Retail Media Breakfast Club

What should retail media networks share with brand partners, and what should they keep sacred? In this first episode of Arming the Rebels , a four-part series for retail media networks that aren't Amazon or Walmart, I'm joined by Anthony Rotio, co-founder and co-CEO of GrowthLoop, to unpack one of the biggest strategic questions facing retailers today: how do you monetize your customer relationshi...

What if the biggest opportunity for advertising in AI isn't just converting shoppers who are ready to buy, but reaching them much earlier in their decision-making journey? Today I'm re-sharing the newest episode from my other podcast, AdGentic, where I was joined by Roger Dunn, Chief Commercial Officer at Thrad, to unpack why brands need to rethink how they approach advertising in AI environments....

When Liquid Death's Chief Media and Digital Commerce Officer, Benoit Vetere, says retail media will take more than half of the brand's media spend by 2027, you know he's putting some serious money behind the channel. But what's even more interesting is how he thinks about retail media's role in driving growth, winning shelf space, and getting consumers to try new products. I recently listened to B...

The honeymoon is over for retail media. Sponsored products are reaching saturation, and the networks looking for their next growth opportunity are facing some pretty unattractive trade-offs. So what if there's another way to generate high-margin revenue without building a sales team, disrupting the customer experience, or cannibalising existing advertiser relationships? In this special episode of...

What happens when shoppers stop searching with keywords and start having conversations with retailers? And what does that mean for the future of retail media? In this episode, I'm revisiting my recent article for The Drum and unpacking some fascinating insights from Forrester on the future of conversational commerce and why the humble retail search bar might be about to undergo its biggest transfo...

Are ChatGPT ads actually delivering results, or are advertisers paying a premium to be part of the AI hype cycle? I've been hearing from performance advertisers for a while now that ChatGPT ads aren't pulling their weight. And a new academic working paper, published by Christian Schulze, seems to reinforce that concern, finding that ChatGPT ad visits generate significantly less revenue than paid G...

Walmart just made a pretty big move toward the future of AI shopping, and I think there are some important implications for retail media that brands and agencies need to be paying attention to. In this episode, I'm resharing and unpacking Doug Chavez's analysis of Walmart's new operating rules for AI shopping agents, including why he believes the shelf is becoming an API, how agentic commerce coul...

In 2020, I co-authored the book Instacart for CMOs because I believed Instacart was one of the most under-recognized marketing channels available to consumer brands. Fast-forward six years, and Instacart's advertising business has become a major revenue driver. And now, DoorDash is reportedly in advanced talks to acquire the company for around $17 billion. While the headlines will focus on deliver...

What happens when your personal AI agent starts selling you things? I’ve spent the last decade analyzing the retail media ecosystem, but I’m increasingly fascinated by what happens when advertising meets AI. In this episode, I’m sharing the inaugural episode of my new show, AdGentic , where I make a prediction that might be a little controversial: personal AI agents will ultimately be monetized th...

Is multi-touch attribution (MTA) past its expiration date? In this third part of my MTA series, I’m exploring why retailers like Albertsons Media Collective, Best Buy Ads, and Amazon are bringing it back, and whether new approaches can overcome the data quality issues that gave MTA a bad reputation. Better data doesn’t necessarily mean better decisions. From banner ads getting credit for impressio...

What does it take for a retail media network to stand out in an increasingly crowded landscape? Sometimes, the answer isn't building more ad tech: it's knowing what makes you special as a retailer and doubling down on that. In this episode, an expansion on my recent article for The Drum , I unpack Gopuff's partnership with Instacart, and why adopting its Carrot Ads technology could be a smart move...

What happens when an ad finds you at exactly the right moment, but still gets the job wrong? I found myself standing in the bolts aisle at Bunnings, using ChatGPT to figure out which bolt I needed for my home studio setup, when an ad helpfully reminded me that I could buy bolts at Bunnings. The problem? I was already there. What I really needed was for my AI assistant to tell me whether the bolt I...

