15 stats that capture the evolution of retail media networks

There’s been one trend in marketing and ecommerce over the past three years that has put every other in the shade – retail media and retail media networks. Yes, we’ve written a lot about generative AI, but whilst the debate continues as to where exactly ChatGPT is on the hype cycle, retail media partnerships and acquisitions were a steady drumbeat in 2023.

And given that on LinkedIn I regularly see impressive stats and studies about the rise and the evolution of retail media networks, I thought I would round up some of those that moved me.

So, below are 15 stats that paint a picture of the growth, but also the context for the growth, in retail media networks. The usual caveats apply with some of these studies – they may have different methodologies and speak to the specialisms of the organisations that commissioned/undertook them – but they are all compelling.

1. Retail media spend ‘on track to overtake linear TV within a few years’

No trend analysis can begin without a comparison to the slowly fading star of linear TV (cue debate).

In October 2023, Warc forecasted 10% growth for retail media in 2024, on $128.2 billion in 2023. The figures put retail media in fourth place for spend by channel and “rapidly nearing linear TV in third place.”

Given retail media is now powering targeting across connected TV, social media and other channels, Warc posits that “retail media will become more akin to an infrastructure underpinning the ad industry, rather than a channel in its own right”.

Warc’s figures show technology and electronics brands are spending the most on retail media (predicted $23.8bn in 2024), followed by pharma and healthcare, then CPG.

Europe, a much smaller market than the US or China, is seeing sharp growth, with an IAB forecast detailing 35.9% growth in 2024, hitting a total of €14.3 billon. 

2. There are more than 200 retail media networks worldwide

There are 216 retail media networks (RMNs) worldwide, according to a regularly updated list from Mimbi, a company that offers campaign analysis tools.

Fragmentation is the biggest challenge of 2024, according to retail media experts that spoke to Econsultancy at the turn of the year. Ian Black, Head of Retail Media at Publicis Commerce, told us that the resulting complexity is impacting those CPG brands “selling in upwards of 5-10 retailers, [meaning that] the process of planning and measuring campaigns effectively across their retailer base is already becoming increasingly challenging, especially when balancing with trading dynamics.”

3. UK retail media hit £3 billion in just seven years. Social took 13 and search 17.

Emarketer has referred to retail media as digital advertising’s third wave, a wave which carried £3 billion of revenue in the UK in 2023. The ad format took just seven years to achieve this milestone, much faster than it took social (13 years) and search (17 years).

Of course, the landscape for digital advertising (and ecommerce) is much different now than in the early days of either social or search, but the time-to-£3bn comparison still offers perspective on how quickly advertisers have leaned in to this lower-funnel ad format.

4. Retail media will account for a fifth of US ad spend in 2024

US retail media spending will grow 30% in 2024 (reaching a fifth of US ad spend), according to a forecast by market intelligence firm Advertiser Perceptions.

This increase is predicted to largely be driven by over $20 billion in off-site programmatic spend (i.e. ads appearing on sites other than the retailer’s, such as on social media platforms), up $7.5 billion on 2023.

The forecast has retail media hitting 23.5% of all digital advertising spend in the US in 2025.

5. 64% of execs at US retailers plan to implement a retail media network by the end of 2024

In spring 2023, Deloitte surveyed 450 Director-level (or above) leaders of US retail companies (with >500 employees and $250 million annual revenue who use adtech platforms), and found 64% were planning to implement a RMN by the end of 2024.

Furthermore, 78% of retailers said they were planning to issue an RFP for an RMN platform provider in this timeframe. 

6. Data privacy ranks as the biggest concern preventing retailers from launching an RMN, and the biggest challenge for those operating one

First-party data is the engine for retail media, but its security is understandably a concern for US retailers both considering and currently operating RMNs.

The aforementioned 2023 Deloitte survey asked respondents about their top concerns that may prevent them from adopting RMNs, with 74% citing data security and privacy. Of those actually operating RMNs, 58% described data governance and security as a real challenge.

With retail media gaining prominence in the light of tighter privacy standards impacting other advertising channels, there’s pressure on retailers to deliver impact without compromising privacy.

Other challenges for RMN operators identified in the Deloitte survey include media standards of campaign delivery (54%), providing white-glove service to advertisers (54%) and transforming measurements into relevant, actionable insights (53%).

7. Nearly 9 in 10 ad buyers are shifting personalisation tactics in the face of signal loss

 As we have alluded to already, the adoption of retail media has been given extra momentum by the continuing deprecation of the third-party tracking cookie, and more stringent privacy frameworks (such as Apple’s App Tracking Transparency). Consequently, retailer first-party data becomes particularly powerful in finding shoppers that are in-market for particular categories of product.

This context is illustrated by the IAB’s 2024 State of Data report, which found that “nearly all (95%) advertising and data decision-makers at brands, agencies, and publishers expect continued signal loss and/or privacy legislation in 2024 and beyond.”

Furthermore, the report finds that nearly 9 in 10 ad buyers are changing personalisation tactics, ad spend and their mix of data (first-, second- and third-party). More than 75% cite selection changes in media channels and KPIs.

This dynamic in part helps to explain why many non-endemic brands are looking to retailer media, too.

8. 75% of Target shoppers use the app or website when they’re in stores

“It’s important for advertisers to adapt to the evolving ways in which the next generation engages with digital media in the physical world. At Target, we’ve observed that 75% of Target guests report using our app or website while shopping in-store, and that percentage rises to over 90% with Gen Z guests,” says Sarah Travis, SVP and President at Roundel (Target’s retail media arm) in the IAB’s January 2024 report, Quantifying Retail Media In-Store Success: Measurement & Innovation.

