Retail Media Networks Market Size & Share Analysis - Growth Trends & Forecasts (2025 - 2030)

Global Retail Media Networks Market Trends and Insights

First-party Data De-prioritization of Third-party Cookies Accelerating RMN Budgets in North America 

Google’s July 2024 reversal on cookie deprecation only heightened advertiser urgency to lock in deterministic, retailer-sourced audiences. Brands now engage networks even when their products are not listed on the retailer to mine high-quality insights. The allure stems from the ability to match ad exposure with verified transactions in near real time, a metric traditional digital channels cannot equal. As US shoppers increasingly research online and convert in-store, advertisers lean on retail media to unify the journey and validate spend effectiveness. Brands consequently divert incremental investment toward networks supplying both scale and closed-loop analytics.

Retailer Monetization Pressure Amid Thin Commerce Margins in Europe

European retailers contend with compressed fulfillment economics that erode core profitability, prompting a pivot toward media revenue with 50-70% operating margins. Regional advertising spend is forecast to reach EUR 22.3 billion (USD 24.1 billion) in 2026 and EUR 31.3 billion (USD 33.8 billion) by 2028 WARC. Incremental profit from retail media enables chains to reinvest in price competitiveness, logistics upgrades, and loyalty innovation. Grocers such as Tesco and Carrefour are embedding AI into loyalty-powered campaigns, signaling continued acceleration. 

Trade-promotion Re-allocation to On-site Digital Shelves Drives the Market

Marketers are funding retail media largely from existing shopper and trade budgets, replacing paper coupons and end-caps with dynamic banners that adjust in real time. Brands gain the flexibility to pulse offers based on stock, competitor moves, and contextual data, while receiving SKU-level lift analysis within hours. The responsiveness of the digital shelf, coupled with performance transparency, is cementing retail media as a core activation channel at the point of purchase. 

Omnichannel Linkage of In-store Digital Screens and Apps Drives the Market

Retailers are weaving mobile apps, smart carts, and connected screens into store layouts, effectively extending programmatic tactics to the aisle. In-store retail media is projected to outpace online growth through 2028 as physical locations become premium inventory that merges experiential engagement with deterministic measurement. CVS, Macy’s, and home-improvement chains now curate placements that complement rather than interrupt shopping, preserving customer experience while monetizing foot traffic.

Limited SKU-level Attribution Outside Walled Gardens

Each network guards its own metrics and identifiers, hampering cross-platform comparability. Advertisers struggle to unify reporting and benchmark performance, risking budget fragmentation. Without industry standards, brands must stitch together disparate dashboards, lengthening decision cycles and constraining scale commitments.

Media-Commerce Talent Shortage Inside Retailers Hinders the Market

Retailers vie for specialists versed in both merchandising economics and programmatic operations. Scarcity inflates labor costs and slows roadmap execution, especially for regional chains. Many outsource to technology vendors, trading margin and data sovereignty for speed, yet this dependency can cap long-term differentiation.

Segment Analysis

By Type: Online Dominates While In-Store Accelerates

Online inventory generated 78% of 2024 spend, reaffirming its first-mover advantage and depth of shopper behavioral data. The digital shelf has matured into an always-on, performance-measured medium that anchors most integrated campaigns. Yet in-store placements are primed to expand at 11.9% CAGR, meaning their contribution to the retail media networks market size will widen markedly. Early adopters such as CVS Media Exchange install interactive end-caps, audio messaging, and AI carts that unlock new moments of influence. Advertisers appreciate proximity to decision points and the capacity to close attribution gaps by linking loyalty scans at checkout. 

Physical environments also benefit from online learnings; heat-map analytics and A/B testing of creative can now be replicated on end-cap screens. As inventory mapping and real-time bidding mature, brick-and-mortar spaces could transition from fixed-rate signage into programmatic endpoints. This evolution should attract incremental budgets from national brands seeking omnichannel frequency control and from local brands looking for precise store-level impact. 

