Retail media is emerging as a pivotal battleground for brands and retailers alike, as 2026 brings accelerated innovation driven by AI, data integration, and evolving shopper behavior. These advances are changing how advertisers plan, execute, and measure campaigns within omnichannel ecosystems.
This article explores the latest initiatives across key global markets, focusing on AI enhancements, measurement breakthroughs, and new shopper engagement formats that promise to shape the retail media landscape this year.
AI-Driven Retail Media Tools and Intelligent Campaign Management
Walmart Connect is pioneering agentic AI integration by embedding advertisements within its Sparky search engine and launching an "agentic advertising assistant" integrated with Marty, its AI brand partner tool.
This assistant delivers conversational, actionable campaign advice covering bidding, keywords, and billing, while offering advanced research insights on share of voice and category benchmarks.
Khurrum Malik, VP of Business & Product Marketing at Walmart Connect, emphasized building a "more intelligent, connected, and accountable" AI-powered retail media future
Meanwhile, Instacart debuted a ChatGPT app allowing end-to-end grocery ordering and instant checkout triggered from natural language prompts. This app stands out by permitting multi-item orders within conversational AI, enhancing shopper convenience and engagement.
Advancing Measurement to Prove Incremental Impact
Albertsons Media Collective enhanced performance measurement by implementing a matched market framework that isolates true sales lift from media exposure in stores. It compares results in test versus control stores while factoring in 60+ variables to reduce bias nationally across diverse formats. This approach marks a critical step toward reliable in-store ad impact analysis.
Loblaw Advance, in partnership with Bell Media and leveraging data clean rooms, offers closed-loop video ad measurement that links TV exposure with actual sales lift and return on ad spend (ROAS). This solution is advancing accountability by connecting digital and linear TV campaign performance to shopper behaviors.
Integrating Omnichannel Experiences and Shopper Convenience
Albertsons introduced the “Add-It” feature enabling shoppers to add advertised products and recipes directly to their digital carts from offsite ads without leaving their current platforms, smoothing the path from inspiration to purchase. This aligns with their vision of retail media adding value rather than complexity.
Magazine Luiza’s Galeria Magalu in São Paulo exemplifies experiential omnichannel retail by merging multiple brands into a social, content-rich environment that supports physical-digital retail media activations to generate shopper engagement and brand opportunities.
Expanding Retail Media Networks and Industry Collaborations
Several notable expansions mark 2026’s retail media landscape.
Unlimitail and JCDecaux formed a partnership to manage and upgrade a large network of indoor and outdoor shopping center screens in France and Spain, aiming to optimize campaign impact combining national reach with local effectiveness.
Sainsbury’s UK is scaling its in-store digital network to 2,500 screens integrated under a unified management system, offering brands measurable eight percent sales uplifts through large format in-store media.
Innovative Use Cases and Localization Strategies
In Latin America, iFood’s acquisition of AI-driven marketing firm Advolve aims to infuse retail media with performance optimization across multiple grocery and food delivery channels. Meanwhile, RD Saúde’s Impulso introduces weather-responsive ad programming, enabling dynamic campaign adjustments to local environmental conditions, indicative of rising contextual marketing sophistication.
Conclusion
The retail media sector is rapidly evolving with a blend of AI innovations, rigorous measurement methodologies, and shopper-centric engagement tools taking center stage in 2026.
Retailers and brands investing in these technological and strategic enhancements gain competitive edge by delivering precise, accountable campaigns that resonate with consumers across omnichannel platforms. Staying abreast of these developments and adopting integrated AI-powered ecosystems will be crucial for sustained growth and media effectiveness.
Explore the full Mars United Retail Media Roundup January 2026 for comprehensive insights and market-specific details.
More about 2026 retail:
Staff Report
Staff Report
Staff Report
