Retail Media Networks are quickly becoming a staple in digital advertising, especially for brands looking to meet shoppers directly at the point of purchase. With retailers turning their online real estate into paid ad space, the digital shelf has become far more competitive.
In this guide, you’ll learn what a retail media network actually is, how it functions behind the scenes, and what smart brands are doing to make their spend count.
A retail media network is an advertising platform owned and operated by a retailer that allows brands to promote their products directly within the retailer’s ecosystem.
These networks give brands access to first-party shopper data, enabling highly targeted ads that show up on a retailer’s website, app, or even across external sites through partner networks. Unlike traditional ad placements, these are positioned inside the digital shelf, where buying intent is already high, making them a direct line to consumers ready to spend.
What makes retail media networks powerful is the built-in purchase context. These ads are part of the shopping experience, not an interruption. A brand’s product ad might appear next to a competing item in search results or above the fold on a category page. This is less about broad awareness and more about conversion, powered by data the retailer already owns.
Retailers like Amazon, Walmart, and Target have scaled these networks into billion-dollar channels, offering brands both premium visibility and measurable performance within one of the most critical spaces in digital commerce.
Top 20 Retail Media Networks
Retail media networks now give brands direct access to shoppers at the point of purchase. Knowing which platforms lead the space can help marketers make smarter media decisions.
1. Amazon Ads
Amazon Ads remains the dominant force in U.S. retail media, with industry forecasts still putting it far ahead of every other network. Its scale, first-party shopper data, and broad ad product mix give brands reach few retailers can match.
The platform offers sponsored ads, display ads, Brand Stores, and Amazon DSP, giving brands multiple ways to reach shoppers on and off Amazon.
Key advertising formats on Amazon Ads:
Sponsored Products: Appear on search results and product detail pages to drive immediate purchase intent
Amazon DSP: Programmatic ads delivered off-site using Amazon’s behavioral and contextual data
Streaming TV Ads (Prime Video): Video ads that appear alongside premium content on Prime Video
2. Walmart Connect
Walmart Connect has become one of the strongest challengers in retail media, backed by Walmart’s huge store footprint and e-commerce reach. Walmart has said its ad business grew faster than the broader company, and its completed Vizio acquisition gives it a stronger connected TV story.
The platform gives advertisers access to Walmart’s massive weekly customer base across stores, e-commerce, and connected TV, and Walmart says the completed Vizio acquisition strengthens that connected TV offering.
Key advertising formats on Walmart Connect:
Search and Sponsored Products: Promote visibility on Walmart.com and the Walmart app
Display Ads: Banner placements across web, app, and email surfaces
In-Store Ads: Digital signage and self-checkout screen placements for high-traffic visibility
3. Target Roundel
Target’s Roundel offers advertisers a comprehensive retail media solution, integrating data from both in-store and online shopper behaviors. The platform emphasizes personalized marketing, utilizing Target’s first-party data to deliver relevant ads to consumers.
Roundel offers brands multiple channels, including display, search, social, programmatic, audio, and CTV, helping advertisers reach Target shoppers across a broader mix of touchpoints.
Key advertising formats on Target Roundel:
Onsite Display Ads: Visual placements across Target-owned digital environments
Search Ads: Reach shoppers during high-intent browsing moments
Social, Programmatic, Audio, and CTV: Extend Roundel audience targeting across additional channels
4. Kroger Precision Marketing
Kroger Precision Marketing (KPM) utilizes Kroger’s extensive shopper data to offer targeted advertising solutions. With a focus on measurable outcomes, KPM enables brands to reach consumers through personalized digital campaigns.
The platform offers display and search ads across Kroger’s digital properties and partner networks, helping brands reach shoppers with relevant messaging across owned and offsite environments.
Key advertising formats on Kroger Precision Marketing:
Sponsored Search Ads: Appear during high-intent queries on Kroger’s eCommerce platforms
Offsite Display and Programmatic Ads: Extend reach beyond Kroger using shopper data and verified outcomes
Digital Coupons and Loyalty Offers: Serve personalized incentives through loyalty accounts and email
5. Instacart Ads
Instacart Ads provides brands with the opportunity to advertise directly to consumers as they shop for groceries online. Leveraging real-time shopping data, Instacart offers targeted ad placements within its app and website.
