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Last year every fifth ad dollar was spent on retail media——Want to get started with retail media in 2025?

The collective global retail media ad spend is expected to reach $162 billion over the course of 2025. So the question isn't if there's money in retail media, it's whether you'll get a cut.

On this page you get:

  • A peek into how Scandinavia's biggest retail media networks structure their activities
  • An introduction to retail media and why you need to get started
  • 3 tips on how to get started with retail media
  • Tips on how to choose the right platform for your retail media network.
We help leading retailers manage everything from private labels to creative automation, and retail media.
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How we help some of the largest Scandinavian retailers structure their retail media business 

From customer loyalty clubs to in-store events, website banners, and social media content—Retail media is big business, and even if most retailers still have a long way up to giants like Amazon and Alibaba we're beginning to see smaller, more category specific retailers turn retail media into a booming business.

However, between planning, sales, project management, content production, publication, reporting, and partner collaborations it's not a simple task. Retail media isn't just a marketing strategy or a new channel. For retailers, retail media is a new leg of their business, and its a leg that needs to learn how to walk (and run) in stride with the existing retail business.

At Encodify we help some of Scandinavia's biggest retail media networks structure their retail media business, helping them drive a successful ad business that doesn't get in the way of their core service.

 

1. We give you complete overview of activities

Even though talk of retail media often focuses on what channels to promote, the type of content to publish, and how to take advantage of loyalty clubs, it's often the planning and structuring of activities that help make or break retail media success. And when it comes to structure, price lists and bookings overviews in a spreadsheet just isn't gonna cut it.

We help some of Scandinavia's biggest retail media networks create an overview of their activities by moving information on price lists, placements, capacity, and ad types out of the spreadsheet and into one connected platform where they can manage everything from production to booking approval.

 

2. We bridge internal and external needs

Retail media isn't a stand alone business. 

The very nature of retail media networks is that they live alongside a thriving retail business. However, this means that the ad placements you sell in your retail media business are the same placements used by category managers, marketing, and social media teams when they promote products, campaigns or sales for the original retail business.

Whether we're talking own-brand or resale products, and whether we're talking catalogue ads, website banners or social media posts we'll let you manage the bookings in the same platform yo use to structure retail media bookings.

 

3. We help automate the manual processes

Manual hand-offs and data entries are some of the big cuplrits when it comes to low efficiency, and that's no different for retail media businesses. 

Sending bookings and approvals as back and forth emails between internal teams and channel managers, creating task descriptions and briefs in multiple systems, reviewing contracts and contracts in an approval platform, planning everything in a project management system, and manually entering prices and invoice data in finance systems. 

All of that takes time and increases the potential for error.

We help the biggest retail media networks in Scandinavia automate their bookingflows so data is automatically shared between teams and systems. That way data from approved bookings will be forwarded to production, print and finance systems, and you avoid unnecessary holdups and errors.

What is retail media and why do you need to get started?

Retail media placement is an ad type brands purchase through a retailer. The ads are distributed through the retailer's advertising channels and are often amplified by first party data the retailer has collected through things like loyalty programs.

Retail media formats could be:

  • Product placement and promotions in catalogues and newsletters
  • Product placement and promotions through the retailer's organic social media channels
  • Product placement and promotions through the retailer's paid social media channels
  • Product placement and promotions through screens and signs in the retailer's stores
  • Product placement and promotions through the retailer's app
  • Off-site web ads amplified by the retailer's customer data
  • On-site web ads on the retailer's ecommerce sites
  • In-store events and happenings.

 

 

53%

of brands use non-endemic* placements as part of their retail media strategy

*Ad placements with retailers that do not carry their product
Source: Merkle, “Retail Media Research Report”

Retail Media in Europe

It's not just in the US that retail media is growing. According to German research platform Statistia, and IAB Europe the total European retail media ad spend is expected to pass €30 billion in 2028.

European retail media ad spend 
in billion Euros (2021-2028)

 

 

65%

of young consumers want product and brand recommendations from retailers they already shop with.

