Jason Zollan

In their framing, disconnected ad tools produce worse relevance, and the future of commerce media depends on systems that adapt together wherever shoppers discover products. This is a product-architecture argument, not just a marketing preference: they tie it to Constructor's claim that its retail media network grows out of its discovery engine.

Zollan points to Constructor being named a Leader in the 2026 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Search and Product Discovery and quotes the report's statement that the end-to-end retail media platform is unique in the research and may appeal to organizations managing extensive sponsored product merchandising. They read that recognition as evidence that search, discovery, and retail media belong in one system.

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AI aligns sponsored content with real-time intent.

• They present the result as a three-way win: retailers see higher margins, brands see better performance, and customers find what they need.
• The priority is relevance over inventory volume, and they also say Constructor outperforms legacy networks on relevance, fill rates, and return on ad spend.

In a Retail Today 'State of the Retail Industry 2026' feature, Zollan describes moving beyond generic placements to surface ads relevant to what a customer is searching for in real time.

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They also use the Gartner Magic Quadrant as third-party proof, interpreting the quote for a retail media audience. The figures are company-reported; ask for supporting documentation when assessing them.

Zollan cites more than $120B in ecommerce GMV flowing through Constructor, a 96% customer retention rate, billions of daily search and discovery requests, hundreds of A/B tests, 122% year-over-year growth in active advertisers, and nearly 3,000 brands advertising on the network. The post ties those numbers to Constructor's Leader placement in the 2026 Gartner Magic Quadrant.

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They promote and lead in-person sessions and appear in interview-format media, using conversation and partner showcases to explain their approach. The event post also shows the topics they are prepared to present on: retail media, offsite discovery, and evolving architecture requirements.

Zollan announced Constructor's inaugural Melbourne retail summit on March 11, featuring a business update from Eli Finkelshteyn, a fireside chat with AWS on agentic commerce, and innovation sessions they say they will personally lead on retail media. Separately, they appeared on the Shiny New Object Podcast with host Tom Ollerton, describing it as a chance to explain Constructor's retail media approach, and mentioned plans for a side podcast about music and drumming.

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This is the only post connecting the platform claims to concrete retail media numbers, making it the quickest way for newcomers to understand the commercial story they tell.

Zollan describes eighteen months of building a retail media business at Constructor and replaces the usual “it's hard” answer with figures: more than $120B in ecommerce GMV flowing through the platform, 122% year-over-year growth in active advertisers, nearly 3,000 brands advertising across the network, and a 96% customer retention rate.

• The post links those results to Constructor's placement as a Leader in the 2026 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Search and Product Discovery, with the highest scores on both Completeness of Vision and Ability to Execute.
• Zollan argues that retail media works only when it sits on top of a search and discovery engine with shopper clickstream data and a track record in A/B testing—and that this is why Constructor claims to outperform legacy retail media networks on relevance, fill rates, and return on ad spend.

For brands planning a campaign

A thought leadership piece on AI-driven retail media can use this post as its spine: it supplies growth metrics, a competitive framing against legacy networks, and the core claim that ad performance depends on the discovery layer underneath. A brand or retailer brief seeking evidence rather than opinion should start with these figures and ask Zollan what changes when the underlying search model changes.

Zollan promotes Constructor's inaugural retail summit in Melbourne on March 11, built around retailer case studies and partner showcases with AWS, Braze, commercetools, and Convert Digital.

• The agenda includes a business update from Eli Finkelshteyn, a fireside chat with AWS on the future of agentic commerce, and innovation sessions on retail media, offsite discovery, and evolving architecture requirements.
• They lead the retail media session, the clearest indication in this set of what they are asked to present on.

For brands planning a campaign

Useful for campaigns that need a speaker or host rather than a bylined article. The partner list—AWS, Braze, commercetools, Convert Digital—also lets planners check for overlap or conflict before proposing a co-branded event or webinar.

The short post centres on one analyst passage, making clear which external validation they rely on.

