Retail Media Breakfast Club

Retail media technology has already gone through several major reinventions. From retailers building their own ad tech stacks, to point solutions, cloud-based composable technology, and now AI-ready data infrastructure.
In this episode, I’m recapping my recent article for The Drum, and exploring the four eras of retail media tech. More importantly, why these eras aren’t necessarily sequential. Across retail media networks today, you can find very different technology architectures operating at the same time, and I dig into what led up to this moment. 
Tomorrow, in part two, I’ll look at another framework for thinking about retail media technology investment and what all of this means for the brands actually buying retail media.

This episode is sponsored by GrowthLoop
Timeline
00:00 — Why legacy ad servers are still holding retail media networks back
02:35 — The four eras of retail media technology
03:25 — How economic cycles influence build vs. buy decisions
04:22 — The rise of cloud and composable retail media technology
04:51 — Why AI is changing the requirements for retailer data
07:18 — Why the four “eras” are actually happening simultaneously
08:40 — The budget clock vs. the career clock in retail media

Links & Resources
A version of this piece originally appeared in my column at The Drum last week. I've split it into two parts for RMBC; this is part one of two.
On 20 August 2026, current RMBC sponsor GrowthLoop launched an end-to-end commerce media network solution that's pre-integrated with The Trade Desk, Moloco, Snowflake, BigQuery, Databricks and identity provider Audience Acuity.
Read my related articles:Costco Is The First US RMN To Reveal Its Entire Tech Stack
Ace Hardware's RedVest Media: Notes From My Interview With Molly Hjelm
How an RMN's tech stack impacts your advertising results

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

Most shoppers are now using AI tools to shop, and they’re increasingly discovering new brands and products inside a chat window. That raises a practical question for anyone buying or selling commerce media: what does it actually take to get a shopper to switch to a brand they’ve never heard of when an AI assistant recommends it?
In this episode, I’m sharing highlights from the new consumer study I collaborated on with Bazaarvoice, What Is a Brand Worth When AI Does the Shopping? We looked at price sensitivity, brand familiarity, consumer trust, product reviews, category risk, private label, and what happens when AI puts incumbent and challenger brands side by side. The findings suggest that AI shopping may be less of a race to the bottom than brands fear — but it does raise the bar for proving that a premium is actually worth paying.
This episode is sponsored by GrowthLoop
Timeline
[01:41] - How much of a discount does it really take to make shoppers switch to a dupe?
[02:30] - Why shoppers aren’t automatically choosing the cheapest option when AI presents them with multiple products
[04:15] - The surprising strength of brand familiarity when AI makes the recommendation
[06:15] - Why category risk changes how willing shoppers are to try an unfamiliar brand
[07:30] - The role of reviews, photos, and video in making an unfamiliar AI-recommended brand credible
[08:31] - What private label can teach challenger brands about competing against established national brands
[09:11] - Why brands and retailers need to make their proof points findable by both shoppers and AI models

Links & Resources
Here's the link to download the full Bazaarvoice consumer study that I co-authored: What Is a Brand Worth When AI Does the Shopping?
Learn about Bazaarvoice, a platform that collects, syndicates, and optimizes UGC across retailers, all in one place.
Read my related articles:AI Makes Shopping Easier. But Shoppers Still Check The Receipts.
AI-Enabled Shopping Hits 74% Adoption
AI Agents & The Evolving Path to Purchase: How Brands Must Adapt

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

Amazon is extending its DSP into ChatGPT, giving brands that already advertise through Amazon Ads a new way to reach consumers inside the ChatGPT app. But the headline isn’t actually the most interesting part of this announcement. The bigger story is what Amazon is doing with its DSP, and why it increasingly looks less like an Amazon advertising product and more like an advertising aggregation strategy.
In this episode, I’m sharing Jo Lambadjieva's analysis of the Amazon–OpenAI advertising deal, along with a few of my own takeaways for enterprise brands and retailers operating retail media networks. Points raised include Amazon’s growing offsite advertising footprint, the role of first-party shopping data, why measurement could determine the future of AI advertising, and what this move means for retailers that may want to participate in ChatGPT advertising themselves.

