The exponential growth of Retail Media Networks (RMNs) is one of the most significant trends in the marketing landscape today. As RMNs continue to expand, capturing a larger share of advertising budgets, marketers are increasingly facing the need for standardization and holistic allocation decisions.
The current state of RMNs presents both challenges and opportunities for brands looking to optimize their marketing spend and drive better outcomes.
What is a Retail Media Network?
A retail media network is a digital advertising platform operated by retailers that enables brands to reach shoppers using first-party customer data and purchase insights. Through RMNs like Amazon Advertising, Walmart Connect, and Target Roundel, brands can place targeted ads across a retailer’s digital properties and physical stores, connecting with customers at key moments in their shopping journey.
Top Retail Media Networks examples:
- Walmart
- Target
- Home Depot
- Kroger
- Wawa
The growing influence of RMNs
Retail media advertising has emerged as the fastest-growing ad channel in the United States. By 2028, nearly one in five ad dollars in the US will be devoted to retail media. This rapid growth emphasizes the importance of RMNs as a critical tactic of the marketing mix.
Key challenges in the Retail Media Network landscape
Despite their growth, RMNs face several key challenges that marketers must navigate to fully unlock their potential.
| RMN challenge | Why it matters |
| Lack of standardization | One of the biggest hurdles in leveraging RMNs is the lack of consistent ad types and retail media measurement standards across different networks. This inconsistency makes it difficult for marketers to compare and evaluate the effectiveness of their investments. |
| Dominance of Amazon | Amazon advertising’s significant market share in the RMN space, accounting for 77.0% of US retail media ad spend, poses a challenge for brands trying to diversify their media investments. Competing with such a dominant player requires strategic budget allocation and optimization of resources. |
| Integration of off-site media | Integrating off-site retail media efforts with on-site activities is complex and challenging. Brands need to ensure that their marketing tactics across different platforms work synergistically to maximize impact. |
| Siloed budgets | Organizational silos, where separate teams manage different marketing efforts, hinder a holistic approach to budget allocation. This often leads to missed opportunities for marketing spend optimization. |
Addressing the challenges of RMNs: A holistic approach
To navigate these challenges and make the most of RMN investments, brands need a holistic and data-driven marketing approach. Here’s how you can tackle these issues:
1. Standardized measurement and insights
Developing a unified approach to marketing measurement and insights is crucial. By integrating data from various RMNs, brands can achieve apples-to-apples comparisons, enabling smarter spending plans and more effective allocation of budgets.
2. Strategic allocation across channels
Marketers must adopt a strategic view of their media planning and investments, considering the interaction and halo effects of different channels. This allows for better budget allocation and quick pivots when investments fall short of expectations.
3. Empowered negotiations
Armed with comprehensive data and insights, brands can enter Joint Business Plan (JBP) negotiations with retailers more confidently. This helps in driving better decisions and optimizing marketing spend across different RMNs.
4. Breaking down silos
While changing organizational structures can be challenging, adopting AI-powered marketing tools and platforms that provide a holistic view of marketing budgets can help in breaking down silos. This ensures cohesive strategies across the full marketing funnel and uncovers missed opportunities.
Read more: How to create a full–funnel marketing strategy
Optimize your Retail Media Networks with Keen
To get the most out of your Retail Media Networks, take a holistic and data-driven approach. Start by standardizing how you measure performance across different RMNs to make smarter budget decisions.
Keen, our AI-powered media measurement platform helps you allocate resources strategically. Understand how different channels interact and affect each other in order to maximize the impact on your business—in a single click.
Request a demo to see how Keen can help.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between retail media and Retail Media Networks?
Retail media refers to the broader advertising ecosystem across retailer platforms, including display ads, search ads, and in-store media. Retail Media Networks (RMNs) are the specific platforms built by retailers that enable this advertising, providing brands with the technology, data, and measurement capabilities to execute retail media campaigns.
Think of retail media as the overall advertising approach, while RMNs are the infrastructure retailers build to make it possible. For example, Walmart Connect is the RMN that enables brands to run retail media advertising across Walmart’s digital and physical properties.
Key differences:
– Retail media: The advertising strategy and tactics
– RMNs: The technical platform and capabilities
– Scope: RMNs are retailer-specific; retail media spans multiple retailers
How do Retail Media Networks work?
Retail Media Networks work by connecting brands with shoppers through targeted advertising on retailer platforms. Here’s the process:
1. Retailers collect first-party data from customer purchases and browsing behavior.
2. Brands access the retailer’s platform to create targeted ad campaigns, choose ad placements (search, display, in-store), and set budgets and bidding strategies.
3. The RMN platform then matches ads with relevant shoppers, displays advertising across digital and physical touchpoints, tracks performance and sales impact, and provides closed-loop measurement.
This creates a powerful ecosystem where brands reach customers at the point of purchase while retailers monetize their customer relationships and data.
What are the benefits of Retail Media Networks?
Retail Media Networks deliver value across the retail ecosystem:
For Brands:
– Precise targeting using retailer first-party data
– Direct connection between ad spend and sales
– Enhanced measurement and attribution
– Premium placements near point of purchase
For Retailers:
– New high-margin revenue stream
– Improved vendor relationships
– Monetization of first-party data
– Enhanced shopper experience
For Shoppers:
– More relevant product recommendations
– Personalized shopping experience
– Easier product discovery
– Timely promotions and offers
This creates a win-win-win model driving growth for brands, retailers, and customer satisfaction.
How many types of retail media ads are there?
Retail media ads appear in three key locations:
- Onsite: Sponsored product listings, search results ads, banner/display ads, brand landing pages
- Offsite: Display advertising, social media ads, connected TV/streaming, digital out-of-home
- In-store: Digital shelf displays, point-of-sale screens, shopping cart ads, store radio/TV
Each type targets shoppers at different stages of their buying journey, from discovery to purchase.
How do I choose the right Retail Media Network?
Here’s how to select the right RMN for your brand:
1. Evaluate your customer overlap with the retailer’s shoppers
2. Assess platform capabilities such as targeting options, ad formats, measurement tools, and integration with your tech stack.
3. Consider platform costs including CPCs and CPMs, minimum spend requirements and ROI potential.
4. Review retailer relationship such as current sales performance, category presence and growth potential.
Choose platforms that align with your target audience, budget, and business objectives.
