Instacart makes long-term bets on retail media: We expect the company’s advertising business to grow 16.1% this year and to continue expanding as it diversifies its offerings.

Retail media is taking Latin America’s digital ad industry by storm, with advertisers spending nearly $2 billion this year, per our inaugural forecast. Here are the latest trends you need to know.

In-store retail media ad spend will reach $1.06 billion by 2028, accounting for 0.8% of all retail media spend, according to our March 2024 forecast.

Key stat: By 2028, in-store retail media spend will reach over $1 billion but will make up less than 1% of total omnichannel retail media ad spending.

Bad weather drove more shoppers to Instacart in Q1: The company expects the positive trend to continue in Q2 as it prepares to add Uber Eats to its platform.

Amazon is ditching Just Walk Out in favor of Dash Carts. Not only will the move satisfy customers’ desire for familiar technology, but it’s also creating more ad inventory. Walmart Connect also emphasized its in-store retail media potential last week, with a focus on expanding familiar strategies like sampling and TV screens. This back-to-basics approach might spark more in-store retail media ad spend.

As Latin America’s digital revolution marches on, advertisers and retailers must keep pace with how and where consumers are spending their time—and money—if they wish to maintain a competitive edge in today’s rapidly evolving business environment.

The majority (83.7%) of US retail sales take place in physical stores, per our forecast. The retailers that can infuse digitally forward strategies into their in-store experiences are more likely to win over consumer dollars. Here are five charts on why the in-store experience is so key to retailers’ success and how they can use technology to create a more seamless, engaging shopping experience.

Gen Z consumers are tech-savvy digital natives that feel more comfortable searching for products on social platforms like TikTok over traditional search engines like Google. Even when they’re shopping in-store, they employ technology to help them, browsing mobile phones and using self-checkout to make the shopping experience more seamless.

Ulta Beauty is using in-store vending machines to bring more joy to the shopping experience, and AI enables it to analyze more customer data for personalization. The retailer is also training its store associates to engage younger beauty consumers.

US grocery store displays averaged 80.3 per store in 2023, a decline 10.2 from 2018, according to Q3 2023 data from Circana.

Amazon will offer grocery delivery to non-Prime members nationwide: The retail giant also plans to resume opening Amazon Fresh stores next year.

This year was challenging for retailers as inflation kept prices high and consumers cut back on spending. But there were a few bright spots, as some in-store shopping rebounded and retail media boomed. Here’s some advice for retailers on how to use in-store experiences and retail media to their advantage.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss a digital out-of-home (OOH) TikTok initiative, whether OOH ads have actually bounced back, and what we expect to see from in-store retail media. "In Other News," we talk about YouTube experimenting with longer but less frequent ad breaks and whether consumers are finally bumping up against a video streaming ceiling. Tune in to the discussion with our analyst Ross Benes.

On today's podcast episode, in our "Retail Me This, Retail Me That" segment, we discuss what’s important in a good omnichannel experience, where in-store retail media is headed, and how stores can tailor experiential and experimental tech to build a more robust customer profile. Then, for "Pop-Up Rankings," we rank two retailers that are doing store digitization well and two that could possibly use a bit of work. Join our analyst Sara Lebow as she hosts analysts Arielle Feger and Zak Stambor.

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.

We project US in-store retail media ad spend will nearly quadruple by 2027, but that’s starting from a fairly small base of $240 million this year, according to our forecast. Here are tips from experts on building an in-store retail media network.

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.

The digitization of the store—retail’s next megatrend—will transform the shopper’s path to purchase and industry economics for retailers and brands.