Retail media is entering a more disciplined and strategically-important phase. After years of rapid expansion and bold predictions, 2026 feels like a moment of consolidation, where integration, measurement and genuine collaboration between retailers and brands will define the winners. In this interview, we sat down with Ash White, Managing Partner at Dentsu, about why the sector is approaching a decisive turning point.
You’ve described retail media as reaching a turning point. What do you mean by that?
I genuinely think we are at an inflection point in retail media’s development. For a long time we talked about the shelf as the ultimate moment of truth, the place where influence and conversion collided.
What we are now seeing is that shoppers are increasingly arriving at that shelf with their decisions already formed.
Discovery, influence and even conversion are happening much further upstream, on social platforms, in search environments, within algorithms and inside closed ecosystems. That fundamentally changes the role retail media needs to play. It cannot just be about intercepting demand at the last moment, it has to connect to the broader brand and media ecosystem that shaped that demand in the first place.
How is that shift affecting performance, particularly for new product launches?
Traditionally, retail media was seen as the perfect environment for new product development because it sat so close to the point of purchase. If you wanted to drive discovery, you invested where shoppers were browsing.
What we are seeing now is that some NPD performance within retail media is softening, not because the channel is weaker, but because shopper behaviour has evolved.
Consumers are researching and making decisions earlier in the journey, often influenced by digital content and brand activity long before they enter a retailer’s environment. That means NPD needs upstream support and cannot rely on retail media alone to do the heavy lifting.
How are you helping brands break down internal silos between brand and shopper teams for instance?
At Dentsu we talk about through-the-line planning. It is about examining the tactics that sit between traditional budget silos and recognising that retail media does not exist neatly in either the brand or shopper column.
Retailer first-party data, for example, often flows into programmatic or social environments that brand teams historically control, yet it has direct implications for retailer investment. We are building structured playbooks that give clients a databased framework. That enables them to approach retailer negotiations with clarity about performance expectations, growth targets and measurement standards, rather than operating in fragmented internal conversations.
Are retailers getting clearer direction from brands about what they want?
Not consistently, and that has been part of the friction in the system.
Retailers have moved decisively into retail media and in some cases very assertively, but supplier brands have not always provided clear guidance on what success looks like.
When there are complaints about lack of standardisation, it is often because retailers are not receiving consistent feedback. One client described it perfectly, saying it is not that one retailer is better than another, it is simply that they have not told them which reporting structure or performance framework they prefer. Without that dialogue, divergence is inevitable.
What are clients demanding in terms of measurement?
At a minimum, they still expect core digital metrics such as impressions, clicks and click through rates. That baseline consistency is important because it allows retail media to sit credibly alongside other channels in reporting conversations.
The bigger ambition, however, is integration into media mix modelling and broader effectiveness frameworks.
Shopper and performance teams have taken on a significant burden in driving retail media forward, but we are now working to educate brand teams on how sales and conversion data should coexist with brand metrics. The future lies in combined models that value both brand equity impact and incremental revenue generation.
Non-endemic brands are often described as the holy grail. Is that realistic?
There is certainly potential, but retailers need to act more like sophisticated media owners if they want to unlock it properly. Too often the proposition is undefined, with agencies being asked what non endemic opportunity should look like rather than being presented with a clear, data led package.
There are natural extensions, such as EV charging partnerships, where the placement feels relevant to the shopper journey. But retailers must also protect core joint business partnerships and ensure that non endemic activity does not distort pricing structures or undermine trust. Audience data is the scalable opportunity, particularly as it represents inventory that does not directly impact shelf space or inflation.
Do you see a meaningful difference between retail media and commerce media?
I do think terminology matters. Retail media can sometimes feel like a restrictive label, placing activity into a narrow bucket that excludes stakeholders who do not see themselves as part of it.
Commerce media feels broader and more strategically useful. It reflects the entire consumer journey, from inspiration through to transaction, and avoids limiting the conversation to retailer owned properties alone. As the industry matures, that wider framing may help prevent tunnel vision.
How settled is the tech landscape supporting retail media?
It is still relatively fragmented. Many retail media networks are stitching together multiple technology partners, which creates several routes to purchase similar inventory and multiple sales touchpoints.
For agencies we can absorb that complexity and simplify it for clients, but the overall ecosystem is noisy.
A year ago there was a view that it would get worse before it gets better, and we are arguably at that stage where rationalisation and clearer structures are needed.
What is your view on in-store screens and digital real estate?
I am very optimistic about the creative and optimisation potential. The ability to target dynamically, measure performance and even optimise a store environment in a way that mirrors website optimisation is compelling.
However, it must be grounded in a customer first perspective.
If installations create sensory overload or confusion, they risk diminishing the experience. When done well, with data supporting placement and messaging, in store screens can become a powerful extension of the wider media ecosystem.
Is creativity improving in retail media?
It is. We are seeing more bespoke creative assets designed specifically for retail placements rather than repurposed brand work.
Dynamic creative optimisation is advancing and enabling more contextually relevant messaging.
Creativity in retail media also extends to data usage. Building bespoke audience segments based on nuanced briefs and aligning messaging to the emotional state of a shopper in store can be as innovative as any visual execution. The most compelling campaigns treat data strategy as a creative discipline in its own right.
As programmatic pipes open up further, are there brand safety concerns?
There is always potential risk when scale and automation increase. The positive sign is that brand safety is already being discussed as a core metric at industry round tables.
If we embed those standards early, retail media can avoid some of the challenges that have historically affected open programmatic environments. Retailers are inherently strong brand guardians, and that culture should provide a robust foundation as the channel expands.
Looking ahead to the rest of the year, what would signal that retail media has truly matured?
For me it would be genuinely two way, media first relationships between retailers and suppliers. I would like to see negotiations underpinned by shared datasets from both sides, with clearly defined joint objectives and transparent success criteria.
When conversations move from transactional inventory sales to collaborative growth planning, supported by integrated measurement and aligned internal teams, that is when we will know retail media has entered its next era.
