Global technology company, Criteo has welcomed Roger Dunn as head of retail media in Australia and New Zealand. Dunn’s appointment comes as Criteo expands its Retail Media Solution across the Asia Pacific region.

Most recently founder and general manager of GroupM Commerce, Dunn will help drive Criteo’s larger vision as a Commerce Media Platform by leading the company’s retail media ecosystem from driving adoption to helping retailers upgrade their technology and unlocking incremental revenue via investment from both brands and agencies.

Retailers have experienced a boom in online sales, but profitability remains a challenge and that’s where retail media comes in, according to Criteo managing director for retail media – APAC, Taro Fujinaka.

“We’re excited to have Roger onboard to drive Retail Media in the region – an ecommerce leader in his own right, with extensive experience and deep expertise in helping brands navigate and capture rapidly shifting retail opportunities to achieve their marketing goals.”

Dunn brings over 18 years’ experience in building businesses and driving commercial outcomes across agency and publisher roles including NewsCorp, MediaCom and most recently GroupM. Over the past five years, Dunn was the first person in Australia to be Amazon certified, has sat on the MFA Interactive Board, helped create the Digital Foundations Certificate program and was a judge for the ‘Creative eCommerce’ category at the 2021 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

“Every business is now an ecommerce business as it’s the source of almost 100% of growth. Future growth lies at the intersection of media and commerce, with retailers monetising their valuable audiences, and brands unlocking growth by targeting audiences right at the point of purchase. First-party data is also at its core, offering sustainable growth and a long-term addressability solution for the future,” Dunn said.

“While Amazon may have paved the way for retail media, Criteo has access to one of the world’s largest commerce data sets on the open internet, which sees over $900 billion of ecommerce sales annually – three times that of Amazon. Australian retailers have begun exploring retail media, but the market is now ready for a more sophisticated solution. If retailers don’t start seeing themselves as data-driven media businesses, they risk falling behind once the storm passes.”