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The retail media landscape is exploding, with the market projected to hit $203.9 billion by 2026, representing a 14% year-over-year increase. A major shift is underway as 40% of media buyers move beyond "last-click" ads toward full-funnel brand building, using these networks to influence the entire shopper journey.
Since 76% of all purchases are still expected to happen in physical stores in 2026, retailers are aggressively digitizing aisles with AI-driven audio and digital screens. These in-store innovations are proving highly effective, reportedly delivering 6x better ROI than traditional advertising methods.
Ultimately, the power of these networks lies in first-party data, which is now a top priority for 71% of brands. Success in this new era depends on unified platforms that can seamlessly sync digital and physical touchpoints into one cohesive shopping experience.
Case Study
How one of Southeast Asia’s largest multi-brand retail groups scaled its In-Store Retail Media Across 1,300+ Stores
A leading Southeast Asian retail group operates across health, beauty, grocery and convenience categories, with a large physical footprint spanning multiple markets in South-east Asia. With high in-store traffic and strong brand partnerships, retail media was a clear monetisation opportunity. However, scaling this into a structured, repeatable revenue stream required moving beyond fragmented, manual workflows.
The retailer successfully established a scalable in-store retail media foundation with Osmos:
- 1,300+ stores enabled
- 90+ digital screens activated
- Presence across 5 Southeast Asian markets
Knowledge Hub
Retail Media Monetisation in Healthcare: From Experiment to Revenue Line
From scaling retail media monetisation at TATA 1mg to building it again at TrueMeds, Prateek Rai (AVP, TrueMeds) joins Anuj Nagpal (VP, Client Growth, Osmos) to talk about what it really takes to make retail media work in healthcare. More than just selling inventory, it demands the right balance of user trust, regulatory discipline, relevance, and operational scale.
Hear how Osmos has helped enable that journey along the way. From audience targeting and measurement to repeatability and sustainable growth, this is a candid look at what healthcare retail media monetisation truly entails.
Operator Insight
Are we building retail media for the human shopper, or just for the AI agents that might replace them?
With the rise of "Agentic Commerce" in 2026, AI bots are increasingly handling the digital browsing and buying process, effectively bypassing traditional on-site ad placements. This shift is forcing a massive strategic pivot toward the physical stores, the only environment where "sensory retail media" can still influence a human decision in real-time. As retailers rush to digitize aisles with AI-audio and smart screens to capture this "natural hedge," we have to wonder: is the physical store the final frontier of human-centric advertising, or just another data point for the machines to eventually optimize?
Question: Is in-store retail media the ultimate "future-proof" strategy, or a temporary distraction from the inevitable automation of the consumer journey?
In Other News
The Conundrum of Scaling Retail Media in 2026
As agentic AI starts handling online shopping tasks, traditional on-site retail media faces a "traffic ceiling" because human shoppers are skipping the browsing process. To future-proof growth, retailers are shifting their focus to in-store digital media, which remains the only advertising channel immune to AI bot disruption.
NRF Forecasts 4.4% Annual Retail Sales Growth with New Economic Model
The National Retail Federation today forecast that retail sales in 2026 will grow by 4.4% over 2025 to $5.6 trillion, based on a newly enhanced forecasting approach developed in partnership with Oxford Economics, one of the world’s leading independent economic advisory firms. The announcement was made during NRF’s sixth annual State of Retail & the Consumer virtual event, which examines the health of American consumers and the retail industry.
