Meta Unveils New Omnichannel Ad Platform | JP Chookaszian at Shoptalk 2025

Hello, everyone.

This is Omnitok Retail.

I'm Chris Walton.

And I'm Anne Mazinga.

And we are continuing our live coverage from the day two of Shop Talk.

Anne, can you believe it's day two already?

Day two is almost over.

Anne, I feel like it's day two.

I don't know.

I don't know about you, but I'm feeling day two.

I think that's how Taylor sang it.

Every day is day two when you work with me, right, Ann?

Not just that's not true, but today feels like day two.

Yes, it does.

But we are continuing, in all seriousness, we're continuing our coverage of day two from Shop Talk from the Meta headquarters here at Shop Talk, which is in Surf room B.

And thanks to Meta, where you can unlock seamless customer centric experiences with omnichannel ads for making all our coverage possible.

So now, Ann, I want to introduce the man standing between us, and that is Meta's industry manager for luxury and retail, JP Chakazian.

Jp Rolled right off the top.

Did I nail it?

You nailed it.

Nice.

You nailed it.

Nice.

I thought I did.

I was pretty proud of that.

Well, welcome to omnitalk, my friend.

Thank you, Chris.

Thank you, Anne.

So grateful to be here.

So tell us about your back.

We were talking a little bit before we got started, but tell the audience about your background and also about your role, because I know Ann is very keenly interested in your category, your category of business.

I love it.

I love it.

Speaking your language.

Yes.

Great.

Yeah.

So I'm an industry lead at Meta, covering retail, luxury and fashion.

So I'm supporting some of our largest retail fashion luxury partners, supporting with their growth strategy.

So of course that means.

Sounds like an awesome job.

I love it.

Yeah, I love it.

So obviously we're supporting them with their growth strategies, so certainly their advertising strategy on our apps and services.

But I'd say increasingly and especially in this type of environment, partnering with them to really collaborate on how we stay ahead of the evolving industry trends that are happening, consumer behavior trends that are happening.

And that also kind of coincides with the work that I'm leading internally, working very closely with our product teams on our retail innovation pipeline to make sure that what we're building for retail advertisers is actually going to enable them to do that, to stay ahead of what's happening from an always evolving industry.

Yeah.

Because the luxury industry particularly cares about that from.

From my understanding.

Just a little bit from my estimation.

Right.

Yeah, just a little bit.

Yeah.

Well said.

Well, well, J.P.

i have to kick things off with the big announcements that are coming out of Meta at Shop Talk that have come out recently.

Yeah.

Why don't you share those with our audience, especially how they are applying to some of the partners that you work with in the luxury and fashion space.

Yeah, I love it.

Yeah.

Thank you for the question.

Maybe I can start with a little bit of the kind of industry trends that are motivating a lot of the exciting product development work that we rolled out.

So first, on the macroeconomic side, obviously there has been a lot of dynamics to start off Q1 in 2025.

You know, there's been some research that shows that, you know, consumer spending has slowed in February, and that, of course, is causing a lot of the market to readjust their forecasts and expectations for 2025.

And of course, kind of subsequent to that, their marketing strategies need to be refined.

So kind of challenging economic standpoint.

And then kind of with that, you know, likely customers are still willing to buy, but perhaps a little bit more hesitant.

So what does that mean for marketers?

Means their job is a lot harder.

Yeah.

And we know that the retail industry is a margins business.

And so every extra moment those products are sitting on the shelves or in a warehouse, as we know, extremely costly for our partners, and especially if they actually have to use a discount to move those products.

Yes.

Not ideal.

Not ideal.

Not something your side of the business likes to do that often either, right?

No, they try to avoid that 100%.

Yeah.

What is a discount in luxury?

But, but so as a result, then every point of incremental performance that we can offer our partners through our ads, tools and solutions.

Right.

Is a critical leverage point for them to drive better margin for their business.

So very, very paramount in this environment, in particular, that we are laser focused on helping deliver on that for our partners.

So that's on the macro side, on the consumer side, this is not new.

We know that consumer behavior is demanding, or at least expecting a hybrid shopping experience.

They want to be able to go from online to in store, from start to finish, in a really seamless way.

And so we're committed to, you know, enabling that for our partners, trying to tie together that shopping experience so that they can actually deliver on that high expectation.

Yeah.

So that's a little bit of the backdrop.

Yeah.

Right.

Big setup.

Sorry.

