5 Key Takeaways from MikMak’s Commerce Growth Summit

At this year’s MikMak Commerce Growth Summit, we welcomed hundreds of brand and digital leaders from around the world to explore how to thrive in a market defined by uncertainty. From geopolitical shifts and changing media behaviors to evolving shopper expectations, one message came through loud and clear:

👉 Volatility is the norm, and adaptability is the advantage

Here are five key takeaways, grounded in real-world brand perspectives, and what they signal for the future of digital commerce.

1. Real-Time Agility Is the New Standard

Once volatility is accepted as a given, the next question becomes: how fast can your team respond? With platforms evolving weekly, consumer preferences shifting rapidly, and retailer demands intensifying, successful brands are operationalizing agility at every level, from data to creative to activation.

“We recently created a central data structure that unified all aspects of data, everything down from master data management all the way up to the board reporting that we use various visualization tools, into one vertical. And that's really allowed us to increase the pace of delivery of new reporting capabilities.” - Chris Chesebro, Wella

This shift reflects the kind of key insights leaders shared on how centralized data structures accelerate agile decision-making.

For leaders across digital commerce, media, and digital transformation, real-time adaptability is no longer a nice-to-have; it is the foundation for smarter decisions, better performance, and long-term resilience.

📊 Poll Insights: Many attendees cited challenges like difficulty measuring incrementality, siloed teams, and lack of cross-functional alignment, highlighting the operational friction that makes real-time agility not just a goal, but a necessity for decision-making.

To address these challenges, many brands are turning to solutions like MikMak Insights, which unify commerce data across platforms and retailers, enabling faster decision-making, improved alignment, and real-time performance optimization.

2. Full-Funnel Growth Starts With Rebalancing the Mix

As retail media spend surges, many brands are realizing they’ve gone too far down the funnel. Converting existing demand is no longer enough, sustainable growth depends on reaching new consumers, and proving that your media investments actually drive incremental growth.

“We are absolutely swimming in data… but I think the trick is really digging through all of that, and finding the signal and ignoring the noise.” - Erin Price, Sargento

But it’s not just about rebalancing spend, it’s about rethinking how success is measured. Traditional last-click models don’t reflect the complexity of today’s shopper journey. 

📊 Poll Insights: Most respondents cited difficulty aligning brand-building with performance goals. Siloed planning and fragmented measurement remain major blockers.

To see what better alignment looks like in action, check out how Aperol UK rebalanced their media strategy mid-campaign. By analyzing platform performance, creative formats, and retailer preferences, they achieved a 3.7x lift in Purchase Intent Rate, found that in-feed ads outperformed Reels 2:1, and directed 37 percent of clicks to Tesco, proving how smarter measurement leads to stronger outcomes.

3. Commerce Is Social, Seamless, and Always On

Today’s consumer journey is anything but linear. From TikTok discovery to ChatGPT referrals, shoppers expect to move from curiosity to checkout in seconds, not clicks. To win in this environment, brands need to treat every platform as a potential point of sale, and ensure their infrastructure is built to support it.

“I don’t view TikTok as a social platform, I view it as a retailer. And you see that in the way that the volume of sales goes through TikTok shops. Very little of it goes through a brand store; the vast majority of it goes through creators.”- Chris Chesebro, Wella

“The reality is the consumer can experience awareness to purchase in 30 seconds… They can take action quickly. Their expectations are super high on experience. So we’re just trying to keep pace.” - Steve Hay, Premier Nutrition

From creative optimization to inventory syncing, digital commerce leaders are rethinking how to connect social engagement to retail outcomes, drawing on key insights to remove friction and improve every step of the path to purchase..

📊Poll Insights: The most disruptive forces cited by attendees were retail media demands, marketplace shifts like TikTok Shop, and platform volatility, emphasizing the need for brands to be present, shoppable, and responsive across all digital environments.

MikMak Commerce helps brands stay resilient amid shifting market forces, from rising tariffs to retailer demands, by enabling seamless shopping across social, retail media, and owned channels. Learn how leading brands are adapting their omnichannel strategies to protect and grow top-line revenue in tough economic times in this guide.

4. AI Is Elevating Execution, but Only If the Foundation Is Strong

AI was a recurring theme throughout the summit, but not in the futuristic sense. It’s already reshaping how teams approach content creation, search, and performance optimization. The difference between hype and impact? A strong foundation of clean data, clear creative, and measurable strategy.

“Focusing on the fundamentals and getting the basic pieces to work properly is the absolute necessity... because otherwise, you know, you can go in many, many directions.” - Arthur Sylvestre, Danone

AI won’t fix disconnected processes, but for brands with the right building blocks in place, it can help scale smarter, faster execution. This key insight was echoed throughout the summit.

“There’s a lot of tentacles to what you can do to really fortify your business, to make sure you can play along with things like Rufus and other techs.”-  Amy Chun, Colgate-Palmolive

📊 Poll Insights: Audience poll results showed that AI is already delivering value in areas like campaign optimization, creative testing, and workflow automation. But uneven adoption and foundational gaps show that AI’s full impact depends on operational readiness.

Scaling AI performance starts with clean, connected data. MikMak’s latest updates make it easier to push real-time commerce insights into BI tools, driving faster, smarter decisions. See what’s new in MikMak’s 2025 product release.

5. Composable Brands Are Built for What’s Next

As commerce becomes more fragmented and fast-moving, brands that win aren't just situationally agile, they’re architected for agility. The future belongs to companies investing in modular, API-first systems that allow them to scale quickly, localize effectively, and pivot without rebuilding from scratch.

“The big shift is that we used to have one plan, and then we would go into execution. Now, we have multiple plans ready for us to shift and adjust.” - Arthur Sylvestre, Danone

The value of composability extends beyond infrastructure. It enables faster testing, tighter integration across teams, and better responsiveness to shifting consumer behaviors and retailer requirements.

“You just don't know what's going to happen next with this whirlwind. So we're really staying nimble and thinking about our brands from a value standpoint, and how we communicate that value.” - Dawn Puskas, Church & Dwight

For brand and digital commerce leaders, composability is no longer just a tech conversation, it’s a strategic one. It's how companies are enabling global-local alignment, faster experimentation, and more intelligent investment decisions.

What’s Next: Turning Key Insights Into Action

The insights shared at the  Commerce Growth Summit made one thing clear: the brands leading the charge aren’t just adapting, they’re evolving. Whether it’s rethinking measurement, embracing new paths to purchase, or building infrastructure for speed and scale, success today means staying one step ahead of constant change.

Ready to see how MikMak can help your team navigate what’s next?

👉 Schedule a demo to learn how we help brands connect media to commerce and drive profitable growth across every channel. 

🎥 Watch the sessions on demand if you missed the summit live or want to revisit a standout conversation.