This episode is sponsored by GrowthLoop
Timeline
[01:00] - Amazon Ads placements inside the ChatGPT app and why the mechanism matters more than the headline
[02:15] - Why Amazon is positioning itself as the “buying pipe” across an expanding range of advertising surfaces
[03:35] - Amazon’s two-part DSP pitch: lower fees and powerful first-party shopping data
[05:00] - What deeper Amazon advertising concentration could mean for sellers and advertisers
[05:37] - Why measurement and credible performance attribution will be critical for advertising on AI surfaces
[08:05] - Could other retailers replicate Amazon’s ChatGPT advertising strategy, and what role does The Trade Desk play?
[09:45] - Why offsite advertising is becoming such an important growth opportunity for retail media
[11:00] - How every new surface strengthens Amazon’s USP as a DSP, and why this particular pilot still needs to be kept in proportion

Links & Resources
Jo Lambadjieva writes AI for Ecommerce and Amazon Sellers, a newsletter read mostly by people running businesses on Amazon. I highly recommend subscribing!
Read Jo's original piece in full: Amazon's Move Into ChatGPT Advertising Is a Bet on the Middle, Not the Surface
Follow Jo Lambadjieva on LinkedIn
Read my related articles:DSPs Wanted: The Retail Media Revolution 96% of Advertisers Crave
ChatGPT Ads Are Here. I'm Not Panicking.
Why OpenAI's Ad Network Should Concern RMNs

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

There’s a new beef in marketing, and this one hits close to home: can retail media actually build brands, or is it really just trade promotion with a fancy name and a dashboard? Mark Ritson kicked off the debate by arguing that retail media is fundamentally a bottom-of-funnel, defensive investment. Andrew Lipsman pushed back, making the case that retail media can do something brand marketers have wanted for decades: reach people who aren’t currently buying your brand.
In this episode, I dig into both sides of the argument, including the role of retailer data, off-site audiences, CTV, incrementality, ROAS and brand lift. I also look at some fresh Kantar data and ask a bigger question: are we actually debating what retail media is, or are we debating how marketers are choosing to spend their retail media budgets?

This episode is sponsored by GrowthLoop
Timeline
[00:00] - The new marketing beef over whether retail media can actually build brands
[01:47] - Mark Ritson’s case against retail media as a brand-building channel
[02:28] - How retailer data can reach lapsed, competitive and completely new buyers
[05:45] - The surprising truth about where retail media budgets are really coming from
[06:20] - What Kantar’s 1,500+ campaign analysis says about retail media and brand lift
[07:30] - Why search and branded search dominate retail media spending, and why that matters
[08:09] - The measurement question: ROAS vs. holdout studies and incrementality

Links & Resources
On August 27, Mark Ritson published a column in ADWEEK called "Don't Let Retail Media Tell You It's Brand Building."
Andrew Lipsman answered in his own ADWEEK op-ed five days later: "Retail Media Can Build Brands—Including Ways Other Media Can't."
Josh Clarkson, who runs global retail media at Mars, attacked Ritson's retail media definition on LinkedIn
Brian Spencer, marketing director at Kroger Precision Marketing, explained on LinkedIn that brands use retail media audiences across CTV, audio and social, not just onsite on a retailer's website.
Across 1,589 campaigns in their LIFT database, Kantar finds that retail media beats the average channel on unaided awareness (0.9 versus 0.6), online ad awareness (7.6 versus 6.5), brand favorability (3.9 versus 3.6) and purchase intent (3.8 versus 3.4)
Read my related articles:How retail media could become 'mid'
Brands Are From Mars, Retailers Are From Venus
The ‘How Brands Grow’ Dogma Wants To Have A Word With Retail Media

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

Today, I’m digging into a question that has been coming up more and more as retail media expands into a broader commerce media ecosystem: does commerce media really need to be tied to the cart?
I’m narrating a guest contribution essay from Tom Limongello of The Middlemen Podcast that got me thinking differently about the distinction between retail media and commerce media. Specifically why SKUs and assortments are useful ways to understand retail media, but may not actually define it (and why the more important concept could be the shopper mission). Tom's essay also looks at travel media, where the network may own the audience and the moment of attention without owning the products ultimately purchased. And that raises some fascinating questions about measurement, attribution and who gets credit when multiple commerce media networks influence the same customer journey.

This episode is sponsored by GrowthLoop
Timeline
[01:45] - Questioning why the definition of commerce media is so focused on the cart
[02:15] - Why a retail media ad can influence an in-store purchase even when the exposure happens on social
[03:15] - Introducing “assortment” as a key piece of the retail media vocabulary
[04:30] - Why SKUs are useful for operating retail media, but don’t necessarily define it
[05:45] - How travel media demonstrates the value of shopper missions beyond a retailer’s own assortment
[08:45] - The measurement challenge when one network owns the media exposure but another business records the transaction
[09:45] - A broader definition of commerce media, and the questions this creates for travel, financial services and mobility

Links & Resources
Today's post is a guest contribution from Tom Limongello, host of The Middlemen Podcast. Read Tom Limongello's essay on Substack: Retail Media Isn’t a Cart. Commerce Media Can’t Mean Everything
Subscribe to The Middlemen Podcast
Subscribe to Tom's Substack Shopper Missions
Follow Tom Limongello, host of The Middlemen Podcast, on LinkedIn
Listen to Collin Colburn from the IAB on The Middlemen: What Does Commerce Media Look Like Beyond Amazon? – Collin Colburn, IAB
Read my related articles:Offsite vs onsite retail media
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