Retail Media Breakfast Club

Retail media has a fragmentation problem. We have better dashboards, better reporting, and better measurement than we did a few years ago. But media buyers are still being asked to navigate an ever-growing number of retail media networks and walled gardens.
In this episode, I look at what’s happening in the UK, where two major retail media aggregation plays launched over the summer: RMX by Plan-Apps from SMG and the dunnhumby network alliance, involving Tesco, B&Q, John Lewis and Waitrose. I also share snippets of a conversation from the Retail Media Therapy podcast with Co-op Media Network’s Dean Harris about why these platforms are emerging now, and why the real driver may have less to do with retailers wanting to collaborate and more to do with what advertisers and agencies increasingly expect.
But there’s a bigger question underneath all of this: what is retail media aggregation actually for? Is the value simply having one place to buy across multiple networks, or is it about being able to reach a particular audience in one place? And if competing retailers put their audiences into the same marketplace, do we risk turning retail media audiences into commodities and pushing CPMs down, just as programmatic advertising did to publisher audiences? That tension could determine whether retail media aggregation becomes a genuine solution to fragmentation or creates an entirely new set of problems for retailers.

This episode is sponsored by GrowthLoop
Timeline
[00:00] - Why retail media federations have suddenly become a much bigger story in the UK
[01:35] - Dean Harris on the advertiser pressures driving retail media aggregation
[03:18] - Why media buyers increasingly want simplicity, not another retail media platform
[04:49] - The real value of aggregation: buying audiences across an entire retail sector
[07:17] - The programmatic lesson: could retail media aggregation drive CPMs down?
[08:19] - The strategic risks retailers need to consider before joining an aggregator
[10:04] - What the publishing industry's history can teach us about retail media consolidation

Links & Resources
Listen to the full Dean Harris episode of Retail Media Therapy with Viv Craske and Colin Lewis.
Subscribe to Retail Media Therapy
Follow Dean Harris, Head of Co-op Media Network, on LinkedIn
Read my related articles:How Alliances Could Solve Retail Media's Fragmentation Problem
Meet The First Retail Media Federations & Consortiums
What It Actually Takes to Build a Retail Media Federation

Check out Basket Case, a project I’m part of with The Drum and QSIC, an irreverent and lively podcast series talking shop: latest episode
I'm sharing comedy skits on Instagram about retail media! Follow along: @retailmediabreakfastclub
Subscribe to Retail Media Breakfast Club's daily newsletter
Follow Kiri Masters on LinkedIn

After living outside Australia for around 15 years, I’m experiencing retail and shopping here with fresh eyes. And one thing that has really caught my attention is just how much retail media is showing up in the physical world.
In this first Trip Report, I’m taking you on a quick tour of six retail and commerce media activations I spotted around Perth. From Commonwealth Bank and Coles, to JB Hi-Fi, David Jones, Australia Post and digital out-of-home media in shopping centres. This isn’t about declaring one market “better” than another. Instead, I’m looking at what’s happening on the ground and using it as a source of inspiration for what’s possible in retail media around the world.

This episode is sponsored by GrowthLoop
Timeline
[02:22] - Why I’m starting these retail media trip reports, and why the goal is inspiration, not declaring one market better than another
[03:08] - Commonwealth Bank’s surprisingly expansive retail media network, spanning branches, ATMs, its app and its Brighter magazine
[05:14] - How Coles 360 is using in-store screens, loyalty data and programmatic capabilities to make physical retail media more measurable
[06:15] - JB Hi-Fi’s transition from screens used for product demos to a more sophisticated, programmatic retail media network
[09:06] - David Jones’ Amplify network and the use of AI cameras to track views and dwell time
[10:00] - Australia Post turns parcel pickup infrastructure into an advertising opportunity, including a clever Vinted integration
[12:00] - The scale of digital out-of-home media inside Australian shopping centres and how local screens connect to a national network

Links & Resources
Retail media in Australia was worth just over $2 billion AUD in FY25
oOh!media operates Australia's largest retail out-of-home network, reaching ~43% of all footfall in the country and covering venues that capture ~46c of every retail dollar spent in shopping centres.
The outgoing Managing Director of Unified Retail Media at Epsilon, Adam Skinner, wrote a farewell post on LinkedIn last week, recounting the various eras he has lived through in his retail media career starting at the early days of CitrusAd.
Read my related articles:In-Store Retail Media Evolved Differently in Europe. Here's Why.
Did we overcook in-store retail media measurement?
The retailer magazine: commerce media's most defensible surface?

Check out Basket Case, a project I’m part of with The Drum and QSIC, an irreverent and lively podcast series where we talk shop.
I'm sharing comedy skits on Instagram about retail media! Follow along: @retailmediabreakfastclub
Subscribe to Retail Media Breakfast Club's daily newsletter
Follow Kiri Masters on LinkedIn

Last Thursday, Ace Hardware took over Wrigley Field in Chicago for the first upfront from Redvest Media, its roughly year-old retail media network. I wasn’t there myself, so I called my friend Tom Limongello, host of The Middlemen Podcast, who was on the ground. I wanted to know what was happening beyond the press releases: who Ace put on stage, what the retailer was really trying to communicate, and what advertisers were saying afterwards.
We dig into what Ace’s executive lineup reveals about the growing integration of retail media with the broader business, why audience innovation and weather targeting matter to Ace’s advertisers, and how partnerships like DoorDash are helping the retailer reach new customers. We also talk about why retail media networks may need to think differently about upfronts, vendor days and industry events — and why creating an experience that makes advertisers want to believe in the retailer could be a powerful part of the pitch.

