10 Trends Shaping the Retail Media Market

Retail media is stepping into 2025 with bold innovations and growth opportunities. That’s not conjecture. That’s based on the in-depth analysis in Coresight Research’s new report, sponsored by Criteo, Retail 2025: 10 Trends Shaping the Retail Media Market. From AI-powered personalization to the introduction of new ad formats, the industry is adapting to meet advertisers’ needs and shopper expectations.

Just how much will retail media mature and evolve this year? Let’s explore the trends. But first, let’s quickly set the stage.

Retail media’s market scale and opportunity

According to Coresight’s analysis, the global retail media market is projected to reach $179.5 billion in 2025, growing by 15.4% year-over-year, with growth decelerating but remaining in low double digits through 2028. Its share of the overall advertising pie is continuing to grow, as well. Based on data from Dentsu, Coresight estimates that in 2025, retail media’s share will grow to 23.3% of the overall $772.4 billion advertising market.

There are three key market tailwinds fueling the continued growth of retail media networks (RMNs). First, the increased use of digital channels in shopping has led to a wealth of first-party consumer data. This, combined with technology advances, has led to a proliferation of RMNs that brands can use to create targeted ad campaigns. Second, advances in AI and machine learning enable better analysis of this data to optimize ad inventory and targeting. AI brings benefits to all retail media ecosystem players, from campaign automation to segmentation and personalization. Third, closed-loop attribution allows advertisers to directly connect sales to their marketing efforts, providing more precise metrics on campaign effectiveness. Taken together, these factors have a multiplying effect on the speed and scale of retail media’s growth.

Trend 1: AI to deliver next-gen ad automation and personalization

AI is revolutionizing retail by enhancing functions like pricing, merchandising, and inventory management. In retail media, AI enables large-scale personalization by leveraging vast amounts of transactional and behavioral data to build customer profiles and engage different consumer segments with tailored ads. Advances in generative AI allow real-time personalization, such as dynamically customizing ads based on search trends.

Retailers are already benefiting from AI-powered media, with significant improvements in incremental ROAS, visits uplift, and sales uplift. AI is expected to continue improving personalized ad delivery through improved data analysis and customer segmentation.

What’s driving this trend?

Advances in AI, including GenAI, data processing and sophisticated ML algorithms, are transforming how retailers leverage their first-party data. Ad tech companies are also extensively leveraging AI to analyze shopper data for next-generation audience targeting, product recommendations, and predictive bidding.

Trend 2: Programmatic advertising will drive operational efficiencies across RMNs

Programmatic advertising is transforming the retail media landscape by automating the ad buying process, enhancing efficiency, and maximizing ad relevance through data analysis.

• Growth of RMNs has created a crowded landscape: According to data from retail media analytics company Mimbi, since 2010, over 200 RMNs have been launched globally, creating a complex landscape for advertisers who, on average, use six RMNs annually to purchase retail media placements (according to a Coresight Research survey of US-based CPG/FMCG companies based in the US).
• Programmatic has benefits for both advertisers and retailers: Programmatic advertising simplifies the ad buying process, allowing advertisers to manage campaigns across multiple RMNs efficiently. It also helps retailers optimize ad placements and scale their bids by tapping into a broader ecosystem of ad buyers. A programmatic demand-side platform (DSP) helps brand advertisers facilitate ad purchases through pre-defined conditions set on audiences, formats, etc., while the supply-side platform (SSP) helps ad publishers or retailers facilitate ad inventory selling to the most relevant buyers.
• Future Outlook: The relevance of programmatic ad buying is expected to increase in 2025 as RMNs and ad formats expand, with ad tech companies enabling brands to reach shoppers at the most relevant times. The expansion of offsite retail media will increase the importance of programmatic ad buying.

 What’s driving this trend?

The pursuit of advertising efficiency: Efficiency in retail media is critical for demonstrating ROAS for brand advertisers. Programmatic advertising helps brand advertisers optimize and automate their ad campaigns, from precise targeting to real-time campaign optimization. 

