The retail media ecosystem is evolving with unusual speed, and the pace of change is beginning to outstrip the industry’s ability to process it. As Paul Brenner, of In-Store Marketplace has suggested, comparing today’s retail media landscape with the view even two weeks ago feels like staring at the desert: the terrain is recognizable, yet the contours shift overnight. This dynamic instability is the defining characteristic of retail media networks (RMNs) in 2025 and the factor that will separate leaders from laggards.
A Tale of Two Markets: Europe vs. the U.S.
The origins of this instability lie partly in structural differences between markets. In Europe – particularly the UK – retail consolidation happened earlier, giving retailers the leverage to dictate terms with suppliers. RMNs emerged from the store outward, rooted first in physical retail experiences before expanding into digital. In this model, retailers set the agenda while brands adapted.
The U.S., by contrast, long remained a fragmented and regionalized market. Until recently, only Walmart and Kroger commanded double-digit market share. That fragmentation gave CPG brands disproportionate influence over promotional and marketing levers. As a result, U.S. retail media has been historically brand-driven, digital-first, and more dependent on third-party partners for infrastructure. The contrast matters because it has shaped how networks, agencies, and brands approach integration today: Europe favors retailer control and in-store anchoring, while the U.S. has emphasized digital campaigns and media metrics.
The Organizational Divide: Physical vs. Digital
At the heart of today’s challenge is the persistent divide between in-store and digital retail media. Physical retail has always been a patchwork of solutions – cardboard endcaps, shopping cart ads, digital screens, in-store radio, branded magazines. Each is often managed by a specialized vendor, creating complexity and fragmentation. For a retailer trying to operate a cohesive RMN, that means multiple partners, inconsistent pricing, and uneven measurement.
Digital retail media, by contrast, is easier to centralize. Plugging in a partner like Criteo or CitrusAd brings immediate reach, standardized reporting, and scalable buying mechanics. It’s no surprise, then, that digital retail media has grown faster and more cleanly than its in-store counterpart. But this asymmetry has a cost: fragmented operations, siloed teams, and incomplete views of the customer journey.
Measurement: A Clash of Logics
Measurement is the fault line where these divides are most visible. Traditional media buyers are steeped in CPMs, reach, and impressions. In-store promotions, however, have historically been sold on a cost-per-shopper or sales-lift basis. As Steve Gray, of SG-Retail, has put it, there is a “duality of approach”: media teams speaking the language of reach and brand health, while commercial teams focus narrowly on incremental sales.
The result is a disjointed picture of impact. Retailers and brands alike struggle to stitch together a consistent narrative that spans mental availability (awareness, consideration) and physical availability (distribution, in-store presence). Without harmonized measurement frameworks, cross-channel optimization remains elusive, and budgets remain siloed between “media” and “trade.”
The Retailer’s Ace Card
And yet, retail media holds an advantage no other channel can match: the ability to influence both brand perception and purchase behavior at the same time. The science of brand growth is clear – sustained growth requires acquiring new customers, and that means maximizing both mental and physical availability. Retail media is uniquely positioned to deliver on both. No other channel can claim to simultaneously shape awareness and control the moment of purchase.
That advantage, however, is squandered if organizations fail to align. CPG companies are particularly exposed. Over the past decade, many built separate e-commerce teams, staffed up media agency partnerships for digital buying, and maintained traditional commercial teams to run in-store programs. The result is organizational fragmentation, duplicated budgets, and competition rather than collaboration across functions.
The Next Phase: Structural Integration
The next three to five years will likely be defined less by technological innovation and more by organizational restructuring. CPG companies will need to integrate shopper marketing, trade investment, and retail media buying into a unified approach. That means reconciling metrics, realigning incentives, and creating shared accountability for growth outcomes. Media agencies, sensing the opportunity, are already moving aggressively into this space – eyeing the vast trade fund budgets that have historically sat outside their remit.
Retailers, meanwhile, will need to rationalize their in-store ecosystems. Consolidating disparate media formats under a single framework is both a technology and a governance challenge. Measurement will need to mature from duality to integration, moving from impressions or sales uplift toward a model that links brand health and commercial performance. Without this, frustration will mount on the brand side, limiting growth and opening space for more integrated competitors to pull ahead.
Strategic Implications
Several implications flow from this analysis:
- Measurement Maturity is Critical – Until retailers and brands can consistently link CPM-style media metrics with commercial outcomes, retail media will under-deliver on its promise. Expect new standards, third-party auditors, and possibly industry consortia to emerge.
- Organizational Redesign is Coming – CPGs must dismantle the silos between e-commerce, shopper, and sales teams. Those that fail to integrate will suffer slower growth and higher internal costs.
- Agencies See an Opening – Media agencies will increasingly target trade budgets, positioning themselves as the integrators who can stitch together fragmented spend. Whether they succeed depends on their ability to manage retail relationships – historically the domain of sales teams, not agencies.
- Retailer Advantage is Durable but Not Guaranteed – Retailers hold the ace card, but unless they simplify the in-store ecosystem and provide consistent reporting, they risk alienating CPGs who may divert budgets elsewhere.
- Growth Hinges on New Customer Acquisition – The ultimate north star is still brand growth through customer acquisition. RMNs that enable brands to expand reach and conversion simultaneously will capture the lion’s share of budgets.
Conclusion
Retail media is no longer a niche experiment; it is a central battleground for growth. But its future will be determined less by the speed of technological innovation and more by the ability of retailers and brands to reconcile structural divides. The organizations that succeed will be those that bridge the physical-digital gap, integrate measurement frameworks, and keep their eyes fixed on the real prize: acquiring new customers. Everyone else risks being swept away by the shifting sands.
