Well, my hike in Zion National Park was unironically the highlight of my Shoptalk jaunt last week. What an incredible place, and only a couple of hours from Vegas. Definitely will be adding this into my travel itinerary for future events!
If you want to see some highlights, check out my new Instagram account, @retailmediabreakfastclub This week I kept writing while unpacking — a few pieces that spun out of Vegas conversations, plus a column that’s been marinating for a while.
Still Shoptalk itself was filled with many memorable moments and conversations including, this one, where I donned a wrestler outfit and drew on fake abs to go toe-to-toe in the inaugural Retail Rumble debate series.
Don’t worry, more context follows ;-)
How Retail Media Improves the Shopper Journey (Yes, Really) I debated Rachel Tipograph at Shoptalk’s inaugural Retail Rumble — in an Australian wrestler costume, with drawn-on abs — arguing that retail media makes shopping better. I won the audience vote. My three arguments: commerce signals beat demographic guesswork; retail media surfaces products organic search buries; and the margin buffer lets retailers absorb cost pressure without passing it on to shoppers. Read here
Standing Room Only: What Shoptalk Attendees Wanted Most Wasn’t on the Main Stage The tell from Shoptalk: an AEO/SEO session was so oversubscribed that people were sitting on the floor. The main stage had all the inspiration, but the real demand was for practical help solving immediate problems — especially around AI, discovery, and how to update a PDP in less than six months. Read here
In-Store Retail Media Evolved Differently in Europe. Here’s Why. After my original piece on US vs European retail media, my LinkedIn comments section erupted — operators and historians filled in the gaps I’d missed, including a fascinating origin story about how global FMCG companies (P&G chief among them) were routing trade spend into European retailers as “media” long before anyone called it retail media. Also: where you put the RMN team on the org chart matters more than most people admit. Read here
The Retailer Magazine: Commerce Media’s Most Defensible Surface? My latest column for The Drum makes the case for print as the surface AI literally cannot touch. Costco Connection — the third-largest magazine in the US by circulation — has 82.7% of readers saying they’ve bought something they discovered in it. Gen Z is seeking out physical mail. Direct mail outperforms digital by 5-9x. While the industry pours capital into digital screens and programmatic audio, the kitchen counter might be the most defensible piece of real estate in retail media. Read here
‘Not 100% Altruistic’: Ad Measurement Veteran on What Retail Media Is Really Optimizing For Andrew Covato (formerly Google, Meta, Netflix, Snap) breaks down why RMNs keep losing credibility with their best advertisers: the problem isn’t that the ads don’t work, it’s that RMNs can’t prove it in the language sophisticated brands actually speak. Meta and Google stayed measurement-agnostic — RMNs picked one model and handed it to everyone. The fix isn’t more dashboards; it’s clean data exports, honest lift studies, and knowing your measurement graduation level. Read here
At Shoptalk, Retail Media’s Agentic Anxiety Turned Into Action The Sephora/OpenAI partnership dropped at Shoptalk — and it crystallized a mood shift I’d been watching all week. The conversation moved from “what does agentic commerce even mean?” to “agents are coming regardless, so do you own that experience?” Lowe’s Mylow is already converting 2x better than standard browse. Drew Cashmore’s line stuck with me: AI disruption to retail itself dwarfs anything to the media layer. Read here
That’s it for this week!
PS: If you want to see my work first thing at 6AM ET Monday–Thursday instead of waiting for the end-of-week recap, you can subscribe on my website.
PPS: I’d love for you to follow me on Instagram, I’m planning to post more humorous/offbeat video content there about the retail media industry.
