Retail media has reached an inflection point. Budgets are growing, but the returns aren’t matching the hype. Networks are adding inventory and chasing scale, but many are still measuring success solely by impressions served rather than products sold.
The industry is asking better questions now because the easy growth phase is over. Advertisers are demanding proof that these budgets drive incremental sales, not just shift dollars around. Retailers are realizing that ad revenue only matters if it doesn’t cannibalize the core business.
The questions getting asked most often point to the real work ahead. How do you connect media spend to actual sales? Where does advertising work hardest to change shopper behavior? What happens when the people buying the ads and the people managing the shelf don’t talk to each other?
2026 will separate the networks building real growth engines from the ones running performance theater. Four predictions from ISM leadership show what it takes to get retail media working the way it was supposed to from the start.
Breaking down silos to unlock true integration
“The debate between trade and retail media keeps coming up in my conversations with brands, and that’s a good thing,” says David Simon, EVP of Advertising for Mood Media and President of ISM and Vibenomics. “It means teams are finally questioning how their investments drive real business outcomes.”
The problem is structural. Most organizations still manage trade, marketing, and media in separate silos with different budgets, different KPIs, and different definitions of success. For example:
- Trade teams focus on promotional pricing and shelf placement.
- Media teams buy impressions and measure click-through rates.
- Marketing teams worry about brand perception.
Meanwhile, nobody owns the full picture of what actually moves a product off the shelf.
The brands and retailers making progress are connecting these planning processes. They’re measuring performance across the entire customer journey instead of optimizing individual touchpoints in isolation. When trade and media work together, price and creative stop competing for credit. They influence shopper behavior as a system and drive incremental sales that neither could deliver alone.
This matters because the in-store environment is where most purchasing decisions still happen. A 2025 ISM consumer survey conducted by Suzy Market Research found that 83% of shoppers had visited big box retailers within the prior three months. But until incentives and KPIs align across the P&L, integration stays theoretical. David puts it plainly: “The most effective brands and retailers are building a shared growth engine instead of competing budgets.”
In-store media delivers where ROI actually happens
RMNs have grown fast over the past few years, but most of that growth has been focused on e-commerce. Brands wanted to understand how retailer data could inform media buys, and they wanted to capture the shift toward online shopping. But there’s a gap between where the ad dollars are going and where the sales are happening. In the grocery category alone, more than 90% of sales still happen in-store and online.
“As brands refocus on sales growth and finally shake off the pandemic’s lingering effects, there is tremendous emphasis on meeting customers at the point of sale,” David says. “We expect in-store sales to grow substantially, and advertisers’ ROI will improve.”
The same ISM survey found that clear promotional signage helps 61% of shoppers feel confident about their purchases. Another 51% say loyalty program messaging reassures them when prices increase. Shoppers are looking for signals that help them make decisions, and those signals matter most when they’re standing in the aisle deciding what to buy.
The math works better when media runs where the transaction happens. Brands spent years trying to connect online ad exposure to in-store purchases. Now they’re realizing it’s simpler to run the ads in the store and measure the sale that happens five minutes later.
Data and creative must work together
“AI won’t transform retail media until retailers fix the data behind it,” David says. “There’s a lot of hype around smarter, AI-driven ad decisioning, but without a real-time link between ad spend and product sales, optimization is just guesswork.”
The issue isn’t that retailers lack data. They have plenty of it. It’s really that the data powering ad decisions rarely connects to what’s actually selling at the SKU level. Retailers use sophisticated analytics to decide what goes on which shelf and how much space it gets. That same intelligence should inform which products get advertised and when. Right now, those systems don’t talk to each other.
Paul Brenner, SVP of Global Retail Media and Partnerships at ISM, sees the same disconnect from the creative side. “Retail media has reached a tipping point,” he says. “Dollars are flowing in, but creativity is flowing out. After years of chasing performance metrics, CMOs are starting to question whether the current mix of on-site search and display is really moving the brand forward.”
In-store remains the most powerful, least-optimized canvas for storytelling. Most campaigns still recycle digital assets on screens instead of creating something that makes shoppers stop and pay attention. “Retailers that invest in original, emotionally-resonant creative will unlock the next wave of brand investment and growth,” Paul notes.
When one dollar in equals two dollars out, retail media delivers on its promise. Getting there requires connecting data and creative as parts of the same system. Brands must remember that performance and brand building are connected outcomes, not competing priorities.
The next wave of talent will redefine success
“AI is poised to eliminate ‘out of stock’ moments in in-store media, creating a real breakthrough for retailers,” says Toni Restrepo, VP of Retail Media Networks at ISM. “One of retail’s biggest disconnects has always been the gap between marketing and merchandising, and solving it could transform how in-store experiences drive sales.”
The technology already exists to connect inventory systems with in-store media in real time. Digital screens and audio messages can adjust based on what’s actually in stock, promoting high-inventory items while pausing ads for products that just sold out. When every impression aligns with what’s available on the shelf, shoppers get a better experience and brands stop paying for ads that can’t convert.
But AI-powered systems only work when talent knows how to ask the right questions and build smarter workflows around them. The skillset required for in-store retail media has shifted. This work is no longer about knowing screens or audio. Success requires understanding the full omnichannel ecosystem, where data and creative inform each other and customer experience sits at the center.
The professionals who stand out in 2026 will refuse to accept “that’s how we’ve always done it” as an answer. They’ll dig into the data, ask tough questions, and build solutions grounded in performance rather than preference. Innovation comes from people who see the industry through different lenses. Talent from adjacent fields like content creation, digital media, and e-commerce brings the creativity that pushes in-store experiences forward.
“Real innovation comes from diverse backgrounds,” Toni adds. “People who see the industry through a different lens bring the creativity that drives progress.”
The work ahead
Retail media’s promise was always about turning shopper data into business outcomes. In 2026, the networks that deliver on that promise will redefine what growth looks like.
Ready to connect the pieces? Learn how ISM helps retailers and brands bridge the gap between media and merchandising at www.instoremarketplace.com.
