Retail media
Retail media is advertising sold by a retailer or marketplace on its own properties and with its own shopper data. IAB Europe defines it as the advertising space, retail data assets and in-store opportunities a retailer or marketplace owns and makes available to brands, and it spans on-site, off-site and in-store placements. Sponsored Products ads on Amazon are a familiar example.
Why it matters for CPG brands
For CPG brands, retail media sits right next to the purchase, so it's often a large and growing share of the marketing budget. It also interacts with organic visibility: ads can buy attention, but the listing, reviews and stock still decide whether the shopper converts and whether AI assistants recommend the product without paid placement.
Example
A snack brand runs Sponsored Products on its best seller. It tracks ACoS for the campaign and TACoS for the product overall. When better listing copy lifts organic sales, TACoS falls even if ad spend stays flat. XENA's Growee case study reports 103.7% growth in ad-driven revenue and a 32% TACoS efficiency improvement.
Read more
- Unified Marketplace Data: Why Amazon, Walmart and Shopify Brands Need One Source of Truth
- Amazon's ad business made $68.6 billion in 2025
Related XENA products
- XENA 360: Unified marketplace sales, ads and operations
Related terms
Sources
Third-party facts are from the linked pages, checked Oct 27, 2026. Examples are illustrative unless they link to a published XENA case study.