Discussions about retail media often turn quickly to market growth forecasts. The events of summer 2026, however, pointed to a change that matters more than growth rates alone. Retail media is developing from a fast growing media channel into a central part of retailers’ business operations, use of customer data and commercial infrastructure.
I follow this development closely in my role as Sales and Marketing Director at Craneworks and through my work in IAB’s retail media working group. What I found most interesting during the summer was not any single technology or new advertising format, but the consistency with which the largest players expanded retail media beyond ecommerce ad placements towards an omnichannel commerce media business.
Retail media now brings together onsite and offsite media, in store retail media, connected TV, programmatic buying, retailers’ first party data and measurement based on actual sales. The competitive focus is shifting from the number of available ad placements to the ability to build a unified, scalable and measurable offering.
Growth is now visible in retailers’ financial results
The clearest indication of retail media’s growing importance came from the second quarter results published in August. Retail media businesses are growing considerably faster than retailers’ underlying retail businesses.
Walmart’s global advertising business grew by 38%, while Walmart Connect in the United States grew by 43%. During the same period, Walmart’s total revenue increased by 5.9%.
Source: Walmart Q2 FY27 earnings
Target’s advertising revenue, generated primarily by Roundel, increased from $217 million to $279 million, or approximately 29%. The company’s merchandise sales grew by around 5% during the same period.
Source: Target: Disaggregation of Net Sales Q2 2026
Amazon’s advertising services revenue grew by 26% in the second quarter, reaching $19.8 billion. The figure covers a broader advertising business than retail media alone, but it still demonstrates how powerfully the combination of commerce, customer data and media is reshaping the advertising market.
Source: Amazon Q2 2026 filing
For retailers, retail media has moved beyond being a supplementary revenue stream. It is becoming a business area in its own right, influencing growth, profitability and value creation. As its financial importance grows, retail media can no longer be managed as an isolated part of marketing or supplier collaboration. It requires its own strategy, commercial model, technological foundation and clear operational ownership.
Retail media is expanding beyond retailers’ own channels
During the summer, Walmart described its future direction as a commerce media strategy. The company aims to bring together stores, ecommerce, marketplaces, membership programmes, offsite media and connected TV in a single offering built on first party data and measurement.
Source: Walmart: The next era of global commerce media
Walmart strengthened this strategy by acquiring Vibe.co. The transaction was completed on 4 August 2026. Vibe.co offers self service buying for streaming TV advertising and, according to Walmart, has more than 10,000 advertisers on its platform. Walmart can integrate the platform with its own customer data, the VIZIO ecosystem and measurement based on completed purchases.
Source: Walmart completes acquisition of Vibe.co
The move reflects retail media’s expansion into commerce media. Advertising no longer needs to appear in a retailer’s ecommerce channel, app or physical store for retail data to be used in targeting and performance measurement. A retailer’s first party data can also be used to target advertising across television, social media and the open web.
Retail media is also extending from advertising close to the point of purchase across the entire purchase journey. Retail media is no longer limited to sponsored product advertising or reaching customers immediately before purchase. Retail data can be used to build awareness, support consideration and acquire new customers. Campaign impact can then be measured against actual sales.
This also changes the budgets for which retail media competes. Investment no longer comes solely from trade marketing or ecommerce conversion advertising. Retail media now competes with television, search advertising, social media, display advertising and traditional out of home advertising because it combines broad reach with measurement based on purchase data.
Europe is looking for a solution to a fragmented market
Network fragmentation is one of the greatest challenges facing European retail media. An advertiser or media agency may need to work with several interfaces, contracts, metrics and reporting models to run a single campaign across multiple retailers.
During the summer, concrete solutions to this fragmentation began to emerge. One example was dunnhumby’s launch of its Network Alliance model. Tesco, B&Q, John Lewis and Waitrose are piloting campaign planning, activation and measurement across multiple retail media networks. The retailers retain their own media businesses and remain in control of their data, while advertisers are offered a coordinated way to buy advertising across the networks.
Source: dunnhumby Network Alliance
Unlimitail, founded by Carrefour and Publicis, is moving in the same direction. The company announced that it is building a Global Retail Media Data Hub using Snowflake’s clean room technology. According to Unlimitail, its network includes more than 35 retailers and reaches approximately 250 million consumers across Europe and Latin America. The aim is to enable audience creation and campaign measurement across different retailer networks without raw data leaving the retailers’ own environments.
Source: Unlimitail Global Retail Media Data Hub
The market is developing along several strategic paths. Large technology platforms offer ready made ecosystems that can give retailers rapid access to technology, advertiser demand and scale. More open networks connecting several retailers aim to standardise activation and measurement while allowing each retailer to retain control over its data and media business.
Retailers operating in smaller markets may not have a realistic opportunity to build every required capability in house. Partnerships, common standards and open technology solutions will therefore become increasingly important. A viable model must provide sufficient reach and advertiser demand without limiting the retailer’s ability to develop its own business.
Choosing retail media technology is a strategic decision
One of the summer’s most interesting technology decisions was Asda’s adoption of Amazon Retail Ad Service. Asda is the first retailer outside the United States to use Amazon’s retail media technology in its own ecommerce channels.
Source: Asda and Amazon retail media partnership
The solution allows Asda to accelerate the development of its retail media offering through established technology, machine learning capabilities and buying and reporting tools that are familiar to advertisers. The decision also raises one of the most important strategic questions in retail media: what kind of technological foundation does a retailer want to build for its business, and how much of the overall solution does it want to control itself?
Asda’s decision does not suggest that a single technology platform is about to dominate the market. Retailers can build the technology in house, source it from an independent retail media specialist or adopt it in partnership with a large international advertising platform. Each option has its own advantages, dependencies and commercial implications.
The choice should not be based solely on features or implementation speed. Other important considerations include data ownership, the openness of integrations, system flexibility, the orchestration of different channels and the ability to develop the retailer’s own commercial model over the long term.
Selecting a retail media platform is more than an IT procurement decision. The chosen platform directly affects how effectively a retailer can use its first party data, build audiences, manage campaigns and demonstrate advertising impact. The technology must fit the retailer’s business model, not the other way around.
The events of the summer show that retail media has become a matter for strategic and commercial leadership in retail. Decisions concerning platforms, data and operating models directly affect how retailers manage customer relationships and build new revenue streams.
From Craneworks’ perspective, these developments reinforce our view that retailers need a technology ecosystem that supports their business model, data governance and long term development. The market’s rapid growth is already visible in the figures, but the more significant change is retail media’s move into the core of the retail business.
Jarno Rantala
Sales and Marketing Director
Craneworks Oy Ltd
