The Skai Holiday Gift Box: Final Adjustments for Retail Media Holiday Success

It’s mid-October, and the holiday marketing season is officially upon us. For retail media marketers, time is of the essence, as shoppers are already starting to open their wallets. 15% of consumers have already started their holiday shopping, and by November 1st, 58% will have joined them. With that in mind, this isn’t the time for overarching seasonal advice. Instead, here are a handful of crucial, actionable tips to ensure your campaigns are optimized and ready before things really start to heat up in the coming weeks.

At Skai, we know how fast things move in retail media—especially during the holiday season. These strategies will help you make last-minute adjustments that will keep your campaigns performing at their best as we approach the busiest time of year for retailers.

Give (and receive) the gift of a seamless omnichannel experience

Holiday shoppers are notoriously stressed. They’re bouncing between online and offline channels, from browsing on their phones to buying in-store, and you need to be ready wherever they are. 64% of consumers use retailer websites for holiday research, making it crucial that your omnichannel strategy is fully aligned right now—not weeks from now. Retail media isn’t just another touchpoint; it’s often the anchor of the entire omnichannel experience. Integrating your retail media campaigns with CTV, programmatic display, and paid social ensures that wherever your customers are shopping, you’re ready to meet them.

For retail media marketers, this means looking at every platform and every ad format as an opportunity to drive engagement and conversion. Instead of waiting until Black Friday to make changes, use the next few weeks to fine-tune your approach, ensuring you’re capturing shoppers from all directions. The closer we get to November, the more fragmented the shopper’s journey becomes. By tightening your omnichannel efforts now, you’ll be prepared to convert distracted and busy consumers when the shopping rush kicks into high gear.

Make your retail media list (and check it twice)

With the holiday season in full swing, you can’t afford to waste time or resources on irrelevant categories. Top categories like fashion (90.7%) and toys (84.6%) are already leading the pack, and your retail media campaigns should reflect this. Now is the perfect time to reassess which product categories are driving the most consumer interest and focus your efforts on pushing these items across retail media platforms. Retail media is uniquely positioned to capture in-market shoppers at key decision moments, so make sure your ads are aligned with what’s top of mind for holiday buyers.

Use the weeks before Black Friday to conduct a quick review of which categories and products are underperforming and shift your focus to high-demand items. The beauty of retail media lies in its agility—you can course-correct quickly by reallocating spend to the highest-converting categories. Don’t wait until Cyber Monday to adjust your strategy. Doing this now ensures you’ll hit the ground running when the stakes are at their highest.

And check your keywords twice with Search Term Analysis (STA)

In retail media, search is everything—especially as the holidays approach. Shoppers are searching with specific intent, and setting up automated keyword harvesting 3-4 weeks before key events will ensure you capture those crucial searches that drive conversions. Skai’s Search Term Analysis (STA) allows you to make these refinements in real-time, cutting out any waste by removing underperforming keywords. Retail media marketers understand that search can make or break a campaign, and this last-minute keyword audit can give your holiday strategy a significant edge.

Retail media relies on precision targeting, and keyword strategy is at the core of that. With the holiday frenzy around the corner, STA helps you stay nimble, allowing you to adapt your campaigns as new trends emerge in the coming weeks. Rather than scrambling to catch up when the chaos begins, use this window to proactively refine your targeting. A well-optimized keyword strategy ensures that your retail media ads show up in the right places at the right time.

Automated Actions are Santa’s little helper

With Black Friday just weeks away, it’s not only what you do that matters, but what you automate. Skai’s Automated Actions gives retail media marketers the ability to streamline campaign management, even during the busiest shopping days. Automation through Skai’s tools ensures campaigns are managed seamlessly, even when your teams are out. This is a critical moment to automate repetitive tasks, like bid adjustments and budget shifts, so your campaigns remain agile even when you’re not monitoring them 24/7.

For retail media marketers, the next few weeks are make-or-break. By setting up automated rules and triggers now, you’ll avoid reactive decision-making during key shopping days. Automating your bidding, budgeting, and keyword management means your campaigns can continue to perform optimally without requiring constant oversight. This gives you more flexibility to focus on strategic adjustments rather than manual fixes when things inevitably get chaotic.

Add extra elf magic with Budget Navigator

The holiday season is a balancing act for your budget. 81% of advertisers said retail media spending is one of the most important channels for their brand, and managing that spend effectively is critical to your success. Skai’s Budget Navigator ensures you have full visibility and control over your ad spend across the most important retail days. Waiting to make adjustments can result in overspending or missing out on high-value opportunities, so now’s the time to dial in your pacing and budget allocation.

Retail media thrives on real-time budget flexibility, and Budget Navigator gives you the insights to adjust your spend as peak shopping days approach. You don’t want to leave money on the table by exhausting your budget too early. By using these last few weeks to map out your budget pacing strategy, you’ll have the flexibility to move dollars to the campaigns and channels that are delivering the best results when the stakes are highest.

Experiments help you give the gift of the perfect experience

The holidays are a time of experimentation, not just for consumers trying new products, but for retail media marketers refining their strategies—and experiments do not have to be months-long tests. Setting up experiments before key shopping days allows you to test multiple campaign elements and see what resonates with your audience. Whether you’re tweaking creative, testing different ad formats, or refining your targeting, experiments help you understand what’s driving performance as the holiday season heats up.

For retail media, experimentation is about more than just learning—it’s about acting quickly on the insights you gain. By running these experiments now, you can gather actionable data that allows you to optimize for Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and beyond. Don’t wait for the holiday rush to start testing new strategies. Use this window to experiment with different campaign setups, so you can roll out the most effective versions just as shopping intensity peaks.

Conclusion: It’s Time to Act Now

With the busiest shopping days fast approaching, the key to a successful holiday season in retail media is action—right now. These last-minute adjustments will ensure that your campaigns are set up for success before the rush truly begins. Use Skai’s tools to automate, optimize, and experiment over the next few weeks so that when Black Friday and Cyber Monday hit, you’re not just scrambling to keep up—you’re leading the charge. Take control of your budget, refine your keyword strategy, and perfect your omnichannel approach now. The window is short, but the rewards are huge. Let’s make this holiday season your best yet.

Skai’s retail media solution empowers brands to execute omnichannel advertising strategies that meet holiday shoppers at key decision points. By leveraging automation, data-driven insights, and integrated campaign management across 100+ retailers and platforms, you can drive meaningful engagement and conversions throughout the busy season. Check out Skai’s Retail Media Solution here ​for more information on how we can help.

Get ahead this holiday season by letting Skai streamline your retail media campaigns. If you’re ready to boost your performance, schedule a brief demo today!