Trend 3: Ad formats will continue to expand

Technology is significantly influencing consumer behavior and preferences, prompting retailers to expand their ad formats to engage shoppers effectively. Beyond traditional ad formats like sponsored ads and onsite display, there is a growing need for new ad formats to sustain growth in the retail media market. Brand advertisers expect a variety of promotional tools, including digital coupons and social promotions, as part of a retail media network’s offerings. Digital promotional tools are also expanding into physical channels through in-store promotions and digital displays.

What’s driving this trend?

Shifts in consumer behavior: Shoppers have a growing number of online touchpoints in their journey, such as user-generated content (UGC) and influencer-led content. This provides RMNs with an opportunity to explore new and emerging formats, including gamification and social promotions, helping brands reap maximum benefit from their ad campaign investments.

Trend 4: Strategic partnerships to unlock offsite growth

Offsite retail media is set to disrupt the retail media ecosystem in the years ahead, and 2025 will be the inflection point. Strategic partnerships with traditional and social media platforms are expanding the category beyond retailers’ owned properties, bringing closed-loop attribution to the open internet with their first-party data. This brings more revenue opportunities (though at a lower margin) by bringing more advertising units and engagement opportunities. Key partnerships in 2024, such as Instacart with Google and Walmart’s acquisition of Vizio, are bellwethers of this trend. Coresight expects retailers to pursue strategic partnerships with major media companies to expand their advertising footprint and reach wider and unique audiences.

What’s driving this trend?

Revenue opportunity: Onsite retail media is a highly crowded market, and the competition is stiff. On the brand side, demand for ad inventory may be saturated given finite budgets. This means that RMNs need innovation and competitive differentiation to continue to grow. Offsite retail media, on the other hand, provides brand advertisers with large audiences, increasing their reach and helping retailers diversify their revenues.

Full-funnel strategy: Brand advertisers are increasingly realizing the value of retail media in unlocking full-funnel execution. Offsite retail media can help brands target their shoppers across their shopping journey on the open Internet.

Trend 5: In-store retail media will continue to be a “test and learn” channel

In-store retail media continues to be a crucial yet evolving channel for retailers, with offline channels expected to hold a 77% share of total US retail sales in 2025, according to Coresight Research. Retailers are investing in digital innovations to enhance the in-store shopper experience using first-party data, such as smart carts, digital endcaps, store radios, and cooler screens. Despite the current limited flow of retail media advertising dollars into stores due to measurement challenges, retailers are expected to experiment and refine their strategies, making in-store retail media a “test and learn” channel for another year.

What’s driving this trend?

Ability to personalize in-store ads: When combined with digital innovations such as smart carts and self-scanners, in-store retail media allows retailers to target shoppers with personalized and targeted ads at the true moment of purchase intent within stores.

Increased need to elevate the shopper experience: Innovative in-store formats, such as Walmart’s Live Events and In-Store Demos, allow brands to engage with their shoppers and enhance their relationship with prospective customers. Store sales data can be leveraged to identify shopper profiles and provide them with relevant experiences.

Trend 6: Retail media will bolster its position as a full-funnel advertising tool

Retail media is evolving into a full-funnel advertising tool as retailers expand their media offerings to the open web through partnerships. This shift allows brand advertisers to influence shoppers at all stages of their purchase journey.

Although retail media is currently focused onsite, Coresight expects retailers to move ad inventory offsite to meet brands’ full-funnel marketing objectives. Brand advertisers now expect unified ad experiences that reach consumers throughout their shopping journey, maximizing return on ad spend (ROAS). With the expansion to offsite, retail media can help them drive customer acquisition, retention, and sales across multiple channels and platforms, such as social media and CTV. This increased full-funnel focus from brands will help propel offsite retail media. 

What’s driving this trend?

There is growing demand from brand advertisers for wide-ranging promotional tools to be a part of RMNs, indicating their desire to use retail media as a full-funnel advertising tool. On average, brand advertisers expect 3.4 promotional tools from RMNs, according to the Coresight Research retail media survey.

Customer acquisition costs (CAC) are rising, which can be attributed to expensive advertising. For example, cost per click (CPC) increased by 10% year over year in the US in the first quarter of 2024, according to marketing company LocaliQ—a substantial acceleration compared to the 2% increase in the year-ago period. Rising CAC is driving brand advertisers to shift their advertising budgets to retail media to run targeted and relevant ad campaigns: A higher likelihood of conversion through effective marketing would help ease the pressure of rising CAC.

