Operational verdict: in 2026, Retail Media has established itself as the third pillar of digital advertising, behind Search and Social, with €13.3 billion invested in Europe (+16.7% in 2025) and €775 million in the first half of 2026 in France (+18% year on year). For an enterprise e-commerce account or a luxury house, the question is no longer whether to invest in Retail Media Networks (Amazon Ads, Unlimitail, ConsoRégie E.Leclerc, Valiuz) but how to orchestrate them ahead of the Q4 peak: sponsored products, on-site and off-site display, in-store DOOH and, above all, closed-loop measurement through Data Clean Rooms.

What is Retail Media in 2026?

Retail Media refers to retailers monetising their digital and physical sales spaces, as well as their first-party customer data, with advertising brands. Unlike traditional display advertising, this lever reaches consumers as close as possible to the act of purchase, in a brand-safe ecosystem that is measurable end to end: every ad impression can, in theory, be linked to a real sale, online or in store.

A fast-growing market: the 2025-2026 figures

Retail Media continues to outperform the rest of the digital advertising market, driven by the gradual end of third-party cookies and brands’ need to link media investment directly to sales.

In Europe: according to IAB Europe’s AdEx Benchmark report (July 2026), Retail Media grew by 16.7% in 2025 to reach €13.3 billion, crossing the 10% mark of total digital investment in Europe for the first time.
In France: the 35th Observatoire de l’e-pub (SRI, UDECAM, Oliver Wyman) confirms the momentum: in the first half of 2026, Retail Media (Search and Display) generated €775 million, up 18% year on year, or 12% of the French digital advertising market.
Worldwide: the market has passed $130 billion and is expected to reach $160 to $170 billion by 2027.

Mapping the Retail Media players in France and Europe

The market became highly structured in 2026 around powerful integrated ad sales houses, strategic alliances and sophisticated technology building blocks.

Amazon Ads remains the undisputed global leader, with more than $44 billion in advertising revenue generated last year, imposing its technology standards on the entire market.
Unlimitail (Carrefour x Publicis): this joint venture launched in 2023 monetises the data of Carrefour and its partners. In May 2026, Unlimitail teamed up with JCDecaux and Carmila to build a large-scale physical Retail Media offer: 900 digital totems in shopping centres, combining drive-to-store and drive-to-sales.
E.Leclerc (ConsoRégie): historically strong in store, Leclerc rolled out sponsored products across its app and Drive service at the end of 2025 using Criteo technology, then accelerated on DOOH in June 2026 by opening 1,900 in-store screens to programmatic buying with In-Store Media.
Valiuz (the Mulliez group: Auchan, Decathlon, Leroy Merlin, Boulanger) aims to become France’s leading Retail Media Network for in-store DOOH, with an omnichannel strategy.
Instacart and specialist marketplaces: Instacart earns up to a third of its revenue from advertising through integrated formats (sponsored recipes); players such as Mirakl Ads also enable B2B and B2C marketplaces to monetise their traffic.
Technology enablers: Criteo equips a large majority of European retailers for sponsored search, CitrusAd (acquired by Epsilon/Publicis) powers a large share of Unlimitail, and Google plugs in through Data Clean Room bridges with its DV360 ecosystem.

Formats: from on-site to the in-store revolution

In 2026, Retail Media is no longer limited to the retailer’s e-commerce site: it is a complete ecosystem deployed across three layers.

On-site: immediate conversion

Sponsored products (sponsored search) remain the leading format, billed per click and guaranteeing visibility in the top results of the retailer’s search. Display and video, placed on category pages or the home page, build awareness within a shopping environment.

Off-site: audience extension

Retailers use their first-party data to retarget shoppers on the open web, on social networks or through Connected TV (CTV), via a DSP.

In-store and DOOH: the new growth driver

Dynamic digital screens, in-store radio, connected trolleys: the JCDecaux-Unlimitail alliance of May 2026 illustrates the ad sales houses’ determination to connect transactional data with physical displays.

Enterprise e-commerce accounts: the fragmentation challenge

For a large FMCG or high-tech group, the main difficulty of Retail Media lies in platform fragmentation. Working simultaneously with Amazon, Carrefour, Leclerc and Cdiscount means managing multiple Retail Media Networks with sometimes inconsistent KPIs, alongside classic e-commerce SEA campaigns. The central challenge is therefore consolidation, through a performance marketing agency or omnichannel bid management tools able to reallocate budgets between ad sales houses continuously.

Luxury and prestige beauty: specific rules

The global prestige beauty market is valued at $82.4 billion in 2025 and is undergoing strong « premiumisation »: in France, despite a slight drop in volume linked to inflation, value is holding up thanks to experience-led innovation (skincare, « skinification »). For the major houses operating in prestige sectors, Retail Media follows strict rules in 2026: protecting brand equity (no price wars or aggressive banners, priority given to enriched brand content and immersive videos on the product pages of premium retailers such as Sephora, Nocibé or Galeries Lafayette), and a ROPO strategy (Research Online, Purchase Offline), where retailer data is used to target customers online who will complete their purchase in the boutique.

