蘑菇AV

鈥淚f you take Amazon, Walmart away from a lot of these smaller, independent Chinese sellers, they basically lose their ability to access US consumers.鈥�. While tariffs would create significant headwinds, retail media鈥檚 potential as a performance channel positions it to withstand economic uncertainty.

Those investments are helping to boost ecommerce penetration throughout the region, which in turn is enabling the retailer to maintain its breakneck growth and fend off competition from Amazon, Walmart, and other local players. Go further: Read our report on 25 Years of Mercado Libre in Latin America.

Walmart enhanced its online marketplace with new capabilities and seller solutions, the retailer announced at its annual Walmart Marketplace Seller Summit this week. Updates include the addition of premium beauty products, expanded fulfillment services, and revamped seller solutions.

Walmart noted that households earning $100,000 or more drove the bulk of its market share gains in its two most recent quarters. Retailers including Dollar Tree and Ollie鈥檚 Bargain Outlet said in their most recent earnings reports that they are attracting a rising number of value-seeking shoppers from upper- and middle-income brackets.

At the same time, Walmart has gained traction with affluent shoppers鈥擳arget鈥檚 core audience鈥攖hanks to low-priced groceries, revamped stores, and improved private label offerings. Target also remains vulnerable due to its reliance on discretionary spending, which continues to soften as consumers tighten their wallets.

What this means for retail: The deal reflects the mainstreaming of BNPL, which is being embedded everywhere from delivery platforms like DoorDash to big-box retailers like Walmart to auto services providers like Tekmeric.

Amazon and Walmart combined will gobble up more than 84% of all retail media ad spending in 2025, representing a pervasive and unyielding dominance within the channel. The share of ad spending allocated to all other RMNs increased by less than 1 percentage point between 2019 and 2024.

Amazon already captures over three-quarters of retail media ad spending, with Walmart at a distant second. That leaves more than 75 RMNs competing for just 15.1% of the pie. This pressure cooker dynamic intensifies as nonretail verticals enter the scene with commerce media offerings of their own, further fragmenting the field and raising the bar for differentiation.

Cannes Lions will be an opportunity for those networks that aren鈥檛 Amazon, Walmart, and Target to proactively reinforce their unique value proposition in the event of such a downturn.

Retailers like Walmart, Lowe鈥檚, and Target have shifted away from DEI since Trump鈥檚 election, and as Pride Month approaches, consumers will likely see this trend continue.

Retail media鈥檚 positive hype is real. We expect it will disrupt the digital advertising landscape worldwide. In Canada, a handful of players鈥攍ed by Amazon, Walmart, and Loblaw鈥攈ave turned it into the fastest-growing ad segment in the country, and at scale.

Rumors of Amazon and Walmart launching their own cryptocurrencies could push Starbucks to beat them to market. The company's tech-forward approach under its new CEO, including recent AI implementations for baristas, suggests a willingness to experiment with emerging tech.

Albertsons is also working with vendors to lower prices, but its smaller size relative to companies like Walmart and Costco gives it less room to negotiate concessions鈥攚hich was one of the considerations that pushed it to seek a merger with Kroger. One lever it can pull to help margins is to increase its penetration of private labels, which accounted for 25.4% of Q4 sales.

Our take: The restructuring highlights TikTok鈥檚 broader struggle to reach its lofty expectations for TikTok Shop in the US鈥攁 market where expectations are high, trust is hard-won, and competition from entrenched players like Amazon and Walmart is fierce. Marketplace safety is a core pillar of ecommerce success, particularly for platforms seeking to win over skeptical consumers and brand partners.

Walmart stands to gain from shoppers returning to brick-and-mortar stores for budget-friendly clothes, home goods, and gadgets. Its online marketplace now features many of the same low-cost products Temu offers鈥攂ut with quicker returns and more reliable service. Target could benefit in the fashion and home d茅cor space.

But that hasn鈥檛 stopped retailers from trying: Walmart, Costco, and Target are among those pressuring manufacturers for lower prices鈥攁nd are likely to be at least somewhat successful, given their considerable market power. Any concessions will come at the expense of manufacturers鈥� already razor-thin profits.

Walmart's ad business drives 26% revenue growth: Walmart Connect leads with 30% increase, outpacing Amazon's ad unit.

And like search overall, RMN search鈥攅specially on large platforms such as Amazon and Walmart鈥攊s a reliable performance marketing channel. RMNs鈥� growing off-site display business may face more challenges. This explains a slightly larger 5.1 percentage-point drop in ad spending growth YoY between light and moderate tariff scenarios this year鈥�18.0% versus 12.9%, respectively.

While the number of climate-related proposals was steady last year compared with 2023, shareholder support fell slightly鈥攚hich may have given companies like Walmart and Coca-Cola the confidence to water down their sustainability pledges without fear of backlash.

"The name of the game today seems to be incrementality," said Jonathan Fasano, business development director at Walmart Connect Mexico and Central America, during a recent 蘑菇AV Summit on commerce media.

But Klarna鈥檚 recent moves like its Walmart and JPMorgan Payments tie-ups can help it maintain its growth as it figures out what鈥檚 next for its IPO.

Retail media networks like Amazon and Walmart paved the way. Financial services are now following suit, creating financial media networks that monetize user engagement. While still smaller than retail media, financial media networks are among the fastest-growing digital ad channels.

That reluctance extends even to big players like Walmart and Amazon. Some advertisers are walking away from joint business planning (JBP) negotiations with the former, feeling 鈥渟hook down鈥� as brands increasingly sense retailers are using their market power to demand more spending, regardless of performance.

Amazon and Walmart show ads to virtually every shopper on virtually every search result page. Collectively, the two powerhouses claim over 80% of retail media ad spending; Amazon comprises three-quarters, and Walmart comes in at a distant second.