Retail-media
State of Play
Revised Nov 1, 2026The moment. In-store is the consensus frontier and the hardest place to stand. A new IAB and SMG study found 46% of commerce media professionals see in-store as the sector’s top growth opportunity while 40% call it the hardest channel to connect, and only 14% consistently plan unified multichannel campaigns. Instacart has now retreated from the smart-cart hardware that was meant to anchor its in-store ad and data business. eMarketer’s Karen Jacobs has networks multiplying across retailers of every size and competing harder for the same dollars, and DoorDash, expanding its tools across Wolt and Deliveroo, says commerce media needs room for brand storytelling rather than lower-funnel performance alone.
The tension. The workarounds are arriving ahead of a standard. Retailers are looking at free in-store Wi-Fi as a way to capture shopper data at the point of purchase; Disco has put advertiser-funded cash back of up to $30 directly into Shopify checkout, moving the money off the retailer’s own media and onto the transaction; and Circana is selling AI-driven signals that flag shoppers likely to enter a category or switch brands. Creators are becoming the creative engine for off-site campaigns. QVC is running the oldest version of the bet, pairing 60,000 annual hours of live TV with 200 weekly hours of TikTok livestreams after leaving Chapter 11 with more than $5 billion of debt cut.
Who’s moving. The IAB and SMG, with 46% and 14%. Instacart, pulling back on smart carts. DoorDash, across Wolt and Deliveroo. Disco, funding checkout cash back from advertisers. Circana, adding predictive signals to Complete Audiences. QVC, at 200 TikTok livestream hours a week. Life360, naming Donna Sharp to run its ad business. eMarketer’s Karen Jacobs, on a crowded field.
What the desk is watching. Whether in-store gets a measurement standard before it gets more screens, and who picks up the in-store ground Instacart just gave back.
IAB study: in-store is commerce media’s biggest growth bet, hardest to connect
Campaign US’s Will Russo reports that a new IAB and SMG study found 46% of commerce media professionals see in-store as the sector’s top growth frontier, yet 40% call it the hardest channel to connect, with only 14% consistently planning unified multichannel campaigns.
Retailers eye in-store Wi-Fi as an untapped ad and data channel
eMarketer’s Christopher Wood reports that free in-store Wi-Fi, long offered as a basic amenity, is becoming a tool for retailers to capture shopper data and deliver targeted messages at the point of purchase.
DoorDash pushes commerce media to build brands, not just performance
The Drum’s Jenni Baker reports that DoorDash, as it expands advertising tools across Wolt and Deliveroo, says commerce media needs more room for brand storytelling, not just lower-funnel performance metrics.
Disco adds advertiser-funded cash back to Shopify checkout
Businessinsider.com reports that Disco launched Pre-Purchase, a checkout format letting shoppers opt into up to $30 cash back on Shopify orders, funded by advertisers rather than merchants.
Commerce media’s growth story shifts from speed to proof
MediaPost’s Lauren Sanvidge argues commerce media is maturing past retail shelves into delivery, banking and travel platforms, with advertisers now working nine or more networks versus 8% two years ago.
Walmart bets on measurement upgrades to chase Amazon in retail media
eMarketer’s Grace Harmon reports that Walmart is pushing to improve its retail media measurement as a way to narrow the gap with Amazon’s ad business.
Kevel raises $52M Series D, eyes retail-media M&A
AdExchanger’s Allison Schiff reports that Kevel raised a $52 million Series D, bringing total funding past $100 million, with CEO James Avery saying the retail media infrastructure company plans to use some of the cash to acquire adjacent vendors as consolidation hits the crowded sector.
Citi pitches transaction data as predictive ad targeting tool
MediaPost reports that Beet.TV interviewed Citi’s Mike Venable about Citi Commerce Media, the bank’s new retail-media entity announced last month.
Retail media’s fragmentation problem, from a brand buyer’s seat
The Media Leader’s Rob Edwards argues retail media’s growth has outpaced its coherence, leaving brands to reconcile different audience definitions, data and measurement across networks.
