Retail Media Needs Commerce Infrastructure Not an Ad Server – Regina Ye, Topsort

S3 E15 · May 12, 2026 · 37 min

Why static shopper segments underperform real-time purchase intent, and the difference between serving and optimization.

Show notes

Tom and Scott sit down with Regina Ye, co-founder and CEO of Topsort, to discuss why many retail media networks copied the structure of Amazon Ads without recreating the intelligence layer that actually made it work.

Regina explains why Topsort believes commerce media can perform without traditional audience targeting, why static shopper segments often underperform real-time purchase intent, and why retailers are increasingly rethinking legacy ad serving infrastructure.

What we cover

Why Topsort believes “the moment” can matter more than long-lived audience segments
The difference between ad serving and optimization
Why sponsored products are ultimately prediction problems around clicks and conversion
Why many retailers are migrating away from legacy retail media stacks
How auction logic and transaction-oriented optimization are reshaping commerce media
Lessons learned from working with global retailers including Magalu and Woolworths
Why the future of commerce infrastructure may look very different from traditional publisher ad tech

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