The year retail media stopped living on the product page and started shaping the whole journey came with growing pains, and big wins. We dig into what really changed in 2025: retail media going full-funnel with connected TV, social integrations, and creator programs, while brand and commerce teams finally learned to plan together. CTV’s role gets a sober look, yes, it’s premium and powerful, but it sits higher in the funnel for retailers and needs smarter targeting and frequency. The conversation then shifts to agentic shopping, where AI agents help with discovery and routine reorders but haven’t fully earned the right to “press buy” for most shoppers. We unpack the signals these systems read, from product data to price and availability, and how to prepare content and assortments for a world beyond classic SEO.
Commerce media also takes center stage as industries like travel and fintech monetize their first-party data. That expansion creates more options and more complexity, so we share a practical approach: anchor to the shopper, choose fewer but better-fitting networks, and orchestrate messages across touch points. In-store media returns as a meaningful lever when paired with aligned digital creative and measured with lift, traffic, and market tests rather than one-to-one attribution. And because no strategy survives bad metrics, we tackle measurement head-on: ROAS as a useful indicator, incrementality as the proof brands want, and the need for clearer standards on item sets and attribution windows.
We wrap with our retail media word of the year, agentic, and a round of bold 2026 predictions on creative vs targeting, AI’s share of ad production, and where standardization might finally land.
If you enjoyed this deep dive into the trends shaping retail and commerce media, subscribe, share with a colleague, and leave a quick review to help more people find the show.
More About this Episode
Retail Media's Evolution: The Key Trends Shaping 2026
As we reflect on the seismic shifts that retail media experienced in 2025, one thing is clear: we’ve officially left the era where retail media was a niche, bottom-funnel play. What started as a tactical performance lever tied to retailer websites and ecommerce sales has now become a full-funnel, omnichannel force driving both brand equity and shopper conversion. We’re in the age of commerce media, a convergence of retail, brand, data, and technology, and if 2025 taught us anything, it's that retail media is no longer just a line item on a shopper marketing plan. It is the plan.
Let’s dig into the five biggest stories that shaped the retail media landscape in 2025, and what they mean for the future.
1. Retail Media Goes Full Funnel
One of the most pronounced shifts in 2025 was the expansion of retail media across the entire funnel. What was once a performance channel focused on search and onsite placements is now being used for upper-funnel awareness, mid-funnel engagement, and lower-funnel conversion. This evolution is being driven by two key forces:
- Improved measurement: As retail media networks refine their methodologies, brands are finally getting more than click-through rates and basic ROAS. There's growing access to real-time insights, incrementality metrics, and multi-touch attribution, even if imperfect, that are helping connect the dots across the consumer journey.
- Stronger alignment between brand and commerce teams: Traditionally, brand and retail media teams operated in silos, often with misaligned KPIs. But the rise of connected TV (CTV), creator-led campaigns, and influencer partnerships under the retail media umbrella has created a bridge between these groups. There’s now a shared language forming around reach, consideration, and conversion that makes collaboration not only possible but necessary.
Retailers like Walmart and Amazon are leading this charge by offering full-funnel capabilities, from onsite display to offsite programmatic and CTV buys, layered with shopper data. But the biggest win of all? Brands are starting to get it. The days of brand teams seeing retail media as just “bottom funnel” are over.
2. CTV Becomes the Breakout Tactic
Connected TV was everywhere in 2025, and for good reason. It offered brands the ability to marry the scale and emotional resonance of television with the precision of retail media targeting. But the playbook for CTV in a retail media context is still being written.
From a brand perspective, CTV is used for awareness and frequency. But when executed through a retail media network, the value proposition shifts to precision and intent-based targeting. Want to reach verified Walmart shoppers who have purchased frozen snacks in the last 90 days? That’s now possible, and measurable.
However, the cost of entry remains high, and the creative requirements are more demanding than static display ads. So CTV is still a premium play. The challenge in 2026 will be balancing these high-funnel tactics with performance-driven pressure, and understanding that not every dollar needs to convert immediately.
Expect CTV to continue expanding, especially as more retail media networks offer self-serve or managed service options for video, and as measurement tools catch up with the capabilities.
3. Agentic Shopping: Retail’s Next Frontier
If “agentic” wasn’t in your vocabulary at the start of 2025, it probably is now. Agentic AI, AI-powered agents that make autonomous or semi-autonomous decisions on behalf of users, has taken center stage in the conversation around the future of shopping.
