Retail media has grown fast, maybe too fast. In the race to monetize the digital shelf space, every retailer today has built some version of a retail media platform; a space where advertisers can buy visibility fueled by first-party shopper data. And yes, it’s pretty hard to believe that retail media, once a side revenue experiment, is now one of the fastest-growing sectors in digital advertising, projected to hit $140 billion globally by 2028.

But beneath that growth lies a growing challenge, fragmentation. Each retailer operates its own isolated media network with its own dashboards, bidding logic, and measurement rules. For advertisers managing campaigns across 10 or more retailers, this quickly turns into a logistical nightmare. And that’s where the cracks are starting to show. Managing multiple systems means wasted time, inconsistent reporting, and scattered performance data.

So Many Platforms, So Little Scale: A Patchwork of Retail Media Platforms

In the rush to monetize, every retailer has built its own proprietary ad platform, often using different auction models, targeting taxonomies, and attribution frameworks. What was meant to simplify brand engagement has instead created complexity at scale. For advertisers, it feels like juggling 10 bottles of data at once They must:

• Log in to multiple systems for every campaign
• Duplicate creative and targeting setups
• Reconcile inconsistent reporting formats

For retailers, fragmentation comes with its own pain points:

• Lower attractiveness to advertisers

Because advertisers find it hard to manage too many platforms, they prioritize only the well-established retailers. Smaller or mid-sized retailers end up receiving less attention and smaller budgets: not due to poor performance, but because they are harder to buy from.

• Slower revenue growth due to inconsistent measurement

Each retailer’s proprietary reporting, attribution, and taxonomy makes it difficult for advertisers to compare performance across retailers. The math is simple, if advertisers can’t compare apples-to-apples, they hesitate to invest more.

This independence-first model made sense in retail media’s infancy, when owning data and control were top priorities. But as ad budgets grow and performance demands intensify, the cracks are starting to show. Retail media has reached its scalability ceiling and to grow further, choosing connection over isolation will drive the next wave of innovation.

The Emerging Solution: Retail Media Exchanges

 If the first phase of retail media was about independence, the next is about interdependence, systems that work together without losing control. Here’s where the concept of Retail Media Exchanges comes in, a unified layer of ad technology designed to connect disparate retail media networks into one interoperable ecosystem. The vision? A future where ad spend flows seamlessly across retailers, brands, and marketplaces: just as programmatic exchanges did for digital display a decade ago.

Think of a Retail Media Exchange as a layer of ad technology that connects multiple retail media platforms into one ecosystem. Advertisers get access to a single interface to plan, buy, and measure across retailers. Retailers get to expose inventory to more demand, without sacrificing ownership of their shopper data or media rules.

Much like how programmatic exchanges revolutionized display advertising, Retail Media Exchanges could automate and standardize how media is priced, optimized, and measured across networks. The result is a smarter, more scalable retail media economy, one that benefits every player in the chain.

The Precursors: Platforms Paving the Way

While full-scale exchanges don’t yet exist, the groundwork is already being laid by a new generation of ad platforms and commerce media solutions.

Take Skai (formerly Kenshoo) is a cross-network platform that allows advertisers to manage and optimize campaigns across multiple retail media networks such as Amazon, Walmart, and Instacart. It’s not an exchange yet, but it brings unified campaign management and reporting under one roof.

Then there’s Pacvue, which combines automation, AI-driven bidding, and budget control for multi-retailer campaigns, helping advertisers get consistency across fragmented networks.

Criteo is going broader still, building a commerce-focused ad technology stack that connects retailers and advertisers on both sides, hinting at what a true exchange model might look like.

On the infrastructure side, CitrusAd, part of Publicis Groupe, is giving retailers the power to run their own white-label retail media platforms, a foundational step toward interoperability. Flywheel Digital and Omnicom Commerce are bringing unified analytics and performance visibility to multi-retailer campaign buying.

These platforms are the early architects of the exchange era, building connective tissue across fragmented ecosystems. There’s no single auction layer or standardized bidding system yet, but the direction is unmistakable.

What a True Retail Media Exchange Would Enable

Imagine a future where a brand manager can launch one campaign that automatically optimizes across Walmart, Target, and Tesco, all from a single dashboard. That’s the promise of a true Retail Media Exchange.

For advertisers, it means:

• Accessing inventory across multiple retailers in one interface
• Unified targeting segments based on shared audience frameworks
• Real-time bidding and budget optimization across networks
• Consistent attribution and cross-retailer measurement

For retailers, it’s even more powerful:

• Exposure to more advertisers and incremental demand
• Dynamic yield optimization based on competition and performance
• Continued control of data, pricing, and creative rules

An exchange wouldn’t erase a retailer’s identity, it would amplify it. Every retailer retains control of its ecosystem while benefiting from shared technology and demand aggregation.

The Ad Technology That Will Power It

For this kind of interoperability to work, ad technology has to evolve, it needs to connect various retail platforms through a shared infrastructure.

That includes:

• Standardized auction protocols and open APIs for real-time trading
  
  
• Clean-room integrations to enable privacy-safe data collaboration
  
  
• AI-driven bidding systems that balance performance and relevance across networks
  
  
• Cross-retailer measurement frameworks that standardize incrementality and attribution
  
  
• Open creative and audience standards to eliminate duplication

Platforms like Osmos are helping advertisers in building the connective technology that lets retailers run their own retail media platforms today, while preparing for tomorrow’s exchange-driven economy. The platform already provides white-label retail media infrastructure that powers multiple verticals, from grocery retailers and fashion marketplaces to restaurant aggregators and OTT platforms.

Why Retail Media Exchanges Are the Logical Next Step

Retail media today is at the same inflection point display advertising hit in 2010. The money is there. The technology is catching up. But fragmentation is holding back scale. The Retail Media Exchange model offers the natural solution, bringing programmatic-like efficiency to retail.

Here’s how the shift unfolds:

• Automation replaces manual campaign management
  
  
• Interoperability replaces fragmentation
  
  
• AI-driven optimization guarantees performance- placement no bar

It’s a fundamental evolution, from retail media platforms to retail media marketplaces. Retailers won’t just host ads; they’ll participate in a broader media economy where every impression, bid, and click is intelligently routed for maximum value.

Looking Ahead: The Network of Networks

The connected future of retail media isn’t a distant dream anymore, it’s already forming. The next wave of ad platforms won’t simply help retailers sell ads; they’ll help them connect to diverse media ecosystems.

Picture this:

• Cross-retailer auctions that let advertisers compete dynamically across inventories
  
  
• Unified audience graphs that power better targeting and personalization
  
  
• Interoperable attribution that measures performance across multiple networks
  
  
• AI-led optimization that balances relevance, spend, and ROI in real time

The future won’t belong to isolated walled gardens, it’ll belong to networks of networks, powered by interconnected retail media platforms. And when that happens, retailers won’t just act like media companies, they’ll become part of a global media economy, with their first-party data, digital real estate, and AI-driven insights working in perfect sync.

Conclusion: Retail Media’s Next Leap

Retail media has come a long way from being a side hustle to becoming a strategic revenue engine. But the next leap won’t come from adding more platforms, it’ll come from connecting them.

Retail Media Exchanges represent that leap. They promise an ecosystem where advertisers can plan and measure across networks seamlessly, and retailers can attract more demand without losing control of their data.

With platforms like Osmos leading the way, the retail media landscape is inching closer to full interoperability. The walls are coming down. The bridges are being built. See you on the other side!

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