This summer, retail media had its coming-of-age moment.
Hot on the heels of a record-setting Amazon Prime Day and a Cannes Lions festival where retail media earned its seat at the table, it’s clear this channel is no longer emerging—it’s established.
But growth is only half of the story. Macroeconomic and technological trends, shifting industry dynamics, and emerging retail media challenges are pushing retail media networks to walk a tightrope: they must stand out with differentiated data, unique ad units, and innovative capabilities — while also fitting in by meeting brand expectations for standardization, privacy, and transparency within the larger digital media ecosystem.
Retailers, navigating this love triangle is no small feat, so we’re sharing how we see the landscape — and sharing where we see opportunities for retailers to succeed.
Global retail media spend is forecasted to hit $169 billion in 2025, up 15.6% from last year. Since 2019, the market has grown more than 5x, with most of that spend concentrated in the U.S. and China. Even as the economy feels increasingly uncertain with deglobalization, trade wars, and inflation, retail media continues to shine as a safe haven, especially when compared to channels like CTV, Social, and Search. Even under heavy tariffs, retail media ad spend is projected to grow by 8.5% YoY in 2025, according to eMarketer.
Meanwhile, technology is bringing its own set of disruptions — namely, artificial intelligence (AI). Whether powering creative versioning, auto-optimizing budget allocation, or enabling real-time personalization, AI is already transforming how retail media is executed. The IAB reports that 68% of companies are now using AI/ML to analyze first-party data, up from just 48% two years ago. Additionally, 56% of brands are investing in generative tools to drive creative scale and customization.
But AI introduces new pressure: transparency. That same IAB report found that over half of brands (51%) say they’re concerned about not knowing how agencies and publishers use AI on their behalf. Retailers can’t just adopt AI—they need to own it. Brands are suspicious of black boxes.
That’s why having a flexible, API-first infrastructure is essential — one that allows retailers to plug in their own models, enforce privacy safeguards, and maintain control over how decisions are made. Not all boats will rise with the AI-tide, those not positioned well may find themselves sunk.
Meanwhile, within the digital ad industry, there are two major forces creating opportunities for retailers.
This trend is already visible in the growth charts. According to eMarketer, three out of the top ten digital ad revenue growers are retailers. And we expect more to join them over the next few years.
But retail media’s growth and resilience isn’t all kumbaya for retailers. Growth comes with growing pains.
As the market grows, and more retailers enter, competition is getting fierce. Not everyone can or will be a winner. An Association of National Advertisers (ANA) survey on retail media found that 84% of advertisers are working with 9 or less RMNs simultaneously. That means not everyone is making the media plan, and we expect that competition to only intensify going forward.
Differentiation is key for making the media plan, and it can be done in a handful of ways:
At the same time, advertisers and brands are getting frustrated. With every new RMN comes a new buying workflow, metric framework, and reporting style. This fragmentation is creating friction, heavy workloads, and complicating cross-platform comparisons for media planners.
Standardization is no longer a nice-to-have but a critical next step for retailers in it to win it. 57% of advertisers cite lack of standardization across RMNs as their top challenge according to the same ANA survey.
Without unified measurement frameworks and transparent attribution, brands can’t compare networks or optimize spend. And while some publishers may see that as an advantage — that there is a smaller chance of budget being reallocated — the more likely scenario benefits existing tech giants: Amazon, Walmart, and Chinese firms like Temu and Alibaba.
The rise of initiatives like the IAB’s RMN measurement framework and MRC Outcome Standards, combined with flexible APIs, give retailers a path to deploy custom yet standards-compliant solutions.
The biggest takeaway from this summer? Retail media is maturing—and fast. But maturity brings new responsibilities. It’s not enough to launch a few ad placements and call it a network. Retailers need to invest in tech that scales, workflows that support sustainable growth, and data systems that are both powerful and trustworthy.
At Kevel, we believe the future of retail media lies in flexibility. It’s about giving retailers the tools to build unique, high-performing ad programs—without being boxed in by walled gardens or inflexible platforms. It’s about standing out while still making it easy for advertisers to buy in.
Retail media is no longer just an “extra” revenue stream. It’s a core part of how the open internet—and commerce itself—will be monetized moving forward.
The real question retailers need to ask themselves this summer: can your systems adapt at scale? We know the ones built on Kevel can.
Just ask our customers like MC Sonae — you can read more about their story here.
