Retail media has quietly evolved from novelty to among the globe’s fastest-growing mediums of advertising in the last few years. Retail media expenses in the US already equal television. Europe is catching up, with retailers pouring into ad arms. India, with its reviving e-commerce sector and digitally conscious consumers, is entering the same conversation. The question is not whether retail media networks (RMNs) will be significant here, but how they will reshape the ad ecosystem for retailers, agencies, and brands as well. Why Retail Media Matters Now
Merchants own something that most other ad platforms envy: real-time access to purchasing data. Whereas social sites or search engines have interests based on inference, merchants own first-party transaction data — what people actually purchase, how often, at what price points, and in combination with what other products.
In a world where third-party cookies are declining and privacy legislation is becoming more stringent, this first-party information is gold. It allows advertisers to transcend intent signals to actual behavioral targeting. For Indian brands, where ad spend efficiency is so important, retail media offers not just reach but accuracy.
The Indian Context: Why Growth Will Accelerate
India is at a unique fulcrum. E-commerce penetration is rising, with Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities contributing a growing percentage of online shoppers. Brands like Flipkart, Amazon, and JioMart from Reliance already possess in-house ad ecosystems. Speed commerce platforms like Zepto, Blinkit, and Swiggy Instamart are capitalizing on visibility within their apps, turning digital shelf space into premium property.
Meanwhile, physical retailers aren’t sitting still. Grocery chains and big-box stores are getting into omnichannel retail media — marrying loyalty card sales with digital targeting. For marketers and agencies, this introduces a new kind of media planning exercise: one that merges shopper marketing, digital ads, and trade funds into one framework.
What This Means for Brands
Retail media is opportunity and anxiety for brands.
Opportunity, because purchase-point advertising shortens the gap between exposure and purchase. If an individual seeks baby diapers on a speed commerce platform, a sponsored location by a brand of baby lotion is far more likely to drive sales than a generic awareness campaign on another platform.
Pressure, as retail media is usually followed by higher cost. As more brands struggle for the same spot, cost-per-click or cost-per-thousand impressions increases. For small brands, the test will be balancing profitability with engagement. For large FMCG companies, it’s a question of how much of the marketing budget will get transferred from traditional media to platforms controlled by retailers.
What This Means for Agencies
Agencies will need to re-think their function. Trade marketing and media buying used to be mutually exclusive. Retail media destroys those
silos. Shopper insight, category management, and digital ad optimization belong in the same universe now.
This calls for new competencies:
Agencies that fail to build this integrated capability risk being cut out of the action, since brands will be getting activated directly on retail sites. The smarter play is for agencies to position themselves as complexity navigators, insulating brands from overpaying for trendy placements without measuring actual ROI.
What This Means for Retailers
To retailers, retail media is not a side business; it’s a profit engine. Traditional retail margins are thin. By capturing their data and digital doors, retailers can establish high-margin revenue streams.
There is no guarantee of success, though. Retailers must invest in:
AdTech infrastructure: Self-serve ad platforms, reporting dashboards, and attribution models that provide brands with visibility.
Measurement standards: Without ROI metrics defined, advertisers won’t repurpose high-cost.
Trust and governance: Retailers must manage consumer data in a sensible approach, balancing personalization and privacy.
Indian retailers also face a structural decision: do they create proprietary technology or work with outside technology leaders? The choice will determine how competitive and scalable their media products will be.
The Next Stage: Cooperation or Rivalry?
Another looming question is whether Indian retail media will evolve as walled gardens — distinct, closed systems from each retailer — or if there will be more cooperative, cross-retailer networks.
Globally, we’ve seen moves toward standardization. In the U.S., industry bodies are working on common measurement frameworks. If India follows a fragmented path, agencies and brands may struggle with inefficiencies — juggling dozens of platforms with inconsistent metrics. A collaborative approach could unlock scale and confidence in the channel.
Retailers have something that almost all other advertising platforms envy: real-time access to purchasing data. While social sites or search engines have interests driven by inference, retailers sell first-party transaction data — what people actually purchase, how often, at what price points, and what other products they combine it with.
In a world where third party cookies are diminishing and privacy legislation is getting more restrictive, this first party information is worth its weight in gold. It enables advertisers to move from intent signals to actual behavioral targeting. For Indian brands, where the efficiency of advertising is so much more important, retail media provides not just reach, but accuracy.
The Indian scenario: Why growth is set to accelerate
India is in a distinctive moment. E-commerce adoption is on the rise, and more and more online shoppers are coming from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities in India. Brands like Flipkart, Amazon, and JioMart from Reliance already have in-house advertising ecosystems. Speed commerce native apps like Zepto, Blinkit, and Swiggy Instamart are already leveraging the instant visibility they have in their apps and are treating digital shelf space as a premium space.
Physical retailers are likewise not idle. Grocery chains and big-box retailers are entering omnichannel retail media, integrating loyalty card sale data with digital targeting tools. So for marketers and agencies, these developments reflect a new type of media planning exercise that folds together shopper marketing, digital advertising, and trade funds into one concurrent media planning exercise.
The Implications for Retailers
For retailers, retail media is not a sideline business; it is a profit engine. Retail margins are small. By leveraging their data and digital front doors, retailers can build high-margin revenue streams.
There are no guarantees of success, however; retailers must invest in:
AdTech infrastructure: such as self-serve ad platforms, reporting dashboards, and attribution models that will provide brands visibility.
Measurement standards: Without having ROI metrics, advertisers won’t pay recycled high cost rates on your property.
Trust and Governance: Retailers need to handle consumer data responsibly, balancing between personalized and privacy.
While Indian retailers too have to make a structural decision, do they create their own proprietary technology or partner with outside technology leaders? The decision will ultimately be the difference between competitively scaling any media products.
The Attribution Difficulty
Measurement is one of retail media’s key difficulties. Did the paid product placement induce the incremental sale, or did it just only shift the purchase that was going to be made anyway? Incrementality is no small issue.
Brands will increasingly require closed-loop attribution — the ability to measure exposure to ads and link that, to the sale existence. This is less of a difficulty to prove for online-only retailers. However, it will create real challenges in an omnichannel world with a large offline component, as linking ads served digitally to in-store transactions will necessitate advanced identity resolution capabilities. This is the hill Indian retailers, which still in most cases operate in sequential data systems, will have to climb.
The Next Stage: Cooperative or Competitive?
Another question on the horizon: will Indian retail media develop as walled gardens — each retailer with their own distinct, closed system — or will there be more cooperation, and networks that cross retailers?
Globally, we have seen tendencies for standardization. In the U.S. there are consortiums of industry bodies considering common measurement frameworks. If India continues to develop in a fragmented way, agencies and brands will find it difficult to establish efficiencies in managing dozens of platforms with varying metrics. Partnering together instead may unlock scale and confidence in the channel.
What Comes Next?
Looking forward, I believe there will be three shifts we will all be taken a part of in the Indian marketplace.
Surge in Quick Commerce Advertising
As the pace commerce platforms become the dominant force of city consumption, brands will fork out budget after budget on these sites to gain visibility for brands for the “moment of need” occasion.
The Rise of the Retail Media Central to Ad Plans
The test line item that has been in existence will be a mainstream allocation in the annual brand budgets. For FMCG, retail media will be as important as TV is to the brand in five years time.
The Reinvention of Agency
The agencies that succeed are the companies that will serve as interpreters of data, integrators of technology, and stewards of ROI. Those that continue to serve in silos of legacy will be face-to-face with obsolescence.
