Case Studies

Bloomingdale’s

Optimizing luxury retail with AI-powered Partnership Discovery

The Results

The partnership between Bloomingdale’s and Rakuten Advertising continues to outperform and outdeliver, building a strong foundation for continued growth through Rakuten Advertising’s tech innovations. Within our most recent campaign period, we seamlessly integrated new AI tools and strategies, app-to-app tracking, and expanded the publisher mix, driving exceptional results and cementing Bloomingdale’s as a luxury department store leader.

Together we achieved:

+14%

affiliate channel sales growth

+15%

increase in influencer sales

+26%

increase in new customers

About the Brand

Bloomingdale’s is a luxury department store celebrated for its curated collection of designer fashion, accessories, beauty essentials, and home décor. Known for its exceptional service and trendsetting vision, Bloomingdale’s delivers a distinctive and upscale shopping experience. It remains a premier destination for style-conscious shoppers seeking quality and innovation.

The Story

Our partnership has consistently outperformed expectations, but with a softening retail market and an increase in competition, we knew we had to revamp the existing affiliate strategy and introduce new affiliate tools to move the needle. The Bloomingdale’s team challenged Rakuten Advertising to find new, innovative ways to find partners, implement app-to-app tracking, and drive new customer acquisition through personalization, all while also increasing YoY affiliate growth.

The Rakuten Advertising Solution

Our partnership is built on proven processes, innovative tech and integrations, regular meeting cadences, and a shared passion for innovation, but this partnership goes beyond the traditional. The Bloomingdale’s team leveraged Rakuten Advertising’s advanced tools and tech, plus our team of experts, to drive growth.

AI-Powered Partnership Discovery

Leveraging Partnership Discovery, Bloomingdale’s found new ways to leverage product and category insights to identify high-potential publishers. This innovative technology and data-safe integration used AI and LLMs to analyze publisher content and match it to specific brands and product categories, creating new growth-oriented partnerships.

App-to-App Tracking

We implemented seamless app-to-app shopping experiences and enhanced data retention and personalization that grow program sales. We achieved this through a partnership with Bloomingdale’s SDK, which enabled Rakuten Advertising’s tracking to integrate easily into Bloomingdale’s app, improving customer experience.

Affiliate Partner Diversification

We strategically expanded our publisher mix, adding innovative content partners, influencers, and performance technology. This included successfully adopting Card-Linked Offers (CLO) and long-term influencer relationships with a segmented merchandising approach, targeting specific categories, generations, and life stages.