What’s fascinating is the dual role it plays in discovery and purchase:
- In the discovery phase, platforms like Amazon’s Rufus or Walmart’s Sparky are building AI-powered conversational tools to guide shoppers to the right product through dynamic, context-aware suggestions. These tools rely on signals from PDPs (product detail pages), user reviews, pricing, and even user behavior, making content optimization more important than ever.
- In the purchase phase, agentic AI moves into automation, buying for consumers based on past behavior, replenishment needs, or preset parameters. But most consumers aren’t ready to hand over the final click just yet. Trust, transparency, and value need to be proven before mass adoption of automated purchasing agents occurs.
What’s clear is that SEO alone is no longer enough. We're entering the age of AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) and GEO (Generative Engine Optimization), where brands must optimize for AI-driven recommendation engines, not just search algorithms. There’s no definitive playbook for this yet, but product content, data accuracy, and retailer integration are essential starting points.
In 2026, expect to see greater investments in optimizing for AI agents and testing use cases for both active and passive agentic discovery.
4. Commerce Media Goes Beyond Retailers
Another big trend of 2025 was the evolution from retail media to commerce media. Retailers aren’t the only ones sitting on valuable data and shopper touchpoints anymore. Banks, airlines, loyalty programs, and other industries with purchase data are stepping into the game, and they’re bringing their own networks with them.
Think of commerce media as the broader umbrella under which retail media now lives. It includes:
- Retailer-owned RMNs (Retail Media Networks)
- Travel and hospitality partners (e.g., Delta monetizing SkyMiles members)
- Fintech players using purchase behavior to serve ads
- DTC brands using first-party data for media activation
This expansion increases complexity, but also offers more precise segmentation and reach. The challenge for 2026 will be in creating interoperability between these ecosystems. Brands need to manage multiple RMNs, understand different attribution models, and navigate competing walled gardens.
Winning in commerce media requires two things: a unified shopper strategy and a smart data infrastructure. Otherwise, you’ll be stuck chasing impressions with no clear ROI.
5. In-Store Media Returns to the Spotlight
While all eyes have been on digital, the physical shelf is quietly undergoing its own transformation. In-store retail media, especially digital screens, shelf displays, and in-aisle signage, saw a surge of interest in early 2025, and it’s poised to make a stronger comeback in 2026.
Retailers like Walmart and Sam’s Club are piloting new ways to reach shoppers through Scan & Go units, smart carts, and digital end caps. But the perennial challenge remains: measurement.
Retailers can now use in-store cameras, Wi-Fi pings, and app data to approximate impressions and traffic lift. But one-to-one attribution remains elusive, and that makes brands hesitant to scale spend. Measurement expectations in retail media are high, and without the ability to tie in-store tactics to conversion, it’s hard to make the case.
Still, brands that find creative ways to stack in-store with digital (e.g., pairing onsite search with in-store end cap signage) are seeing promising results. The key is consistency in messaging and an understanding of the shopper journey, not just at the shelf, but across all zones of influence.
The Word of the Year: Agentic
If there was one word that dominated 2025 in retail media, it was agentic. The idea of AI agents acting on behalf of users, and possibly brands, isn’t just theoretical anymore. It's reshaping how we think about product discovery, personalization, and even path to purchase.
We’re still in the early innings, but the pace of innovation is staggering. Agentic experiences will become more common, more integrated, and, eventually, more trusted by consumers.
Whether you're optimizing for AI agents or training them to represent your brand, one thing is clear: agentic AI is not a passing trend. It’s the next major platform shift in retail.
Measurement: Still the Elephant in the Room
For all the advances in 2025, measurement remains the biggest challenge in retail media. Incrementality became the north star metric for many, but standardization is still far off. Every RMN has a different methodology, attribution model, and cadence.
While ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) is still the default, it’s far from perfect. It often doesn’t align with internal sales data and fails to capture the full picture, especially for awareness or cross-channel campaigns.
Here’s the truth: ROAS is an indicator, not a strategy. In 2026, we need to get better at defining and aligning on shared metrics, especially for full-funnel planning. Until then, strategists must help brands tell stronger stories internally and manage expectations across sales, brand, and performance teams.
What’s Next?
Retail media is only going to get more complex in 2026. AI will play a larger role, commerce media will expand, and retailers will continue building tools to monetize every touchpoint, both online and offline.
But success in this environment isn’t about chasing every new tool or trend. It’s about understanding your shopper, building plans with clear objectives, and pulling the right levers at the right time.
The playbook is evolving, but the fundamentals remain: be where your shopper is, speak their language, and measure what matters.
Let’s see what 2026 brings.
