By Victoria Abidoye
Victoria is a marketing professional, with 4 years of experience within the landscape, currently doing a masters of science program in international business management
Consumers have given brands an unprecedented opportunity to win their business, and right now, many businesses are left in the dark on how to convert this window of opportunity. While the world is watching, we are in the middle of a silent retail revolution that is changing the way people shop and how brands connect with consumers.
Over Five billion internet users are online daily. Online users are online for 143 minutes daily and scroll 300 feet of content. While in-store aisles, they comparison shop on e-commerce and social media sites, including TikTok. 70.19% of online customers abandon their shopping carts, trusting peer reviews over brand advertising.
Customers’ shopping behavior reveals one grave error in traditional marketing methods: Once a customer leaves a cart and moves on, they are usually left to their own devices. Traditional digital marketing may focus on winning the first interaction and let potential opportunities get lost in the abyss afterward, leaving the abandoned cart as a “lost cause”. Retargeting using AI has disrupted this state of affair by re-engaging cart abandoners with measurable success: 150% higher conversions, 44% higher sales conversions than traditional retargeting, and 10x higher return on ad spend (ROAS). 77% of businesses used retargeting for lead generation by 2025, using it as a revenue recovery tool.
In simple terms, when a user clicks on a product or a piece of content, whether it’s a video they watch or an item they add to their cart, or when they spend more than 30 seconds on a service page, that activity is logged as an “intent signal” in their digital ecosystem. These intent signals are followed by pixels, cookies, and device IDs attached to them to create a behavioral fingerprint. Tracking pixels gather what a user viewed, but behavioral data dives deeper to look at how a user engaged with the content.
The true power is in the integration of data. The intent signals of these visits are captured using tracking tools like Google Ads, Meta Pixel, and Enterprise Platforms, which become first-party data synchronised across ad networks. The third-party data and metadata enrichment, which give marketers access to demographics and in-depth behavioral insights, can be layered on top of the first-party signals from tools like Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn etc. As users move from Google to Facebook to YouTube to CNN, every piece of content in their digital ecosystem is aware of their intent because it is woven across devices and applications, making targeting appear omniscient and personal.
This targeting, however, requires far more than good data collection. AI’s ability to predict not just what a person wants but when they are most likely to act on that intent is what provides competitive differentiation. Machine learning algorithms now predict the best time to deliver an ad, what creatives would work best, and which offer discount, social proof, or urgency messaging—would push the user to take action. All this is done in milliseconds by analysing millions of microdata points and deducing user intent patterns.
Smartest brands don’t use this technology to chase, bombard, and frustrate potential leads and customers; instead, they use this tech to intelligently and respectfully recover leads and carts, nurture for longer periods, and get brands top of mind without getting overexposed. Advanced AI systems have “fatigue thresholds” to ensure overexposure, which data studies have proved to be more damaging to conversions than not being seen.
AI Marketing is having one of the highest Compound Annual Growth Rates (CAGR) in the digital space. It is estimated to grow from $47.32 billion in 2025 to $107.5 billion by 2028. Market data is beginning to reflect increasing adoption rates: 77% of businesses were already using retargeting for lead generation as of 2025. 51.9% of marketers stated that they would implement AI-generated avatars.
AI-Powered retargeting outperforms traditional retargeting and attribution with a 44% higher sales conversion rate. AI-powered recommendations increase e-commerce revenues by 25%. Chatbots and support AI-driven systems improve retention rates by 38% and reduce support costs by 60%. AI is also solving marketing’s biggest attribution challenge and helping marketers identify true sales drivers.
Data published in 2025 confirms that 83% of marketing leaders have made the shift to “prioritising a measurable ROI”, an increase from 68% over the past five years. “Successful implementation of AI/ML in the marketing function depends not only on technology adoption but also on the organisations’ strategic thinking, talent, and execution capability” (2024 State of Marketing AI Report of nearly 1,800 marketers).
The time to prepare is now; however, the window of opportunity is finite.
The advantages of the first mover will erode as more brands deploy AI-powered retargeting and other customer acquisition platforms and capabilities. The first movers will also own the most sophisticated targeting, first talent, and close partnerships with best-in-class platforms for 12–18 months until imitators learn from their experience and catch up. Third-party cookies are being phased out (slowly, but surely), and privacy regulations are increasing month by month. First-party data (collected legally through value exchange: personalised assessments, webinars, loyalty programs, etc.) is emerging as the only meaningful currency of the new age. Brands that are building their data lake now will rule the next decade, while others will be forced to pay a premium for second- and third-party data.
The brand’s competitive landscape is shifting at an unprecedented rate, and with it come significant implications for talent acquisition and professional development in the marketing function.
For most marketing professionals, this is the largest opportunity for professional growth in recent history. Marketing leaders will need to adapt by both quickly mastering AI-powered marketing and sales systems as well as by curating the strategic talent and project resources required to design and drive advanced campaigns.
The statistics point to an irreversible trend: 88% of marketers are using AI daily, brands that leverage AI experience 22% higher ROIs, and 47% higher engagement than those who do not. AI-generated ads generate 37% higher purchase intent, and lastly, AI finally solves marketing’s oldest problem: the inability to prove which marketing touchpoints are actually driving sales.
The shopping cart epidemic, five billion active consumers, and a rapidly growing AI ecosystem have created an opportunity to connect with billions of potential customers and win a share of their wallets. The technology is ready, the audience is engaged, and the performance is proven. In the world where every click, scroll, and pause online is an intent signal, the marketing and sales landscape of the future will be shaped by who can best turn those signals into lasting and profitable customer relationships. As is often the case in business, the strategic question is not if the marketing leadership team should commit, but rather how quickly they can build the internal and external capabilities to execute on this opportunity.
The window of opportunity for competitive advantage will not last forever, and most likely only exists for the next 12–18 months. The organisations and marketing leaders that move decisively to leverage the momentum and implement AI-powered retargeting will win the smartest talent, the most sophisticated algorithms, and platform partnerships before others can.
Those who choose to wait are likely to face a smaller opportunity and pay a premium cost to obtain what others are already buying at lower costs.
For forward-thinking leaders, there is a clear mandate that is to transform abandoned interactions into strategic conversations, replace broad-spectrum advertising with precision targeting, and convert intent signals into sustainable revenue growth. Five billion engaged users await brands with the vision and execution capability to meet them where sophisticated marketing meets authentic value creation.
