Hi friends,

It was a short week for everyone (in the US at least) with MLK Day on Monday. If you feel like you’re still catching up, I got you! Here’s a recap of what I posted this week.

The Retail Media Conversations At NRF That Didn't Make the Stage

I share some off-stage conversations from an NRF salon dinner hosted by newsletter sponsor Mirakl Ads. RMN leaders shared the messy realities behind in‑store media, tech stack decisions, and evolving shopper behavior. The piece surfaces tensions between operations and media (e.g., bottlenecks from screens), the build vs buy debate around ad-tech, and how pre‑shop mobile behavior and AI in‑store are reshaping what “in‑store media” really means. Read here

What Will Retail Media’s Next 'Era' Look Like?

AI companions are rapidly taking over the research and comparison phase of shopping, eroding the classic funnel and putting pressure on onsite retail media. In this piece I distinguish what brands can and can’t control in agentic shopping, critique retailers’ rush into algorithmic bidding, and argue that future winners will be those who reimagine loyalty and treat AI agents as VIP customers rather than threats. Read here

The Case for the ‘Long Tail’ of Retail Media Networks

I have written in the past about potential consolidation in retail media (through alliances, federations etc), but in this post I listen in to an interview with Dave Glaza, who runs an agency that helps regional grocers to operate their own media networks.

He challenges the idea that brands should cap their RMN footprint at a handful of big networks, arguing that ignoring regional grocers means ignoring where a lot of real shopping happens. The piece explains how a services-led consortium model like DIGITS can unlock mid‑ and long‑tail RMNs without overwhelming brands operationally, while also acknowledging the risks of commoditization. Read here

At NRF, Retailers Say ‘Bring On All The Bots’

How 6 major retailers at NRF 2026—from Kroger and Lowe’s to Ulta, Home Depot, Wayfair, and URBN—are moving from banning bots to actively inviting AI agents into their shopping journeys.

There’s a wide spectrum of strategies (from aggressive deployment to cautious testing), which shows how marketplaces and loyalty are being used as agentic infrastructure, and underscores that even as retailers welcome bots, they’re determined to retain the merchant‑of‑record role and control over the customer relationship. Read here

Why OpenAI’s ad announcement should worry retail media networks [The Drum]

Last week, OpenAI announced it would begin testing ads within ChatGPT responses.

I've been presenting this exact scenario to retail media executives in recent months, explaining how AI-enabled shopping would capture the high-margin onsite advertising revenue that's fueled retail media's explosive growth. Last week's announcement validates that the ground is already shifting under retail media's foundation, whether the industry wants to acknowledge it or not.

In my column for The Drum I share how the next ‘era’ of retail media might give the industry a chance to reinvent itself. Read here

That’s it for this week!

Catch you Monday.