Yeah, it's important to cover that, especially with the, like, current economic conditions, I think, too, because we've heard from a lot of people at Shop Talk in the last day.

It's only been One day, but in the last 24 hours, just about how important it is.

What you're talking about, like getting people motivated to shop when they are trying to kind of cut back.

Yeah, yeah.

And I guess maybe even.

Sorry to bury the lead even more.

But I think, like.

But even in the context of that being able to tie the ecosystem together, I think especially for our retail partners that have a large store footprint, they're sitting on this incredible asset that is one of their competitive advantages, particularly when you think about the large e comm players.

And they've been asking for performance marketing solutions and tactics that would enable them to actually leverage that as an asset to be able to drive store sales in the same way that they're driving their performance marketing campaigns for online sales.

And that's never really been offered from our standpoint in a very meaningful way.

And so without further ado.

Let's do it.

Yeah, let's have it.

That's where our omnichannel ad solution comes in.

So in one single campaign, advertisers can pool together their signal to be able to drive both online sales and store sales in one single campaign.

And the benefit of this is we're seeing tremendous, obviously omnichannel results and specifically, we're obviously seeing gains in what's happening in the stores.

So when you compare an omnichannel ads campaign, we're seeing a 21% increase in incremental store roas compared to our website conversion campaign.

So our traditional website online driving tactics.

Wow.

So those ads are performing better in stores relative to what they're performing online.

Is that right?

Is that right?

Can I interpret that right?

That's exactly right.

Wow.

Okay.

Any hypotheses on why that is?

Yeah.

So before, if you think about the way that our campaigns were optimized, we're only leveraging what's happening from an online standpoint.

Now what we're able to do is leverage all of that signal from the people who are shopping in store, which, by the way, the place where the majority of purchases are actually still happening to be able to power these campaigns.

So when you think about this environment where especially there's that pressure from E commerce players, this is a really tremendous strategic lever that is a competitive advantage for them.

So now we're opening up that opportunity to be able to find not just those who are going to shop online, but those who are going to shop online and in store, or just in store.

And so this platform exists for all retailers now, not just in the luxury space.

It's everyone Everyone that wants to use it from Meta, they can use it.

It's currently in beta, so it's compatible with all of our Advantage plus and existing formats.

So Advantage plus is our kind of our AI driven automated solutions.

So the place where most of our advertisers are leaning in.

So it's compatible with that.

There's also some additional features that allow you to make the store experience a little bit more enticing.

So having localized pricing, product availability, even promotions in stores nearby.

So that's in the actual ad formats itself too.

That's unbelievable.

That's very key.

What had to fall into place, jp, for this to be able to get to this point?

Yeah, a lot.

Very, very close.

I mean, that's a lot of.

I'm just like thinking like there's so many.

We just talked about it yesterday, we threw it up on a whiteboard and then it was done.

No, that was great.

A lot.

I love that question.

I love that answer.

I mean, there's so many things that have to come in to work together from Meta side so that you're able to put this all into motion for the retailer, right?

That's right.

I mean, I think this is like maybe back to where I was mentioning some of our collaboration with the product.

I've been at Meta for almost eight years.

I've never seen the amount of collaboration and connection that our product teams have had with the industry regularly bringing them close to.

I mean, our partners have directly shaped the product roadmap for this.

And what's exciting is given all these challenging environment, the challenging environment that we're sitting in, this solution is coming in at the perfect time.

So I mentioned it's in beta at the moment.

It's going to release into general availability later this summer in time for back to school and certainly in time for the critical holiday window when we know our advertisers are really going to need it.

Does that make sense?

All right, so maybe even staying in your lane of luxury, but you could go more broadly with this too.

I'm curious.

We always talk about people, process and technology on our podcast.

For the retailers that are listening, they're saying, hey, you know what, I want to take advantage of this.

I want to get into the beta early and start to see what it means for me as I go into the holidays.

To your point, what do they need to get right along those three dimensions to be as successful as they can be with this new platform?

Yeah.

Chris, I love this question because you can have the best strategy in the world, but if those things, three things aren't in place.

Yep.

It means nothing and it's going to fall flat.

I think in the context of Omni.

Okay.

You know, it's interesting, it's the most uncontroversial thing to say as a brand or retailer that Omni is what we're trying to drive and deliver.

But when you click into it, there are people, processes that have been defined over decades at a lot of these traditional companies that have been built up around channels.

