Retail media networks have become the fastest-growing segment of digital advertising, and 2026 is the year the model matured from an Amazon-only curiosity into a full-blown industry. In the United States alone, retail media ad spend is projected to hit $71.09 billion in 2026, up roughly 18% from $60.32 billion in 2025, according to eMarketer. That single number explains why every retailer from Walmart to Dollar General now runs its own advertising business on top of its checkout data.
Retail media is now ~30% of all US digital ad spend. Amazon and Walmart will capture 89% of new 2026 spend, but in-store screens, CTV tie-ins and mid-tier retailers (Kroger, Instacart, Carrefour) are opening new fronts. Measurement remains the industry’s biggest unsolved problem, and AI shopping agents are the next disruption to watch.
What is a retail media network?
A retail media network is an advertising business built by a retailer on top of its own shopper data, letting brands pay to appear in search results, product pages, in-store screens and off-site placements. It works because retailers see actual purchases, not just clicks, closing the loop between ad spend and sales.
That closed loop is what separates retail media from ordinary display advertising: a brand running a campaign on Kroger Precision Marketing can see whether a specific ad exposure led to a specific basket purchase, not just an estimated click-through rate. This is why retail media commands premium pricing even though its formats are often simpler than open-web programmatic ads.
Amazon Ads pioneered the model over a decade ago, but Walmart Connect, Target Roundel, Kroger Precision Marketing, Instacart Ads, and dozens of others have since built comparable operations. The appeal for retailers is simple: advertising is a high-margin business layered on top of infrastructure — stores, apps, loyalty programs — that already exists.
How big is the retail media market in 2026?
US retail media spend will reach $71.09 billion in 2026, or roughly 30% of all US digital advertising, up from just 15% of budgets in 2022. Globally, retail media grew 17.6% year-over-year and now represents 15.4% of worldwide digital ad spend.
McKinsey estimates the category is growing from about $45 billion to more than $100 billion in enterprise value in the US in 2026, with a potential $1.3 trillion impact across the wider retail ecosystem once in-store, data-licensing and measurement services are counted. In Europe, retail advertising spend is forecast to reach €22.3 billion in 2026 and €31.3 billion by 2028.
Why are Amazon and Walmart capturing most of the growth?
Amazon and Walmart are projected to absorb 89% of incremental US retail media spend in 2026, because scale, first-party data depth and self-service ad platforms make them the default choice for brand budgets. Amazon alone holds an estimated 75-77% share of the US retail media market, with revenue forecast to exceed $75 billion by 2028.
This concentration is squeezing mid-tier retail media networks, which explains why smaller players are differentiating on niche strengths instead of trying to out-scale Amazon:
- Kroger Precision Marketing (via 84.51°) posted a $2.35 profit-return-on-ad-spend figure, with advertiser investment up 54.2% year-over-year, according to Supermarket News.
- Instacart Ads reported a $1.85 ROI figure and is approaching $1 billion in annual US ad revenue, a mark also within reach for DoorDash Ads.
- Dollar General is doubling its in-store AI audio network from 6,000 to 12,000 stores by Q2 2026.
Why does in-store retail media matter now?
In-store retail media is growing because roughly 76% of purchases still happen inside physical stores, and screens, shelf-edge displays and AI-driven audio let retailers monetize that moment directly, not just the online search that precedes it. Dollar General’s rollout of AI-backed in-store audio through QSIC is the clearest 2026 example of this shift.
For brands, in-store retail media closes a gap that pure e-commerce ad formats can’t: it reaches shoppers at the shelf, when the purchase decision is being made, rather than days earlier during online research.
How are CTV and streaming changing retail media strategy?
Retailers are pairing connected TV inventory with purchase data so brands can run upper-funnel video ads and measure them against actual sales, not just impressions. Walmart Connect’s deal to open Vizio’s CTV inventory through the Yahoo DSP is the leading 2026 example — it turns a TV ad into a measurable, shoppable event tied to Walmart’s checkout data.
This CTV convergence matters because it lets retail media networks compete for brand-building budgets that traditionally went to television and open-web video, not just lower-funnel performance dollars.
Why is measurement still retail media’s biggest problem?
