Retail media networks have been a critical and growing part of advertiser budgets in recent years. The importance of reaching shoppers where and when they are open to product messaging is an essential reason for the robust growth in this space. In the US, retail media ad spending will grow by 26% in 2024, outstripping the 12.6% growth for digital ad spending overall. Retail media ad spending is on track to deliver the same robust growth in 2025, when it will surpass $67 billion, representing roughly 20% of digital ad spending.

As advertisers look for additional ways to expose their products on retailer websites, they will find that it requires them to work with the major retail players offering this unique ad space and highly engaged audience. Large players in the retail media space such as Amazon, Walmart, Target, and Instacart see an increasing wave of retail media entrants offering unique audiences and heating up competition for advertiser dollars.

The ability of retail media to introduce new customers to an advertiser’s products makes it a clear winner among consumer-facing brands. But for advertisers, choosing between retail media platforms is complicated by there being little standardization across retailer websites, making performance tracking an important strategic component of success in this medium. Also, the “walled garden” nature of advertising on a retail platform means marketers aren’t always getting the information needed to improve results for their campaigns. Brands looking for exposure and lift through the use of retail media ads are in need of KPI benchmarking as they extend their efforts across multiple retailer websites.