Using the power of AI to reach customers wherever they are

Every retail or ecommerce business’ growth is dependent on maintaining their margins as they scale. This means that marketers need to be constantly searching for every incremental performance gain possible. To help each business grow profitably we continue to invest in AI models like Andromeda that analyze tens of millions of ads and find the right message for the right person at the right time, making the most efficient use of advertising spend. Now, we’re also introducing new tools and placements that can be used with the AI-powered Advantage+ sales campaigns to maximize performance, giving our ad systems more options while driving sales online and in-store.

Key takeaways

• We’re expanding access to omnichannel ads to help advertisers drive sales online and in-store.
• We’re continuing to explore new generative AI use cases for retail including virtual try-on, background generation for Catalog Ads and more precise text generation.
• This summer we’ll begin to test a new simplified checkout experience for Shops ads in the US and in select international markets.
• This spring we’ll introduce ads in notifications on Facebook.

Today kicks off a week of Meta Business updates to help marketers turbo-charge their strategies. At ShopTalk 2025 Clara Shih will give a preview of how AI can unlock more value for retail advertisers.

Helping customers make a purchase online and in-store

Last fall we began testing the ability for advertisers to show ads that highlight nearby locations to people most likely to shop in-store. Now we’re expanding access to omnichannel ads to more advertisers, adding the ability to guide people to the nearest store with products in stock, and surfacing discounts that can make it even more enticing for shoppers to visit a store. Advertisers that used omnichannel ads had a 15% lower media omnichannel CPA and a 12% higher media ROAS when compared to their business as usual campaigns. With this feature becoming globally available this summer, advertisers can hone new omnichannel strategies in time for holiday.

“Ads are a critical part of our marketing strategy to reach younger audiences and drive sales online and across our 800 plus stores,” said Craig Brommers, CMO, American Eagle. “With omnichannel ads we were able to achieve a 48% higher omnichannel return on ad spend with our core audience - 18-24 year old shoppers. We’re excited about these results and will be incorporating omnichannel ads into our ongoing strategies.”

We’re also introducing updates to our tools that help drive online sales. Shops ads is an AI-enabled optimization that works with Advantage+ sales campaigns to show ads to people that our systems predict are most likely to make a purchase using a Facebook or Instagram Shop. To help more advertisers benefit from this optimization, we’ll begin introducing a simplified checkout experience that drives people to the advertiser’s website to complete their purchase after building their cart in a Shop this spring. This update allows advertisers to provide more benefits to shoppers at checkout and allows us to evaluate new markets this year, starting with testing in Australia and Taiwan.

Last year at ShopTalk we introduced the ability for advertisers to add catalog items to a featured image or video in their ads - helping advertisers realize a 9.3% lower CPA by merchandising their products alongside their creative. This half we’re allowing advertisers to use Partnership ads and Advantage+ catalog ads together, bringing the power of creator content to this experience.

We’re also introducing a new optimization that allows our ads system to show additional products from your catalog when promoting a preferred product set with Advantage+ catalog ads or Shops ads. With this feature a fashion brand could choose to highlight jackets from their spring collection and give our system the option to serve a dress that we think a shopper might also be interested in. In initial tests, advertisers saw a 14% increase in ROAS when using this optimization on average. In EMEA, British retailer Boden realized a 23% increase in ROAS, and in LATAM, Dexter saw a 25% decrease in cost per purchase when testing running campaigns with this capability.

We’ve also expanded access to Incremental Attribution, a new opt-in attribution setting that uses machine learning to optimize for incremental conversions.

Exploring new gen AI use cases for retail and ecommerce businesses

This half we’ll continue to explore new features including using gen AI to place clothing on virtual models, building on our business AI update earlier this month. By giving customers a better sense of how an item might look and fit we hope to help shoppers confidently make a purchase and advertisers create more compelling experiences.

Today advertisers can use background generation in Catalog ads and we’re experimenting with more personalized outputs for text generation. This will help advertisers better merchandise their products on our platforms and create ad copy that resonates with customers.

Helping advertisers create always-on demand

Outside of seasonal moments, marketers also come to Meta to create moments in time that turn consumer interest into conversion. To help advertisers capitalize on these moments, we’re introducing a new format and updates to our tools that make it easier to capture demand.

First, this spring we’ll begin to test ads in notifications on Facebook. This new placement will give advertisers a new place to engage people and drive discovery and reconsideration for their products. Ads in notifications gives advertisers a new tool to reach people that may have previously engaged with an ad or shown interest in their content. For retail and ecommerce businesses ads in notifications are another opportunity to remind shoppers of their offers or products in a new surface.

Second, this spring we’ll introduce the ability for advertisers to request emails before sharing promo codes in their promotion ads, helping businesses build deeper connections with their customers.