What is Retail Media Network (RMN)?
Also known as: RMN, Retail media
What is a retail media network?
A retail media network is an advertising platform owned and operated by a retailer. It lets brands buy ad placements across the retailer's owned properties, search results, product detail pages, mobile apps, and increasingly off-site inventory like CTV and the open web. The targeting runs on the retailer's first-party shopper data.
Per eMarketer's 2025 forecast, US retail media ad spend hit $54.85 billion in 2024 and is on track for $76.39 billion in 2026. That puts retail media on pace to rival paid search inside three years.
The model is simple. The retailer already runs the most valuable ad inventory in commerce, the moment a shopper searches for "running shoes" inside Walmart.com. Selling that slot to Nike is more profitable than running a house promo. Adding an attribution layer that proves the ad drove a logged-in purchase makes the inventory premium.
Why did retail media explode in 2024-2026?
Three forces converged. Per the IAB 2025 Retail Media Buyer's Guide, retail media is now the fastest-growing channel in US digital advertising, expanding 21.2 percent year over year while display and search grow in single digits. The category went from a Walmart and Amazon story to a thirty-retailer arms race.
Cookie loss made first-party data scarce
Chrome's third-party cookie deprecation, Apple's App Tracking Transparency, and tighter privacy rules in the EU and California shrank the open-web targeting pool. Retailers became the rare scaled holders of deterministic, logged-in shopper data. That data is now the moat.
Retailer margins are thin, ads are not
Grocery operates at 1 to 3 percent net margin. Mass retail at 3 to 6 percent. Ad revenue runs 70 to 90 percent gross margin. A small ad business added to a giant retailer doubles operating profit. Walmart's global advertising revenue grew 27 percent in fiscal 2025 to $4.4 billion, per Walmart's Q4 FY2025 earnings.
Closed-loop attribution beats everything else
Most digital ads guess at attribution. Retail media measures it directly. The retailer owns the impression, the audience, and the purchase. That makes the channel the easiest sell to a CFO in the post-cookie era.
Major retail media networks in 2026
Five RMNs control most US retail media spend. Each has a distinct shopper base, ad model, and integration depth.
| Network | Owner | Core inventory | Buying surfaces | Off-site? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon Ads | Amazon | Search, product detail, Prime Video, Twitch | Self-serve, Amazon DSP | Yes |
| Walmart Connect | Walmart | Search, item pages, Walmart app, in-store | Self-serve, Walmart DSP (TTD) | Yes |
| Target Roundel | Target | Search, browse, Target app, Target Circle | Managed, Roundel Media Studio | Yes |
| Kroger Precision Marketing | Kroger / 84.51 | Kroger banners, app, off-site programmatic | Managed, KPM self-serve | Yes |
| Instacart Ads | Instacart | Search, browse, basket, display | Self-serve, managed | Limited |
Sources: Amazon Advertising, Walmart Connect, Target Roundel, Kroger Precision Marketing, Instacart Ads.
Amazon Ads is the giant. It cleared $56.2 billion in global ad revenue in 2024 per Amazon's Q4 2024 earnings, more than the next ten RMNs combined. Walmart Connect is the fastest-scaling challenger. Roundel, KPM, and Instacart sit in the second tier with strong vertical specialization. Beyond the top five, Best Buy Ads, Lowe's One Roof Media Network, Home Depot's Orange Apron Media, and CVS Media Exchange round out the long tail.
On-site vs off-site RMN inventory
On-site and off-site are the two halves of every modern RMN. The split matters because the creative, the auction mechanics, and the measurement work differently on each.
On-site inventory
On-site sits inside the retailer's owned digital properties. Sponsored search ads on Walmart.com, sponsored product placements on the Target app, banner ads on the Kroger homepage. The shopper is already in a buying mindset. Conversion rates often run 8 to 15 percent, comparable to Amazon Sponsored Products.
The dominant on-site format is sponsored search. It looks like an organic listing with a small "Sponsored" tag. Bidding is keyword-based or product-based, similar to Amazon Sponsored Products. Most accounts spend 60 to 80 percent of RMN budget here.
Off-site inventory
Off-site uses the retailer's first-party shopper data to target audiences on the open web, connected TV, social, and audio. The brand reaches a Walmart loyalty shopper while she watches Hulu, then closes-the-loop attribution by matching her loyalty ID to a Walmart store purchase the next week.
Off-site is the growth story of 2025-2026. Per eMarketer, off-site retail media grew 35 percent year over year while on-site grew 18 percent. The off-site share of total retail media will pass 25 percent by the end of 2026.
How do you buy retail media?
Three paths cover most RMN spend. The right one depends on budget scale and the level of control needed.
Self-serve consoles
Every major RMN now ships a self-serve UI. Amazon Ads console, Walmart Connect Ad Center, Instacart Ads Manager, KPM self-serve. The buyer logs in, picks campaign objective, sets daily budget, uploads creative, and launches. Minimums start at $10 to $50 per day.