The platform’s advertising solutions include Sponsored Products and display ads, allowing brands to influence purchasing decisions at the point of sale. Instacart’s unique position in the grocery delivery market offers advertisers access to a highly engaged and purchase-ready audience.
Key advertising formats on Instacart Ads:
Sponsored Products: Appear in search results and category pages during active grocery sessions
Featured Product Ads: Premium placements at the top of high-volume pages
Shoppable Display Ads: Dynamic creatives that link directly to Instacart product pages
6. CVS Media Exchange (CMX)
CVS Media Exchange gives brands access to one of the largest pharmacy and wellness audiences in the U.S., with 90M+ addressable ExtraCare members. It leverages purchase history, health-related intent signals, and geo-targeted delivery to offer high-precision advertising across CVS.com, its app, and offsite media.
CMX supports display, search, and in-store activation options that connect with customers across both digital and physical touchpoints. Its strength lies in its medical-adjacent shopper data, which allows health and wellness brands to advertise with relevance and trust in a retail environment people already associated with personal care.
Key advertising formats on CVS Media Exchange:
Onsite Display Ads: Targeted placements across CVS.com and the CVS app
In-Store Screens and Receipts: Digital signage and checkout receipt coupons for in-the-moment engagement
Offsite Programmatic Ads: Audience extension across health, lifestyle, and news content
7. Best Buy Ads
Best Buy Ads is a strong retail media option for tech and electronics brands, reaching shoppers who are often deep in research or close to purchase. That makes it especially useful for brands selling higher-consideration products.
It supports Sponsored Products, video, and display across owned and third-party platforms. What makes it stand out is the depth of shopper insight into considered purchases, helping brands align their messaging with when people are most ready to buy big-ticket items like laptops, appliances, and smart home devices.
Key advertising formats on Best Buy Ads:
Search and Sponsored Product Ads: Surface in high-traffic product and category results
Premium Homepage Takeovers: Full-width hero banners for product launches and tentpole moments
Tech-Focused Display Ads: Feature-heavy creatives served within review, product, and buying guide pages
8. eBay Ads
eBay Ads gives marketers the tools to reach a global base of over 135 million active buyers, including highly motivated niche shoppers. With decades of marketplace data, eBay offers intent-rich insights that are particularly powerful for rare, collectible, refurbished, and value-driven product segments.
Its ad offerings include Promoted Listings and offsite display options, designed to give sellers increased visibility in a competitive space. What sets eBay apart is its ability to serve sellers of all sizes, from indie brands to major manufacturers, without forcing conformity to a centralized retail supply chain.
Promoted Listings Advanced (CPC): High-performance product placements with keyword bidding
Offsite Ads with eBay Partner Network: Ads extended to Google and Bing to recapture shopper interest
9. Home Depot Retail Media+
Home Depot’s Retail Media+ is a strong option for home improvement brands because it sits close to project-based shopping behavior and high-intent purchase moments. That gives advertisers visibility when shoppers are actively comparing tools, materials, and renovation products.
Retail Media+ integrates display, video, and product ads across its site, mobile app, and email campaigns. It also benefits from project-based shopping behavior, making timing and relevance key advantages for advertisers promoting seasonal tools, fixtures, and renovation essentials.
Key advertising formats on Home Depot Retail Media+:
Sponsored Product Ads: Listings placed in search results and project-relevant category pages
Homepage Banners and Rotating Features: Seasonal push for holiday weekends, weather-specific tools, and trends
Project-Themed Landing Pages: Curated pages for bathroom remodels, garden prep, and more
10. Walgreens Advertising Group (WAG)
Walgreens Advertising Group (WAG) combines more than 100 million loyalty members with health and wellness retail insights to help brands reach highly relevant audiences. It uses browsing, purchase, and loyalty signals to build stronger targeting across pharmacy-adjacent, beauty, and personal care categories.
