JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — As retailers invest billions into retail media, a critical question looms: Do those dollars genuinely influence consumer behavior or merely inflate impressions?
In a recent blog post, Stephanie Nelson, VP of Connected Commerce & Performance Media at Acosta Group, makes a compelling case that the retail industry’s obsession with ad visibility is missing the mark. Her message is clear: before spending another dollar on retail media, brands must understand how every digital touchpoint, from ads to product listings, is working in tandem to drive performance.
“One minute you’re scrolling TikTok. The next you’re reading reviews on Amazon. Then you’re standing in a store aisle, price-checking before buying online.
That’s how people shop now—bouncing between apps, websites, and stores.
By 2027, 70% of retail sales will be sparked by something digital like an ad, review, or search result. And retail media is exploding, with ad spend surging across platforms like Amazon, Walmart, and Instacart. In the U.S. alone, retail media spend is expected to grow another 20% in 2025,” Nelson writes.
This increasingly fragmented consumer journey has changed the rules of engagement. And yet, many retail media campaigns remain siloed from the broader digital shelf experience, leading to lackluster results despite rising investment.
Retail media spending continues to surge
Retail media is now one of the fastest-growing advertising segments, projected to grow another 20% in the U.S. by 2025. By 2027, 70% of retail purchases will be influenced by digital interactions such as ads, search results, or online reviews.
Platforms like Amazon, Walmart Connect, and Instacart are attracting massive media spend as brands vie for top visibility. But with clicks becoming more expensive and consumer attention harder to capture, Nelson argues that advertisers need to stop thinking in silos.
“Retail media campaigns don’t work in a vacuum,” she says. “Their success depends on the health of your digital shelf.”
Why great ads alone aren't enough
Nelson’s core argument is that even the most creative, well-funded ad campaigns can fail if the customer experience isn’t seamless. A targeted ad may win a click, but if it leads to a weak product page, missing information, poor imagery, or bad reviews, the conversion won’t happen.
Worse yet, marketers may not even know why the campaign underperformed.
“Often, it’s not your bid that’s holding you back—it’s your content,” Nelson warns.
She offers an example from the pet food category: a brand may launch a retail media campaign targeting "grain-free dog food" but appear on page two of search results. A few tweaks to the product title and keywords can double conversions in weeks, often for less than the cost of a new ad campaign.
Five ways to make your retail media spend count
To bridge the gap between media strategy and execution, Nelson offers five data-driven principles for brands to follow:
1. Optimize search visibility before spending
If your products aren’t showing up when shoppers search, they might as well not exist. Use share-of-search metrics to identify where you're falling behind, then optimize product titles, descriptions, and attributes accordingly. Only then should you allocate media spend.
2. Use real-time shelf intelligence
The retail environment is constantly changing due to inflation, stock fluctuations, and promotional shifts. Real-time shelf data can help marketers respond instantly to out-of-stock situations, pricing gaps, or competitive threats. Shift ad spend to SKUs that are available and converting.
3. Let reviews guide creative strategy
Reviews offer a goldmine of insight, both in terms of content and customer behavior. Use this data to refine ad messaging and product positioning. If a specific flavor or variant resonates with buyers, it might be your next breakout SKU.
4. Fix product pages first
Don't send traffic to poorly optimized product listings. Pages should be clean, informative, and visually strong. Nelson cites the coconut water brand Zico case, which boosted visibility and in-store presence after pairing retail media efforts with product page upgrades.
5. Measure what matters
Retail marketers need closed-loop analytics that show which ad on which platform led to which sale. Without this level of insight, campaigns remain guesswork. The right analytics tools should unify digital shelf data and ad performance, allowing for smart, timely pivots.
A call to rethink retail strategy
Nelson’s piece is not a critique of retail media but a blueprint for improving it. The lesson for retailers and brands is not to spend less, but smarter. Retail media shouldn’t be isolated from the rest of the commerce experience. It should be integrated into a broader performance ecosystem that connects shelf health, content quality, ad strategy, and analytics.
The final takeaway? In a world of high costs and higher expectations, success belongs to those who can connect the dots.
“Competition is fierce. Clicks are expensive. Consumers are scroll-weary. Layer on inflation, a boom in private label, and razor-thin margins, and the entire retail media ecosystem is feeling the pressure,” Nelson writes.
