A winning retail media strategy in 2025 is no longer optional.
With retail media ad spend set to surpass social display this year, brands that still treat Amazon or Carrefour ads as a side experiment risk losing digital shelf share overnight. In this guide you’ll learn, step by step, how to build a data-driven retail media strategy—from budget allocation to incremental ROAS measurement—plus a downloadable checklist you can put to work today.
What Is Retail Media?
Retail media is the set of advertising formats sold by a retailer (Amazon, Walmart, Carrefour, Zalando …) on its own properties—and increasingly across third-party sites using first-party purchase data. You pay to appear where the shopper is already researching or has recently purchased.
Why is it exploding now?
- 3rd-party cookies are on the way out → first-party audiences matter.
- Margin: retailers deliver eCPM 42 % higher than classic display (eMarketer, 2025).
- Consumer behaviour: 70 % start product discovery on a marketplace (Capterra, 2024).
On-Site vs Off-Site
| Factor | On-Site (inside marketplace) | Off-Site (external web) |
|---|---|---|
| Audience temperature | High intent | Prospecting / look-alikes |
| Avg. CPC | Medium → High | Medium |
| Data you get | Query, add-to-cart, sales | Impression, click, matched sales |
| Primary KPI | Last-click ROAS | Incremental ROAS (iROAS) |
| Best practice | Optimise PDP + reviews | Segment by life-stage |
Tip: start on-site to generate reviews and sales velocity, then expand off-site to scale reach while keeping the same data granularity.
Budget & Key KPIs for 2025
How much should you invest? EU FMCG benchmarks 2025.
| Channel | % of total digital budget |
|---|---|
| Search | 35–40 % |
| Social | 20–25 % |
| Retail Media | 15–25 % |
| Display / DOOH | 10–15 % |
| Test & Innovation | 5 % |
Must-track KPIs
- ROAS and incremental ROAS (iROAS) iROAS = ( Test sales – Control sales ) ÷ Ad spend
- Digital Share of Shelf (category visibility)
- % of catalogue in Buy-Box (for sellers)
- Repeat-purchase rate post-campaign
7-Step Action Checklist
- Define goals (ROAS, iROAS or Share of Shelf).
- Align inventory & pricing (avoid OOS during the flight).
- Produce creatives in 238×238, 1080×1080 and 6–15″ video.
- Create a clear naming convention (brand-RM-2025-Promo).
- Enable closed-loop reporting (SKU → BI dashboard).
- A/B-test keyword vs audience targeting.
- Report iROAS 14 days after the flight.
FAQ
Most brands earmark 5–15 % of digital spend; high-margin categories may go up to 25 %.
Run a hold-out group with zero ad exposure; compare net sales for test vs control over 14–30 days.
No. The two work best together: upper-funnel search drives awareness that retail media converts into sales.