Self-serve fits any seller running on-site sponsored search and most sponsored display. It is the entry point for most brands.
DSP and programmatic integrations
Larger buyers route off-site retail media through a demand-side platform (DSP). Amazon DSP, Walmart's Trade Desk integration, and Roundel's connections to TTD and DV360 carry most off-site spend. The buyer stitches RMN audiences into the same DSP that runs CTV and open-web display, then measures everything in one frame.
Minimum spend through DSPs typically starts at $25,000 to $100,000 per quarter, depending on the network.
Managed service
For tentpole launches, retailer joint business plans, or new-to-retail-media brands, the RMN's account team builds and runs campaigns. Higher minimums, often $250,000 or more per year. Best fit for CPG brands negotiating shelf space and ad commitments together.
How is retail media measured?
Closed-loop attribution is the headline feature. Per the IAB retail media measurement guidelines, every major RMN now reports on three layers, not just last-click ROAS.
Closed-loop sales attribution
The retailer matches ad exposure to logged-in purchase. No cookie required. Reports show ad-attributed sales (sometimes labeled ROAS or "advertising ROI") alongside organic sales for the same SKU. The lookback window is typically 14 days for click and 7 days for view.
Incremental sales
The honest metric. RMNs run holdout tests where matched audiences are excluded from ad exposure. The lift between exposed and holdout groups equals incremental revenue. Walmart Connect, KPM, and Roundel all offer incrementality reporting natively. Most accounts find incremental ROAS is 30 to 60 percent of last-click ROAS, which is the gap brands need to budget around.
New-to-brand and household penetration
The strategic metric. RMNs report on shoppers who bought the brand for the first time inside the retailer's loyalty file. Useful for measuring whether ad spend grew the customer base or just rented existing buyers.
Real-world example with numbers
A mid-sized pet food brand allocates $400,000 over 90 days to test Walmart Connect alongside its existing Amazon Ads spend.
The setup:
- On-site. Sponsored search on 18 head terms ("dog food," "grain free dog food," etc.) and sponsored product placements on category pages. $220,000 budget.
- Off-site. Walmart DSP via The Trade Desk, targeting Walmart pet category buyers who had not purchased the brand in 12 months. CTV and open-web display. $180,000 budget.
- Creative. Three product hero images for on-site, two 15-second video cuts for off-site CTV.
Results after 90 days:
- On-site spend: $218,400. On-site sales attributed: $1,420,000. ROAS: 6.5.
- Off-site spend: $179,600. Walmart-attributed sales: $612,000. Last-click ROAS: 3.4.
- Incrementality holdout on off-site: 41 percent lift on test audience versus control.
- Adjusted incremental ROAS on off-site: 1.4.
- New-to-brand share: 28 percent of off-site attributed sales went to first-time brand buyers in the Walmart loyalty file.
The numbers tell two stories. On-site sponsored search printed cash at 6.5 ROAS, the standard pattern for high-intent retail search. Off-site looked weaker on last-click but pulled in new buyers the brand had never reached on Amazon. The brand renewed at $750,000 for the next quarter, raised the off-site share to 55 percent, and added Kroger Precision Marketing for grocery channel coverage.
That mix, on-site for harvest, off-site for reach and new buyers, is the pattern most growing brands settle into across retail media networks in 2026.
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a retail media network and Amazon PPC?
Amazon PPC is one retail media network. RMN is the category. Walmart Connect, Target Roundel, Kroger Precision, and Instacart Ads all run the same model. Each retailer sells ads against its own shopper data, then measures ad spend against logged-in purchases inside its store.
Why are retail media networks growing so fast?
Three forces. Third-party cookies are dying, so first-party retailer data became scarce. Retailer margins are thin, and ad revenue carries 70 to 90 percent margin. Per eMarketer, US retail media ad spend will reach $76.39 billion in 2026, up from $54.85 billion in 2024.
How is retail media measured differently from other digital ads?
Closed-loop attribution. Because the retailer owns the ad impression, the loyalty card, and the checkout, it can match a viewed ad to a logged-in purchase without cookies. Per the IAB retail media buyer's guide, this is the only digital channel with deterministic exposure-to-sale measurement at scale.
Can small brands buy retail media?
Yes. Most RMNs offer self-serve consoles starting at $10 to $50 daily budgets. Amazon Sponsored Products, Walmart Connect Sponsored Search, and Instacart Ads all open to any seller with an active listing. Managed-service deals and DSP-bought off-site inventory typically need $25,000 or more per quarter.
What is on-site versus off-site retail media inventory?
On-site is ads inside the retailer's own properties, search results, product pages, and apps. Off-site uses the retailer's shopper data to target the same audience on the open web, CTV, and social. Off-site grew 35 percent year over year in 2025 per eMarketer, faster than on-site.