Likewise, with ad budgets under intense scrutiny, marketing success now requires a disciplined approach to achieve measurable business outcomes and strategically integrate emerging technologies such as AI.
Understanding how retail marketers are responding to these industry shifts can help marketers prepare a more effective strategy for the year ahead.
Retail media has become a channel of performance accountability. Recent research shows that more than a quarter of marketers are pulling out of retail media networks to fund investments in other channels, suggesting that performance is now the primary driver of investment decisions.
Retail marketers want channels that balance cost efficiency and strong returns, and are adjusting their plans accordingly. For many, this means investing more in major retail media players like Walmart and Amazon. However, there has also been a growing focus on smaller, more targeted retail media networks. These smaller platforms now command 25% of the market share, up from 16% in 2024. This helps retailers reach more targeted audiences and drive stronger ROI, while also maximizing the low-cost benefits from larger players.
As teams plan their own retail marketing strategy, media prioritization is critical. That means focusing on channels that deliver meaningful business outcomes and rebalancing the marketing mix to avoid over-reliance on bottom-funnel tactics, where diminishing returns can occur.
