From digital end-caps to programmatic paydays, everyone's scrambling for a slice of the checkout.
Welcome to the awkwardly named but wildly profitable world of Retail Media Networks—where retailers moonlight as media owners and brands pay top dollar to advertise right where the action (and the wallet) is.
Imagine Google Ads had a baby with a loyalty card. Now imagine that baby can tell when you’re out of oat milk, show you an ad for oat milk, and track whether you actually bought the oat milk—in-store or online. That’s retail media.
Retailers sell ad space across their owned properties (websites, apps, email, even in-store screens), backed by delicious, first-party data from people actually buying things. Advertisers pay to appear in front of these high-intent shoppers, and everyone pretends it’s not just the digital version of shouting “Buy one get one free!” in a Tesco aisle.
Because cookies are crumbling, and first-party data is the new black.
Retailers have it. Brands want it. Agencies are pretending they know what to do with it.
From Amazon and Walmart to Tesco, Boots, and Carrefour—retailers are quietly turning their sites, apps, and purchase data into ad goldmines. And with margins tighter than a holding company’s Q4 forecast, media money is moving downstream.
Brands love it because:
It hits people with purchase intent
It’s measurable to the SKU
It closes the loop faster than your CFO can say “ROAS”
Retailers love it because:
It’s more profitable than selling groceries
It diversifies revenue without stacking more tins
They get to boss around ad agencies for once
Retail media ads aren’t winning any Cannes Lions—but they do win conversions.
🛍 Sponsored Products – Yes, that’s a paid slot next to the thing you were actually looking for.
🧃 Digital Coupons & Promotions – Discounts that come with a side of data capture.
📦 Display & Video Units – Homepage banners, interstitials, and “hero carousels” no one scrolls past. Unless it’s payday.
📺 CTV & In-Store Screens – Welcome to aisle-based targeting and pre-rolls on your petrol station’s loyalty app.
📈 Off-Site Programmatic – Using retailer data to power ads not on the retailer site. Creepy but effective.
Here’s the real headline: Retailers aren’t just selling space—they’re selling access.
More retailers are now opening up APIs, self-serve platforms, and even full-blown DSPs powered by their shopper data. You heard that right—your local supermarket just became your media trading desk.
Examples:
Amazon DSP
Walmart Connect
Tesco Media & Insight
Carrefour Links
Target Roundel
Kroger Precision Marketing
And don’t forget the third-party enablers like Criteo, CitrusAd, and The Trade Desk trying to stitch it all together like it’s the Avengers for CPG.
Walled Gardens Galore – Good luck unifying performance across 47 logins.
Measurement Mayhem – Retailers each have their own definition of “incremental.”
Talent Gap – Most teams still think “endcap” is a TikTok dance.
Creative Fatigue – It’s all starting to look like the Argos catalogue.
Data Trust – You’re taking the retailer’s word for it... and they’re grading their own homework.
If you sell toothpaste, probably. If you’re a B2B SaaS platform... maybe sit this one out.
Retail media isn’t just for FMCG giants anymore. With mid-market access improving and new programmatic pipes being laid by the day, the barrier to entry is falling faster than agency margins.
But make no mistake: this isn’t plug-and-play. Winning in retail media means understanding shopper journeys, obsessing over SKU-level data, and playing nicely inside someone else’s walled garden.
Retail media is where brand meets basket.
Ignore it, and you’ll be watching your competitors bag up your sales in real time.
Whether you’re planning your Q4 madness or just trying to look clever in a client meeting, remember this:
Retail media is the new prime real estate.
Except this time, the landlord knows exactly what your customer had for breakfast.
👉 Subscribe. We won’t upsell you oat milk.