AI shopping agents are starting to change how people discover products, compare prices, and actually make purchases. But as these agents take on more of the shopping journey, there’s a much bigger question we need to be asking: who’s going to pay for them, and will they still be working in the shopper’s best interest when they do? In this episode, I’m sharing some of my favorite moments from Jason...

Today I’m looking at what happens to brand loyalty when AI starts doing more of the shopping. We’ve all seen how shoppers stick with the brands they know, even when there might be a cheaper or supposedly better option sitting right next to them. But what happens when an AI assistant starts comparing products, making recommendations and potentially changing the way consumers discover and buy? I’m d...

Retail media has spent the last few years chasing growth through connected TV, influencer partnerships, social commerce, and in-store screens. But new research from eMarketer and Bain & Company suggests retail media network leaders are shifting their focus back to onsite advertising, where retailers have more control, higher margins, and a more established path to advertiser budgets. In this e...

Are bigger retail media networks automatically better? And what really makes a network worth investing in? In this episode, I'm picking up the debate sparked by Brian Spencer at Kroger Precision Marketing about what it takes to build a successful retail media network. Scale matters, but so do audience relevance, addressability, and technology. I also unpack GrowthLoop's 2026 Commerce Media Investm...

Why are retail media networks bringing back multi-touch attribution (MTA) when many marketers consider it outdated? In part 2 of my MTA series, I explore why Albertsons Media Collective and Best Buy Ads are investing in MTA, and how better measurement could help retailers unlock national brand advertising budgets beyond sponsored products. I also look at the limits of current MTA solutions, why me...

Are there really only 10 or 20 successful retail media networks, or are we overlooking the value of the other 180? A recent LinkedIn post from Brian Spencer at Kroger Precision Marketing sparked a debate about what it takes to be a successful retail media network, and I wanted to dig into one of his key criteria: scale. Because while scale absolutely matters to some advertisers, I think the bigger...

Consumer AI is growing at an incredible pace, but here's the thing: even though millions of people are using AI, very few are actually paying for it. So how are these platforms going to make money, and what does that mean for retail media and the future of shopping? In this episode, I'm digging into some fascinating new research from Andreessen Horowitz on consumer AI adoption, spending habits, an...

The retail media landscape is getting more crowded by the week. McDonald’s, Simon Property Group, Delta, and a growing list of other companies are launching commerce media businesses. But does the world actually need more retail media networks? In this episode, I share Matthew Fantazier's latest 'hot take' on the explosion of commerce media and add my own perspective on the biggest question facing...

There’s a lot of talk in retail media about better measurement, incrementality, and finding the one metric that finally tells us what’s really working. But sometimes the metrics we’re using are… well, bulldust. In this episode, I dig into why measurement looks so different depending on which side of the table you’re sitting on, and why retailers and brands can both feel like they’re doing the righ...

I recently took a closer look at what Best Buy Ads is building, and what it tells us about where retail media is heading. Best Buy was one of the early retailers to launch sponsored product ads, but at its latest showcase, that familiar ad format was barely part of the conversation. Instead, the spotlight was on connected TV, creators, TikTok Shop, its production studio, and new measurement capabi...

A couple of years ago, two neighborhood cats started visiting our house. We fed them, they kept coming back, and then one day they turned up wearing collars that said, “Do not feed unless starving.” It turned out we weren't the only ones feeding them: and nobody really knew who was feeding them, how often, or how much. Brands have their own version of this problem. When they add up all the attribu...

I’m revisiting one of my most popular episodes from last year: the retail media doom loop. The basic idea is pretty simple — a retailer sees the ad revenue being generated by Amazon and Walmart, launches a retail media network, and quickly grows by moving existing trade and shopper marketing dollars onto a media line. But what happens when that easy growth runs out? In this episode, I look at what...

AI is becoming part of how we shop, but how much do consumers actually trust what an AI assistant recommends? In this episode, I’m digging into two new research studies — one from Acosta Group, and one I conducted with Bazaarvoice — to explore what shoppers really think about AI-powered shopping recommendations, advertising, brand discovery, and trust. I’ll walk through what happens when shoppers...