The short answer: Retail media budgets often sit with ecommerce and shopper marketing, not only with media. Map both sides, lead with one provable point of difference such as measurement or off-site reach, and show up during annual joint business planning, not after it closes.
Commerce media is one of the fastest-growing parts of the advertising market. The IAB's September 2026 outlook forecasts US commerce media spend to grow 13.6 percent in 2026, ahead of the overall market's 12.3 percent. In the same survey, 63 percent of buyers named customer acquisition as an investment goal, which is exactly what retail media promises to prove.
That growth draws sellers in from every direction. Selling retail media well requires understanding a different buyer than the classic CMO organization, and a different buying rhythm than upfronts or scatter.
Retail media vs commerce media
The terms get used interchangeably. A useful working distinction: retail media is advertising sold by retailers using their own shopper data, on their sites and increasingly off them. Commerce media is the broader category, which also includes marketplaces, delivery and travel platforms, payment companies, and other businesses with transaction data. Most of what follows applies to both.
Who actually buys retail media
Retail media sits at a crossroads. It is media, but it is bought by ecommerce and shopper marketing teams as often as by media teams. Expect some version of this committee:
- Head of ecommerce: owns retailer relationships and shopper spend.
- Shopper marketing lead: owns trade dollars that increasingly fund retailer media.
- Commerce media lead: a newer role at many consumer brands.
- Media lead: owns the media budget that crosses into retail networks.
- Brand or category manager: owns campaign-level results.
- Retailer account team: owns the buy on the retailer side.
- Agency commerce lead: often inside a holding company's commerce practice.
- Measurement lead: owns closed-loop attribution and incrementality.
The line between trade and media is where most sellers get confused. Trade budgets historically funded shelf placement and promotions. Now part of that money flows into retailer media. Whoever controls trade dollars often has a big say in retail media. If the agency commerce lead sits inside a large group, our guide to the holdco agency helps.
What retail media buyers care about
- Incrementality against baseline sales, not just return on ad spend.
- On-site and off-site together, as retail networks extend into CTV, social, and the open web. If you also sell video, see our guide to selling CTV.
- Closed-loop measurement and clean data, since the retailer's data is the reason to buy.
- Comparable metrics across retailers, since most brands buy from several networks and struggle to compare them.
- In-flight optimization, since budgets can move quickly with sell-through.
Differentiation
"Retail media inventory" on its own is generic. Pick one angle and prove it.
"Off-site video against one retailer's shopper audience, measured against sales in the category" is a pitch. "Retail media solutions" is not.
Timing signals
- Joint business planning season. Many brands and retailers set the next year's trade and retail media commitments in annual planning, often in the second half of the year. Ask each account when theirs happens.
- Product launches. Retail media is one of the quickest levers for launch support.
- Retailer platform updates. New formats, self-serve tools, or measurement partnerships reopen conversations.
- Trade budget shifts. When a brand moves trade dollars into media, new budget lines open.
- Agency changes. A new commerce agency usually revisits the partner list.
- Seasonal peaks. Back to school and the holiday season are planned well in advance.
The warm path advantage
Retail media sits between two professional networks: the media buying world and the ecommerce and shopper world. Most media sellers only know the first. The seller with relationships in both has a real edge, because the budget often sits in the second.
Before outreach, check whether anyone on your team knows the ecommerce or shopper lead, not just the media lead. Former colleagues from consumer brands and retailers are often the best path.
Message construction
- Anchor to a specific retailer relationship, not to "retail media" in general.
- Bring a category point of view. Buyers respect insight about their own category.
- Ask a shopper question, not a media question. "Is your grocery retail media still run by shopper marketing, or has it moved under media?" gets a real reply.
Handling common objections
- "We already work with the retailer directly." "Most brands do. Where we try to help is consistent measurement across retailers, or off-site reach the retailer team cannot provide alone."
- "That is a trade budget, not a media budget." "Understood. Who owns that budget, and how do they judge results? We would want to show them a measurement view that works for both."
- "We only buy through our commerce agency." "Makes sense. We are happy to work through them. What we can bring is a category view your team can use in planning."
Measuring retail media performance
Measurement is the most contested question in retail media. Retailer reporting is detailed but self-reported. Independent measurement adds objectivity but can struggle with data access. Many brands want more than one view: the retailer's own reporting, an independent incrementality or mix-model read, and, where available, a clean-room view that lets the brand check audiences and outcomes against its own data.
You do not need to provide all three. You do need a clear answer on how your product fits each one, because the measurement lead will ask.
Working the retailer side
If your product serves retail media networks directly, such as measurement, off-site extension, or self-serve tools, the retailer is a second buying audience. Retail media leaders, advertising product leads, and the retailer's own ad sales leadership are often open to partnership conversations, because they want tools that help their teams sell. It is a smaller world than brand-side media, so a warm path counts for even more here.
A hypothetical example
The following is a hypothetical scenario for illustration. It does not describe a real customer, retailer, or company.
Devon sells off-site video extension for a regional grocery retail network. His target is a snack brand. His first emails went to the brand's media director, who forwarded them to an agency that never replied. Mapping the committee, Devon learns that the brand's shopper marketing lead controls the trade budget for grocery and that annual planning with the retailer happens in August.
A colleague who used to work in consumer goods sales knows the shopper lead from a previous company. Devon asks for an introduction in June, tied to planning season, with a one-page note on how the snack category performed with off-site video in the network's own reporting. The shopper lead brings Devon into the planning conversation. The media director joins later, now as a supporter.
Checklist: before you pitch retail media
- You know whether the budget sits with media, ecommerce, shopper, or a mix.
- You know when the brand's annual retailer planning happens.
- You have one clear point of difference with proof you can share.
- You have a measurement answer for incrementality.
- You have checked your team for paths into ecommerce and shopper, not only media.
- Your message references a specific retailer relationship.
- You have mapped the agency commerce lead, if there is one.
Common mistakes
- Selling only to the media team. Many retail budgets sit elsewhere. Take time to map the committee first.
- Arriving after planning closes. You end up competing for leftover dollars.
- Leading with inventory. Every network has inventory.
- Comparing retailers loosely. Buyers know metrics differ across networks. Be precise.
- Claiming results you cannot document. Retail buyers can check sales data.
From one seller to another
Retail media rewards sellers who understand how consumer brands actually run their retailer relationships. Learn the planning calendar, meet the shopper team, and bring one clear reason to choose you.
If you want a system for prioritizing which brands to work first, the free Media Territory System course walks through fit, timing, and access. Elo helps with access across both networks: inside Gmail and LinkedIn it shows who on your team knows an ecommerce, shopper, or media lead and how recently, alongside dated signals like agency changes and brand launches.
Sources: IAB, IAB Raises 2026 U.S. Ad Spend Forecast to +12.3% YoY Growth, Sept 10, 2026 (checked Oct 24, 2026).