And so there are these silos that exist between what's happening from an E Comm perspective, what's happening from a store perspective that have different KPIs, different measurement frameworks and methodologies and different budgets.

That's what I was thinking.

You got to unlock the budgets differently.

100%.

Exactly.

And this is a really, really hard thing to solve for, by the way.

This is like a multi year thing.

But what ends up happening if you don't have those kind of operating in a more fluid and cohesive way is ultimately you're never going to have the sum greater than the parts where you're going to have store sales driven by the store team.

You're going to have digital teams focused on digital sales.

And truly that Omni opportunity won't be realized because there won't be the synergy that you need.

So the advertisers are doing the best job of this.

Our partners that are doing the best job are really thinking about how do we design an org that creates more fluidity across these goals.

So how do we rethink our measurement framework and KPIs so that that is truly an Omni goal across what's happening on both sides?

How do we unify that?

How do we unify what's happening from a budgeting standpoint so that we can allow the marketing team to really have more fluidity and agility in the way that they're deploying and activating their strategies to drive the greatest Omnia outcomes.

That makes sense.

And I would imagine too that there's a little bit of learning by doing here going on as well, versus just to your point about staying stagnant, staying in the old mindset, you've actually got to dig into here and try it to understand what that or structure could eventually look like too.

Is that right?

Yeah.

And this is why I think it's a multi year process because it's a huge change management exercise just as much as it is a new marketing strategy.

And so all of this needs to be done with, you know, Test and learn methodologies that are, you know, meant to, you know, one show the results over time, but also, you know, give confidence in the organization that we're heading in the right direction.

And buy in from your retailer partners who you've been working with to develop this, I imagine too over the course last.

That's exactly right.

Well, I'm curious, you know, as, as you look at what's in beta phase right now and we think about where Unified Commerce is going, what are you most excited about?

What this platform will enable for what the future of Unified Commerce looks like.

Yeah.

Okay.

Well, I think.

Okay, well, we've made it this far into the interview without talking about AI.

But you knew it was coming.

Yes, right, exactly.

So with any innovation wave, those who are moving the first and fastest are going to be able to realize the competitive advantage in the future.

And that moment is here.

I don't think anyone needs convincing and certainly in the environment that we're sitting in, hopefully there's extra incentive and motivation to start activating on that.

So what does that mean for, for us at Meta?

I'd say I break that down into a few different areas.

One is the Advantage plus suite that I mentioned earlier.

This is our AI driven technology that's kind of our most popular advertising suite of products.

We have a new machine learning system that just got developed that's driving an 8% improvement in the relevancy of the ads that we're showing to our partners.

The Advantage plus shopping campaign specific portion of our Advantage plus portfolio with US advertisers driving a 22% increase in incremental ROAS for our partners.

So really, really powerful opportunities for our retail and brand partners to lean into kind of our automation suite on that front.

So that'd be the first one.

Okay.

The next one is Genai again, kind of had to break down and double up on the AI buzzwords.

Yeah, yeah.

Okay.

So Genai, this is really exciting.

This half.

We're committed to developing some new experiences that are going to allow consumers to be able to use virtual try on features where you're going to have a virtual Genai created model where you can see what clothes look like on different models that match your body type.

So I'm creating a model of my body.

Advertisers are going to be able to do that and then you're going to be able to select from a tray of of models that look like you to be able to see what that product actually looks like on you.

Wow.

Obviously this is going to hopefully give customers A little bit more confidence in being able to make that purchase, but also for our partners, hopefully reduce the return rate.

We know return rates are much higher for E commerce, so hopefully this will give a little bit more confidence there and some cost savings.

Yeah, that's interesting because that's a whole nother element or measurable effect of the model too, or of the platform.

Right.

So you know, that can go into the return on ad spend as well.

Over time, if you start calculating the return, return rate decreases too.

Wow.

Interesting, interesting.

So that's where you guys are going next with Gen AI.

Yeah.

And then there are a few others kind of areas of Gen AI that are a little bit more established, like background generation for catalog ads to make those experiences a little bit more rich.

Also our text generation, which allows you to have more personalized and varied ad copy for consumers.

So that's another area that I would definitely be leaning into and tends to be the first place that people start because it's a little less.

Yeah.

Connected to kind of the brand, you know, like creative would be.

Right, right.

Are you seeing a lot of brands that you work with look to partners like Meta to help with some of that, you know, dynamic background generation, dynamic text based on the targeting information that they're getting from you or their ideal consumers?

