Brands look to get more out of their retail media spending

The outlook: Retail media is poised for another year of growth in 2025, even amid economic turmoil. Though waning consumer confidence, store closures, and weak or cautious financial outlooks from a host of companies suggest that budgets are tight, brands still view retail media as a critical channel to connect with consumers.

However, brands are becoming more selective about where they invest as the demands for better measurement, improved audience segmentation, and clearer visibility on ad performance rise, attendees at this week’s inaugural Commerce Media Brand Summit in Atlanta noted.

The RMN bulwark: In a tough economy, retail media has a lot going for it. Stephen Howard-Sarin, managing director of retail media in the Americas at Criteo, said retail media often emerges as a preferred option due to its direct link to sales performance and access to cherished first-party data. “In times of economic uncertainty or recession, retail media tends to grow more,” he said.

Brand priorities: Many companies plan to increase budgets for retail media formats, including on-site search, social commerce, retailer DSP, and search engine shopping, per Skai’s 2025 State of Retail Media report.

But not all brands are boosting their retail media investments. Some are concentrating on partners that provide tangible business benefits.

• James NT, senior performance manager at Reckitt Benckiser, maker of Lysol and Mucinex, said the company’s retail media spending would remain flat this year. “We are not going to cut out where we are winning and where we know the growth is going to come from,” he said.
• Brands are prioritizing their biggest RMN partners and seeking better measurement tools, including third-party tracking of user behavior, said Austin Leonard, senior vice president at Epsilon Retail Media, a unit of Publicis Groupe. “The ones that are growing are finding ways to increase their spend, but they’re also being a lot more strategic,” he said.

That emphasis from brands has translated into more pressure on retailers as well to meet client expectations and keep up with bigger RMN rivals, all while expanding their capabilities, Leonard added.

Our take: In a tumultuous environment, it’s no surprise that brands are amping up scrutiny of their spending as consumers do. Those retailers who don’t deliver better measurement or work on bulking up other RMN capabilities will risk losing media investment.