By Advertising Format: Display Leads While Video Surges

Display held 45% revenue in 2024, a testament to its versatility across search results, category pages, and homepages. Cost-per-click and cost-per-thousand models remain prevalent, appealing to performance-oriented advertisers eager for immediate traffic and sales signals. Video, though smaller, is forecast for a 12.03% CAGR, adding storytelling depth and brand-building capacity within the retail media networks market. Retailers have introduced short-form shoppable clips and integrated livestream showcases, driving dwell time and average order values. 

Search advertising maintains its stronghold where purchase intent is explicit, particularly on marketplace structures that mirror traditional paid search yet close the loop to commerce. Native units are evolving into dynamic product collections personalized for each shopper. Generative-AI tools such as Microsoft Retail Media Creative Studio lower barriers to creative production, letting brands iterate versions tuned to product availability, seasonal hooks, and audience segments in hours rather than weeks.

By Platform Type: Retailer-Owned Networks Maintain Dominance

Retailer-owned platforms captured 68% share in 2024, buoyed by exclusive access to purchase data and the ability to validate outcomes. Proprietary networks also provide high-margin diversification amid margin-thin core operations. Third-party aggregators, growing at 9.21% CAGR, address advertiser pain points around fragmentation by stitching inventory from multiple retailers. Players like Criteo use AI algorithms that predict product propensity across retailers, enhancing optimization without direct access to each retailer’s data lake. 

Competitive dynamics are shifting toward hybrid models: Walmart and Target keep data stewardship internal while opening pipes through approved DSPs, retaining control but widening advertiser reach. Smaller retailers frequently elect to outsource full-stack technology, trading flexibility for speed. The battlefront increasingly lies in measurement transparency and in the capacity to leverage clean rooms for privacy-by-design data collaboration.

By Industry Vertical: CPG Leads While Beauty Accelerates

Consumer packaged goods represented 26% of spend in 2024, leveraging a legacy of shopper marketing and retailer collaboration. CPG brands use advanced retail media analytics to optimize new-product launches, seasonal promotions, and basket-building tactics. Beauty and personal care is projected to log a 9.53% CAGR, supported by rich imagery, tutorial video, and high gross margins that justify upper-funnel investment. Brands harness retailer data to refine shade selections and personalized regimens, boosting conversion and lifetime value. 

Electronics and technology brands exploit comparison engines and spec-heavy content to accelerate considered purchases. Grocery and food delivery applications dominate convenience missions; Instacart’s ads accounted for more than one-third of its Q3 2024 revenue U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Apparel and fashion merchants integrate lifestyle imagery and virtual try-on to compress the inspiration-to-purchase cycle, extending retail media’s relevance across the path to purchase.

Geography Analysis

North America held 37% of 2024 spend, underpinned by Amazon Advertising’s scale and Walmart Connect’s fast growth. The region’s advanced e-commerce penetration and sophisticated programmatic infrastructure foster rapid experimentation in connected-TV and loyalty-data extensions. Retailers compete on media capabilities as much as on assortment, with Walmart posting USD 4.4 billion in 2024 ad revenue Digiday. The retail media networks market size in the United States is expected to widen further as grocery, pharmacy, and specialty chains roll out newly minted networks, intensifying the scramble for differentiation in measurement rigor and inventory quality. 

Asia-Pacific will record a 7.56% CAGR from 2025-2030, the fastest worldwide. China’s entrenched ecosystems around Alibaba and JD.com form the template, but India’s Flipkart and Southeast Asia’s Shopee and Lazada are spurring region-wide expansion. Social-commerce fusion, mobile wallets, and livestream selling differentiate Asia-Pacific’s trajectory, giving advertisers seamless funnels from discovery to checkout. Retailers in Korea and Japan are experimenting with autonomous-store technology that feeds real-time shopper telemetry back into ad decisioning, elevating precision. 

Europe’s retail media investment is set to double to EUR 31.3 billion (USD 33.8 billion) by 2028 WARC. Regulatory frameworks prioritize contextual and first-party strategies, driving innovation in clean-room architectures that reconcile transparency with compliance. Tesco and Carrefour lead rollouts that fold loyalty-program data directly into self-service ad managers, enabling brands to execute campaigns with household-level granularity. Fragmentation persists, yet the absence of an Amazon-scale incumbent offers openings for grocers and general merchandisers to capture advertiser budgets seeking alternatives.