The current state of non-endemic is somewhere between infancy and toddlerhood. Retail media heavy hitter Amazon is more mature today by far. Other networks in on the action today include Macy’s, Walgreens and Home Depot, with more to come. 

Are there risks? 

Brand safety, quality standards (when an impression counts) and competitive separation are all things you’ll want to check on a per-network basis. In most cases, retailers are using an established DSP that has already built the guardrails to cover the basics. Amazon’s DSP has a robust build-out that operates similarly but often stands alone; other retailers don’t use it for their first-party audiences as it’s considered competitive. So you’ll need to think of this endeavor as an Amazon + [insert DSP of your choice] for other retailers. 

Other risks are around deduping—making sure the impressions you’re buying are incremental and not doubling up if you are simultaneously buying through multiple retailers on the same or different DSPs. Each retailer has its own approach, so you’ll need to do your homework on this one. This will be yours to figure out, likely with the help of a third-party tool if it’s a concern. 

This is all to say, the risks are pretty minimal and definitely warrant the question: Are we ready for a quality, net new, incremental source of leads, traffic and sales? Once you go non-endemic, you might never go back.