Retargeting is the art of reconnecting with people who already showed interest but did not convert. For ecommerce, that might mean reminding a shopper about an abandoned cart. For B2B, it could mean keeping your brand visible to a buying committee after someone reads a case study, attends a webinar, or visits a pricing page.
TLDR: The best retargeting vendor depends on your audience, sales cycle, budget, and channel mix. For example, an ecommerce store that recovers even 8% of abandoned carts from 10,000 monthly cart sessions could regain hundreds of orders, while a B2B SaaS company may use account-based retargeting to influence 20 to 50 target companies over several months. Google, Meta, Criteo, AdRoll, LinkedIn, Demandbase, RollWorks, StackAdapt, and The Trade Desk are all strong options, but each shines in different use cases.
Why Retargeting Still Matters
Most visitors do not convert the first time they see your brand. They compare prices, consult teams, read reviews, or simply get distracted. Retargeting helps you stay present during that decision window by showing relevant ads to people who have already interacted with your website, product catalog, content, or sales funnel.
Modern retargeting is more than “follow them everywhere” advertising. The strongest campaigns use segmentation, frequency control, creative testing, consent-aware tracking, and audience exclusions. A good vendor should help you reach warm prospects without irritating them.
1. Google Ads
Best for: ecommerce brands, local businesses, SaaS companies, and advertisers that want broad reach.
Google Ads is one of the most versatile retargeting platforms because it spans Search, YouTube, Gmail, Discover, and the Google Display Network. Ecommerce advertisers can use dynamic remarketing to show visitors the exact products they viewed. B2B brands can retarget people who visited high-intent pages, such as demos, pricing, or comparison pages.
Why it stands out: Google combines massive inventory with strong intent signals. Someone searching for a competitor or watching product tutorials on YouTube may be closer to conversion than a cold display audience.
2. Meta Ads
Best for: direct-to-consumer ecommerce, lifestyle brands, app marketers, and visual campaigns.
Meta Ads, covering Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and Audience Network, remains powerful for retargeting because of its creative formats and social engagement data. Ecommerce brands can run catalog ads that automatically display relevant products based on browsing or cart behavior.
For B2B, Meta can still work when targeting founders, creators, consultants, local business owners, or niche professional communities. It is especially useful when your offer benefits from visual storytelling, testimonials, or short videos.
3. LinkedIn Ads
Best for: B2B advertising, enterprise sales, recruitment marketing, and professional services.
LinkedIn is not usually the cheapest retargeting vendor, but it is one of the most precise for B2B. You can retarget website visitors, video viewers, lead form openers, and company page engagers, then layer in job title, seniority, industry, company size, or account lists.
Use case: A cybersecurity company could retarget visitors from its “enterprise compliance” page and show different ads to CISOs, IT managers, and procurement leaders. That makes the campaign more relevant to the buying committee rather than treating all visitors the same.
4. Criteo
Best for: ecommerce retailers, marketplaces, and brands with large product catalogs.
Criteo is well known for performance-driven commerce media and dynamic product retargeting. It can recommend products based on browsing patterns, purchase intent, and catalog data. For retailers with thousands of SKUs, this automation can save time and improve relevance.
Criteo is especially appealing to ecommerce advertisers that want more retail-focused technology than a standard display platform. Its strength lies in turning product data into personalized ads across a large publisher network.
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5. AdRoll
Best for: small and mid-sized ecommerce businesses, subscription brands, and marketers that want simplicity.
AdRoll is popular because it combines display retargeting, social advertising, email, and cross-channel measurement in a relatively approachable platform. It is often a practical choice for companies that do not have a large media buying team.
Instead of managing every channel separately, advertisers can use AdRoll to coordinate retargeting across web and social placements. For ecommerce, this can mean showing cart reminders, product recommendations, and loyalty offers from one central system.
6. The Trade Desk
Best for: larger advertisers, agencies, enterprise brands, and programmatic teams.
The Trade Desk is a leading demand-side platform for programmatic advertising. It gives advertisers access to premium inventory across display, video, connected TV, audio, native, and more. For retargeting, it is useful when brands want advanced audience controls, data integrations, and sophisticated bidding strategies.
This is not usually the first stop for a tiny online store. However, for established ecommerce or B2B companies with meaningful ad budgets, The Trade Desk can support complex customer journeys across many channels.
7. StackAdapt
Best for: native advertising, B2B content campaigns, programmatic display, and video retargeting.
StackAdapt is a programmatic platform known for native, display, video, connected TV, and contextual targeting. It is often used by B2B marketers to promote ebooks, webinars, reports, and product comparisons, then retarget engaged users with stronger calls to action.
Why it is interesting: StackAdapt can be effective when your retargeting strategy starts with education. Instead of immediately pushing a demo request, you can nurture visitors through thought leadership and then move them toward conversion.
8. Demandbase
Best for: account-based marketing, enterprise B2B, and long sales cycles.
Demandbase is built for B2B companies that sell to specific accounts rather than broad audiences. It helps identify, segment, advertise to, and measure engagement from target companies. Retargeting can be tied to account intent, website engagement, pipeline stage, and sales priorities.
For example, if five people from the same manufacturing company visit your product pages in one week, Demandbase can help your marketing and sales teams treat that activity as account-level intent. Ads can then be personalized toward that company’s industry, pain points, or stage in the buying process.
9. RollWorks
Best for: B2B companies that want account-based retargeting without excessive complexity.
RollWorks focuses on account-based advertising, account identification, and sales-marketing alignment. It is often a good fit for mid-market B2B teams that want to target known companies, retarget website visitors, and prioritize accounts showing engagement.
RollWorks can help marketers move beyond individual anonymous clicks and think in terms of buying groups. That matters in B2B because one person rarely makes the final decision alone.
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How to Choose the Right Retargeting Vendor
- For ecommerce catalogs: consider Google Ads, Meta Ads, Criteo, or AdRoll.
- For B2B lead generation: look at LinkedIn, StackAdapt, RollWorks, or Demandbase.
- For enterprise programmatic reach: evaluate The Trade Desk or StackAdapt.
- For account-based marketing: Demandbase and RollWorks are purpose-built options.
- For visual social retargeting: Meta Ads is still difficult to ignore.
Smart Retargeting Tips
Whichever vendor you choose, the strategy matters more than the logo on the platform. Segment audiences by behavior: homepage visitors, product viewers, cart abandoners, demo page visitors, content readers, and existing customers should not all see the same ad.
Use frequency caps to avoid fatigue, and exclude people who already converted unless you are upselling or cross-selling. Test different creative angles, including urgency, social proof, comparison messaging, product benefits, and educational content. Also remember that privacy rules and browser changes make first-party data increasingly important, so build strong email lists, CRM audiences, and consent-based tracking systems.
Final Thoughts
Retargeting works best when it feels helpful rather than intrusive. Ecommerce campaigns often win by showing the right product at the right time, while B2B campaigns succeed by nurturing trust across a longer buying journey. The best vendor is the one that matches your funnel, data maturity, creative resources, and customer behavior. Start with one or two platforms, measure carefully, and expand only when you know what is actually driving revenue.