Exploring Revenue Generation Opportunities in Commerce Media
Commerce media offers significant revenue generation opportunities for brands by enabling them to leverage the extensive reach and first-party data of major retailers. These platforms allow brands to connect with consumers in a highly targeted manner, enhancing engagement and conversion rates. These benefits are also symbiotic between network owners and brands doing the advertising.
"For retailers, commerce media offers an opportunity to monetize their data and audiences and unlock new revenue streams without investing in building their own retail media networks,” says Forbes. "For advertisers, it offers the quality, scale, and addressability needed to engage audiences more effectively across the digital ecosystem.”
Here, we’ll explore the many revenue generation opportunities brands can take advantage of through retail media networks and other types of commerce media.
The Benefits of Commerce Media
Commerce media networks offer significant advantages for retailers, brands, and consumers. Here are the key benefits of leveraging commerce media.
Benefits for Retailers
For retailers, these networks provide a new high-margin revenue stream by selling ad inventory and enhancing customer experiences with more relevant product recommendations. They also help strengthen relationships with brand partners and enable the monetization of first-party customer data.
Benefits for Brands
Brands benefit from access to highly targeted audiences based on purchase intent and behavior, leading to improved ad performance and return on ad spend (ROAS). Additionally, closed-loop attribution allows brands to link ad impressions directly to sales, offering an opportunity to reach customers at the point of purchase.
Benefits for Consumers
Consumers enjoy more personalized and relevant product recommendations, an enhanced shopping experience through useful ads, the ability to discover new products that align with their interests, and a seamless path to purchase via shoppable ads.
Key capabilities driving these benefits include rich first-party transaction and behavioral data, AI-powered audience targeting and optimization, omnichannel ad placements across digital and in-store touchpoints, and advanced measurement and attribution. According to a report by the Boston Consulting Group, the retail media market alone will grow 25% per year until 2027, and it will account for over 25% of total digital media spending by 2026.
Leading Retail Media Networks
Retail media networks represent the lion’s share of commerce media operations in the United States. Currently, the retail media network landscape is dominated by several key players that have leveraged their vast customer bases and first-party data to create powerful advertising platforms.
These widely recognized companies offer numerous opportunities to brands hoping to break into this area of channel advertising, and the entry costs are often affordable.
Here are some of the leading retail media networks:
Amazon Advertising
Amazon Advertising remains the dominant force, capturing a significant amount of the digital advertising market. Its success stems from Amazon's massive user base and diverse product offerings, allowing advertisers to reach consumers across various stages of the purchase journey.
According to the Amazon Ads site, the company offers "solutions like Streaming TV ads, audio ads, Sponsored Brands, Sponsored Products, Sponsored Display, and Amazon DSP,” so brands "can start creating advertising that feels relevant and helpful for shoppers.”
Walmart Connect
Walmart Connect has emerged as a strong competitor. Ad sales derived from marketplace sellers climbed nearly 50% in Q2 2024 according to a report by MarketingDive.
"Our newer businesses like marketplace, advertising, and membership, are also contributing, diversifying our profits and reinforcing the resilience of our business model,” said Walmart CEO McMillon in a statement.
Target Roundel
Target Roundel has shown impressive growth, expanding by over to work with more than 2,000 vendors and connecting with guests across more than 150 premium publishers and channels, according to the Target Roundel website.
MarketingDive reports that Roundel "draws on first-party data derived from the tens of millions of shoppers who visit Target weekly both in-store and online, as well as the company’s Circle loyalty program that commands 100 million members.”
Kroger Precision Marketing
Kroger Precision Marketing leverages the grocer's extensive customer data to offer highly targeted advertising solutions. Kroger bills itself as "the number one grocery store retailer in the U.S.’ with nearly 2,800 stores in 35 states. The network leverages data science and the grocery store chain’s loyalty data to deliver targeted impressions and ROI tracking.
Home Depot’s Orange Apron Media
Home Depot rebranded its retail media network, Retail Media+, as Orange Apron Media in 2024 thanks to a new partnership with Univision, Digiday reported. It has become one of the largest retail media networks in the US, capitalizing on its niche in the home improvement sector.
Other leading retail media networks include Instacart’s advertising platform and Macy’s Media Network, which launched in 2020.
These leading retail media networks demonstrate the power of combining vast customer bases, rich first-party data, and diverse advertising options to create compelling platforms for brands seeking to reach engaged shoppers.
Launching Commerce Media Campaigns
To get started with advertising on commerce media networks, brands should first identify the platforms that align with their target audience and product categories. Begin by researching major retail media networks like Amazon Advertising, Walmart Connect, and Target Roundel to understand their offerings and reach.
Next, determine your budget and goals, as retail media networks often require significant investment but can deliver high returns on ad spend (ROAS).
Start small by testing different ad formats and placements to gauge performance. Many networks offer sponsored product listings, display ads, and video ads. Leverage the retailer's first-party data to create targeted campaigns based on shopper behavior and purchase history.
Finally, monitor performance closely using the network's analytics tools, and be prepared to optimize campaigns based on results. As you gain experience, consider expanding to multiple networks and exploring advanced features like dynamic ad creation and omnichannel targeting to maximize your commerce media advertising impact.
Embrace Emerging Commerce Media Opportunities
Commerce media presents a compelling opportunity for brands to drive revenue growth and enhance customer engagement. By leveraging retail media networks, brands can tap into valuable first-party data, reach consumers at critical touchpoints, and measure the direct impact of their advertising efforts.
More importantly, they can unlock new revenue streams and gain more capabilities to reach their target audiences.
To learn more about what commerce media can do for your brand, don’t miss Commerce Media Brand Summit 2025. It’s happening from March 10th to 11th at the Westin Buckhead in Atlanta, Georgia.
View the agenda and get tickets to the event today.