As 2026 approaches, we examine what could be in store for retail media. As the sector booms, we asked experts from across the ad tech ecosystem what they expect from the year ahead. 

As we progress through Q4, it’s the season to impress. Brands are going big on festive campaigns, with advertisers looking to capitalise on consumers’ spending frenzy. 

Like always, the recent Black Friday weekend was one of the biggest yearly events in the retail calendar. US consumers spent a total of USD$11.8bn (£8.84bn) on just online purchases. On Cyber Monday a couple of days later, sales globally were said to have hit over USD$17bn (£12.74bn). 

For retailers, it’s an ever-golden opportunity. 

The retail media landscape has boomed this year, with new retail media networks appearing from every direction. Some of the biggest ones announced this year include American Express’ Amex Ads, and WHSmiths’ WHS Media. This expansion is increasing opportunities for advertisers and facilitating more effective ad campaigns, with improved targeting opportunities, more channels, and better activation.  

And as the landscape evolves, new doors continue to open. Gen AI is changing the game: data just released by Adobe found that traffic from the technology to retailers grew by 830% year-over-year in the first part of November, as consumers increasingly turn to chatbots to assist them with their shopping. Not only is traffic higher, but conversion rates are too: the data revealed that shoppers who landed on retail sites via an AI service were 30% more likely to convert than those who had arrived via a traditional search. 

Combining this with the agentic AI developments on the horizon, the retail industry is poised for a complete reimagining of the online shopping experience. 

Now, what’s in store for retail media next year? We gathered insights from a range of industry experts. 

Ability to scale will hinge on harmonisation and standardisation

As retail media accelerates toward the 2026 ‘gold rush’, the industry’s ability to scale will hinge on harmonisation and standardisation. Fragmentation across measurement, formats, and reporting limits efficiency and comparability currently, creating friction for both brands and retailers. By adopting measurement standards and certification developed by IAB Europe, retailers can unlock trust, transparency, and investment at scale. 

At the same time, one untapped frontier lies in in-store. By integrating digital precision with the physical shelf, retailers can transform point-of-sale into a dynamic media channel, bridging online and offline journeys, enriching shopper experiences, and driving incremental value. 

Programmatic capabilities will also be instrumental to the continued development of retail and commerce media, enabling automation, targeting, and real-time optimisation that elevate on-site retail media from static placements to scalable, data-driven ecosystems. The convergence of standardised practices, programmatic innovation, and in-store activation will define the next era of retail media.

Marie-Clare Puffett, Industry Development & Insights Director, IAB Europe 

Retailers who own their own models will stand out

We will see creative storytelling and more holistic multichannel campaigns come into retail media. The largest enterprise retailers will be able to connect their advertiser brands through innovative campaigns across onsite, instore and offsite. Brands will love the impact this will provide, as well as what they prove out in terms of ROAS.

Mid-size retailers will tighten up their offering and make it simpler for large brands to buy from their vertical audiences, and smaller brands to get involved in retail media via self service sophistication. These offerings begin to provide the industry standardisation demanded from the buy side.

AI will also evolve through the hype cycle, only the most useful applications will cut through and stay in the ecosystem, providers will have to prove the value it creates. Retailers who own their own models, and can deploy on their own terms into targeting, optimisation and efficiency will stand out. 

Neil Cameron, VP, Marketing, Kevel 

Third-party insight is what will unlock real competitive advantage

Retail media’s momentum will accelerate in 2026, as more retailers look to monetise their data and close the loop between advertising and sales. First-party data alone has limits, so enriching it with third-party insight is what will unlock real competitive advantage. Combining demographic, behavioural, and market-wide spend signals gives retailers a complete view of shopper journeys, while helping brands target the right audiences across more channels. As commerce becomes increasingly fragmented, those who connect identity across digital and offline touchpoints will create smarter attribution, stronger collaboration with advertisers, and ultimately, better consumer experiences. 

