"Retail media was once the digital equivalent of a cardboard endcap; a convenient sales tool tucked next to the product you were already looking for. For example, if you looked up "dish soap" on a retailer's website, you might see a sponsored listing for another dish soap brand displayed directly beside it. It was a convenient prompt meant to influence a purchase while you were already in the buying mindset."
"This transformation is redefining how brands approach commerce and advertising, and it's inviting a much broader conversation about what "retail media" even means. Over the last 18 years, working with clients across technology builds, GTM and customer growth strategies, I have personally seen how retail media has shifted from a basic merchandising tool into one of the most complex growth engines in digital advertising. Retail giants like Amazon pioneered much of this evolution."
Retail media has evolved from simple on-site sponsored listings into complex advertising platforms embedded within retailers. Large purchase datasets enable search ads, display placements, off-site media, and closed-loop measurement tying ads to sales. Retailers across categories are building internal ad businesses that offer audience targeting, dynamic creative, measurement, and full-funnel media capabilities. These platforms blur lines between traditional retail placements and programmatic DSP functionality, creating new growth engines for brands and shifting how advertising and commerce integrate. The shift enables more precise targeting and outcome measurement while expanding retailer monetization beyond shelf-level merchandising.
Read at Forbes
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