This episode is sponsored by GrowthLoop
Timeline
[01:29] - How Ace is integrating retail media with merchandising and the broader business
[03:21] - Why Redvest’s new brand and custom audience capabilities could enable better test-and-learn
[04:31] - The message behind Ace’s executive presence and its growth investment
[07:00] - Why advertiser trust is becoming critical for a newer retail media network
[09:21] - Why weather targeting suddenly matters to Ace’s advertisers
[12:00] - How DoorDash is helping Ace reach new customers, particularly Gen Z
[14:30] - Why Wrigley Field may be a smarter retail media pitch than another industry conference

Links & Resources
Check out The Middlemen's interview with Ace Hardware's Molly Hjelm: When Campaign Results Aren't Enough — Molly Hjelm, RedVest Media
Subscribe to The Middlemen
Follow Tom Limongello, host of The Middlemen Podcast, on LinkedIn
Follow Molly Hjelm, Corporate Vice President and Head of Retail Media at Ace Hardware, on LinkedIn
Read my related articles:Ace Hardware's RedVest Media: Notes From My Interview With Molly Hjelm
Is Retail Media Kidding Itself?
Bring the "Retail" back to Retail Media

Check out Basket Case, a project I’m part of with The Drum and QSIC, an irreverent and lively podcast series where we talk shop.
I'm sharing comedy skits on Instagram about retail media! Follow along: @retailmediabreakfastclub
Subscribe to Retail Media Breakfast Club's daily newsletter
Follow Kiri Masters on LinkedIn

Are retail media networks trying too hard to become media companies? In this episode, I’m sharing a thought-provoking piece from Mike Shields of Next in Media that asks whether the industry’s push toward off-site, full-funnel media is actually the right strategy for most retailers. Plus the tension between putting the “retail” back into retail media and chasing bigger brand budgets through CTV, DSPs and the open web.
I also share some of my own thoughts on where retail media is heading, including the very different economics of on-site versus off-site advertising, why brands are demanding more measurement than the industry may be able to provide, and whether closed-loop attribution is sometimes creating more problems than it solves. If you’re thinking about the future of retail media networks, this is a debate worth paying attention to.

This episode is sponsored by GrowthLoop
Timeline
[00:43] - Why retail media’s off-platform push is really about accessing bigger brand budgets
[02:00] - The debate over whether retail media networks should become full-fledged media companies
[03:15] - Why “putting the retail back in retail media” is such a provocative idea
[04:20] - The case for making specialist retailer data actionable beyond the retailer’s own ecosystem
[06:24] - My thoughts on the different economics of on-site and off-site retail media
[08:06] - Why the industry’s obsession with measurement may be creating a prison of its own making
[09:18] - The attribution problem: when retail media sales add up to more than the brand’s actual P&L

Links & Resources
Check out Mike Shields' original piece here
Subscribe to Next in Media by Mike Shields, a newsletter and podcast covering the media and advertising business.
Follow Mike Shields, founder of Next in Media, on LinkedIn
The Trade Desk: The retail media guide for off-site growth
Listen to Molly Hjelm, corporate Vice President and General Manager of RedVest Media at Ace Hardware, on this week’s episode of Next in Media. 
Read my related articles:Whoever Owns the Budget Determines What Retail Media Is Allowed to Be
How Can RMNs Tap Upper-Funnel Brand Budgets
Retail Media's Measurement Problem: It's Not Just the Retailers
Retail Media Buyers Say They Want Transparency, Then Ask for ROAS
'Not 100% altruistic': ad measurement veteran on what retail media is really optimizing for

I'm sharing comedy skits on Instagram about retail media! Follow along: @retailmediabreakfastclub
Subscribe to Retail Media Breakfast Club's daily newsletter
Follow Kiri Masters on LinkedIn

Amazon already captures roughly 40% of every dollar spent online in the US, yet it continues to grow at an impressive pace. So I wanted to look at a question we don't hear nearly enough: where does Amazon spend its own advertising money? Because while Amazon gives brands advertising recommendations every day, I think its own media plan may be the more interesting lesson.
In this recap of my recent article for The Drum, I dug into three years of Sensor Tower data to see where Amazon is putting its advertising dollars, which channels are getting the biggest investment, and how its mix is changing. I also look at the shift from desktop display to video, why Amazon is willing to pay more for potentially fewer impressions, and what advertisers can learn from the company's approach to emerging channels.

This episode is sponsored by GrowthLoop
Timeline
[02:09] - Breaking down Amazon's $2.7 billion US advertising spend in 2025
[03:54] - Why Amazon's media plan looks surprisingly conventional
[07:23] - How Amazon can measure Meta impressions against actual Amazon purchases
[08:00] - What Amazon is actually advertising, from AWS and Prime to devices and the retail store
[09:10] - The striking gap between Amazon's rising ad spend and relatively flat impression growth
[10:20] - Why Amazon is shifting dramatically from desktop display into video
[12:15] - The three habits I see in Amazon's media buying strategy

Links & Resources
Read my full article on The Drum: The best advertising advice Amazon gives isn't in a slide deck
Check out Sensor Tower, who measure the full digital consumer journey, from mobile apps to web, ads, gaming, and beyond.
Follow Ross Walker, Head of Retail Media @ Acadia, on LinkedIn
Read my related articles:Have Retailers Lost Discovery to AI for Good?
Some Retailers Want to Power Other Retailers' Ad Businesses. Will It work?
Amazon Q2 Earnings: What Industry Experts Say About Power Buying, Ad Overload, and AI Threats

Check out Basket Case, a project I’m part of with The Drum and QSIC, an irreverent and lively podcast series talking shop: latest episode
I'm sharing comedy skits on Instagram about retail media! Follow along: @retailmediabreakfastclub
Subscribe to Retail Media Breakfast Club's daily newsletter
Follow Kiri Masters on LinkedIn