Retail media faces rapid, structural fragmentation, which threatens to stall its momentum. SMG’s global head of product outlines her solution based on collaboration and a mindset shift. 

Retail media is now being presented publicly as its own channel in the AA/WARC Expenditure Report, with forecasts suggesting its rapid growth will continue in 2026 and 2027.

Media leaders answer three questions about how retail media has developed, whether small players can compete, and what comes next.

Independent retail media planning matters. Not to replace specialist expertise, but to ensure it operates against a coherent plan, not without one, writes Project5’s executive director. 

We’re on the brink of six major shifts that will fundamentally reshape retail and commerce media. Capture’s MD details the trends to watch. 

The MD for commerce at Dentsu UK&I explains why sales velocity could become retail media’s most important KPI in 2026.

Retail media isn’t going away. Instead, it will work in tandem with AI discovery, helping to close the sale on site after ChatGPT ads or responses capture and direct shopper attention.

The report shows that seven in 10 shoppers are likely to trust personalised ads, compared to generic advertising, which is trusted by just a quarter.

Retail media struggles with fragmented, self-reported measurement that is difficult to compare across platforms. It needs to change.

A category that cannot agree on how to measure what it does is poorly placed to absorb a fundamental change in how the customer journey works. It’s an issue that retail media needs to address, and quickly.