surfaces→ New AI-native ad formats: Conversational discovery ads, feed-based text ads, and why the line between shopping and search is collapsing→ Ask Advisor: A great idea — but oversold to an irresponsible degree (Mike's take)→ Universal Cart: Multi-retailer, cross-platform checkout — and Google's Amazon moment→ What the shift to agentic commerce means for how you monetize clicksCut through the hype. Know what to act on.🔔 Subscribe for bi-weekly ecommerce PPC insights from smec — managing €680M+ in annual ad spend for 350+ global retail clients - for more content like thisLearn more: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.comLinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbhNewsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/

Google just dropped a PMax special — and there's a lot to unpack.In this episode of Growing Ecommerce, Mike Ryan and Chris break down three major updates reshaping how ecommerce advertisers run Performance Max and Shopping campaigns in 2025:1. Network exclusions for PMax: You can now opt out of Search Partner Network AND Google Display Network directly inside PMax. Years in the making, and a massive lever for both performance and brand safety. We walk through why it matters, when to use it, and how to check your own data first.2. Shopping Performance View: A new level of product-level reporting coming to PMax and Demand Gen campaigns via the Google Ads API. See performance by brand, category, product type, and item ID — the same parity you get in standard Shopping. Huge for anyone who's tried and failed to understand feed performance inside Max.3. AI Max for Shopping: The biggest one. Google is rolling out an optional AI layer for standard Shopping campaigns with three features:- Text customization: Google rewrites your product titles dynamically per query- Final URL expansion (FUE): Google picks landing pages from your site — including category pages- Optimal format selection: Text ads can now appear inside your Shopping campaignsWe discuss what this means for advertisers who run standard Shopping for control, whether there's real redundancy with Search and PMax, the campaign overlap and CPC escalation risk, and why Mike thinks this is actually bigger than AI Max for Search.Standard Shopping: confirmed not dead. Google is investing in it.Growing Ecommerce is brought to you by smarter ecommerce (smec) — helping online retailers optimize paid search through AI-powered software and human PPC expertise.#PerformanceMax #PMax #GoogleShopping #AIMaxForShopping #GoogleAds #EcommerceMarketing #PPC #SearchPartnerNetwork #GoogleAdsUpdates #PaidSearchAbout Smarter Ecommerce (smec):Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.comLinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbhNewsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/

In this episode of Growing Ecommerce, Mike Ryan and Chris Scharmueller dive into the much-anticipated updates to the OpenAI ads platform and break down Google's staggering Q1 earnings report.While OpenAI has finally transitioned their ad platform from a primitive Excel spreadsheet to a proper User Interface, their highly publicized shift to a CPC model is raising major red flags. We break down the math behind their highly constrained $3 to $5 max CPC range, revealing how it mathematically equates to the exact same astronomical $60 effective CPM they originally launched with. We discuss why advertisers should demand more transparency and control before shifting their performance budgets to ChatGPT.We also unpack Google’s unstoppable Q1 momentum. With a massive $110 billion in revenue and an 80% spike in earnings per share, Google is silencing the "death of Search" narrative. We explore their impressive 19% core Search growth, the staggering 63% surge in Google Cloud that is heavily outpacing AWS and Azure, and why Google's massive $180 billion CapEx guidance for 2026 solidifies their dominance in the AI arms race.Key Takeaways:• The OpenAI Ad Trap: Don't be fooled by OpenAI's new CPC bidding model. By forcing advertisers into a strict $3 to $5 CPC range, the platform is essentially maintaining its premium $60 effective CPM under a disguise. Advertisers should hold off on shifting performance budgets until real incrementality and transparency are proven.• Search is Still Thriving: Despite the ongoing narrative that AI will kill traditional search engines, Google's core Search product grew by 19% year-over-year. The search giant's core advertising flywheel remains the most reliable engine for ecommerce growth.• Google Cloud is Winning the AI War: Google Cloud (GCS) achieved a staggering 63% year-over-year growth, heavily outpacing Amazon AWS (28%) and Microsoft Azure (39%). Powered by deep Gemini integration and proprietary TPUs, Google’s vertical integration puts them in a unique position to dominate the next decade.Resources & Links:• Access all our webinars, reports, and playbooks in our Knowledge Hub: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/knowledge-hub/ • How is your industry stacking up in the market? Find out with smec’s Google Ads Benchmarks: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/smec-market-observer/About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.comLinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbhNewsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/

