Audience targeting helps retailers, brands and agencies deliver more relevant ads, but not all targeting methods are privacy-proof. Proper consent collection sits at the heart of most targeting techniques except contextual targeting. With stricter enforcement of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and falling consent rates, many retailers face declining data quality and shrinking addressable audiences. This makes it even more important to choose methods that respect privacy from the start.
In the evolving world of retail media, one question keeps surfacing: how can retailers target audiences effectively without compromising their customers’ privacy? When used correctly, audience targeting makes advertising more measurable, profitable, and relevant. Yet brands still rely on outdated or opaque methods powered by third-party cookies or black-box behavioural profiles. With European privacy regulations tightening and consumer expectations rising, retailers need a smarter and safer approach.
This article explains what audience targeting really means in a privacy-first environment and how retail media platforms such as the Adhese platform enable contextual, audience-group, and clean-room targeting that put control back in retailers’ hands.
what is audience targeting in retail media?
Audience targeting is the ability to tailor ad delivery to the right people, at the right time, based on who they are, what they do, or the context they are in. Done well, it boosts relevance and the performance of the delivered ads. Done poorly, it raises privacy concerns and risks alienating customers. The good news is that today’s retailers no longer have to choose between performance and compliance.
different types of audience targeting and their trade-offs
- Behavioural targeting
This method tracks users based on their previous online activity: pages visited, searches made, or ads clicked. Many large tech platforms rely on this approach, often supported by third-party cookies. However, in Europe its effectiveness is declining rapidly. With stricter enforcement of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), consent rates are dropping, and data quality is deteriorating.
Example: A customer who recently browsed trainers online later sees ads for sportswear across unrelated websites.
- Contextual targeting
Contextual targeting focuses on what is happening on the page or screen, not on who is viewing it. For instance, someone reading an article about spring allergies may see an ad for hay fever treatments because of the page content, not their personal history.
It is highly relevant, requires no personal data, and is fully compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). That is why the Adhese platform prioritises contextual targeting across onsite, in-app, and digital out-of-home (DOOH) channels.
Example: A shopper browsing recipes for plant-based meals sees an ad for vegetarian ingredients within the same content. - Cohort-based (audience-group) targeting
Cohorts are groups of users who share certain attributes such as location, loyalty status or product preferences, without identifying individuals. Retailers can create these groups using their own first-party data and activate them in an anonymous way. This is where the underlying data types matter. Retailers typically work with three main categories of first-party data: transaction data, customer data and loyalty data. Each category provides different signals that can be used to form meaningful clusters on a retailer’s own touchpoints or activate them offsite.
Transaction data covers a shopper’s purchasing history, what they buy and how often, and their propensity to buy certain products.
Customer data includes demographics, declared preferences and search or browsing behaviour.
Loyalty data reflects long-term engagement, card usage, visit frequency and programme-specific preferences.
For instance, transaction data shows what customers buy, customer data reveals declared preferences or demographics, and loyalty data captures long-term engagement and visit frequency. By combining these sources, retailers can shape cohorts that are both privacy-safe and commercially powerful.
Example: A customer with a loyalty card who frequently buys wine in-store can be added to a cohort of regular wine buyers based on their transaction and loyalty data. The retailer can then use this group to promote relevant offers such as premium wine selections or pairing suggestions, without ever identifying the individual shopper. - Clean-room targeting
For retailers who want to extract more value from their first-party information, data clean rooms provide a secure environment to match audiences with advertiser insights without exposing personal details. This approach is essential when activating audiences offsite since it allows both parties to combine their data without sharing any raw customer records.
This enables privacy-safe campaigns based on buying habits or customer lifecycle stages, while keeping individual identities hidden.
Example: A retailer and a beauty brand securely match loyalty card data with campaign audiences to promote skincare products to regular buyers, without sharing any personal records.
how the Adhese platform enables privacy-safe targeting
The Adhese platform is designed for retailers who want to own their retail media strategy end to end, including how they target audiences.
It supports:
- Contextual targeting by keywords, tags, and product categories
- Segment-based targeting through clean-room integrations or onsite segmentation
- User Agent targeting by browser, device, or user agent
- Custom data sources such as real-time stock levels, store location, or weather
With full transparency and control over every parameter, targeting within the Adhese platform never relies on opaque data brokers or uncontrolled third-party cookies.
behavioural relevance done right
Most behavioural targeting still depends on tracking cookies. The Adhese platform takes a different approach. It uses privacy-first methods that capture behavioural intent without surveillance. Instead of placing a cookie in the browser on a user’s computer or smartphone, the campaign is delivered from a central point, server-side. This means all matching and decisioning happen on the server, not on the device, which avoids individual tracking while still enabling relevant advertising.
Instead of tracking, Adhese leverages contextual signals and retailer-owned insights to achieve similar relevance:
- Showing allergy treatments next to allergy-related content (contextual relevance)
- Targeting frequent pet food buyers with seasonal promotions (loyalty-based audience group)
- Promoting winter clothing in regions expecting snow (location and weather data)
This clear contrast highlights how retailers can maintain precision and performance without compromising trust.
smarter targeting without compromise
Retailers no longer need to rely on third-party cookies or give away their data to Big Tech to deliver personalised campaigns.
With the right adtech platform, they can:
- Reach the right audience through contextual, audience-group, or clean-room targeting, ensuring every impression counts.
- Stay fully compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other privacy standards, safeguarding consumer trust.
- Gain transparency and control over their media strategy from start to finish, without external dependencies.
The Adhese platform empowers retailers to target smarter, move faster, and grow stronger, all while staying in control of their data and their customers’ privacy.
are you ready to target smarter and grow stronger with Adhese?
Our team is ready to answer your questions and set you up with effective audience targeting without cookies.
➤ Let’s talk.
➤ Read more about privacy and compliance
➤ Check out our case study on a privacy focused ad solution
➤ Read our whitepaper on cookieless consent
Adhese. Simply Adtech.