As AI-generated content floods the internet, shoppers are increasingly looking for something harder to fake: real human opinions. In this episode of Retail Remix, Kate Robertson speaks with Anna Haffner, Senior Director of Large Customer Sales at Reddit, about how the platform is becoming a powerful force in retail discovery and commerce. Anna explains why shoppers are turning to Reddit for trusted recommendations; how brands and retailers such as Walmart, Home Depot, Dove and MAC Cosmetics are showing up authentically in community conversations; and why Reddit’s advertising products are evolving to complement the user experience. Key Takeaways Why Reddit has become a trusted discovery channel for shoppers researching products and brands How retailers can participate in Reddit communities without relying on overly polished or disruptive advertising What campaigns from brands like Walmart, MAC, Home Depot and Dove reveal about Reddit’s retail marketing potential How Reddit’s Shopify integration and dynamic product ads are reducing friction for retail advertisers Why human conversation may become even more valuable as AI reshapes product discovery and search Related Links Explore Reddit’s advertising tools for retail brands Get more retail industry insights from Retail TouchPoints Subscribe and catch up on all episodes of Retail Remix

Winning on Reddit: How Walmart, Home Depot and MAC Tap into the High-Value Community

Retail Remix

We're hearing this question across the industry, right? Everybody's trying to reckon with like, AEO, GEO, what do I do? Like, how do I understand this now LLM-driven world? And, you know, I would point back to this simple point that I made earlier, which is that Reddit is the single largest collection of human conversation on the internet. And at the end of the day, human conversation is what keeps AI smart, right?

Like you can't have artificial intelligence without first having the human intelligence. Welcome back to Retail Remix from Retail TouchPoints. Today we're talking about Reddit's powerful role in discovery and commerce, and how marketers are finding ways into the notoriously discerning online community.

Anna Hafner, Reddit's Senior Director of Large Customer Sales, joins us to talk about what she learned in her time at Google before she joined Reddit 5B. Five years ago. Why Reddit communities are so valuable to retailers, how the platform has worked to protect its culture as its advertising ecosystem has evolved, and what's ahead with the community's new Shopify integration and AI-driven product discovery. Thanks for joining us, Anna. Anna Hafner, Yeah, glad to be here.

Anna Hafner, Tell us more about your background before joining Reddit in 2021. What were you doing at Google? Anna Hafner, Yeah, sure. So I joined Reddit in 21 after a 17-year run at Google. I was there during the early days. Multiple roles, mostly in the large customer sales organization. I was really there during kind of a massive phase of hyper growth when Google acquired YouTube and search advertising became kind of an industry norm.

Winning on Reddit: How Walmart, Home Depot and MAC Tap into the High-Value Community

Read the full transcript

The candid version is on a podcast,
not the earnings call.

Winning on Reddit: How Walmart, Home Depot and MAC Tap into the High-Value Community

Read the full transcript

The candid version is on a podcast, not the earnings call.

The candid version is on a podcast,
not the earnings call.