Retail media—one of the fastest-gaining segments in digital advertising—will attract every large retailer seeking to generate new high-margin revenue streams.
Every major retailer now has their own media network. The retail media trend began with Amazon—which currently dominates with 77.7% of retail media ad revenues. Now, dozens of retailers are attacking the opportunity. Both Walmart and Instacart will offer real competition to Amazon's retail media network. Multichannel retailers including Best Buy, Target, The Home Depot, and Kroger have also developed their own networks, while other commerce platforms like Uber, DoorDash, and Gopuff also try their hands at advertising.
Retailers will more aggressively pursue brand budgets traditionally allocated to TV and the digital ad duopoly. Retail media is currently dominated by product search ads on ecommerce sites that often draw from shopper marketing budgets—brands just reallocate existing money within a given retailer rather than add more dollars. The real prize for retailers is in brand budgets, and recent advancements by Amazon, Walmart, and others into display, video, and connected TV (CTV) suggest retail media is ready to move up the funnel.
