Retail media gets interoperable: Walmart Connect plugs into Yahoo and Magnite, bringing purchase data to open CTV workflows.

After years of digital acceleration, US retailers are heading into 2026 facing a more complicated reality. Tariff-related cost pressures still exist, retail media is maturing from experimentation to discipline, and AI is moving from back-end efficiency to front-of-house influence. Across all three forces, one theme is emerging for retail leaders: The physical store is becoming more, not less, central to how retailers protect margins, influence decisions, and differentiate experiences.