What is Retail Media? A Milestone in the Evolution of Digital Advertising

Digital advertising has always been waiting for something like Retail Media.

Clean, efficient, and data-backed (and not guesswork) system of monetization and advertising that capitalizes on the true shopping intent of online visitors.

A system where all sides see transparent data and can independently tweak and adjust their strategies.

👉 Retailers access an asset monetization powerhouse.

👉 Brands (advertisers) find a pathway to reach customers actively seeking the right offer.

Dive into the world of Retail Media!

What is Retail Media?

Retail Media is the fastest-growing segment of digital advertising, allowing brands and advertisers to reach consumers directly at the point of sale (in the shopping-focused environment). This occurs online on e-commerce websites, retailers' mobile apps & shopping platforms, but also offline in physical stores.

These ads commonly appear as:

• Sponsored products (product ads)
• Display banners within the retailer's ecosystem
• Video or native ads in apps and e-commerce sites
• Modern interactive formats in brick-and-mortar stores

Brand content is thus displayed in real-time directly at the point of purchase, increasing conversion chances and generating tangible profits for retail networks.

Retail Media for Retailers

Modern Retailers face immense market competition, and not every visit to their platforms results in a sale. Evolving patterns influence how we shop online.

Instead of losing such users entirely, it's possible to redirect their attention to a specific brand's offer and monetize their interest.

This involves quality messaging moderated by the website owner, presenting selected producers in a way that more effectively reaches consumers.

By leveraging data on actual user shopping behaviors, Retail Media allows maximum message personalization, directly translating to higher campaign effectiveness, improved efficiency, and an increased Return on Ad Spend (ROAS).

The Role of Retail Media in Online Marketing in 2025

Market signals are clear. Retail Media will play an increasingly significant role in marketing communication planning, enabling brands to precisely reach customers when they're most inclined to purchase.

This involves a pool of users whose motivations are verified, with full respect for privacy and data processing regulations.

It's about identifying those visits within retailer environments filled with purchase intent or curiosity that a brand can satisfy.

Moreover, Retail Media is a highly transparent tool in terms of performance. Both parties see what works and why, allowing for campaign optimization.

Why Is Retail Media Gaining Importance?

• The uncertainty of third-party cookies forces advertisers to seek alternatives, making retailers' first-party data a marketing goldmine.
• Rising media costs and efficiency pressures compel brands to invest where they can measure and optimize spending in real-time.
• Retailers gain a new revenue source and a tool for building loyalty.
• Consumers seek contextually relevant offers, and Retail Media formats deliver precise, non-intrusive ads often perceived as helpful rather than pushy.

The result? Retail Media becomes the third pillar of digital advertising, alongside search engines and social media, which brands already utilize effectively.

Retail Media as part of Commerce Media

Furthermore, Retail Media is a key component of Commerce Media: a broader concept encompassing all advertising activities embedded in the shopping context.

In practice, this means ads appear throughout the extended sales funnel on e-commerce platforms, increasing visibility and conversion chances.

Commerce Media allows brands to reach users at various stages of their shopping journey, integrating data and actions along the entire sales funnel.

This grants access to media useful for building brand awareness (top funnel), media addressing validation and exploration needs (mid funnel), and conversion (bottom funnel).

In this context, Retail Media primarily operates at the bottom of the funnel, where purchase decisions are made. However, its role increasingly includes:

• Upper funnel: branding campaigns within retailer environments
• Mid funnel: comparative presentations, product recommendations, or "you may also like" formats

Consequently, Retail Media has evolved into a full-funnel strategy element supporting the brand at every stage of the customer journey.

This is a significant shift. Brands that focused mainly on search engines and social media a few years ago now allocate substantial budgets to Retail Media Networks (RMNs), achieving above-average results.

Why? Most online advertising monopolies (companies like Google, Meta, TikTok) limit data availability and optimization capabilities, creating so-called "black box" systems. This hinders optimization and extracting the best from ad networks.

Retail Media in Numbers and Forecasts

According to projections by eMarketer and Insider Intelligence, global spending on Retail Media is expected to exceed $165 billion in 2025. The growth rate of this segment surpasses that of traditional display or programmatic advertising, necessitating advanced analytical tools for data integration and campaign optimization.