Zollan highlights Constructor's Leader placement in the 2026 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Search and Product Discovery and quotes the report's view that its end-to-end retail media platform is unique in the research and may appeal to organisations managing extensive sponsored product merchandising, including selling placements. They argue that ecommerce and commerce media will run not on disconnected systems but on systems that learn, adapt, and work together wherever shoppers discover products.

For brands planning a campaign

Use this post for third-party framing rather than vendor claims. The quoted passage supports an argument about consolidating search and sponsored placements, and offers a natural question for Zollan: what do retailers give up by keeping retail media and site search in separate systems?

It is the most explicitly editorial post in the set and the best starting point for a piece about relevance rather than ad inventory.

Zollan reacts to Constructor's appearance in Retail Today's “State of the Retail Industry 2026” report and argues that the next generation of retail media is about improving the shopper experience, not selling ad space.

• Sponsored placements, they say, should match what a customer is searching for in real time using AI—an alignment that produces higher retailer margins, better brand performance, and shoppers who find what they need.
• The post summarises the argument; consult the underlying report for supporting detail.

For brands planning a campaign

Useful for a thought leadership angle focused on shopper relevance rather than inventory volume. Ask Zollan to defend the claim: which placements should be suppressed, and how should a retailer decide when a sponsored result is relevant enough to show?

The short post points to the episode but does not capture what they said.

Zollan thanks host Tom Ollerton for the opportunity to discuss the industry and Constructor's approach to retail media, and says they regularly listen to the Shiny New Object Podcast.

• The post also mentions a planned side podcast about music and drumming, the only personal interest visible in this set.
• For their views on the episode, ask for a link to the recording.

For brands planning a campaign

Shows Zollan is comfortable in podcast and interview formats, useful if the campaign deliverable is audio or video rather than an article. Before booking, request the episode to assess their positions and the quality of the conversation.

They describe Constructor's ad network as growing out of its discovery platform and argue that the future of commerce media will not be "powered by disconnected experiences" but by systems that learn and adapt together across wherever shoppers discover products.

Zollan pairs an architectural argument with growth figures from their own company's network rather than making a general case for integration.

For brands planning a campaign

A brand that wants a piece explaining why retail media needs a discovery foundation can hand Zollan a thesis they already argue in public and expect them to connect platform design to advertiser outcomes.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2

They use numbers to show what 18 months of building a retail media business delivered.

Metric-led retrospective: a short narrative hook followed by a bulleted list of platform and network statistics.

Every figure comes from Constructor's own posts. Nothing in the posts here independently verifies them, so a campaign should present them as company-reported numbers.

For brands planning a campaign

Useful for a brief that needs concrete, quotable evidence and a speaker comfortable talking in numbers; label the figures as vendor-reported.

Examples: Source 1

Zollan quotes the report's observation that the end-to-end retail media platform is unique in the research and attractive for organizations managing extensive sponsored product merchandising, then ties that recognition back to their retail media remit.

Analyst quote used as external validation, followed by Zollan's interpretation of what it means for commerce media.

Ask for the full report before citing anything beyond the lines Zollan quotes.

For brands planning a campaign

A vendor wanting an executive to convert analyst validation into a product narrative can reuse this pattern; it suits a piece that needs a credible outside signal rather than only first-party claims.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2

They frame the outcome as a three-way win: retailers see higher margins, brands see better performance, and customers find what they need.

Trade-press commentary that reframes a commercial product as a shopper-experience improvement.

For brands planning a campaign

This is the closest match to a brief on AI-driven retail media and product discovery, with a plain-language framing a non-technical audience can follow.

Examples: Source 1

Named partners include AWS, Braze, commercetools, and Convert Digital.

In-person summit with partner co-marketing and Zollan as a session leader rather than only an attendee.

For brands planning a campaign

Shows Zollan as a host and session leader, which matters if a campaign wants a live or recorded format instead of a written article.

Examples: Source 1

They noted they are a regular listener of the show and plan to start a side podcast about music and drumming.

Interview format, with a personal-interest aside alongside the industry discussion.

Ask for the episode link to assess the discussion beyond Zollan's description.

For brands planning a campaign

Indicates willingness to work in conversational audio and range beyond a strict product script, useful for a podcast or webinar component of a campaign.