Trend 7: Retail media will drive first-party data enhancements

First-party consumer data is the foundation of every successful RMN. Retailers need robust, organized, and actionable data to run effective ad campaigns. Collaboration with brand advertisers to enhance data and insights can help to further optimize ad campaigns and increase ad spend. In their retail media survey, Coresight asked brand advertisers about positive influences on their retail media spending and found that trust and collaboration is the biggest positive influence on brands’ ad spend, cited by 40% of respondents. This is closely followed by the breadth of data, with the number and uniqueness of reporting metrics cited by 37%.

For these reasons, retailers are expected to invest in AI-powered customer data platforms (CDPs), data lakes, and data clean rooms to bolster their first-party data and attract more advertisers.

What’s driving this trend?

Advances in AI are enabling retailers to harness their first-party data more effectively than ever before. AI can help retailers find insights and trends from enormous amounts of data—both structured and unstructured. These insights can then help retailers level up ad personalization and targeting to improve both the shopper experience and conversion rates.

Trend 8: Building trust and transparency will be more critical than ever for RMNs

Differences in reporting metrics across various RMNs hinder brand advertisers’ ability to compare ad campaign performance, leading to a demand for greater transparency. A survey by Coresight Research shows that brands desire more control and improved transparency when working with RMNs. To achieve this, retailers need to break down silos and ensure their performance metrics are clear, channel-specific, and easy to understand.

What’s driving this trend?

Limited brand control over advertising campaigns: RMNs are built on retailer first-party data, with retailers having a high degree of control over that data as well as reporting metrics and other operational aspects such as where an ad should be served. However, as technology advances and brand advertisers continue to partner with ad tech companies, campaign management will become increasingly automated, with greater visibility and control for brand advertisers.

Trend 9: Measurement standardization to gain attention

Measurement standardization is essential for brand advertisers to compare metrics across RMNs and assess their investments. Despite the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and Media Rating Council (MRC) releasing guidelines in January 2024, many retailers have not yet fully adopted these standards.

This lack of standardization is a significant concern for advertisers, with 52% of surveyed US brand advertisers identifying it as one of their top challenges. As the retail media market evolves in the areas of ad buying, ad formats, and channel proliferation, further discussions on standardization are expected to continue into 2025. 

What’s driving this trend?

Growing measurement complexity: Brand advertisers are increasingly challenged in activating and managing their ad campaigns across multiple RMNs. Diversifying media spending across retailers of different scales and across disparate media types is adding to the complexity for brand advertisers, and a lack of standardization means there is no clear way to determine if one ad campaign is performing better than another across retailers or platforms. 

Trend 10: Emerging RMNs will disrupt the retail media ecosystem

Retail media is a crowded space, but emerging RMNs will make waves and effectively compete by leveraging strategic ad tech partnerships to enhance their reach, audience targeting, and measurement capabilities. With such partnerships, they can establish a presence and win budgets without needing the scale and data of retail media giants like Amazon and Walmart.

Instead, emerging RMNs can differentiate by offering niche audiences, innovative ad formats and personalized, performance-driven campaigns. Customizing their RMNs with features like cross-channel campaign management in real-time can further enhance their value proposition, positioning them to significantly impact the market in 2025 and beyond.

What’s driving this trend?

Demand for innovation: There have been multiple RMN launches in recent years, and the emergence of smaller and regional RMNs implies that market growth is being fueled by an increased level of flexibility and customization. Retailers are realizing that demand is finite; to differentiate and sustain their growth, retailers must build integrations with leading DSPs and forge API partnerships that can help provide transparent and exhaustive measurement while offering robust ad inventory.

Summing it up

The retail media space is set for big changes in 2025, with AI, programmatic advertising, and strategic partnerships leading the charge. From better personalization to smoother operations and new ad formats, the opportunities are exciting. As retailers double down on first-party data and cutting-edge tech, retail media’s potential to evolve into a full-funnel advertising powerhouse is within reach. The trends in this report show just how fast things are moving—and why staying ahead matters if you want to seize what’s next.

For more on each trend, including implications for brands, retailers, and technology partners plus examples of real-world companies putting them into practice, download the full 10 Trends Shaping the Retail Media Market report.