Five Up-and-Coming RMNs Built for the Retail Media 2.0 Era
No Ecommerce? No Problem.
If retail media 1.0 was about ecommerce search, then retail media 2.0 is about moving up the funnel and into the store. During the first era, closed-loop measurement was simple: online ads linked directly to ecommerce conversions. As with Google search ads before it, brands found it easy to invest depending on their return on ad spend (ROAS). And it’s important to recognize—even the market evolves into its next era—the foundational reason for retail media’s rise is closed-loop measurement.
This next era brings with it a lot more complexity—from varying ad formats to omnichannel attribution—and a lot more at stake.
With brands primarily putting their dollars against on-site ads during the 1.0 era, monetization concentrated in the retailers with the most online traffic. Leading platforms/marketplaces like Amazon, Instacart, eBay, and Etsy, top general merchandise retailers like Walmart and Target, and leading specialty retailers like Best Buy, Home Depot, and Lowe’s captured the lion’s share of early retail media ad spend.
As we transition to the 2.0 era, several emerging RMNs that only modestly participated in the Retail Media 1.0 boom are now perfectly positioned for the next wave. A couple caveats before revealing my list:
Leaders of the 1.0 era aren’t included, even if they’re also well-suited to Retail Media 2.0. Only those companies that did not generate significant sponsored search ad revenues were considered.
This list shouldn’t be read as a prediction that each RMN will necessarily excel in the Retail Media 2.0 era. Rather, they are moving in the right direction, have several key pieces in place for success, and the RMN winds increasingly at their backs. At the same time, each has wrinkles to iron out in their existing businesses, face major challenges in realizing their potential, and will need to execute well to take advantage of their opportunities.
Not coincidentally, each RMN on the list primarily serves CPG brands. These are the retailers where first-party data and physical store footprints are abundant, even if ecommerce traffic isn’t.