Best Buy's Social+ Platform Signals Retail Media's Off-Site Future
Best Buy Ads announced today the launch of Social+, a new offering that allows brands to extend their retail media campaigns to Meta's social platforms. The solution leverages Best Buy's first-party customer data to enhance advertising performance on Facebook and Instagram, with plans to expand to additional social platforms in the future.
With Social+, Best Buy is expanding its footprint into off-site retail media – advertising that reaches consumers beyond a retailer's owned properties – which eMarketer projects will grow twice as fast as on-site retail media through 2026.
This expansion comes just months after Best Buy announced its upcoming U.S. marketplace launch, further signaling the retailer's coordinated strategy to diversify revenue streams beyond traditional retail.
"Our world relies on technology more than ever, and no one understands customers who use and love tech better than Best Buy," said Lisa Valentino, president of Best Buy Ads. "We're excited to launch this in collaboration with Meta. With Social+, we've set a new industry standard that will help our partners thrive, boost their return on investment and provide more ways to measure meaningful impact."
Best Buy's expansion beyond its owned channels reflects a broader industry recognition: the upper limits of on-site monetization are coming into focus. Retailers can only place so many ads within search results or product browsing experiences before customer experience suffers. Accordingly, off-site advertising will have a growing influence on retail media's trajectory.
eMarketer predicts that off-site retail media spend will grown 2X faster then on-site ad spend in ... [+] 2026.
This move into social platforms is particularly significant given current retail media spending patterns. 71% of retail media spending currently focuses on lower-funnel, conversion-oriented formats like sponsored products. Only 29% supports upper-funnel brand-building initiatives.
Off-site retail media capabilities like Best Buy's Social+ offering could help brands achieve better balance in their approach to retail media.
Social+ leverages Best Buy's proprietary customer insights with Meta's Advantage+ shopping campaigns to drive revenue across BestBuy.com, the Best Buy app and physical stores. The solution aims to help advertising partners increase ROI through automation that identifies both existing and prospective customers and delivers optimized content.
A key feature is access to SKU-level data through Meta's Product Level Reporting Beta capabilities. This granular performance visibility gives advertisers more detailed insights into which specific products drive results, potentially improving how brands allocate their media investments across different items in their catalog.
Best Buy says the technology was developed in-house and is already available to partners of Best Buy Ads, following a beta test with select brands.
Best Buy's announcement follows a growing trend of retailers partnering with social platforms to extend their advertising reach.
Costco has also been building momentum in off-site retail media, expanding from its first campaign with a CPG brand partner last year to approximately ten different partnerships currently active, as of March 2025.
Pinterest has become another key player in this space. In a case study from late 2024, Mondelez's Triscuit brand worked with Pinterest and Albertsons Media Collective through a LiveRamp clean room. The six-week campaign yielded impressive results: 16% incremental sales and 19% incremental buyers by targeting Pinterest users searching for summer hosting inspiration and charcuterie board ideas.
In August 2024, TikTok partnered with Amazon for in-app shopping, creating a direct commerce integration rather than an advertising solution.
The relationship with Meta builds on Best Buy's existing strategic partnerships in marketing and advertising. In April last year, Best Buy announced a partnership that integrates CNET product recommendations across Best Buy channels. In 2023, Best Buy and Roku established a partnership to make connected TV advertising more relevant by applying the retailer's customer insights to deliver targeted content.
These partnerships, alongside Best Buy's upcoming marketplace launch, reveal a comprehensive strategy to build what CEO Corie Barry described as 'incremental profit streams' through both expanded product selection and enhanced advertising capabilities.
Best Buy's expansion into social media advertising underscores how retail media networks are evolving beyond simple sponsored product listings on their websites. As competition intensifies among the hundreds of retail media networks now operating, differentiated offerings and expanded reach will likely become increasingly important.
When viewed alongside its marketplace ambitions, Best Buy's Social+ platform represents another piece in the retailer's strategy to build more sustainable advertising revenue streams. While the marketplace will help diversify Best Buy's advertiser base beyond major brands, Social+ extends their reach across the customer journey, and opens up additional revenue opportunities for the retailer.
For brands, these developments create both opportunities and challenges. The ability to reach consumers across multiple touchpoints with consistent messaging and audience targeting represents a significant advancement. However, the proliferation of retail media options also creates greater complexity in campaign planning and measurement.
As retail media continues to mature, retailers like Best Buy that can effectively bridge on-site and off-site advertising while providing meaningful measurement capabilities will likely capture a growing share of advertising budgets.
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