As a retailer, changing your retail media platform can deliver significant benefits. However, without a robust migration strategy, advertisers and agencies risk prolonged dark periods where campaign performance is invisible, inability to optimize budgets leading to wasted spend, loss of historical data hindering analysis, and inaccurate reporting that enables poor decisions.
The complexity of migrating reporting and analytics makes these catastrophic outcomes a real possibility: Campaign IDs, names, product catalogs, and data schemas may differ greatly between Criteo and CitrusAd, requiring intricate mappings. Joining datasets and unifying historical data is highly technical and prone to error.Simple exporting and importing is not enough to transform Criteo's structure to CitrusAd’s APIs.
Logically, the same complexity exists in the opposite direction when migrating from Citrusad to Criteo.
This guide can therefore help you to identify areas of risk when migrating from/to any platform.
Here are key steps retailers can take to maintain their automated reporting when migrating from one platform to another.
Map API integrations between platforms
The foundation of automated reporting is API integrations that pull performance data into business intelligence tools like Looker or PowerBI. Before transitioning campaigns, map out all existing Criteo API integrations and determine equivalent endpoints in the CitrusAd platform (powered by Google BigQuery). Document which specific metrics, dimensions, and segmentation logic need to carry over.
Transform Criteo data structure to match CitrusAd or vice versa
While some metrics like clicks and conversions may be similar between Criteo and CitrusAd, the overall data structure will differ. You’ll need to transform Criteo data to match the structure of CitrusAd’s API responses. This is critical for ensuring automated reporting dashboards continue functioning with the new data inputs. Use the right tools to handle the structural mapping.
Typically, advertisers and their agencies need to keep the reports they've used on Criteo:
- Campaign Performance (with campaign_id, impressions, clicks, sales…): gives overall campaign metrics.
- Product Category Performance (with product_category, impressions, clicks, sales): allows analyzing performance by product category.
- Product Performance (with product_id, product_name, impressions, clicks, sales): allows analyzing performance by product (SKU).
- Keyword Performance (with keyword, impressions, clicks, sales..) gives keywords performance metrics.
- Page Type Performance (with page_type, impressions, clicks) : helps understand engagement by page type.
To achieve this, fundamental change will be needed, but the key will be to get into the detail.
As an example of keyword reporting, in the CitrusAd system there are two important types of datasets that we use for reporting:
- Search Term Table: this table is like a list that contains all the search terms that people have used. Think of it as a record of what customers are searching for.
- Metrics Table: this is where all the important numbers are stored, like how many times an ad was shown (impressions), clicked on (clicks), and led to a sale (sales).
To create a report that shows you how many views, clicks, and sales each search term got, we combine (or 'join') these two tables. This gives you a clear picture of how each keyword is performing in terms of attracting views, clicks and ultimately sales, just as you are used to with Criteo, where a « keyword performance » table shows keyword, impressions, clicks and sales.
Maintain historical data access
Ideally, you want to retain access to historical Criteo data for continuity in reporting and analytics. You can also use data-warehouses like Bigquery, Snowflake or Redshift to merge historical Criteo data with new CitrusAd data for a complete longitudinal view.
You want to eliminate the tedious and risky process of manually downloading files, which involves constant logins and searching for reports, and reduce the clutter of having reports scattered everywhere - stored on your laptop, sent via email, or shared through various platforms.
Verify metrics accuracy post-migration
Once CitrusAd is ingesting live campaign data, thoroughly vet reports to ensure accuracy. Check that metrics are consistent segment-by-segment. By taking these proactive steps around reporting, retailers can migrate from Criteo to CitrusAd (and vice versa) without losing visibility into performance.
Maintaining your real-time dashboards will ensure you can optimize retail media campaigns and continue driving growth during and after the transition and compare performances over time.
Why Choose mimbi for your migration, as a brand, an agency or even a retailer?
Tailored for Retail Media platforms
Retail media is a fast-moving environment where migration and fragmentation are commonplace.
mimbi is specifically optimized for the retail media sector. Understanding the unique data structures of platforms like Criteo, Amazon or CitrusAd, mimbi ensures that your data transformation is precise and aligned with industry standards.
Automated data transformation
mimbi automates the most challenging aspects of data transformation. Whether it's mapping campaign IDs or harmonizing and ensuring the integrity of your historical data, mimbi handles it all with ease.
Seamless integration with APIs and Cloud tech
mimbi effortlessly integrates with Retail Media APIs and Cloud technologies.
This ensures a continuous and reliable data flow into your new system, keeping your dashboards and reports up-to-date and accurate.
Data enrichment
One example: Product category is usually the retailer’s.
By importing your product catalog (as brand) into mimbi, you can have a product or category view per your own standards.
User-friendly interface
We understand that not every retailer has a team of data scientists. mimbi’s intuitive interface allows for easy operation, making complex data transformations accessible to all team members.
Scalability and flexibility
As your business grows, so do your data needs. mimbi is designed to scale with your business, accommodating increasing data volumes without compromising on performance.
Proven success in complex migrations
mimbi's efficiency and reliability have been proven in various complex scenarios. Our founding team has extensive experience beyond typical retail media migrations, including complex marketplace integrations and large-scale eCommerce technology transitions (SAP, Mirakl, Salesforce Commerce…).
This experience has equipped mimbi with unparalleled agility and precision, vital for successful migrations like these.
Now breathe!
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