Physical retail continues to play an important role for younger shoppers. “We’re seeing that a majority of purchases still happen in store, and that includes Gen Z for sure,” O’Meara noted.

AI reshapes targeting and search strategy 

Alongside a broader shift toward business outcomes, marketers are using AI models to dissect vague household CRM data to “make household level data, user level data, or person level data, so that they can better target, reach, and engage with those customers,” O’Meara explained.

Concurrently, the rise of AI search requires new strategies. Comerford highlighted that “with Reddit being a huge source of that information, there’s limited control over what the answer engines are going to pick up and say about your brand,” shifting media focus toward answer engine optimization.