As retailers look for new revenue streams and brands search for measurable ways to reach in-market shoppers, retail media networks (RMNs) sit at the center of that intersection. eMarketer predicts RMNs will surpass $60B in U.S. ad spend this year (and $100B by 2028), making them a channel that neither retailers nor advertisers can afford to ignore.
But what exactly are retail media networks, how do they work and what should your retail media strategy look like as 2026 approaches? This guide breaks it down.
A retail media network (RMN) is an advertising platform that gives brand advertisers access to the retailer’s first-party data, allowing them to reach more specialized audiences with targeted, highly relevant messaging at the times they’re most likely to purchase.
By connecting transaction-level data and media impressions to brand sales, retail media platforms also allow advertisers to close the loop on reporting and accurately measure performance.
There are three key players in retail media networks:
Learn how Epsilon’s Retail Media solution works.
Retail media advertising solutions offer three types of ad placements, including on-site, off-site and in-store.
Retail media offers brands a variety of on-site placement options on the retailer’s website and e-commerce app, including:
In addition to on-site display ads and sponsored products, modern RMNs also offer targeted, measurable placements across the open web, on social media and on connected television (CTV). This capability allows advertisers to scale beyond easy-to-reach (and over-messaged) audiences to find more in-market shoppers.
These off-site placements are driven by identity resolution, which enables the recognition and targeting of real people across various channels.
Thanks to the growth of in-store media solutions, retailers can also serve ads on screens in their brick-and-mortar locations. However, measurement can be a challenge for some technology partners.
“In-store media is exciting, but measurement is the key,” explains Pamela Young, Epsilon’s Senior Vice President of Client Team Leadership. “Retailers have to connect the dots across online, off-site and in-store touchpoints, and that’s where AI-driven identity resolution really delivers value.”
Traditional co-op advertising was largely confined to print circulars, in-store signage, or basic digital buys where retailers and brands split costs. Retail media transforms those programs into data-driven, identity-powered campaigns. The difference is precision and accountability: Retail media networks enable real-time personalization, closed-loop measurement down to the SKU level and the ability to prove true sales impact.
Retail media focuses specifically on retailers monetizing their first-party shopper data to help brand partners reach in-market consumers. Commerce media takes that same model and expands it beyond retail, enabling any business with valuable audience data—such as airlines, hotels or financial services—to create media opportunities for aligned advertisers.
Considering the significant benefits to retailers, brands and shoppers alike, it’s no surprise the retail media industry is growing as fast as it is. Retail media benefits include:
Some of the top retail media networks by ad revenue are Amazon, Walmart Connect, Target Roundel, Instacart and eBay.
However, with retail media spending expected to reach $60B in the U.S. this year, more and more retailers are getting into the business. Other notable examples of retail media players include:
Retailers of any size can (and do) launch their own retail media networks—like newcomer Ace Hardware—but it doesn’t come without its challenges.
Retailers gather a wealth of information about what their customers buy, when they buy and how often they buy. This information has the potential to become valuable first-party data for brand advertisers—but only if the retailer has the right technology in place.
Underperforming retail media programs are largely the product of three challenges:
As a result of subpar retail media tech stacks, many advertisers aren’t actually reaching new and unique individuals through their investments. Instead, they’re increasing ad spend against the same people (and reaching them over and over again). And retailers often aren’t seeing the ad revenue they expected from their retail media platform investments.
Retailers can address these common challenges with a shopper-first retail media strategy designed to maximize first-party data through identity and AI.
Retailers can solve common RMN challenges with a shopper-first retail media tech stack that maximizes their first-party data. What technology should retailers look for in their retail media platform?
“Retailers need partners that can help them find real shoppers, not device IDs or accounts that are modeled online approximations, but real people with wallets,” explains Alexandria Garripoli, Vice President of Product Management at Epsilon.
Robust identity resolution makes it possible by piecing together a shopper’s various data points and signals (e.g., email addresses, search behavior, browsing activity and transactions) into a single, persistent profile that carries through activation and measurement. This profile is resolved using the shopper’s name, address and transaction data, not devices or email addresses.
Persistent identity allows retailers to find, reach and capture purchases of real shoppers, on-site, off-site and in-store.
Shopper-level identity (including purchase behavior) paired with predictive AI enables retailers to move away from outdated practices like site and cohort targeting. “While these tactics can be useful for national branding campaigns, they fail to take advantage of the promise of retail media,” explains Young.
Instead, identity and predictive AI work together to create intelligent audiences based on the best in-market shoppers for each individual SKU. “This unique approach takes full advantage of shopper-level identity to predict which shoppers are most likely to convert on any given campaign,” Young says.
It’s no big surprise that these intelligent audiences lead to better performance. When we let our predictive AI help advertisers and retailers drive more sales, we saw a purchase rate 22 times higher than our control group. But intelligent audiences also aid retailers and brands in crafting customer-centric experiences for shoppers.
A retail media cleanroom is a secure environment in which retailers and brands can share the data they need to achieve their marketing goals. Data sharing via clean rooms enables both parties to gain access to partner data in a privacy-safe way, while all parties maintain control over their data.
Building an effective retail media tech stack is not an easy endeavor. It requires evaluating and integrating data onboarding tools, activation partners, measurement platforms and managed services. And piecing together different technology solutions creates identity handoffs that reduce campaign effectiveness.
As IDC highlights in a recent Epsilon-sponsored white paper, Identity Drives End-to-End Retail Media Outcomes (Doc#US53607125 June 2025) “While providers design many RMNs on the back of complex combinations of martech and adtech tools, the most successful services strive toward a seamless holistic service.”
A unified retail media platform that integrates identity, predictive AI and data clean rooms not only prevents tech fragmentation and data loss—it also enables retailers to activate and measure successful retail media campaigns across on-site, off-site and in-store channels.
Retail media networks have quickly become one of the most powerful forces reshaping the relationship between retailers, brands and shoppers. As ad spend continues to surge and competition intensifies, retailers and advertisers can no longer afford to rely on fragmented solutions or outdated tactics.
Success in 2026 and beyond demands a unified, shopper-first tech stack that delivers real, measurable business outcomes. Epsilon’s retail media solutions are designed to meet that challenge.
Learn more about Epsilon’s Retail Media solutions.
