Retail media is no longer a specialist channel — it’s rapidly becoming a default part of the marketing mix. As retailers scale their media offerings and brands seek data-rich, performance-driven advertising, the future of retail media is poised to become broader, more integrated, and more central to omnichannel strategy.
This article explores what the next five years may hold for retail media and outlines the strategic directions that will shape its growth by 2030.
All media becomes retail media
According to the IAB UK Futurescape Report, nearly all media will operate with a retail layer by 2030 — meaning content will be transactional, and commerce outcomes will underpin branding and awareness efforts.
Traditional advertising funnels are dissolving. As media becomes shoppable and data-driven, the distinction between brand and performance marketing is blurring. Retail media will no longer be a standalone channel, but a layer embedded across:
- Social media
- Connected TV (CTV)
- Digital out-of-home (DOOH)
- Programmatic video
- In-app and streaming platforms
This convergence will create new expectations for addressability, interactivity, and measurement across all campaign types.
Full-funnel, omnichannel integration
Retail media is shifting from being primarily lower-funnel to a full-funnel opportunity. Brands increasingly want to use RMNs to build awareness, drive consideration, and generate conversion — all within the same ecosystem.
Expect to see retail media more tightly integrated into broader omnichannel planning, with consistent creative and targeting across onsite, offsite, and in-store touchpoints. Retailers and agencies will need to collaborate on:
- Unified audience planning
- Creative strategy linked to retail insights
- Measurement frameworks that span brand and performance
Data and clean room adoption
Privacy-compliant data sharing and collaboration will be critical to retail media’s future. Clean rooms, like those offered by InfoSum, will enable retailers and brands to link datasets without compromising security or compliance.
These tools will power:
- Cross-retailer planning and buying
- Cohort-level insights for segmentation
- Unified attribution and frequency management
Expect more retailers to invest in clean room infrastructure, and for data collaboration to become table stakes for premium RMNs.
AI, AR, and the tech stack evolution
Technology will continue to reshape retail media, from planning and activation to creative and measurement. Key developments include:
- AI-driven campaign optimisation
- Augmented reality (AR) for immersive shopping
- Predictive analytics to personalise ads in real time
- Retail media-specific DSPs and SSPs
Retailers will also increasingly seek end-to-end tech partners that offer unified solutions across planning, delivery, and analytics.
Strategic expansion beyond retail
Retail media isn’t just for retailers anymore. Banks, telecoms, and travel brands with rich customer data are launching RMN-style offerings. Examples include Chase, T-Mobile, and Hilton.
This expansion into “non-endemic” networks will give brands more options, but also create the need for:
- Common standards across platforms
- Planning tools to manage cross-network buys
- Transparency on audience quality and reach
The rise of outcome-based advertising
As economic pressures persist, marketers are demanding clearer returns from their ad spend. Retail media’s inherent measurability — including closed-loop attribution and sales lift — positions it well for an outcome-based future.
Metrics like return on ad spend (ROAS), cost-per-order (CPO), and incremental revenue will become more important than impressions or reach. RMNs that deliver robust outcome tracking will gain market share.
Implications for different audiences
For brands and advertisers:
- Integrate retail media into full-funnel strategy
- Experiment with CTV, social commerce, and shoppable formats
- Use insights from retail campaigns to inform broader messaging
For agencies:
- Bridge retail and brand strategies
- Train planners to understand retail media platforms and metrics
- Push for standardisation across RMNs
For RMNs:
- Invest in clean room tech, self-serve platforms, and omnichannel measurement
- Explore non-endemic advertiser partnerships
- Evolve into fully fledged media businesses
For tech platforms:
- Build solutions that enable cross-channel attribution and planning
- Focus on scalability, integration, and compliance
- Support retailer-brand collaboration across the journey
Final thought
By 2030, retail media will no longer be seen as just a shopper marketing or digital retail tactic. It will be a foundational component of how brands connect with consumers, how media is bought and sold, and how outcomes are measured.
The journey has already begun. The winners in this space will be those who adapt quickly, collaborate openly, and commit to building a better media experience for both consumers and advertisers.
In the next article, we’ll bring it back to the present with a practical guide for brands on how to build and scale a retail media strategy.
Retail Media Age is officially launching on 10 September 2025, as part of New Digital Age’s annual Foresight event, in partnership with Trainline and MiQ. Speakers at the event include PayPal, ITV, Expedia, Wolt, and IAB Europe.
Click here to find out more information and apply for a free ticket.
