In-store retail media, which includes digital screens, smart carts, audio, and product sampling inside physical stores, remains the least developed segment of retail media. Yet demand is rising as advertisers seek to reach shoppers in the aisle, where most retail purchases still occur. High infrastructure costs and organizational silos, however, continue to limit the channel's growth. This FAQ covers the market's size, the grocery opportunity, and how retailers and advertisers should invest.

What is in-store retail media?

In-store retail media is advertising sold by retailers inside their physical stores, spanning digital screens and signage, smart carts, in-store audio, sampling stations, and digitized shelf displays. It extends retail media networks (RMNs) from websites and apps into the aisle, layering digital formats onto long-established analog tactics like display banners and floor decals, per EMARKETER's In-Store Retail Media 2025 report. The strategic logic is simple: more than 80% of retail sales still take place in physical stores, per the same report, yet most retail media spending targets online inventory. In-store formats let brands reach shoppers at the moment of decision, in the place where the overwhelming majority of purchases occur.

How big is in-store retail media compared with the rest of retail media?

In-store remains a small slice of a fast-growing market. US retail media ad spending will grow

20.3% year over year in 2026 to $72.97 billion, per an EMARKETER forecast, but the bulk of that goes to retailers' websites and apps. Even excluding Amazon's outsized online share, in-store retail media amounted to just 3.3% of remaining retail media spend in 2025, per EMARKETER.Because adoption has been slower than expected, EMARKETER has pushed back its projections for the channel's growth milestones, even as its long-term potential remains strong. The gap between advertiser demand and available scale defines the market: spending is small not because interest is low but because execution is hard.

Why do advertisers want in-store retail media inventory?

Advertiser demand for in-store reach is well documented:

• Access is a recognized gap. Approximately 1 in 4 retail media ad buyers cite difficulty accessing in-store reach as a top challenge, per March 2025 Koddi data cited in EMARKETER's report.
• Retail media budgets keep climbing. 73% of advertisers plan to spend more on RMNs in the future, and 38% of brands plan to increase RMN spending in 2026, per an April 2026 UPS report.
• No Amazon gatekeeper. Amazon captured over 75% of retail media ad spend in 2025 on the strength of its ecommerce share, but no equivalent giant exists in physical retail, per EMARKETER. Traditional retailers that execute well can win spend that online dynamics deny them.

Why is grocery the proving ground for in-store retail media?

More than 91% of food and beverage sales still occur in physical stores, and the category accounts for 17.5% of all retail sales, per an EMARKETER forecast. Grocers know it: 70% of grocery retailers said they planned to deploy in-store retail media within 18 months, per an October 2024 Grocery Doppio report. Digital touchpoints cannot substitute for the aisle in this category. Just 20% of consumers use grocery store sites or apps weekly, while more than half visit physical stores at least that often, per March 2025 Progressive Grocer research. This concentration of offline transactions makes grocery both the most immediate opportunity and the most influential test case.

What is holding in-store retail media back?

Execution barriers, not demand, constrain the channel:

• Costly infrastructure. The technology, hardware, and operational overhaul needed to scale in-store programs is a massive barrier, per March 2025 Placer.ai data.
• Internal silos. 86% of grocers say their print circulars, digital media networks, and in-store media networks remain completely siloed or only partially integrated, per Grocery Doppio. Merchandising teams own traditional formats while media teams own RMNs, creating turf wars.
• Fragmentation. The top 15 US retailers represented less than 40% of overall retail sales in 2024, versus nearly 70% of online sales for the top 15 ecommerce players, limiting the scale any single in-store network offers.
• Shaky store operations. Retailers lose an average of 6.4% of gross sales to in-store operational failures, up from 5.5% in 2025, per Coresight Research. Media layered on broken shelf data underdelivers.

Which in-store placements deliver the best results?

Placements are not interchangeable, and strategy should follow shopper behavior. Secondary spaces, or displays outside shoppers' regular aisle routines, drive the strongest results for new product launches, with nearly 90% featured SKU uplift compared with 36.2% for average campaigns, per July 2025 SMG data. Front-of-store activations deliver more modest SKU lift but build visibility and awareness, while fixture-level and perimeter placements reinforce existing intent with steadier, smaller lifts. Layering matters too: SMG research shows three touchpoints deliver nearly the same SKU-level lift as five, making three the efficiency sweet spot, while five maximizes broader brand halo effects. This suggests advertisers should map placements to campaign goals rather than buying whatever inventory is available.

How should retailers and advertisers approach in-store retail media in 2026?

EMARKETER's report lays out priorities for both sides:

• Retailers: break silos first. Integrate media, merchandising, and operations teams; without coordination, advertisers will bypass the footprint.
• Retailers: fix the data foundation. Shelf-level visibility must precede media monetization. Retailers that sequenced store intelligence correctly report an average 11% increase in customer lifetime value, per Coresight data.
• Retailers: go deep, not broad. Concentrate investment where in-store engagement is strongest rather than blanket rollouts.
• Advertisers: push partners beyond pilot purgatory. Favor retailers with demonstrated reach, operational readiness, and consolidated media ownership.
• Advertisers: build layered campaigns. Combine formats like audio, display, and sampling for stronger lift than any single placement.

We prepared this article with the assistance of generative AI tools and stand behind its accuracy, quality, and originality.

EMARKETER forecast data was current at publication and may have changed. EMARKETER clients have access to up-to-date forecast data. To explore EMARKETER solutions, click here.