Now that we’ve reached midway by way of 2025, retail media stays one of many trade’s greatest development tales, pulling in additional advert {dollars} and a spotlight.
However what began as a rush towards retail media’s on-site advertisements is evolving into media consumers chasing the channel’s full-funnel methods throughout programmatic, CTV and social. If the primary half of 2025 was about retail media networks’ development spurt, advertisers say the second half might be make-or-break.
Both RMNs ship or advertisers pull again spend.
“This yr, you’re beginning to see extra streamlining, extra materials partnerships begin to transpire as a result of [RMNs] perceive that having the info alone shouldn’t be the total story,” mentioned Deanna Mulkeen, head of media funding at Wpromote. The complete story, she added, is “information, scaled stock, attain and eyeballs all by way of to closed loop measurement.”
Media consumers are centered on whole commerce methods, full-funnel measurement and whole transparency within the off-platform push. Amazon should still rule the roost with its information and advert ecosystem, however different gamers like Walmart and Instacart are working to shut the hole, media consumers advised Digiday.
Right here’s a have a look at how the retail media panorama is shaping up within the second half of the yr:
Amazon and the AMC ‘Holy Grail’
Within the retail media community arms race, there appears to be Amazon after which everybody else. In accordance with media consumers, that’s due to the tech big’s sheer scale, first-party information, and its demand-side platform (DSP) that’s been catching the attention of non-endemic advertisers. Extra comparisons are being made between Amazon’s DSP to DSPs like Commerce Desk or DV360, per Mulkeen.
Amazon Advertising Cloud, nonetheless, appears to be “the glue” connecting high and backside of funnel media, mentioned Damien Bianchi, group media director of retail media and commerce at VML. That full-funnel impact is what retail media networks have been vying for within the push to off-site media, taking RMNs past on-clicks and ROAS to deeper, long-term enterprise targets, like family penetration and buyer lifetime worth, Bianchi added.
“If you happen to’re benefiting from it appropriately, you’ll know precisely what sort of Amazon media to serve particular cohorts at very particular instances of the yr,” he mentioned.
However Walmart and Instacart are nonetheless making a play for his or her share of the full-funnel advert spend and have been among the many flurry of bulletins throughout Cannes inking partnerships round measurement and off-platform advertisements.
Blurring funds strains
Internally, model funds strains are additionally blurring as retailers push to develop into full-funnel media channels. Traditionally, {dollars} have been siloed — both labeled shopper advertising and marketing spend or nationwide media spend, per the three media consumers Digiday spoke with for this story. However the kind of spend is altering as RMNs develop their capabilities past search and show advertisements on web site to embody video, streaming and social commerce.
It’s much less that {dollars} are being shifted from one funds to a different, and extra that manufacturers are unifying model and efficiency budgets.
“We’re not seeing {dollars} being pulled out of present model constructing campaigns simply but,” mentioned Anthony Costanzo, chief analytics officer at Mile Marker, an unbiased media company.
Off-platform push
Retail media is seemingly hitting its maturation curve. Retailers inked partnerships with streaming companies, social media platforms and different third-party companions to increase media capabilities past their owned-and-operated channels.
However as a lot because the house has grown up, consumers say there’s extra to go they usually’re nonetheless left with questions : Who controls entry to the stock? Who controls entry to the audiences and supply of the media methods? Is the retailer to personal that technique and supply it as a managed service or is the advertiser in charge of the off-platform media?
To assist get advertisers over the hurdle, retailers are providing incentives, like co-funding (or greenback matching packages) off-platform investments, alternatives to check new advert codecs, devoted resourcing help and, maybe most significantly, measurement, per Costanzo. The latter is particularly true for bigger gamers within the house who’ve droves of knowledge and insights, he added.
“Measurement is getting used as an incentive for lots of those partnerships, as a result of it’s one thing that’s in such excessive demand,” Costanzo mentioned.
Take a look at and study fatigue
Whereas Amazon holds a powerful foothold within the retail media house — with the likes of Walmart trailing not too far behind — different retail media networks are working to show their very own distinctive worth propositions.
Whether or not advertisers purchase into it comes right down to gross sales because the urge for food for testing and studying — particularly as financial uncertainty looms — is shrinking, mentioned Bianchi.
He added, “If manufacturers are capable of successfully create consciousness and transfer product, transfer SKUs at a really efficient price on the larger retailers proper now, there’s not what I might name a compelling motive to do check and learns on smaller retailers until there’s some type of incentive.”
Heading into the second half of the yr, retail media’s trajectory is probably going considered one of extra funding, but in addition extra scrutiny and stress to ship at parity with the broader digital media ecosystem — assume Meta and Google.
“This trade loves to speak about measurement, however in actuality, there’s a lot extra sophistication that may be realized,” mentioned Wpromote’s Mulkeen.