This indicates that the market is maturing, moving beyond viewing Retail Media as a novelty and recognizing it as a permanent element of marketing strategy. The increase in Retail Media investments underscores the importance of appropriate collaboration models and technological infrastructure.

The Potential of the Retail Media Market

The Retail Media market holds enormous potential that's just beginning to be tapped. In the coming years, Retail Media will play an increasingly significant role in marketing communication planning, with its effectiveness significantly impacting sales results.

The rapidly growing e-commerce industry and the rising popularity of mobile apps make Retail Media an increasingly attractive advertising channel. In Poland, Retail Media already holds significant importance, and its popularity will continue to grow alongside the development of online commerce.

Who Is Retail Media For?

Retail Media is now a crucial tool for two groups—retailers and brands/advertisers.

Retailers can:

• Monetize traffic on their websites
• Utilize shopping data to create advertising value (understanding customer behaviors and preferences is key to achieving better ROI)
• Increase revenue and customer loyalty
• Compete with e-commerce giants

Brands and advertisers gain:

• Access to precise user targeting (e.g., based on shopping carts or purchase history)
• The ability to advertise at the moment of highest purchase intent
• Data transparency and performance measurement
• A tool for both performance and awareness campaigns

Retail Media is a way to combine sales and advertising, creating a unique channel in the digital marketing world.

Shopping Behaviors and the Importance of Data

Today's consumers expect personalized and convenient shopping experiences. Changes include:

• The way they shop (cross-channel, mobile-first)
• How do they make decisions (comparisons, reviews, influencers)
• Expectations of ads (they should be helpful, not disruptive)

In this context, data becomes crucial:

• First-party data, collected directly by retailers, allows for segmentation, behavior analysis, and strategy building.
• Zero-party data voluntarily shared by users (e.g., preferences, wishlists)—ideal for hyper-personalization.

The better we understand the customer journey, the more effectively we can plan Retail Media campaigns based on data, for both short-term (conversion) and long-term (loyalty-building) goals.

Innovative Ways to Communicate the Brand

Innovative approaches to brand communication using Retail Media include analyzing consumers' purchase histories to create more relevant and effective advertising campaigns. Mobile apps enable reaching customers precisely when they're most inclined to buy.

Retail Media also offers an opportunity to extend promotional activities to social media, supporting brand positioning and acquiring new audiences.

Examples of Retail Media Platforms

Ekosystem Retail Mediowy rozwija się błyskawicznie, oferując różnorodne usługi dla reklamodawców. Oto kilka najważniejszych platform:

The Retail Media ecosystem is rapidly evolving, offering various services for advertisers. Here are some key platforms:

• Amazon Ads (also known as Amazon Advertising)—a global leader, the largest Retail Media network, offering everything from sponsored products to TV ads.
• Allegro Ads—the largest Retail Media platform in Poland, with a wide range of formats and sales data integration.
• Carrefour Links—an example of an omnichannel retail media platform combining online and offline data.
• Zalando Marketing Services (ZMS)—a dedicated platform for fashion and beauty brands.
• Walmart Connect and Target Roundel—pioneers of Retail Media in the U.S. market.
• Retail Media Ninja 🥷 —our network brings together local retailers, precisely connecting brands with retailers for optimal marketing campaign performance.

Data, Cleanrooms, and the Future

With the growing importance of data comes the need for its secure sharing and browsing history analysis. Hence, the increasing significance of data clean rooms, where brands and retailers can analyze data without compromising user privacy.

This enables:

• Creating joint campaigns that boost sales
• Effectiveness analysis
• Full compliance with GDPR and new regulations (e.g., the Digital Markets Act in the EU)

In the long run, maintaining transparency and data collaboration will set the direction for Retail Media development, influencing how retail operates.

Be sure to check out the recording of our webinar, where, together with our long-time technology partner Amazon Web Services, we discussed the importance of clean rooms!

Summary

Retail Media is not a passing trend but one of the most important pillars of modern digital marketing, especially concerning ad effectiveness when consumers shop online.

Combined with Commerce Media, it creates a cohesive communication system that supports the brand from the first customer contact to purchase finalization.

It's a tool worth knowing, understanding, and implementing on your e-commerce platform—whether you're a brand, agency, or retailer.

Retail Media for your business

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