Retail media has matured greatly since our 5 retail media networks (RMNs) worth watching. That evolution has come from growth in spend (we forecast US omnichannel retail media ad spend growth at 26.0% this year, with larger increases in off-site and connected TV), in-store innovations, and new entrants from other non-retailers.

It takes time to learn a new technology and sometimes, along the way, stumbles happen. As the role of AI in marketing grows, brands must be transparent about how, where, and when they are using the technology. Nearly half (49%) of CMOs in North America plan to focus more on using AI in strategy, creative, and content development for media use over the next 12 months, according to an August 2023 Dentsu survey conducted by B2B International. Here are three missteps brands have made with AI and content creation and what brands can learn from them.

PubMatic's strategic alliance with Instacart boosts programmatic advertising: The initiative merges retail media data with advanced targeting for improved ad impact.

Amazon will continue to gain market share, but new competition from Temu, Walmart, and other retailers could stunt future dominance.

Canada’s click-and-collect buyer growth tops our rankings among the countries we forecast. It’s a key option for consumers in Canada who prefer speedier order fulfillment and want to avoid home-delivery costs.

The cost of advertising on Amazon spiked in 2023: Our industry KPIs show that while CPCs are rising, healthy consumer demand is stabilizing return on ad spend.

Uber, Lyft, and Instacart fine-tune their ad strategies: The platforms are leaning into personalization and experimenting with formats as they try to boost revenues without alienating users.

Instacart’s ad growth slowed in Q4: That could create problems for the company as it relies more heavily on ads to offset softening grocery delivery demand.

While some were skeptical of Temu’s staying power, the app’s low prices and social-first marketing strategy seem to be resonating with consumers. Opening its platform to US sellers could bring competition for Temu at a time when consumer perception is flagging.

Retailers are going big on innovation. AI-powered improvements to the customer journey, ambitious market expansion, and viral partnerships and marketing campaigns have caught our attention, just in time for the first edition of our monthly ‘unofficial’ ranking of most interesting retailers.

What is shoppable media and which formats have the most potential?

On today's podcast episode, we discuss how Walmart plans to use AI to enhance the customer shopping experience, Instacart pushing smart carts into in-store retail media, why consumers are dissatisfied with their in-store shopping experience, how best to reduce clothing returns, the rise—and potential fall—of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and more. Tune in to the discussion with our vice president of content Suzy Davidkhanian and analysts Blake Droesch and Carina Perkins.

Retail media will make huge gains this year in Canada. Our first-ever forecast for retail media ad spending in Canada and our joint survey of ad buyers (conducted with IAB Canada) highlight the latest developments.

Grocery is set to become the largest US ecommerce category by 2026.

Nascent partnerships from 2023 will start packing a punch in 2024. Companies without an overwhelming market advantage will need to join forces with rivals or complementary partners to keep boosting revenues.

Walmart+ increased the money it spent on advertising by 87% between January and September 2023 as compared with the same time period in 2022, per MediaRadar.

It’s been a complicated year for advertising, punctuated by a slow first half of the year followed by better growth in the back half. Limited budgets mean brands have had to get creative. One form of creativity has been partnerships from names both big and small. Here are five that caught our eye.

Instacart leans on advertising to bolster its bottom line: The company’s advertising revenues grew 19%, significantly outpacing the 4% growth in the number of online orders on its platform.

Retail media networks are rolling out more advanced targeting capabilities as advertisers seek to more accurately and effectively reach their audiences. Here are two recent examples.