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Choosing Retail Media Networks When You Can't Afford Them All

Oct 18, 2026 · Read time: 3 min · DV8 Pacific

Large consumer brands run campaigns across Amazon, Walmart, Target, Instacart, Kroger and a dozen regional networks. Growth-stage brands cannot, and should not try. With a limited budget, the most important retail media decision is where not to spend.

Start from the business problem

The common starting question is "should we buy sponsored products?" The better question is "what business problem are we solving?" Different objectives call for different formats:

  • Launching a new product: sponsored search, display and sampling together.

  • Defending a hero product: sponsored search and product-page placements.

  • Recruiting new category buyers: offsite campaigns using retailer audiences.

  • Building awareness: video and streaming TV powered by retailer data.

  • Supporting a promotion: search and display timed to the promotion.

  • Driving repeat purchase: CRM and retargeting of past buyers.

Rank networks on six factors

Reach alone is a poor guide. A network with enormous traffic does little for a brand with thin distribution there. We rank networks on six factors:

  1. Retailer importance: the retailer's share of your current and planned sales.

  2. Distribution strength: how many of your products are listed, and in how many stores or regions.

  3. Shopper opportunity: whether the retailer's shoppers match the customers you want to win.

  4. Media capabilities: the formats, targeting and offsite options available.

  5. Measurement quality: whether the network reports new-to-brand customers and supports incrementality testing.

  6. Incremental economics: the added sales and margin you can realistically expect for the spend.

Scoring each network on these factors usually makes the decision clear. For most growth-stage brands, one or two networks stand out.

Readiness comes before spend

Retail media cannot fix weak retail fundamentals. If a product is frequently out of stock, has few reviews, is priced above competitors or has a weak product page, advertising only sends more shoppers to a poor experience. Fix these first, then spend.

Retailer data is also market research

For Asian brands that sell through distributors, retail media offers a second benefit. Distributor data shows what was shipped to retailers, not who bought it. Retailer data can show who buys, what, where and how often. For many brands it is the first real picture of their US customer, and it can guide decisions well beyond media, from which regions to expand into to how to reach mainstream shoppers.

Plan for fragmentation

Every network defines metrics differently: attribution windows, what counts as a new customer, how halo sales are credited. Before comparing results across networks, translate them onto a common basis. Otherwise the network with the most generous definitions will always appear to win.

Sources: IAB and MRC, "Retail Media Measurement Guidelines," January 2024; DV8 Pacific analysis.

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