Retail media is concentrating as a scaled second tier takes shape and the long tail slips further behind. Growth will persist, but the hierarchy is sharpening, raising the stakes for how networks compete and where advertisers place bets.

As marketers increasingly bet on in-store commerce media and consumers shorten their shopping trips, GSTV argues that brevity is a reason advertisers should bet on convenience stores.

"Marketing is less about persuasion now, it's more about participation," said Justin Breton, head of partnerships, content and emerging experiences at Walmart, at the IAB Connected Commerce Summit last month. "How do you actually get consumers to participate with your brand?"

AI is rewriting the digital shelf. As discovery shrinks to a handful of recommendations, brands are forced to optimize for both humans and machines or risk disappearing early in the purchase journey.

Creator content is shaping how AI answers questions. But content that’s good at engaging audiences isn’t always what AI surfaces. That’s forcing brands to rethink their creator strategies and content formats so they can show up in AI tools.

The Walmart-backed fintech is expanding crypto use cases in the app.

Ad spending will surge in 2026 as AI-driven gains and a packed events calendar offset mounting economic strain. Social will lead the way as Meta overtakes Google in net revenues and the wider ad industry closes in on the half-trillion-dollar milestone.

A new spin on secured credit helps credit-thin consumers build credit profiles with guardrails.

The lack of a standard definition for agentic commerce reveals a fundamental split in how the industry is preparing for AI’s role in shopping

A divide between discretionary and essentials leaves rivals to compete on convenience or discovery.

Retail media is reshaping search advertising. Costs are rising unevenly while performance gaps widen, forcing advertisers to rethink where spend delivers real results as traditional search dominance fades.

Digital shelf labels (DSLs) are gaining momentum in retail stores, as major players prepare to scale adoption. Walmart recently announced plans to roll out DSLs across its entire store fleet within the next year, while Kroger has already begun replacing traditional paper tags with electronic labels in its Cincinnati-area stores.

The massive redesign aims to elevate private label appeal and fend off rivals.

Social platforms want a bigger role in search ad budgets, but user habits lag behind. As search expands beyond traditional engines, these platforms must turn occasional behavior into intent-driven activity to grab ad dollars.

Essential spending keeps traffic positive while superstores fluctuate and then climb early this year.

The path to purchase describes how consumers move from initial awareness to buying a product or service. In 2026, that journey looks nothing like the linear funnel marketers once relied on. Generative AI (genAI) tools, social commerce platforms, and compressed decision cycles are creating new routes to conversion that bypass traditional search-and-browse patterns. This FAQ examines what is driving these shifts and how marketers can adapt.

This FAQ covers what agentic commerce is, who the key players are, and what brands and advertisers should do about it.

Agentic shopping could account for more than a quarter of ecommerce spending within the next few years, according to a September 2025 Boston Consulting Group report. But that potential hinges on retailers integrating AI into the shopping journey in ways that feel beneficial to consumers.

A leaked Amazon deck positions its Rufus AI shopping assistant as a high-intent retail media channel with CPC pricing on the horizon.