Epson used Amazon’s full-funnel stack to escape the search-ads trap
Next in Media’s Mike Shields reports that Amazon’s Charlotte Maines and Amerge’s Laura Abadias discuss how Epson linked Fire TV, Prime Video, and Amazon Marketing Cloud to launch its LightStudio projector.
StackAdapt exec: AI chatbots are becoming the new shopping aisle
Retail TouchPoints’ Christiana Marouchos argues conversational AI assistants like ChatGPT now shape product discovery, citing eMarketer data that 37.1% of US shoppers plan to use AI tools for holiday gift research and 63.3 million will get chatbot shopping help this year.
Target takes a cautious approach to in-store retail media
eMarketer’s Rachel Wolff reports that Target is moving slowly on in-store retail media compared with rivals, even as the broader retail media category pushes further into physical stores.
Instacart, Pinterest partner to link inspiration and purchase
eMarketer’s Christopher Wood reports that Instacart and Pinterest are teaming up to close the gap between discovery and checkout, letting shoppers move from inspiration pins toward grocery purchases without leaving the platforms they browse in.
eMarketer: retail media and influencer marketing are converging
eMarketer’s Peter Clark reports that retail media networks are increasingly pairing their first-party purchase data with influencer marketing, letting brands target creator campaigns using actual shopper behavior instead of demographic guesses.
IAB guide pushes DOOH as core media-plan channel, not a siloed add-on
IAB is publishing a guide, Getting Digital Out-of-Home on the Media Plan, arguing DOOH deserves a consistent place in the omnichannel mix rather than siloed planning.
NBCUniversal says shoppable TV revenue growing sharply via Traitors, Love Island
Modern Retail’s Julia Waldow reports that NBCUniversal’s shoppable TV business, spanning Peacock and partners like LG TVs, is growing significantly year over year, with svp Evan Moore citing a 171% lift in brand favorability when shoppable moments tie to beloved shows like “Traitors.”
Target weighs in-store digital screens, but cautiously
Adweek’s Mitchell Parton reports that Target’s Roundel network is exploring digital screens in stores, but only in ways that wouldn’t disrupt shopping, a Roundel vp said at a partner event, pointing instead to app and mobile-site ads already reaching 60% of in-store shoppers.
Circana’s Lindsay Pullins links retail media to CTV measurement
Ad Age profiles Lindsay Pullins, who joined Circana in May as senior VP of global retail media and commerce after working at Roku, focused on connecting ad exposure to actual purchase behavior across retail media and connected TV measurement.
Target’s Roundel admits incrementality pitch is a hard sell
Adweek’s Mitchell Parton reports that Roundel exec Shawn McGahee told advertisers at a New York event that only 8% of the retail media network’s advertisers use incrementality as their primary performance metric.
United’s retail media retreat raises doubts about commerce media’s ceiling
Next in Media’s Mike Shields reports that United Airlines is folding its Kinective Group retail media network into its loyalty program, a pullback that follows a leadership change at the airline.
eMarketer: retail media needs proof beyond owned-channel data
eMarketer’s Sarah Marzano reports that retail media’s next challenge is demonstrating how retailer data actually improves advertising performance off of retailers’ own owned and operated channels.
Shoppers prefer AI recommendations with visible product cards, eMarketer finds
eMarketer’s Asa Hiken reports that consumers respond more favorably to AI shopping tools when the assistant surfaces visual product cards rather than text-only answers, according to new survey data.
Whitman’s Albertsons turnaround puts retail media network on the chopping block
MediaPost’s Laurie Sullivan reports that Meg Whitman is restructuring Albertsons, merging its retail media network into marketing under new CMO Emily Turner after the media exec departed and adjusted net income fell 28% last quarter.
McDonald’s media network fuels warning on commerce media attention limits
Campaign US’s Keith Turco reports that McDonald’s is piloting a media network across 450 U.S. restaurants, targeting $1 billion in revenue using its app, kiosks and menu boards as ad inventory.
Retail media execs: stop treating network spend as a cost center
Adweek’s Justin Chin reports that at an Adweek House panel co-hosted with Albertsons, Albertsons Media Collective’s Julian Mintz and Razorfish CEO Dani Mariano argued retail media dollars should be framed as a growth lever rather than trade spend.