Retail media is booming and projected to be worth $100 billion by 2026. The scale of the opportunity presented by retail media has made it the talk of the town in both marketing and retail circles. But what do we mean by ‘retail media?’ The definition accor- ding to the IAB is ‘digital advertising space, retail data assets, and in-store opportunities a retailer or marketplace owns, which is then made available to brands for the execution of advertising campaigns.’ The main benefit to marketers is that they can act on behavioural data on shoppers collected by retailers, and can address users who have a high buying intent. The recent boom has largely been triggered by the evolution from simple ad-serving business models, to programmatic auction-based models where supplier brands compete for attention on every single user engagement based on powerful data. The effect of this transition has been extremely profitable for brands and retailers alike.

In this white paper, we examine how the evolution of adtech has led directly to a revolution in retail media. We’ll also take a look at what the main ingredients are for success and try to outline how retailers who are just beginning their journeys can skip the evolutionary stages and get straight to the present-day benefits.