Retail media is advertising sold directly by retailers on their own platforms, like sponsored product listings on a store’s website or app.
Common placements:
- Sponsored products: a competitor’s product appearing at the top of search results on a retailer’s site, even when a shopper searched for a specific brand.
- On-site display: a banner ad for a skincare brand shown on a retailer’s moisturizer category page.
- Off-site extensions, sometimes called Retail Media 2.0: the retailer uses its own shopper data to retarget a customer on a streaming service or social platform after they’ve left the site.
Retail media works because it’s built on purchase data, not just browsing behavior. A retailer knows what a shopper actually bought, not just what they looked at, which makes it valuable to brands without a direct relationship with the end shopper.
