- While WARC now expects retail media spending to grow at a rather faster rate this 12 months, with global marketing investments climbing 13.7% 12 months over 12 months to reach $153.3 billion, the space is headed for a cooldown next 12 months.
- A recent report from the researcher revealed that retail media networks’ increased sophistication in leveraging shopper data to goal offsite campaigns, including in non-retail environments, helps fuel channel growth in 2024.
- Retail media stays hypercompetitive but Amazon is enshrining a dominant position, with WARC expecting the e-commerce giant to command 37.3% of the market in 2024. However, a few of retail media’s meteoric growth could soon taper off as brands max out their budgets.
WARC aligns with other forecasters in expecting retail media networks to see a bump in growth this 12 months from their larger push into offsite media. That said, the growth rate for one among digital’s booming channels appears to be decelerating after a protracted run on a meteoric upward trajectory. In 2024, WARC forecasts spend on social media to grow more quickly than for retail media at a rate of 14.3%. The “Future of Digital Commerce” report stated that retail media spending will grow more slowly in 2025, with the speed clocking in at 10.6% “as trade marketing budgets are steadily exhausted.”
Retail media networks rose to prominence thanks to sponsored search and display placements appearing on on-site properties that might be a magnet for consumers as they browsed and filled up their carts. But mature players in the space have began leveraging their first-party data troves to help brands goal their campaigns elsewhere, including on trendy social media apps like TikTok and in the burgeoning connected TV (CTV) space.
In an indication of the trend, Disney Advertising in May struck a take care of Walmart Connect to use the big-box store’s retail media data to power ad campaigns on platforms like Hulu and Disney+. Programmatic buying can also be a growing area of interest for retail media networks that want to extend their tendrils into the open web. A separate report from Advertiser Perceptions revealed that offsite programmatic retail media will generate $20 billion in 2024, leapfrogging 2023’s figures.
With dollars pouring in, retail media has seen power consolidate around a handful of platforms, Amazon chief amongst them. When factoring out China, where Temu owner Pinduoduo dominates the retail media landscape, Amazon accounts for 62.3% of worldwide category market share, according to WARC.
Amazon’s revenue derived from promoting jumped 24% year-over-year in Q1 to $11.82 billion, and the corporate plans to see further traction because it introduces commercials to Prime Video. WARC believes Amazon will maintain 25% retail media growth in 2024 to hit $52.7 billion in revenue.
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