In this episode of Growing E-commerce, Mike Ryan and Chris Scharmueller dive into the end of an era: Dynamic Search Ads (DSA) are officially dying.While Google's new AI Max for Search currently sits at a tiny 1.5-2% adoption rate, the mandatory migration of all DSA campaigns by September will trigger an instant hockey-stick growth curve. We explain exactly what you need to expect from this sunset, how the auto-migration handles broad match and URL expansion by default, and why advertisers need to start testing AI Max immediately before the Q4 holiday crunch.We also unpack the diverging automation strategies of the tech giants and the catastrophic drop in Meta Advantage+ adoption. After peaking at 40%, its cost share has nosedived to a concerning 20%. We discuss why this downward trend calls Mark Zuckerberg's "fully automated" vision into question. Plus, we explore the latest Meta Pixel updates and why Meta wants a feed-less future while Google doubles down on structured data.Key Takeaways:The AI Max Hockey Stick: Do not be fooled by the current low adoption rate of AI Max for Search. Once the legacy DSA campaigns (which currently hold about 15% cost share) are auto-migrated in September, AI Max will become a dominant and highly relevant campaign type overnight.Meta's Automation Problem: Advantage+ adoption is on a multi-quarter decline, dropping to just 20% cost share. Without substantial product improvements, Meta will struggle to achieve the fully automated, hands-off advertising ecosystem it envisioned.The Feed vs. Feed-less Divide: Meta is attempting to offload feed management by using AI to scrape landing page data directly via the Meta Pixel. Conversely, Google relies heavily on detailed data feeds to ground its AI and maintain quality control.Resources & Links:Access all our webinars, reports, and playbooks in our Knowledge Hub: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/knowledge-hub/How is your industry stacking up in the market? Find out with smec’s Google Ads Benchmarks:https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/smec-market-observer/ About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.comLinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbhNewsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/

In this episode of Growing Ecommerce, Mike Ryan and Chris Scharmueller break down the latest shifts in the battle for AI dominance and the future of online shopping.We analyze the quiet death of OpenAI's Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP). With major tech giants—including ACP co-founder Stripe, as well as Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon—joining Google's Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) Tech Council, we explore what this consensus means for the future of e-commerce standards and why these companies chose to back Google's infrastructure over ChatGPT.We also look at where ChatGPT's outbound traffic is actually going. With 20% of its e-commerce referrals landing on Amazon—and roughly 30% of its overall referrals directing users right back to Google or YouTube—we question the long-term impact on user experience and whether OpenAI is just feeding the monopolies it is trying to disrupt.Plus, we cover Google's rollout of "AI mode" to Chrome users in the US, featuring a new side-by-side browsing experience, and discuss the looming threat of mass arbitration facing Google in the wake of its 2024 antitrust loss.Resources & Links:Access all our webinars, reports, and playbooks in our Knowledge Hub: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/knowledge-hub/How is your industry stacking up in the market? Find out with smec’s Google Ads Benchmarks:https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/smec-market-observer/ About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.comLinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbhNewsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/

Google just quietly won the agentic commerce war — and most ecommerce retailers haven't even noticed. In this episode of Growing Ecommerce, Mike Ryan and Chris break down the three UCP (Universal Commerce Protocol) updates Google just shipped, why OpenAI's ACP is already falling behind, and the structural advantages that make Google's lead almost impossible to catch.If you run Performance Max campaigns, sell on Google Shopping, or want to understand where ecommerce is headed in the AI era — this is the episode that connects the dots.Inside this episode:The 3 new UCP capabilities that just went live: cart building, catalog capability, and identity linking — and why "boring" updates matter more than hypeWhy OpenAI's ACP dropped to single-item checkout while Google moved aheadThe Walmart Sparky chatbot inside ChatGPT — the workaround that proves OpenAI's pipeline is brokenHow Google Pay and Google Wallet quietly lock retailers into a walled gardenGoogle's flywheel: how the shopping graph + audience graph + structured knowledge graph data create a moat LLMs can't replicateWhy this time is different from Buy on Google's 2018 failure — and what changed in Google's leverage over retailersWhy pipeline-based agents (UCP) will win over browser-based agents — and how this is really the logical endpoint of headless commerceThe only thing that could realistically stop Google: regulatorsTopics covered: UCP, Universal Commerce Protocol, agentic commerce, Performance Max, PMax, Google Shopping, AI mode, ChatGPT shopping, OpenAI ACP, agentic checkout, Google Pay, Google Wallet, headless commerce, Merchant Center, knowledge graph, shopping graph, Walmart Sparky, AI overviews, conversational attributes.About Smarter Ecommerce (smec):Smarter Ecommerce (smec) empowers e-commerce brands with AI-driven PPC automation that optimizes for profit and business outcomes while maintaining strategic control.The platform activates first-party data - profit margins, customer lifetime value, and key business metrics - to automate campaign optimization toward goals like profitability and efficient growth, while detailed campaign insights provide full transparency and enable PPC teams to focus on strategic oversight rather than manual execution.As a Google Premier Partner and three-time Microsoft Retail Partner of the Year, smec manages over €500 million in ad spend and drives €5B+ in annual e-commerce revenue for 350+ global retail clients including THG, Snipes, REWE, and Intersport.Make sure to follow smec - Smarter Ecommerce for more performance marketing insights:smec - Smarter Ecommerce: https://www.smarter-ecommerce.comLinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/smarter-ecommerce-gmbhNewsletter: https://smarter-ecommerce.com/en/newsletter/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smarterecommerce/