Half of brand and agency marketers worldwide say their top Amazon retail media priority is improving ROI and efficiency of existing spend, according to November 2025 data from Skai and Stratably.

Meta is targeting retail media budgets with product set optimization and insights to bring SKU precision and challenge onsite networks.

This FAQ explores the main types of loyalty programs and how retailers can use them to drive lasting customer relationships.

Retail media networks rely heavily on first-party data, but those datasets capture only part of the customer journey. As advertisers push for broader reach and measurement, gaps in that data are becoming harder to overlook.

With US retail media ad spend hitting $60.32 billion in 2025, retailers and advertisers alike are exploring how non-endemic partnerships can expand reach, unlock new revenue streams, and deliver relevant advertising experiences to shoppers.

Dollar General's retail media network DG Media Network is leveraging its massive physical footprint and growing digital capabilities to create a unique offering for advertisers seeking to reach rural and suburban America.

The Milan Cortina Winter Olympic Games will begin on February 6 with an opening ceremony that will also kick off advertisers looking to make the most of the global event.

Retail executives are largely aligned on one point: Artificial intelligence is no longer experimental, but is central to how retailers expect to drive growth, improve customer experience, and build more resilient operations.

Last week, Amazon announced it would shut down its Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go locations. While this doesn’t signal a full retreat from physical retail, it does underscore Amazon’s growing emphasis on digital grocery, which has clear implications for its retail media strategy. Instead of prioritizing advertising tied to physical stores, Amazon is doubling down on media formats that can scale well beyond its owned retail footprint.

In the coming year, experts believe retailers will aim to consolidate their operations and link retail media silos with broader organizations.

For the past several years, commerce media has been defined by proliferation: New networks, new formats, new acronyms. As the category heads into 2026, industry leaders agree that growth alone is no longer the story. What matters now is connection: Across channels, across data, and across the full customer journey.

Retail media strategies are diverging; Macy’s and Iceland show how retailers are choosing between faster scale through partners and deeper control through bespoke in-store systems.

Sam’s Club and BJ’s aim to show that samples and screens drive sales.

“The way retail media has historically been built has been about setting up an advertising business on a retailer’s owned and operated digital channels,” said our analyst Sarah Marzano on an episode of The CPG Guys.

"Retail and growing a business today relies a lot more on developing alternative revenue streams and brand building that goes far beyond the typical selling products at a good price," said our analyst Blake Droesch during a recent “Behind the Numbers” podcast recorded live at the National Retail Federation's (NRF) 2026 Big Show.

Out-of-home (OOH) ad spending keeps climbing, powered by digital screens, in-store placements, and programmatic buying. Growth is steady, but budgets still lean on traditional formats as automation reshapes how brands plan and buy.

Social media tops the priority list for 84% of US digital media professionals, outpacing influencer marketing (61%) by 23 percentage points, according to an October survey from Integral Ad Science and YouGov.

To simplify shopping for customers in 2026, retailers will provide curated product selections online and in-store, experts told EMARKETER. This will also strengthen loyalty and improve the shopping experience, attracting new customers and encouraging them to return regularly in the year ahead.

Next year will bring shifts that redefine how networks operate, how brands show up, and how performance is measured. Here are three predictions for commerce media in 2026.