Retail Media Needs Commerce Infrastructure Not an Ad Server – Regina Ye, Topsort — The Middlemen Podcast
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
Chapters
- 00:07 Intro & guest overview
- 04:26 Introducing Regina & Topsort
- 06:01 Ad engine vs. ad server
- 07:00 Founding story & early product
- 08:58 Auction logic & business rules
- 14:32 Intent over audience data
- 21:25 International customers & global learnings
- 27:49 Agentic shopping & the future of commerce
- 33:37 Bold retailer stories