WAG supports Sponsored Product placements, digital coupons, and display formats across Walgreens.com and its mobile app. The added value comes from its ability to connect pharmacy purchase patterns with over-the-counter interest, making it an ideal platform for healthcare, beauty, and personal care brands.
Key advertising formats on Walgreens Advertising Group:
Sponsored Product Listings: Show up in search and category results on Walgreens.com and mobile
In-Store Audio and Print Ads: Shelf signage and audio spots for in-aisle brand recall
Digital Display and App Ads: Custom banners based on real-time browsing and health trends
11. Albertsons Media Collective
Albertsons Media Collective connects brands with known grocery shoppers across Albertsons’ banner network, including Safeway, Vons, and Jewel-Osco. Its strength lies in frequent shopping behavior and the ability to activate campaigns with closed-loop measurement across digital and in-store environments.
The platform delivers on-site display, off-site programmatic, and in-store ad placements that align digital strategy with physical retail execution. Albertsons’ focus on transparency and closed-loop measurement helps CPG brands track real sales lift, making it especially attractive for brands prioritizing ROI clarity over vanity metrics.
Key advertising formats on Albertsons Media Collective:
Onsite Display Ads: Banner placements on Albertsons-owned websites and apps to boost visibility
Offsite Audience Targeting: Use loyalty and purchase data to reach shoppers across social, programmatic, and CTV
In-Store Promotions: Shelf signage, audio ads, and POS activations to influence at-shelf behavior
12. Chewy Ads
Chewy Ads serves one of the most emotionally invested audiences in retail: pet parents. With more than 21 million active customers, Chewy provides intent-driven ad targeting based on pet type, breed, dietary preference, and purchase history.
It offers Sponsored Product ads directly within search and category results, giving pet brands priority visibility. Its advantage lies in loyalty, the platform’s customers reorder often and rely heavily on subscriptions, making it ideal for brands focused on lifetime value and repeat purchase behavior.
Key advertising formats on Chewy Ads:
Sponsored Product Placements: Appear in search results and shopping feeds by pet type and category
Featured Brand Stores: Custom landing pages designed for education and product bundling
AutoShip Targeting: Engage subscription shoppers based on reorder timing and product lifecycle
13. CitrusAd (a part of Publicis Groupe)
CitrusAd is a retail media technology platform within Publicis Groupe that helps retailers monetize their digital shelves while giving brands a self-service way to run sponsored products and display ads with real-time bidding.
Its biggest appeal is scale: CitrusAd supports cross-retailer visibility and central campaign management, especially for advertisers managing multiple retail partnerships. This has positioned it as a go-to platform for brands looking to consolidate spend across smaller retail networks with unified performance tracking.
Key advertising formats on CitrusAd:
Sponsored Products (Search & Browse): Show up in the most visible slots on partner retailer sites
Digital Shelf Ads: Feature banners embedded directly into category pages, recipe hubs, and checkouts
Custom Landing Pages: Branded product collections with cross-sell and upsell placement
14. Criteo Retail Media
Criteo is a major retail media infrastructure player that helps retailers and advertisers activate audiences across multiple commerce environments. Its strength lies in programmatic execution, offsite reach, and measurement.
Criteo’s edge lies in its demand-side platform (DSP) structure, which allows agencies and advertisers to bid programmatically on ad inventory across multiple retail sites. It also offers robust attribution modeling, making it easier to tie campaign performance directly to sales outcomes.
Key advertising formats on Criteo Retail Media:
Commerce Display Ads: Dynamic product banners delivered across retailer sites in premium placements
Offsite Retargeting: Extend reach across the open web using shopper profiles and behavioral data
Sponsored Product Ads: Keyword-based listings native to search and discovery moments
15. Wayfair Ads
Wayfair Ads gives home and furniture brands the chance to promote products in one of the largest dedicated home goods marketplaces online, with 21.3 million active customers. Its retail media solution includes Sponsored Listings, brand shops, and display ad placements.