 Source: PLMA

 

3 tips when you're getting started with retail media

Retail media means big money. If we look at a retailer like Walmart, their retail media network (Walmart Connect) accounts for 12% of the company's total revenue. But the retailers aren't the only ones with something to gain. Many brands see a bigger effect from retail media placements than they do from traditional ad placements, and we keep seeing examples of how retail media helps improve the consumer experience across channels.

 

Tip#1. Start small, then scale

In-store signage, banners on your website, sponsored posts on social media, key placements in your catalogue—It's very easy to get blinded by the many different formats offered by other retail media networks.

But when you're starting out, it's a good idea to focus on the channels where you have the strongest presence, and then branch out when you know what works and your partners and suppliers have seen good results from your initial offer.

Even smaller channels like in-store signage can be big business. 

In 2027 in-store ad placements are expected to make up 0.9% of the total retail media ad spend. Which may not sound like a lot, but when the total ad spend is expected to cross $162 billion in 2025, even a single percent holds significant potential.

 

Tip#2. Techology and data cleanliness is your key to success

The reason brands are turning to retail media when spending their promotional budget is becuase of the first party data you, as retailers, have access to.

But when you're making that data the selling point of your retail media offering, that data needs to be squaky clean. Additionally, you'll also need to gather and structure performance data, so your partners and suppliers can see how their retail media investments are turning out. How many sales or subscriptions are being generated from their efforts? They'll want to know.

 

Tip#3. Pick your partners wisely

When a brand is willing to pay for a placement on your retail media network, do you automatically say yes? What if the brand doesn't relate to your product portfolio?

It's easy to get caught up in sales figures and the income you can generate, but you also need to consider how the retail media business will affect your current customers. If you do it right, your retail media business can help strengthen your primary retail business by including items you don't carry, but that are of interest to your customers. On the other hand, promoting unrelated products could become a nuisance to your customers. So it's up to you to find the balance between endemic and non-endemic promotions.

Get a complete overview of your activities

Move your inventory bookings out of the spreadsheets and onto a platform where everyone involved can get the full picture of what's going on.

  • A connected overview of ad types, channels, prices, and capacity
  • Plan your activities across internal and external stakeholders.

Approve all activities in the same system

Give channel managers an easy way to create an overview, manage, and approve inventory bookings.

  • Manage capacity, bookings, and content mix
  • Approve inventory bookings quickly and easily.

Ingrate bookings with internal and external production

Make sure all relevant information is automatically shared with your content- and channel teams whenever a booking is approved.

  • Automated task creation in your work management flow
  • Automatic brief creation.

Invoice as soon as the job is done

All relevant information around price, discount, invoicee, and tasks will automatically be pushed to your finance systems.

  • Automated data transfer to ERP
  • Easily invoice for your retail media activities.

3 things you need to consider when choosing a platform to manage your retail media network

Retail media as a concept is so young that it is impossible to say that the perfect solution has been invented yet, but most retailers agree that there are three key areas their retail media network needs to cover. 

 

self service

A retail media platform needs to include self-service

If your retail media partners and customers can't assist in structuring things like content and asset versioning, you will end up with a lot of work and back and forth communication that could have been avoided. And this will eat into your profit margins.

A retail media platform needs to be able to manage data and reporting

Currently the largest part of retail media spend comes from trade marketing budgets, but more and more retail media networks begin offering agency style services like sponsored search. This type of placement allows retailers to dip into the much larger brand marketing budgets. However, this change will increases the expectations when it comes to reporting and data.

reporting
customizable

A retail media platform needs to be able to adapt to your growth

Whether we're talking small, national retail media networks or global powerhouses we've only seen the tip of the iceberg, and we expect that the retail media market will grow significantly in the coming years. With that growth, the requirements you have for your retail media platform will grow as well. So, when you're looking at retail media platforms, focus on flexibility. You will most likely need to expand, integrate, and upgrade as your retail media business takes off.

We help leading retailers structure their retail media activities, want us to help you too?

One of the things we help our retail media customers with, is moving their inventory bookings and activity overview out of the spreadsheet and onto a platform where they get a connected overview of how placements and campaigns are being used across all stakeholders—internal, retail media partners, and suppliers alike.

By moving inventory bookings from Excel and onto a platform with a connected overview you get a better control over placements and campaigns and you can reduce errors and time consuming processes.