Criteo was not just another ad-tech company in India, it became central to a fast-evolving commerce media ecosystem. Under the leadership of Medhavi Singh, Country Head for India, the company has redefined how brands connect with consumers across retail, quick commerce and AI-powered personalisation.
“We were connecting everything, retailers at one end, brands at the other, and ultimately benefiting consumers by delivering the best value,” Singh said. She explained that the company’s model had two main pillars: marketing solutions that spanned awareness, consideration and conversion for any advertiser, and retail media, where deep integrations with platforms such as Flipkart, Swiggy and Zepto helped brands optimise spend and measure impact more effectively.
Quick commerce in India grew at an unprecedented 75-100% year on year, and Singh believed it had moved beyond convenience into becoming a habit. “There is nowhere else in the world with this level of convenience,” she noted. “Even traditional e-commerce players launched quick commerce wings because they understood the potential and where users were headed. As marketers, everyone follows the users.”
For Criteo, this meant leveraging its strong AI and technology stack to help retailers monetise better. “Retail media was no longer an experiment, it became a very important growth lever,” Singh explained. She pointed out that nearly a quarter of digital ad spend globally and in India already flowed into retail media. “Brands initially treated it as just a performance engine, but now they realise it’s a powerful full-funnel tool for awareness and acquiring new customers.” She foresaw convergence rather than rivalry ahead, predicting that most e-commerce platforms would integrate quick commerce into their offerings.
Under Singh’s leadership, India became Criteo’s fastest-growing APAC market as per the company. Growth came from multiple levers, including retail media partnerships, deeper penetration of marketing solutions and an expanding agency ecosystem. India also became home to Criteo’s Global Centre of Excellence, supporting worldwide operations. “We were not just a growth story, we were also emerging as an innovation and talent hub for Criteo globally,” Singh said.
Criteo positioned itself as an AI-first platform, and Singh emphasised that this went beyond buzzwords. “AI moved away from being just a market trend to delivering real business value. It amplified decision-making and creative output because it was so data-driven,” she explained. Predictive audiences, identifying next-best shoppers and churn modelling were just some of the ways AI drove results for brands. While Indian case studies were not yet externally published, Singh maintained the impact had been substantial. On balancing personalisation with privacy, she stressed, “We are a privacy-by-design company. Right from the onset of product development, privacy is embedded. It’s not an afterthought. We are fully GDPR compliant.”
Before joining Criteo, Singh worked across the UK, US and India at Google, experiences that shaped her leadership style. “I learned exponential thinking and not being afraid to do things first, even if they did not exist anywhere else,” she said. That mindset informed Criteo’s early retail media partnerships in India. She believed culture was key to business success. “Well-being and empathy were non-negotiable. If you give to people, they give back. A team that steps up selflessly for each other achieves more.”
As an advocate for women in leadership, she urged young professionals: “Have confidence in yourself, build your own identity and don’t let negativity bog you down.”
Singh agreed with the growing consensus that retail media represented the “third wave” of digital advertising after search and social. “We identified its potential early,” she recalled. “Back in 2015-16, we started with sponsored products, moved to on-site display, and then built the off-site capabilities. Retailers have incredibly valuable data, and connecting that with strong AI created a powerful solution for brands.”
Looking ahead, Singh envisioned brand-consumer relationships becoming more engagement-driven and personalised, while still rooted in empathy. When asked to sum up Criteo India’s mission in one line, she said, “We want to be the company every brand and retailer endorses as a true force to reckon with.”