Sarah Robertson, Chief Product Officer, Experian Marketing Services

Proving performance 

2026 will be the year retail media matures – not because of more inventory, but because of the forces reshaping how performance is proven. AI is the obvious catalyst: agentic systems will increasingly double as advertising surfaces, while the conversational context around them becomes a new monetisable signal. As privacy constraints tighten across mobile platforms, creative (not granular targeting) becomes the real differentiator. We’re only at the beginning of crowd-sourced UGC and short-form, CLIP-style creative fueling algorithms with the contextual cues needed to find the right audiences.

At the same time, incrementality becomes the industry’s pressure point. Everyone is talking about iROAS, but few have cracked reliable measurement. Expect more experimentation with reverse-incrementality tests and budget-reduction models as brands race to separate true causal lift from cannibalised organic demand. The winners of the retail media rush won’t just monetise attention – they’ll prove they created it. 

Marc Bearman, General Manager, Monetisation Solutions, Mistplay  

Rebuilding the industry’s connective tissue

The next wave of retail media growth will not come from surface-level innovation but from rebuilding the connective tissue the industry has been missing. As supply access becomes more fragmented, buyers are increasingly demanding standardisation, interoperability, and the ability to activate retail data wherever it delivers the most value.

AI will also begin to show its real impact in 2026, not through flashy targeting promises but through operational efficiencies that finally address today’s workflow and execution bottlenecks – bringing welcomed relief to operational pressures at brands and agencies. Simultaneously, as retailers expand beyond sponsored product ads to compete for full-funnel budgets, the balance of power will shift. Advertisers will shape the next phase of growth, and only the most mature networks will win brand investment by proving they can drive outcomes beyond the point of sale as they no longer compete amongst themselves but with the rest of the industry. 

Justin Sparks, General Manager, Retail & Commerce Media, Teads 

Connecting footfall, loyalty data and store purchases

For over a century marketers have lived with Wanamaker's adage that half of advertising spend is wasted, but no one knows which half. In 2026, the guesswork finally meets its reckoning.

The ongoing problem is survivorship bias; focusing only on what’s easy to see. Digital dashboards glow with click-throughs and online conversions, but rarely show the quieter, offline influence of ads. The CTV spot that nudges a shopper in-store, the email that sparks a restaurant booking, or the product search that ends at a physical till. When those moments go unmeasured, whole audiences and channels are undervalued and spend drifts off course.

Next year, that blind spot will narrow fast. Retail media networks are connecting footfall, loyalty data and store purchases via identity frameworks that reveal how exposure translates into sales. When measurement captures the whole journey, the 50% problem starts looking like ancient history.

Esme Robinson, Director Global Platform Solutions and Enablement, Epsilon 

The sensory side of product discovery is often overlooked 

It’s clear that retail media investment will keep growing in 2026. One of its biggest strengths is that product and promotion live in the same place. You can influence both what people see and what they pick up.

What’s often overlooked is the sensory side of new product discovery. When someone physically picks up a product, you’re building both physical and mental availability at once.

At Dig In, we see this every year. We put products directly into the hands of 500,000 students on their first day at university, and again throughout the year. That single moment of contact helps form shopping habits and lasting memories – our omni-channel advertising targets these students to drive awareness and consideration, and the physical product drives sales.

If brands get better at omni-channel advertising in 2026, targeting audiences ‘from sofa to store’, I‘m sure they would unlock even more sales.

Christopher Platt, Founder & CEO, Dig In

Retail media will broaden its relevance 

As retail media matures, a customer purchase journey will not be limited just to the 'on-site' e-commerce or in-store experience, but rather an actual real-life journey from 'sofa to store', one that utilises the media touchpoints on that route, e.g CTV, prDOOH, desktop and mobile. Sales don’t start in-store, so brands are increasingly investing in 'off-site' media channels in order to influence decision-making earlier in the shopper journey, focusing on reach and brand-building to support their conversion efforts.

In 2026, retail media will broaden its relevance beyond FMCGs. High-traffic retailers – from grocery to QSR – can now harness mobility insights derived from consented, anonymised mobile data to understand where their customers truly come from. These catchment areas help to inform sharper strategies: reinforcing loyalty in core areas or targeting competitive areas to win market share.

Dom Woolfe, VP Sales and Country Lead UK, Taptap Digital