How Retail Media is Driving the Next Wave of Digital Innovation

Not long ago, retail media networks (RMNs) were considered niche players in the digital advertising space, with endemic brands making up the majority of advertisers buying sponsored product listings and display banners on retailers’ owned digital properties. Due to their proximity to the point of purchase, RMNs were effective but largely seen as a lower-funnel tactic with limited brand-building opportunities and appeal beyond CPG.

That’s no longer the case.

Today, RMNs increasingly enable both endemic and nonendemic brands to leverage retailers’ powerful and highly granular first-party data to target consumers online, off-site, and in-store, transforming retail media into a full-funnel marketing channel that bridges the gap between awareness and conversion. This shift benefits retailers, agencies and brands alike: retailers unlock new revenue streams and traffic opportunities by monetizing their proprietary data and inventory, while brands and agencies use that data to deliver more personalized ads, ultimately improving campaign performance and driving customer loyalty.

As a result, retail media has become one of the fastest-growing channels in digital advertising, with advertisers expected to spend more than $62 billion on retail media in 2025 (up 20 percent from the previous year).

Here are a few ways in which ongoing technological innovations and partnerships with adtech platforms are driving growth in retail media and helping brands deliver personalized ads at the right moments throughout a customer’s buying journey.

Off-Site Retail Media Moves Brands Up the Funnel

On-site retail media is at an inflection point.

According to a 2024 report, two of the biggest RMNs — Walmart and Amazon.com — show paid results on 99 percent of product searches and over 20 paid listings per page.

As RMNs’ on-site placements become increasingly crowded and competitive, off-site opportunities are gaining traction as powerful alternatives. RMNs are now tapping into ad inventory across connected TV (CTV), social media, and other third-party publishers to not only scale revenues but also provide incremental reach and upper-funnel opportunities for advertisers.

Leveraging off-site channels allows brands to reach shoppers earlier in the customer journey, building awareness and consideration before deciding to purchase online or in-store.

Additionally, by combining retailers’ proprietary customer data with premium ad inventory on popular platforms like streaming services and social media networks, advertisers can deliver highly relevant messaging at scale, driving greater engagement and building brand equity across the entire marketing funnel while still driving consumers back to the point of purchase, whether online or in-store.

Shoppable CTV and In-Store Retail Media Bridge the Gap Between Awareness and Action

Traditionally, brands used CTV advertising and retail media as separate tactics to build awareness and maximize lower-funnel conversions.

Shoppable CTV ads now provide the best of both worlds, allowing brands to leverage RMNs’ first-party data to target consumers while streaming content, closing the gap between discovery and purchase by enabling customers to buy products directly from their screens.

Additionally, in-store retail media — e.g., digital displays, interactive kiosks, and in-store audio — is expanding as retailers continue to invest in digital infrastructure, giving brands more ways to influence consumers directly at the point of purchase.

Both advancements shorten the path to purchase, drive sales, and help advertisers measure campaign impact beyond traditional digital channels by directly connecting digital engagement to sales and closing the loop on measurement online and in-store.

Programmatic Advertising Solutions Streamline and Simplify Media Buying

As the retail media ecosystem evolves, fragmentation has become a growing challenge for advertisers. A 2024 study found that over half (58 percent) of advertisers use five or more RMNs for their campaigns.

Each platform is unique, with different formats, targeting capabilities, and measurement methods.

Programmatic advertising solutions address this problem by centralizing campaign management; streamlining media buying; and enabling efficient, data-driven and scalable campaign automation for agencies and brands, helping them optimize campaign performance and better navigate an increasingly complex retail media landscape.

Although challenges like platform fragmentation and measurement inconsistencies won’t be solved overnight, RMNs continue to evolve, benefiting retailers, brands and customers by unlocking new revenue streams, enabling precise targeting of high-intent shoppers, and delivering personalized ad experiences at scale.

Renee Caceres is head of retail media at StackAdapt, an AI-powered programmatic advertising platform.