The platform is designed to showcase high-consideration purchases where aesthetics and timing play key roles. With customers browsing through thousands of SKUs, advertisers can stand out through visual storytelling and precision targeting based on customer intent and browsing patterns.
Key advertising formats on Wayfair Ads:
Sponsored Listings: Appear at the top of search results and featured home décor categories
Brand Shops: Curated storefronts with cohesive product collections and editorial-style layouts
Shoppable Video and Display: Interactive units that link directly to product pages for instant add-to-cart
16. Macy’s Media Network
Macy’s Media Network brings together premium retail, fashion, and lifestyle audiences across Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s digital and physical channels. It gives advertisers a strong environment for brand storytelling and retail-led targeting.
Brands can use on-site display, social amplification, native content, and influencer integrations. Macy’s also says it offers 60+ ad placements across Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s, backed by closed-loop reporting for online and in-store conversions.
Key advertising formats on Macy’s Media Network:
Onsite Display Banners: Showcase seasonal drops, collections, or promotions across Macy’s.com and mobile
Video Ads and CTV Integrations: Full-screen placements embedded in digital lookbooks and streaming content
Influencer Collabs and Editorial Features: Appear in Macy’s branded content and social campaigns
17. Lowe’s One Roof Media Network
Lowe’s One Roof Media Network is built for brands in home improvement, decor, appliances, and outdoor living. Its strength comes from first-party purchase data tied to real project-based shopping behavior.
It offers Sponsored Products, seasonal landing pages, targeted video, and email campaigns across Lowe’s owned and third-party inventory. Its value comes from project-based shopping behavior, which lets brands align messaging with specific purchase moments.
Homepage and Category Takeovers: High-impact seasonal campaigns tied to major retail events
In-App and In-Store Sync: Push notifications and aisle-level signage coordinated for real-time impact
18. Sam’s Club Member Access Platform (MAP)
Sam’s Club MAP offers advertisers a chance to reach a tight-knit, high-spend membership audience through deeply integrated first-party data. The platform reaches millions of members across nearly 600 clubs in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, giving brands a strong environment for loyalty-driven targeting.
MAP supports in-app, on-site, and in-club placements, plus connected TV and offsite retargeting. Its major strength lies in shopper loyalty and frequency, making it ideal for advertisers focused on repeat sales, bulk-buying behavior, and high-cart-value campaigns.
Key advertising formats on Sam’s Club MAP:
Sponsored Product Listings: Show up across web, app, and in-club digital screens
Custom Member Segments: Target by business vs. household shopper types, or by category loyalty
On-Receipt Messaging: Include offers on physical receipts for post-purchase engagement
19. Costco Retail Media
Costco’s retail media efforts are still emerging, but the company’s membership model and unusually loyal shopper base make it one of the most watched names in the space.
Although less developed than others on this list, Costco’s value lies in its deeply ingrained customer loyalty and limited-SKU focus, which could deliver uniquely efficient results for select advertisers once the platform matures.
Potential retail media touchpoints at Costco include:
Digital Shelf Promotions: Featured visibility on Costco.com for select products
Member Offers: Promotions delivered through Costco-owned member channels
Sampling and Product Discovery: In-warehouse activations that can support awareness and trial
20. Mohegan Media Network
Mohegan Media Network was launched with LiveRamp as the industry’s first casino media network. It targets high-income resort visitors with programmatic ad placements across digital screens, slot machines, kiosks, and mobile apps inside Mohegan properties.
What makes this network stand out is its hyper-targeted environment: real-world visitor behavior, luxury spending habits, and in-property engagement give advertisers an unusually captive and well-segmented audience. While niche, it’s a signal of how diverse and location-driven retail media is becoming.
Key advertising formats on Mohegan Media Network:
In-Property Digital Screens: Slot machines, hotel lobbies, and interactive kiosks
Mobile App Ads: Personalized messages to resort guests based on activity and location
Geo-Fenced Targeting: Serve ads based on physical movement inside the resort
How Do Retail Media Networks Work?
