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Instacart has had a busy few months. Besides scrapping its plans to go public, the company has cut its valuation a few times, trimmed its workforce, and explored other cost-cutting measures. That being said, Instacart has also made investments to bolster its business, including new technologies for merchants and expanded retail media offerings.

The Retail Media Opportunity (Subscription required).

Amazon and Walmart are search advertising鈥檚 growth engines: The latter is a distant second to the former, accounting for nearly 4 in 10 non-Amazon retail media search ad dollars this year.

As retail media grows, it鈥檚 becoming increasingly complex, prompting some marketers to take a step back and rethink how they鈥檙e approaching the channel.

This year was challenging for retailers as inflation kept prices high and consumers cut back on spending. But there were a few bright spots, as some in-store shopping rebounded and retail media boomed. Here鈥檚 some advice for retailers on how to use in-store experiences and retail media to their advantage.

As ecommerce growth returns to pre-pandemic levels, it will continue to drive total retail sales over the next few years. Retailers looking to drive sales need to focus on a seamless omnichannel experience and use deals to convince consumers to spend. Meanwhile, retail media鈥檚 growth shows no signs of slowing, but advertisers and retailers must work together to ensure future success.

Retail media advertising could begin to impinge on Google. The UK is certainly some way behind the US regarding retail media advertising, but if that market is anything to go by, this will be the next big disruptor, particularly for Google. Search will account for nearly two-thirds of retail media ad spending in the US this year.

Though we鈥檝e downgraded our retail media forecast, we anticipate the channel will experience double-digit growth through 2027. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 an exaggeration to say that retail media is one of the most important and potentially most transformative ad spending channels in media right now,鈥� said our analyst Max Willens.

The year is nearly halfway over. As we prepare for H2, our analysts have been hard at work debating some very specific鈥攁nd potentially unlikely鈥攑redictions that could play out in the coming months. Everything from retail media standardization to drone delivery to AI partnerships is at play over the rest of 2024. Here are some of our analysts' hottest takes.

Why it matters: Shoppable video content is the No. 1 feature that ad agency professionals say will be the next frontier of retail media, per April 2023 data from the Path to Purchase Institute. With retail media ad spend more than doubling between now and 2027, per our forecast, the retailers that experiment with up-and-coming ad formats are more likely to score additional advertiser dollars.

As retail media evolves, ad placements off-site and in-store will help grocery advertisers reach shoppers in new and more engaging ways, but consumers may not be in a spending mood as credit card balances grow and savings accounts shrink. If Amazon can get grocery right, it may be able to fight off losing share to Walmart. But if the Kroger-Albertsons merger goes through, it could change everything.

But for advertisers late to the retail media game, a high-inflation environment could make the barrier to entry greater. New entrants to retail media might struggle to see immediate results, as it typically takes time to optimize campaigns.

Retail media is on track to fundamentally revolutionize Latin America鈥檚 digital advertising industry. As economic uncertainty pushes marketers to deliver tangible business results, retail media will play a larger role in their media buys. Here are the latest trends to know.

On today's episode, we discuss what's currently driving retail media, the other retailers outside of Amazon to watch, and what advertisers should be focusing on in this moment. "In Other News," we talk about ads (and influencer content) in Roblox and why Tesla has decided to start advertising for the first time. Tune in to the discussion with our analyst Max Willens.

The retail media landscape is dominated by national retailers like Amazon and Walmart, which boast the No. 1 and No. 2 retail media networks in the US by digital ad spend, per our forecast.

Retail will account for more US digital ad spend (27.9%) in 2023 than the five lowest-spending industries combined, according to our forecast.

Advertisers will increase their spend on US retail media search ads every year of our forecast period in 2028, when it will see its most growth at 23.4% YoY, according to our March 2024 forecast.

his year, just over a quarter (26.7%) of all search ad dollars will be spent on retailer and retailer-affiliated properties. Over the next few years, retail media will account for more new search ad dollars, and by 2027 it will represent well over a third (37.2%) of the market

Ad spend across digital channels has been mixed so far this year, with spend on social networks slowing and connected TV spend boosted by new ad-supported subscription tiers. Meanwhile, retail media is diversifying at a rapid rate as nonendemic retailers get in the game

On today鈥檚 episode, host Bill Fisher is joined by our analysts Paul Briggs, Matteo Ceurvels, and Carina Perkins to discuss everything retail media-related. There鈥檚 been a boom in the US, but how big is the opportunity elsewhere, and who are the early wave-makers in this space?