This stat shows how important RMNs are becoming in knitting together online and offline shopping, with loyalty schemes ultimately allowing brands to understand and influence shoppers across sales channels.

9. Nearly half of advertisers say their retail media is coordinated/integrated with other digital ad channels

Nearly half of respondents in the 2024 State of Retail Media study by ad platform Skai and the Path to Purchase Institute said that retail media was either seamlessly managed alongside other channels with consistent messaging and strategy (12%) or largely aligns (35%).

This figure of 47% was up from 17% in the corresponding 2023 study a year earlier. Such a change shows how many partnerships were formed over the course of last year in off-site retail media targeting, such as across connected TV and social media.

The maturation of retail media and spending increase among advertisers arguably leads naturally to greater integration of channels, but this trend is also indicative of the growing appreciation of retail media as a ‘full funnel’ marketing solution. Thirty percent of respondents surveyed last year by Warc and the Digital Shelf Institute use retail media to build brand awareness.

As Epsilon’s Jaclyn Nix told Econsultancy for our full funnel 2024 predictions, “You start with on-site, but on-site has a limited amount of scale. Additional tactics such as CTV and social allow RMNs to tap into budgets outside of traditional channels flagged for retail media like shopper marketing and ecommerce. It is also an opportunity for brands to bring closed-loop reporting into legacy channels like social and traditional TV. Full-funnel reporting and measurement will be the next big push.”

10. Off-site retail media will account for 18.5% of US retail media ad spend in 2024

Emarketer’s October 2023 forecast shows off-site retail media (such as across third-party websites, apps, audio, video, digital out-of-home, and in-game ads) is growing its share of spend, and will account for 18.5% of the retail media total in 2024.

11. 85% of brands and agencies agree (somewhat or strongly) that the ability of retail media to drive upper-funnel brand awareness is growing stronger

Reinforcing the idea of retail media being more than a channel, and instead powering large parts of the advertising ecosystem, Criteo’s Commerce Media Ecosystem survey in Q4 2023 (as referenced in their Great Defrag report) found big support for retail media’s ability to drive brand awareness.

12. 28% of CPGs are forming dedicated retail media teams to keep up with the proliferation of retail media networks

As we’ve covered here at Econsultancy, the ownership and oversight of retail media is often dispersed across a variety of functions within brand-side businesses.

Skai and P2PI’s 2024 State of Retail Media study found that less than a third (28%) of CPGs (n=40) have created dedicated retail media teams to keep up with the growth of the channel.

Interviewees in our own 2023 retail media guide pointed to the requirement for more investment in specialist resource, as well as the need for cross-functional teams.

Julie Jeancolas, Global Head of Product, Strategy and Partnerships for Retail Media and Personalisation at Dunnhumby told us mature brands are have created joint teams.

“Retail media ad spend comes from various budget sources: digital budgets, traditional media budgets, shopper marketing and trade and promotion marketing. All of these budgets are managed by different CPG teams (ecommerce, trade, shopper, brand). The most mature brands have started building joint teams to build connected customers journeys, deliver a consistent customer experience and get a 360 view of their marketing spend with a retailer.”

13. The average brand works with 25 media partners, 22 media agencies and 23 ad tech platforms every quarter

 According to a survey by Turbyne, brands on average have worked with scores of media partners (25), agencies (22) and ad tech platforms (23) over the last 90 days.

Turbyne uses the term ‘exhaustive partner proliferation’ in its analysis, which is understandable, given the company’s platform aims to simplify retail media for retailers.

Three hundred retail media decision makers at US brands and retailers were surveyed in July 2023, with 41% of the sample in the $1 billion+ revenue camp, and nearly 7 in 10 from the mass/food category.

Forty percent of retailers responding to the survey said that brands expressed having to execute individual buys across each RMN as a primary barrier to increasing their retail media spend.

14. CPG ad buyers’ top measurement concern is lack of reporting standards

 When asked to rank their top concerns with RMN measurement, 52% of CPG respondents to a Nielsen and Coresight Research survey cited lack of reporting standards.

The report, The US Retail Media Market: Understanding the Ad Buyer’s Perspective in CPG, also shows the same proportion of respondents concerned about the inability to separate in-store shelf promotions from retail media. The top two concerns were followed by data fragmentation, with 44% of CPGs saying that collating insight from disparate sources was a chief worry.

Getting to the nub of the issue, the report authors write that, “The most widespread challenge among brand advertisers when it comes to RMNs is a lack of collaboration with retailers. …improved data sharing can help solve challenges such as brand advertisers’ inability to understand RoAS (return on advertising spend) and limited visibility of target audience.”

15. Just 23% of retailers share campaign data/analysis in real-time

As for where retail media goes next, it seems there’s an opportunity, as programmatic buying increases, to offer more real-time and self-service insight to advertisers.

Nielsen and Coresight’s research finds that 23% of retailers share data in real-time, 56% do so immediately at the end of campaign, and 21% take a further week.

Though the level of satisfaction with retailer timeliness was high (92%), so too is the proportion of respondents that said real-time sharing would prompt further investment (97%).

Bonus stat: 30% of CPGs are investing in training/upskilling to keep up with the proliferation of retail media networks

As Econsultancy is a learning business, it behoves us to include a stat on training. The aforementioned Skai study found that 30% of CPGs are investing in upskilling in response to the proliferation of retail media networks (vs. 52% of agency respondents). Given the rapid evolution of RMNs and changing team structures on the brand-side, one would expect this figure to increase in 2024.