The UK retail media market has entered a new phase. What began as a commercial experiment by a handful of large supermarkets has now become a critical marketing channel in its own right. Today, Retail Media Networks (RMNs) are expanding their capabilities, maturing operational models, and capturing more attention from brands and agencies alike. This article looks at where the UK stands in 2025, what’s driving the RMN boom, and what’s next for the sector.
From retail roots to media maturity
The UK’s retail media sector is mirroring trends in the US and Europe. Major retailers are leveraging their first-party data and direct access to shoppers to offer highly targeted ad inventory, both on-site and off-site. Campaigns are now running across retailer websites, apps, in-store screens, social media, and connected TV.
Three key trends are accelerating this shift:
- The demise of third-party cookies, making first-party data more valuable than ever
- Ecommerce growth, pushing traffic to retailer-owned digital platforms
- Performance marketing pressure, demanding measurable ROI and accountability
Together, these trends have led brands to re-evaluate their media mix, allocating more budget to channels that deliver not just visibility, but sales attribution.
Brand and advertiser priorities
A growing number of brands now view retail media as a top strategic priority. In fact, 92% of marketers in a recent survey cited it as their most important channel for the year ahead. However, challenges around measurement, particularly incrementality, remain significant.
Only one in four brands report full-funnel maturity in their retail media strategy. Most campaigns are still heavily weighted towards bottom-funnel objectives like conversion. But the trend is shifting, with brands increasingly looking to integrate retail media into broader brand-building and awareness campaigns.
Social commerce is also surging. Some 71% of brands say they plan to increase investment in social platforms linked to retail media. Meanwhile, connected TV is emerging as a powerful upper-funnel opportunity, especially when fuelled by retail data.
Agencies play a vital role in helping brands activate across offsite channels and align media planning with retail performance.
Agency opportunities and challenges
For agencies, retail media presents both a challenge and a growth opportunity. The complexity of working across multiple RMNs, each with its own formats, data standards, and KPIs, has created a service gap that agencies are well positioned to fill.
Smaller brands, in particular, rely on agency partners to guide budget allocation, optimise performance, and connect retail media efforts with wider campaign objectives.
However, agencies face similar issues to brands, especially around measurement and incrementality. The need for better attribution, streamlined planning tools, and tech integration across platforms is still high.
Agencies are increasingly involved in offsite activation, where coordination between retail, social, and CTV channels is often needed. Those that can offer integrated services across these touchpoints are seeing increasing demand.
How RMNs are evolving
Retail Media Networks themselves are also undergoing significant transformation. While some are highly advanced, others are still catching up to brand expectations. According to industry data, only 50% of RMNs met their campaign goals in 2024 — a signal that further maturity and collaboration is needed.
Key priorities for RMNs in 2025 include:
- Innovating measurement: Delivering transparent, actionable insights to advertisers
- Scaling programmatic and offsite capabilities: A top priority for 76% of networks
- Better activation of first-party data: Seen as the biggest revenue lever
- Flexible joint business plans (JBPs): To attract more investment and reduce friction
Leading networks are investing in clean room technologies, enhancing self-serve platforms, and pursuing omnichannel expansion. Tesco, for example, is trialling CTV extensions and InfoSum integrations, while Sainsbury’s and Asda are enhancing their in-store digital screens and loyalty data offerings.
The tech platform perspective
Technology partners are critical to powering the RMN boom. From clean rooms to campaign orchestration and AI-driven targeting, platforms play an essential role in scaling retail media.
Tech enablers see strong demand in three core areas:
- AI and clean room integration, though adoption remains limited by complexity
- Unified dashboards and measurement tools, especially for multi-retailer campaigns
- Incrementality and upper-funnel analytics, which remain underdeveloped
The sector still faces legal, expertise, and integration challenges. Vendors that can offer end-to-end solutions, or plug into existing ecosystems with minimal disruption, are particularly well placed to grow in this space.
Emerging themes and trends
Several strategic themes are shaping the next phase of UK retail media:
- CTV integration: More networks are partnering with broadcasters and streaming platforms
- Omnichannel expansion: Bridging online, in-store, and offsite campaigns
- Standardisation: Led by ISBA and IAB UK, there is a strong push for industry-wide definitions and measurement norms
- Data collaboration: Clean room adoption is rising to support privacy-compliant targeting
Retailers are no longer just sellers of products — they are becoming media owners with data-driven ad businesses. As capabilities and investment grow, retail media will become an increasingly central component of brand and media strategies.
In the next article, we’ll explore how these RMNs are activating campaigns beyond their own properties, and what the rise of offsite retail media means for the future of the industry.