Or are a lot of them starting to experiment on their own?

Like what are you seeing, especially in the luxury category?

Because I know that that relationship with consumers is so important there versus like a mass retailer that's just like, just give me a southern version and a northern version or something like that.

Yeah, no, that's exactly right.

Such a thoughtful question.

Very, very, very much hand in hand with them and really guiding together what makes sense for your brand.

So we're not trying to push them into something that, you know, the organization hasn't, more broadly kind of developed a firmer point of view on.

So a lot of our conversations are actually sitting.

They don't start with Meta.

It actually starts at a more kind of enterprise level.

And how are you thinking about Genai more broadly?

Got it.

And then how do we enter into that in a way that makes sense for your business?

Like I mentioned, you know, text generation would probably be the first place where you can dip your toe in the water.

You have an ability still to, you know, approve any of the ad copy that would be going out that's generated by this.

But you're getting a little bit more of that muscle exercise in a way that feels comfortable, makes it faster.

Right.

And then you can improve it Faster too.

Yeah, that's always why we see the starting point there.

Okay, let's get you out of here on this then.

You already mentioned that you think you'd advise the retailers that are working with you, they want to take advantage of the platform to really think about their Org structures, their budgeting.

Is there anything else they should be investing in from a capability standpoint right now to harness not just even what you're doing here at Meta and the platform, but where the future of social commerce is going?

Yeah, I love that.

I think I would think about three different areas.

So first, creative, we were just touching on this.

This is the through line in everything that we're doing.

So you can have the best kind of setup from a campaign strategy possible in our system.

But if you don't have compelling creative that is adapting and responding to kind of the needs of your customers, it's going to fall flat and it won't matter.

So whether that's leaning into some of these gen AI capabilities or if it's thinking through a creator strategy that's a Shop With Me campaign to use as asset in your Omnichannel ads campaign, I'd really be thinking about creative first and foremost.

Okay, okay, that's interesting.

Okay, I didn't expect you to say that.

Okay, interesting.

So number two, I would, I would definitely be leaning into AI.

So for us, that's our, you know, Advantage plus, you know, suite of products that I was just mentioning where I think that is our tried and true, you know, all advertisers right now are thinking about what's low cost, low risk and high headroom.

Where is their opportunity to really scale and that's like really going to be the number one place that advertisers are start.

But I imagine that most of your partners and listeners are actually already leaned in there with us.

And that's where I would say, okay, so then how are you carving out a portion of your budget to be thinking about the green shoots and thinking about green shoots and innovation in a way that allows you to lean into your competitive advantage, especially ahead of the holiday.

So where can we get learnings quick to be able to inform our holiday strategies?

And this again is where I would really be thinking about our omnichannel ad solution.

I think we've built and are known for Discovery Commerce engine for E commerce.

That's so much of what we've built our business on.

Now think about being able to do that in the channel, to include the channel where the majority of purchases are stopped.

That could Be a complete game changer for advertisers and partners, you know, can get that to work for their business.

Wow, man, you just flipped the script on me.

Like, I'm still getting my head around the first one, like, so.

Yeah, you're basically saying, like, even though we're in the age of generative AI, the emphasis on creative is still paramount and you've got to get creative.

Right.

You have to get creative.

Right.

I think gen offers new tools and capabilities to help you think about creative.

In a different way again.

Yeah.

Right.

But the role of a creative in this is never been more important.

Right?

Yeah.

Gotta feel authentic too.

That's the other part that you.

And when you need to urge people to spend.

Right now.

That's exactly right.

Need people to start shopping again.

That creative is so important to drive people or convert them when they're being very careful about when they are choosing to hit buy and when they're just filling their carts full of.

Full of dream items.

Exactly.

Great.

Jp, thank you so much for taking the time with us today today to break all of this down.

Congrats on the big announcements from you and the Meta team.

Thanks for helping us bring everyone all of the coverage from the show today too, as well.

If people are still at the show, they want to get in touch with you.

Where's the best place for them to do that today and then after Shop Talk.

Yeah, I love it.

Well, first, thank you so much for the opportunity.

This is a conversation people can reach out to me.

My email is JP Chakazian.

I think we'll include that into the notes.

Absolutely, absolutely.

Excellent.

Well, thank you again so much to Meta for making all of today's coverage possible.

And until our final interview of the.

Day, be careful out there.