Retailers have prioritized convenience while underestimating in-store behavior, said Placer.ai CMO Ethan Chernofsky at EMARKETER’s Commerce Media Summit.

“In the past we were told that the most significant thing for a consumer when choosing where to shop was convenience, and that’s absolutely not the case,” he said, stressing that consumers are willing to travel for the products and brands they value.

Store visits are rising, but basket sizes are shrinking, he said. As retailers consider building customer loyalty, in-store retail media can enhance the in-store experience and drive up purchases.

Brand building drives traffic, and retail media should enforce it

Brand building explains why shoppers forgive operational friction, travel past closer competitors, and keep returning.

Chernofsky cited Trader Joe’s as a prime example, as the grocer has built a loyal following willing to go out of their way to shop there.

“We have undervalued how significant brand is,” he said. “It's this snowball effect of continued growth and continued significance to consumers.”

Shoppers are visiting more stores, but spending less time in each one

Shoppers are splitting their trips across more locations, traveling farther to reach the ones that earn their loyalty. The share of in-store visits to Walmart, Kroger, and Target that last less than 10 minutes has increased from 2019 to 2025, according to a November Placer.ai report.

“The value of each visit is declining,” said Chernofsky. “The battle for ‘share of list’ is now among the most important things retailers need to consider.”

He pointed to the health and wellness aisle, as shoppers are buying individual protein bars and supplements one at a time instead of stocking up. For retail media networks (RMNs), the in-store opportunity is significant because of this shift.

Retailers are undervaluing discovery

When Placer.ai asked retailers what consumers valued most about the in-store experience, they identified the ability to touch and feel products, but undervalued inspiration and discovery, said Chernofsky.

• Physical stores are the top channel (48.2%) that US shoppers said they’d recently discovered a new product in a June 2025 survey.

"This is one of the primary benefits of the in-store experience," Chernofsky said. "It drives so much energy and excitement."

This behavior supports retail media, as retailers treating their stores as passive sales floors instead of spaces for in-store activations aren’t encouraging discoverability that increases spend per visit.

Improving retail media impact with better data, agentic AI

RMNs have audience segmentation data they aren’t activating, and many overlook how AI can leverage that data in-store.

Most advertisers still treat a retail chain as a single audience, said Chernofsky.

“Of 500 locations, there might be 200 that are great for reaching a high-income audience and 300 that index well for younger shoppers,” he said.

Retailers considering only the ecommerce implications of AI are missing out on its in-store impact, said Chernofsky. Only 23% of retail employees regularly work with AI agents, according to a December 2025 Accenture report.

Retailers experimenting with AI tools in merchandising, pricing, and customer support can create a seamless in-store and digital experience. Blending ecommerce and in-store channels took time, and retailers can course correct with AI.

“We have the potential to learn from that mistake here and recognize that no matter how great these technological breakthroughs are, they don’t live just in digital or physical,” he said. “When done best, they create a better experience for the consumer regardless of the channel.”

Watch the full session.

This article was prepared with the assistance of generative AI tools to support content organization, summarization, and drafting. All AI-generated contributions have been reviewed, fact-checked, and verified for accuracy and originality by EMARKETER editors. Any recommendations reflect EMARKETER’s research and human judgment.

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