Measurement, attribution and Data Clean Rooms

As privacy regulations tighten, retailers’ first-party data, drawn from loyalty cards and till receipts, is worth its weight in gold in 2026. These new data flows must be integrated into the measurement set-ups already in place, notably GA4 for tracking SEA campaigns.

Closed-loop measurement: the major advantage of Retail Media is the ability to link an ad impression to a sale with certainty, whether it took place online or in store.
Data Clean Rooms: these secure environments (LiveRamp, Snowflake, AWS) make it possible to match your CRM data with the retailer’s without exposing personal data, in order to identify shared customers or exclude recent buyers from an acquisition campaign.
Marketing Mix Modeling: agencies must include Retail Media in their MMM models to avoid over-attributing sales to the bottom of the funnel (search) at the expense of awareness campaigns (TV, off-site video).

Q4 2026 action plan: Black Friday, Christmas and agency best practice

The fourth quarter often accounts for more than 40% of annual e-commerce revenue. Advertising saturation is total and CPCs soar, hence the value of a structured action plan, aligned with the Performance Max and Paid Social campaigns already running.

Plan ahead from August-September: secure budgets early and run upper-funnel display/video campaigns to « fill the audience pools » and spark interest before the rush.
Adopt an always-on + peaks strategy: never switch off sponsored products completely, as they defend your digital shelf share against competitors, and concentrate extra investment on the « 10 Golden Days » (Black Week and Cyber Monday).
Use drive-to-store for Christmas: when shipping costs soar and delivery times tighten in mid-December, shift part of the budget to DOOH and geolocated sponsored products (Drive, Click & Collect) to capture last-minute purchases.
Test incrementality: prove that Retail Media generates incremental sales, which would not have happened organically, through geographic A/B tests or audience exclusion tests.

Retail Media 2026: frequently asked questions

What is a Retail Media Network (RMN)?

A Retail Media Network is a retailer’s own advertising sales house (Amazon, Carrefour via Unlimitail, E.Leclerc via ConsoRégie, the Mulliez group via Valiuz…), which sells advertising brands visibility across its digital and physical spaces as well as access to its first-party customer data.

What is the difference between on-site and off-site Retail Media?

On-site covers the formats displayed on the retailer’s own properties (sponsored products, display, video on its website or app). Off-site uses the retailer’s first-party data to retarget the same shoppers outside its platforms: the open web, social networks or Connected TV via a DSP.

How do you measure the ROI of Retail Media?

Retail Media enables closed-loop measurement, meaning a direct link between the ad impression and the actual sale, online or in store. Data Clean Rooms (LiveRamp, Snowflake, AWS) make it possible to match this data with the brand’s CRM, and integrating it into a Marketing Mix Modeling approach avoids over-attributing sales to bottom-of-funnel campaigns.

Is Retail Media suitable for luxury brands?

Yes, provided the formats are adapted: luxury houses favour enriched brand content and immersive video on premium retailers rather than aggressive banners or price wars, and use retailer data with a ROPO approach (Research Online, Purchase Offline) to connect the digital journey with in-boutique purchase.

At Million Marketing, this shift towards a third advertising pillar is part of our Remix approach: the strategic vision needed to allocate budgets between SEA, Paid Social and Retail Media, and the operational excellence to manage the technical implementation network by network, from setting up sponsored products to integrating Data Clean Rooms. For enterprise accounts and mid-market companies preparing their Q4, the challenge is now to orchestrate these new levers with the same rigour as their e-commerce SEA campaigns, or risk letting a growing share of their digital investment (already above 10% in Europe) slip away to better-organised competitors. Our teams support enterprise accounts and mid-market companies in auditing and deploying their Retail Media strategy: request an audit to take stock before the most critical period of the year.

Talk to an expert →

Sources

IAB Europe (July 2026) — AdEx Benchmark 2025 Report.
Ecommerce News (July 2026) — European retail media increased 16.7% in 2025.
Hi-Commerce (2026) — Stats Retail Media France 2026.
Blog du Modérateur (July 2026) — La publicité digitale en France : les chiffres clés du 1ᵉʳ semestre 2026 (SRI/Oliver Wyman).
JCDecaux (May 2026) — Nouvelle alliance : JCDecaux, Carrefour, Carmila et Unlimitail réinventent le retail media physique.
Minted (2025-2026) — Drive, appli, site : E.Leclerc joue la carte du retail media total.
The Media Leader (June 2026) — In-Store Media déploie le programmatique au cœur des magasins E.Leclerc.
Steve Campioni (August 2025) — Retail Media : un levier stratégique pour les e-commerçants (chiffres GroupM/eMarketer).
Dataintelo (2026) — Prestige Beauty Market Research Report.
Global Cosmetic Industry (2026) — Beauty’s resilience comes with new rules.

Retail Media in 2026: The Third Pillar of Digital Acquisition for Enterprise Accounts and Luxury