Measurement remains unresolved because 75% of advertisers cite incrementality as their top pain point, while only 15% feel effective at measuring it, according to a 2026 Skai/Stratably study. Every network uses a different mix of media-mix modeling, multi-touch attribution and incrementality testing, making cross-retailer comparison difficult for brands running the same campaign on five platforms at once.
How are smaller retailers entering the retail media space?
Smaller and mid-tier retailers are pooling resources or partnering with ad-tech specialists to compete, rather than building Amazon-scale platforms alone. Carrefour launched Unlimitail with Publicis, citing 8 billion transactions and 80 million customers of first-party data. In the UK, Tesco’s dunnhumby is building a network alliance pooling Tesco, B&Q, John Lewis and Waitrose inventory, while Kroger and Lowe’s are moving their ad platforms in-house to capture more margin.
CFOs are also pushing brands to consolidate retail media and brand-marketing budgets under a single agency, a sign that retail media is climbing out of what Ad Age called the “trade marketing basement” and into core marketing strategy conversations.
Will AI shopping agents disrupt retail media networks?
AI shopping agents are a genuine long-term threat because if consumers start product searches inside ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude instead of a retailer’s own search bar, the on-site ad inventory that retail media depends on shrinks. Morgan Stanley estimates roughly half of online shoppers could be using AI shopping agents by 2030, representing about a quarter of e-commerce spend.
Retailers are responding by building agent-compatible product feeds and exploring how sponsored placement might work inside an AI answer rather than a search results page — an unresolved question that will likely define the next phase of retail media strategy. Kurums.com has covered the parallel shift in AI Overviews and the zero-click search era and how answer engine optimization is reshaping marketing more broadly.
What should marketing leaders do differently in 2026?
Marketing leaders should treat retail media as a board-level channel with its own strategy, not a line item managed by whoever handles Amazon Vendor Central. That means building a dedicated retail media function, standardizing measurement across networks, and testing in-store and CTV formats before competitors saturate that inventory.
Four practical priorities stand out for 2026 budget planning:
- Consolidate measurement. Pick one incrementality methodology and apply it consistently across Amazon, Walmart, Kroger and Instacart campaigns instead of trusting each platform’s self-reported ROAS.
- Diversify beyond Amazon and Walmart. Mid-tier networks like Kroger Precision Marketing and Instacart Ads are currently posting stronger reported ROI figures, in part because they are less saturated with competing bids.
- Test in-store formats early. Digital in-store screens and AI-driven audio are still under-bid relative to their reach, given that three-quarters of purchases happen in physical stores.
- Prepare product data for AI agents. Structured, agent-readable product feeds will matter increasingly as shoppers start research inside AI assistants rather than retailer search bars.
Brands that wait for the retail media measurement problem to resolve itself will keep allocating budget based on inconsistent, platform-reported numbers — a bigger risk than picking an imperfect methodology and applying it uniformly.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the largest retail media network?
Amazon Ads is the largest retail media network by revenue, holding an estimated 75-77% share of the US market, with Walmart Connect a distant but fast-growing second.
How much will retail media spending grow in 2026?
US retail media spend is projected to grow about 18% year-over-year to $71.09 billion in 2026, continuing several years of double-digit growth ahead of the broader digital ad market.
What is the biggest challenge for brands using retail media?
Inconsistent measurement across retailers is the biggest challenge, with 75% of advertisers citing incrementality testing as their top pain point in 2026 industry surveys.
Are smaller retailers competitive in retail media?
Yes, when they pool data and infrastructure — Kroger, Instacart and Carrefour’s Unlimitail all post strong ROI figures despite far smaller scale than Amazon or Walmart.
Is retail media replacing traditional digital advertising?
Not replacing, but reallocating: retail media’s share of digital budgets grew from 15% in 2022 to roughly 30% in 2026 largely by pulling spend away from open-web display and search advertising, where closed-loop sales data isn’t available.
Retail media is no longer an experiment sitting inside a trade-marketing budget line — it is a $71 billion channel with its own measurement standards, CTV ambitions and an emerging AI-agent threat on the horizon. Marketing teams that treat it as a core, board-level channel rather than a side bet on Amazon will be the ones positioned to capture the next phase of growth. For related coverage, see kurums.com’s analysis of marketing’s AI spending boom and accountability gap.
Son Güncelleme / Last Updated: August 9, 2026
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