Digitally native D2C brands embrace traditional retail strategies: More are inking partnerships with retailers like Amazon and Walmart to expand their reaches and offset soaring acquisition costs.

As brands seek to diversify the number of places they sell their goods, retailers should consider building out a marketplace model that can help brands reach more customers while also cutting down on retailer costs and creating new revenue streams. You don’t need to be Amazon to launch a third-party marketplace—Macy’s, Michaels, and H&M have all gotten marketplaces off the ground in the last year or so.

Toys R Us looks to fill a hole in the retail landscape: It plans to rapidly expand its physical presence by opening up to two dozen flagship stores.

In July and August, the US ad market saw its first consecutive two months of growth in over a year, according to Standard Media’s US Ad Market Tracker. Platforms are focused on keeping that momentum alive with several updates. Multiple platforms are boasting improved AI targeting and enhanced connected TV ad solutions. Here is everything new in September.

Mobile is driving ecommerce sales growth, with 43.2% of the $1.137 trillion in US ecommerce sales we project for this year. As mcommerce sales rise, retailers are innovating to get a piece of the $491.14 billion pie. Mobile commerce will be especially vital this holiday season. Some 79% of US online shoppers shopped via mobile during the Cyber Five last year, according to Bizrate Insights data cited in a Forrester report.

As retail media grows, it is changing. At the moment, search remains retail media’s bread and butter and sales ads are the best awareness drivers. In the future, in-store media and shoppable video ads may take on a bigger role. But no matter how ad formats change, one thing is for certain: Measurement will be key for retail media’s continued growth.

What are 2023’s top retail media networks for CPG brands? From Amazon to Kroger, we share a selection from our in-depth report evaluating ad buyers’ perceptions of leading platforms.

Less than 19% of US digital grocery buyers used Amazon Fresh within the past year. Nearly all of them have also shopped on other digital grocery platforms.

This year’s Groceryshop 2023 event in Las Vegas focused on marrying in-store and digital experiences, the growing retail media wave, and the benefits of personalizing messaging based on each consumer’s motivations, among many other takeaways. All of that comes as US food and beverage retail sales are expected to reach $1.378 trillion this year and surpass $1.578 trillion in 2026, according to our June forecast.

Walmart is opening a pet services center: The move positions the retailer to grab a share of some of the most lucrative areas of the pet industry: health and other services.

Amazon explores standalone subscriptions as Prime user growth slows: The retailer could roll out separate grocery and healthcare membership services as early as this year.

Ecommerce success relies on a seamless search strategy. To help consumers find, learn, and buy products more easily, retailers are building out their on-site search capabilities, adding video, incorporating AI, and giving shoppers more tools to find what they are looking for. Here are some of the latest improvements from Walmart, Amazon, and Instacart.

Retail media ads are an important way to boost marketplace spend, but how brands go about advertising requires strategy. When setting up your retail media approach this holiday season, consider which products sell when, what kinds of ads drive conversions, and the importance of discovery in retail media.

Walmart has the largest audience of any digital grocery platform. But our survey found that Amazon Fresh customers were more active and willing to try new products.

Temu overtook Target in US unique website visitors in January, but Walmart and Amazon remain on top (by a wide margin, in Amazon’s case), per Comscore Inc.

Here’s how ad buyers ranked the retail media networks of 14 leading CPG-focused retailers—including Ahold Delhaize, Albertsons, Amazon, Costco Wholesale, CVS, Instacart, Kroger, Target, and Walmart—according to the attributes they value most.

Price matters to everyone, but ease and convenience play an even bigger role in purchase decisions. Plus, retailers should consider revamping their apps to garner more sales and use their target audience to guide in-store and online strategies.

Kroger’s sales sag as grocery prices stabilize: That new state of play could drive the grocer to look to high-margin retail media to drive growth.

Retail’s resilience and its outsized role in digital ad spending will help offset the impact of a broader slowdown in growth in the US digital advertising market.

Ulta expands in-store ecommerce fulfillment to 400 locations: Stores fulfilled nearly 40% of the retailer's digital orders.