Skai, formerly known as Kenshoo, is an omnichannel marketing platform that brings retail media, paid search, and paid social into one place. Where some retail media tools focus on marketplaces, Skai's pitch is that the same team can plan, buy, and measure Amazon, Walmart, and Instacart alongside Google, Meta, and other channels.
What Skai Does
Skai connects to the major retail media networks and to search and social ad platforms, then layers on bid and budget automation, cross-channel reporting, and measurement tools such as incrementality testing. Brands and agencies typically use it to manage large, complex accounts and to compare performance across channels that would otherwise live in separate consoles with separate definitions of success.
Why It Needs a Real Owner
The value of an omnichannel platform depends on someone actually making cross-channel decisions with it. If Amazon, Google, and Meta are still run by separate people who never compare notes, Skai becomes an expensive way to keep doing that. The owner should set common measurement rules, decide how budget moves between retail media and the rest of the media plan, and use testing to prove which channels are adding sales rather than claiming them.
Who Should Own It
Skai usually belongs with a Director of Retail Media or a performance marketing leader whose remit spans retail media and paid digital. It fits best at brands and agencies large enough to have specialists on each channel and a leader above them who allocates budget across all of them. At smaller brands, the same person may own Skai and run the campaigns, which makes cross-channel experience even more important in the hire.
What to Screen For
- Cross-channel budget decisions, with examples of moving money between retail media and search or social based on evidence.
- Measurement maturity, including incrementality tests and how they reconcile conflicting attribution.
- Retail media depth, not only search and social, since marketplace advertising has its own mechanics.
- Experience managing specialists or agencies across channels.
- Familiarity with comparable platforms such as Pacvue, which shows they know the category.
A strong answer describes a test that isolates incremental lift. A weak answer picks whichever channel reports the higher ROAS.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between Skai and Pacvue?
Both manage retail media at scale. Skai is built around running retail media alongside paid search and paid social in one platform, while Pacvue focuses more deeply on marketplaces and commerce data such as digital shelf and share of search. Many brands choose based on whether their biggest need is cross-channel media or marketplace depth.
Is Skai only for large brands?
It is most common at larger brands and agencies with complex, multi-channel accounts, because the platform pays off when several channels and specialists need one measurement framework. Smaller brands often start with native retailer consoles and add a platform later.
More Retail Media Tools
For the full set, browse the retail media and marketplace tools guide. For pay ranges for these roles, see the 2026 eCommerce Salary Guide.