Examples: Source 1

Later posts speak from inside the company: they hosted an innovation session on retail media at Constructor's Melbourne summit and reacted to Constructor's Gartner placement as part of the team.

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The post describes a Constructor partner showcase, not a personal engagement by Zollan.

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The relationship described is between Constructor and Braze.

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The relationship described is between Constructor and commercetools.

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The relationship described is between Constructor and Convert Digital.

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Gartner is the analyst source behind Constructor's positioning, not a commercial partner of Zollan's.

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The post references press coverage of Constructor's work.

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They describe being a regular listener and thank the host for the platform.

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Both write short, structured breakdowns of platform news for brand and retail readers, closing with what to watch next.

Dunn reports on other companies' platforms from the outside, naming open questions such as who holds the customer relationship when checkout sits inside a feed and how that sale gets attributed. Zollan argues from inside one vendor platform, backing the case with its own growth figures.

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Drury's Black Friday post describes shoppers arriving at retailer sites already researched through AI assistants, a traffic shift Zollan says retail media should be built around. Both use hard numbers from a commerce search vendor to make the point.

Drury writes about the search experience itself — peak-season query volume and queries that start from culture and inspiration rather than product terms — while Zollan covers monetising discovery through sponsored placements and network growth.

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Hariharan covers Amazon's Sponsored Prompts conversion and basket lift, as well as how product data quality now determines ad performance — the same content-to-media link Zollan makes for search-driven placements.

Hariharan focuses on what goes wrong inside enterprises that adopt AI — hallucinated decisions, screening lawsuits, untracked costs and thin insurance cover for AI failures — while Zollan covers platform architecture for retail media.

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Their posts take one announcement, separate confirmed details from the direction of travel (no launch dates or markets), and close with questions for brands and retailers to watch: whether a shopping assistant will carry ads, and how to attribute a sale that starts in a chat and ends without a click. That suits a platform looking to lead the agentic-commerce conversation with readers who already follow the news.

Dunn is weaker on the operating case Zollan makes.

• Their posts comment on other companies' launches rather than offer first-hand retail media performance figures.
• Dunn writes from Thrad, which builds for conversational discovery, so the article reads as one vendor assessing other platforms.
• A platform arguing that “retail media works when it shares an engine with search and discovery” gets less from Dunn than from Zollan; one that wants to be first to explain the shift gets more.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2

Their posts draw a demand story from a single event — Black Friday online spend of $11.8B, an 805% surge in AI-driven retail traffic, AI-referred shoppers converting 38% more often, and Algolia handling 33.5 billion searches across the weekend.

• A second post explains cultural search, such as a 'cerulean sweater,' as a query a retailer has to answer.
• That framing helps when the audience is not yet convinced that intent arrives in loose, non-product words.

Drury works at Algolia, a direct competitor in site search and product discovery, so a rival platform cannot present Drury as a neutral third party without addressing that.

• Their posts cover discovery demand and search scale; they do not build the retail media monetization argument — sponsored placements inside an AI answer, fill rates, advertiser growth — at the centre of Zollan's case.
• Expect a broader, more accessible piece and a thinner media-economics section.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2

Their posts work from disclosed numbers and tell brands what to do with them: Amazon's $19.8 billion quarterly ad revenue and its first performance readout on AI-powered Sponsored Prompts (48% higher conversion, 21% larger basket).

• The conclusion: rich, structured product data now determines ad performance, with content and media teams feeding one engine.
• A second post catalogs what goes wrong when AI is deployed badly — decisions made on hallucinated content, bias litigation, untracked token costs — and argues that poor adoption, rather than takeover, is the real risk.
• That mix of operator credibility and risk framing suits a piece aimed at brands rather than retailers.

Hariharan is the alternative for an argument about brand-side content and media economics rather than a retailer's own network build.

• They speak as a former AI company operator with firm positions, giving the piece an opinionated founder voice and a risk-and-insurance thread that may not be the platform's subject.
• For a retailer-side audience weighing whether to build retail media on its own discovery layer, Zollan's first-party operating detail is a closer fit.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2