Retail media: The $100 billion growth engine retailers can’t afford to ignore

On the surface, your local store hasn’t changed much: the same aisles, the same shelves and the same products stacked in familiar ways. But look a little closer, and some key differences emerge.

A shopper opens an app in the parking lot and gets a personalized offer. Inside, a digital screen nudges them toward a new brand. At checkout, they scan their loyalty card, which triggers yet another targeted promotion. None of this is random, and none of it is just “marketing.” It’s all part of a system designed to turn the entire shopping journey into something measurable, targetable and profitable.

That’s the revolution happening in the retail industry right now. Innovative retailers are learning how to make money from every customer interaction along the way, with every click, store visit and loyalty scan becoming part of a much bigger engine. Welcome to the age of retail media.

A $100 billion opportunity for retailers

For all the talk about ecommerce, about 84% of retail sales still happen in physical stores. That means the most underused media asset in the world is one retailers already own. Instead of just acting as distributors, they’re also becoming media platforms.

Retail media has already crossed the $100 billion mark globally, and it’s growing fast. Consumer goods companies are taking budgets away from traditional channels like linear TV and pouring money into digital and in-store environments that offer precision targeting and, crucially, a measurable return on every dollar.

It’s not a passing trend. At NTT DATA, we see this as a fundamental rewiring of how value is created in the retail industry.

Why is this happening now?

The timing isn’t accidental. The convergence of market pressures, changing brand priorities and untapped physical infrastructure has created a window that’s wide open right now but won’t stay that way for long.

1. Your customer data is worth more than you think

The death of third-party cookies in ecommerce has created a vacuum, and retailers are uniquely positioned to fill it. Unlike most businesses, they own something extraordinarily valuable: direct, consent-based data on what customers actually buy, when they buy it and what influences their decisions. That’s a monetization engine waiting to be switched on.

The challenge isn’t collecting the data; most retailers already have it. Activating it is the hard part. We help retailers move beyond data storage to data monetization so they can turn first-party insights into targeted campaigns and new revenue streams.

2. Brands are done guessing — they want proof

For decades, the joke in advertising was that half the budget was wasted — and nobody knew which half. Retail media changes that entirely.

Closed-loop measurement lets brands track a campaign from first impression all the way to conversion, both online and in-store. That high level of accountability is shaking up marketing budgets.

But delivering on the promise of retail media requires more than a collection of point tools. It also needs integrated platforms that connect data, activation and measurement throughout the ecosystem to make consistent targeting, attribution and optimization possible at scale. NTT DATA has already built these platforms.

3. The store shelf is now a media channel

Walk into any modern retailer and look around. There are screens at the end of aisles, digital displays near the registers and handheld devices for staff, even smart shelves that respond to shoppers’ browsing behavior. All of these tools double up as advertising inventory.

In-store retail media lets brands reach customers at the exact moment of purchase, when intent is at its highest and conversion is most likely. We help retailers integrate these physical touchpoints with digital channels to turn every square foot of store into monetizable media without making the experience feel like a billboard farm.

4. The fragmentation problem

Most retailers aren’t starting from zero. They’ve already launched something — a digital advertising pilot project, an in-store screen initiative or a data partnership with a brand. But ask them how it all connects, and the honest answer is usually that it doesn’t.

Scaling is tough in retail media. Fragmented initiatives stay small and hard to measure, making them impossible to sell to major brand partners at premium rates. To get ahead, retailers have to bring digital channels, in-store touchpoints, data assets and programmatic capabilities together under one platform.

That’s precisely where we focus our efforts: helping retailers move from a collection of disconnected experiments to a fully integrated omnichannel media ecosystem that delivers a consistent, measurable opportunity to brands.

Who wins and how?

The value is different for each party, but everyone benefits when it’s done right.

• For retailers, retail media is one of the rare levers that simultaneously grows revenue and expands margins. You’re monetizing assets you already have — traffic, data and store infrastructure — without adding meaningful cost. We help you build not just the platform but also the operating model and go-to-market strategy needed to turn potential into revenue.
• For brands, the pitch is simple: Reach your customer when they’re most ready to buy, with targeting built on real purchase behavior — and measure everything. With integrated platforms, brands can manage investments across channels with unified measurement and real-time optimization, which is impossible with fragmented tools.
• For consumers, retail media works when it’s done with intention. Relevant, personalized content at the right moment genuinely improves the shopping experience. Intrusive, poorly targeted ads erode it. Personalization must serve both the customer and the advertiser.

It’s a first-mover market, and the window is narrowing

Retail media doesn’t wait around. Retailers, telcos and digital platforms are already investing heavily, and once brands commit their budgets and lock in partnerships, they rarely shift them quickly.

That creates a narrow window. Move early, and you secure the high-margin revenue and deep brand relationships that come with owning the platform. Wait too long, and you’re left competing for what’s left — or trying to catch up to competitors who’ve already built the foundations.

The shift from pilot project to platform demands tight integration of digital and physical channels, a clear operating model, strong governance and real brand partnerships. That’s where we come in — bringing together strategy, technology and delivery to help you move quickly and build with confidence.

From platform to intelligence: Where retail media goes next

Some retailers have already invested in the integration of digital, physical and data channels. They’ve built an operating model that delivers on brand promises, established governance and measurement frameworks and developed strategic relationships with brands.

For these forward-thinking retailers, the next phase will involve intelligence. AI is turning these platforms into dynamic, adaptive systems that continuously refine how campaigns are planned, targeted and measured. Think predictive campaign planning, real-time targeting optimization, advanced attribution across channels and personalization that scales without friction, all connected across channels and grounded in clear attribution.

We follow a full-stack approach — from strategy and architecture to implementation and day-to-day operations — and embed AI and agentic capabilities directly into retail media platforms to create retail media engines that learn over time and strengthen the connection between data, media and customer experience.

This is the time to build the systems that will determine how value is created in your organization. We’re here to help you do that.

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