With one in 8 digital advertising dollars now going to retail media, it has quickly become the third most popular digital advertising channel in the US, just behind paid search and paid social advertising. Although retail media is not an emerging channel, the bulk of its incredible growth has happened over the last few years after the onset of the pandemic drove ecommerce sales through the roof.

To better understand the trends driving this channel, Skai™ and BWG Strategy surveyed mid-level and senior-level decision-makers who spend a key portion of their week involved in retail media.

This first annual Skai™ State of Retail Media Survey captures feedback from marketers at 163 of the world’s leading agencies, brands, aggregators, technology providers, publishers, and retailers. We asked these experts questions about where budgets are coming from, how they are being managed today, and their expectations for the future.

Here are eight high-level insights from this study that help grasp the trajectory of retail media:

• Retail media programs are working well. More than seven in 10 retail media marketers report having achieved or exceeded their retail media expectations last year, with 22.6% defining those results as excellent. Just 2.4% of respondents said they had poor results.
• Advertisers are investing heavily in the channel and will continue to do so. Nearly 80% of respondents report that retail media is at least 11% of their total marketing budget. And more than 80% say they will increase their retail media spending next year.
• Budgets can move fluidly between retailers. With dozens of retailer publishers today and more on the horizon, marketers know they must have wiggle room to follow ROI wherever it happens. As a result, 51% of respondents report that their budgets are somewhat fluid, and 29% said budgets are very fluid.

• Retail marketers struggle with measurement. Driving positive ROI and providing incrementality both ranked as top challenges among retail marketers. This isn’t surprising, as measurement continues to be an issue for all marketers.
• Retail media requires myriad datasets for success. Many respondents report using at least eight different datasets to guide strategy and budget decisions, including competitive, share of voice, and product performance data.
• Connected commerce is taking hold. Ninety-one percent of respondents indicate that they coordinate retail media with other digital advertising channels, such as paid social and social advertising.
• There’s still room for improvement in this relatively young channel. When asked to describe their teams’ maturity level, only half the respondents report that their teams are above-average or extremely sophisticated.
• The outlook for retail media growth is high. More than 70% of respondents believe that retail media will increase in marketer priority over the next two years.

How will these insights guide your retail media planning? Check out our report and share this information with your teams to see what they think.

—Josh Dreller, Senior Director, Content Marketing, Skai™