#e4mXplains:  Google, Criteo, and the quiet inroads into commerce

There was a time when Google was content being the world’s biggest librarian (sorry, Wikipedia). You typed in a query, it handed you the most relevant result (and a few sponsored ones on the side), and everyone went home happy. That was the old compact: discovery belonged to Google, commerce belonged to retailers, and payments belonged to, well, anyone else.

But that balance is shifting. Search is no longer the unassailable monopoly it once was. Between AI overviews changing user behaviour, new answer engines like Perplexity and SearchGPT nudging the model, and regulators sniffing around, the grip is loosening. Google, famously cautious, has read the room. If discovery is contested ground, the next logical fortress is commerce.

For years, Google’s dominance has been inside walled gardens, be it its own search results, its own video inventory, its own ad stack. That’s like running a private estate where you set the rules, build the walls, and charge rent to anyone who wants in.

But retail media is different. It’s the open internet: sprawling highways owned by thousands of retailers and publishers, where no single player calls the shots. Until now. By linking up with Criteo, Google isn’t building new roads, it’s installing toll booths on ones that were supposed to stay open. And if history is any guide, once the toll booths go up, the toll collector rarely steps aside.

Hence, the new “in roads.”

The latest announcement that Google and Criteo would collaborate on retail media might look straightforward: a partnership to enhance programmatic commerce with AI and measurability. In reality, it’s Google stepping into the open internet’s retail pipes via a partner that already has the plumbing. 

Criteo declined to comment when we asked, and Google pointed us to Criteo’s press release. 

Around the same time, Sundar Pichai announced another move, which was a partnership with PayPal. Globally, this signals Google’s intent to own the checkout lane. But in India, PayPal is a footnote. The real play here is Google Pay. 

With over 120 million monthly active users, GPay is one of the three big pillars of UPI, alongside PhonePe and Paytm. That makes Google not just a search giant but a de facto payments player in the country. When you stack Criteo’s retail pipes on top of GPay’s transaction dominance, the picture sharpens: Google isn’t merely helping advertisers reach shoppers, it’s positioning itself across the entire journey from search to shop to swipe.

Put those together, and the pivot comes into focus. If search is no longer an impregnable fortress, Google is building its next one: the end-to-end commerce loop. Search, retail ads, payments, fulfilment support; admittedly, a flywheel that looks a lot like Amazon’s.

The Indian numbers underline why this matters. According to MAGNA, total ad spend is set to grow 7.8% in 2025 to about ₹1,37,099 crore, with digital pure players taking around 50% of that pie. And within digital, retail media has quietly become a juggernaut: the Dentsu-e4m Digital Advertising Report 2025 pegged ad spends on e-retail platforms at ₹11,293 crore in 2024, nearly 23% of digital media spend, up from ₹9,149 crore in 2023. It is, in other words, India’s fastest-expanding digital channel, and exactly the one Google is now muscling into.

For advertisers, the immediate appeal is obvious. Retail media promises rich first-party data at a time when cookies are disappearing. Add Google’s measurement and AI chops to Criteo’s retail network, and you get a powerful combo. Layer in GPay, and the transaction journey looks even smoother, not least relevant in India where digital payments are already mainstream, with UPI crossing 14 billion monthly transactions.

The question is whether these “in roads” eventually become toll roads. India’s open internet has always been positioned as the alternative to walled gardens. But if Google is underwriting the pipes, who really owns the flow? And if Google is underwriting payments, who quietly skims the vig?

That’s where brands need to keep their eyes open. Because while this may look like diversification, it’s really foundation work. Google is repositioning itself not just as a discovery engine, but as an operating system for commerce. And when you control the operating system, you don’t just influence the journey. You set the tariffs.

So yes, the “in roads” gag works because it isn’t just a joke. It’s the map. Google isn’t abandoning search, but it is paving new routes; into retail pipes, into payments, into the very heart of commerce. The highways may look open, but the toll booths are going up.

Brands may cheer for now. But when the bill comes due, they shouldn’t be surprised.