Retail media networks aren’t just digital billboards. They’re ecosystems designed to monetize the retail experience by turning customer data into ad performance. Here’s how each core element works behind the scenes.
Retailers Own the Platform and the Data
The foundation of every retail media network is control. Retailers own the platform, the audience access, and the first-party data that powers it. That data comes from loyalty programs, past purchases, in-store behavior, and app usage, giving retailers a tight grip on shopper insights advertisers can’t get elsewhere.
Advertisers Buy Ad Space Within the Retailer’s Ecosystem
Brands pay to promote their products inside the retailer’s own environment, on product pages, category listings, mobile apps, emails, and even connected TVs. These aren’t random placements; they’re built into the customer journey, reaching buyers while they browse or search with intent to purchase.
Targeting Is Driven by Real Purchase Behavior
Unlike social media ads based on passive interests, retail media networks target shoppers using verified transaction data. This means you’re not guessing who might want cereal, you’re reaching someone who buys it every two weeks. That kind of targeting makes every impression more meaningful.
Matching your product message with buyer behavior becomes easier when your team has a clear view of customer segments, campaign timing, and product performance.
Campaigns Can Extend Beyond the Retail Site
Many RMNs now offer off-site media using their shopper data to run ads across the open web, including news sites, YouTube, or social media. These ads still use retailer insights for targeting but appear where your audience spends time outside of shopping, pulling them back in.
Results Are Tied to Sales, Not Just Clicks
One of the biggest advantages of retail media is closed-loop attribution. Brands can track if a shopper saw an ad, clicked on it, and actually made a purchase, either online or in-store. That direct tie to revenue makes ROI clearer than with traditional digital ads.
Benefits of Retail Media Networks
Retail media networks offer more than digital shelf space. They give brands strategic access to purchase-ready audiences backed by real shopper data. Below are the key advantages that make RMNs hard to ignore for serious marketers.
Access to High-Intent Shoppers
Retail media networks connect brands with people who are actively shopping, not just scrolling. These audiences are already in buying mode, making ad placements naturally aligned with conversion.
Unlike display ads on general websites, RMN placements happen during the decision-making phase. That timing gives your brand a stronger chance to influence the final click.
Leverage of First-Party Data Without Privacy Risks
As third-party cookies disappear, retail media networks offer a privacy-safe way to target consumers using data that retailers collect directly from transactions, loyalty programs, and app usage.
This makes targeting more accurate and future-proof. Advertisers can build segments based on real behavior rather than assumptions. It’s a powerful workaround in a stricter data landscape.
Direct Link Between Ad Spend and Sales Results
Retail media offers closed-loop measurement, meaning you can directly track if an ad led to a sale, both online and in-store. This level of clarity helps brands optimize faster and justify budgets without relying on vague attribution models.
You’re not guessing at impact. In many cases, you can connect exposure back to actual sales. That accountability is rare in other digital ad ecosystems.
Seamless Integration with Retail Strategy
Unlike external advertising channels, RMNs work alongside inventory, pricing, and product availability. This means your campaign doesn’t just generate clicks, it supports sell-through and aligns with in-stock goals.
Final Take: Retail Media Is Now the Frontline of Digital Advertising
Retail media networks have moved ad spend closer to the moment of purchase. Their edge comes from first-party data, strong targeting, and cleaner measurement than many traditional digital channels.
For brands selling through major retailers, these networks are becoming too important to ignore. The key is knowing how to navigate the landscape with strategy, not guesswork.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do retail media networks impact smaller brands?
Retail media networks can level the playing field by giving smaller brands access to high-visibility placements in retail environments. With the right targeting and creative, even emerging labels can drive conversions without needing a massive ad budget.
Can retail media networks be used for in-store campaigns?
Yes, many networks integrate digital campaigns with in-store experiences, like signage, shelf tags, or in-club promotions. This helps create a unified customer journey that reinforces messaging both online and offline.
Are retail media networks effective for non-CPG industries?
While most popular among CPG brands, retail media networks are expanding into tech, home goods, and even luxury categories. Effectiveness depends on the product’s alignment with the retailer’s audience and available media formats.
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