WPP’s GroupM has brought commerce abilities from across its agencies together into a newly combined unit.

GroupM Nexus Commerce, which will operate under performance marketing unit GroupM Nexus, unifies retail, direct-to-consumer and social commerce functions that previously existed across GroupM agencies in strategy, media activation, creative and data and technology.

The newly combined team will now work to bring advanced and connected commerce capabilities into work across GroupM agencies Mindshare, Wavemaker and EssenceMediacom.

To lead the new unit, GroupM has appointed Samantha Bukowski to the new role of global head of commerce, working with regional and market leaders to implement commerce plans and strategies. Bukowski has spent the last year leading the strategic development of GroupM’s connected commerce capabilities across the group, duties she took on after leading commerce at Wavemaker in the U.S.

“Commerce is rapidly becoming central to the future of all media and through GroupM Nexus we are in a unique position to help our agencies and clients define this new era,” says Bukowski. “We’re doing this by knocking down the silos that exist between specialist commerce communities to empower our agencies with a holistic view of performance, forge deep connections between media and data strategy, and unlock the growth and innovation that comes from connected talent. I couldn’t be more excited to be taking on this role to help push the boundaries of what’s possible in this critical area on behalf of our clients.”