There's a moment in most marketing meetings where someone asks why the digital budget isn't working as hard as it used to. Costs are up. Targeting is harder. Third-party cookies are either gone or going. And the audience data that made programmatic feel like a superpower has been quietly eroding for years.
The answer, for a growing number of brands, is sitting in plain sight. Right next to the baked beans.
There's a moment in most marketing meetings where someone asks why the digital budget isn't working as hard as it used to. Costs are up. Targeting is harder. Third-party cookies are either gone or going. And the audience data that made programmatic feel like a superpower has been quietly eroding for years.
The answer, for a growing number of brands, is sitting in plain sight. Right next to the baked beans.
Retail media, the practice of advertising within a retailer's owned ecosystem, from sponsored search on Tesco's website to digital screens in Boots stores, has moved from a nice-to-have into one of the fastest-growing channels in UK advertising. And most brands are still underinvesting in it.
The numbers are hard to ignore. UK retail media spend was forecasted to surpass £6.6 billion in 2025, outpacing overall digital growth, and projected to reach £8.6 billion by 2030, growing at an average annual rate of 17%. To put that trajectory into context, retail media's momentum puts it nearly four times ahead of the wider UK ad market in terms of annual growth. IAB UK Retail Media Age
This is not a niche channel finding its feet. It is becoming a structural part of how budgets are being allocated, and the brands moving earliest are building a meaningful head start.
The case for retail media comes down to one thing that every other channel is struggling to offer right now: proximity to purchase.
When a shopper is browsing Tesco.com for their weekly shop or scrolling through ASOS looking for a dress, they are not in a passive, lean-back state. They are in buying mode. Advertising that reaches them in that moment carries a fundamentally different weight than any other media channel.
But it goes beyond placement. Unlike traditional advertising channels that primarily drive awareness, retail media delivers full-funnel benefits, from upper-funnel brand building to lower-funnel conversion optimisation, all within environments where consumers are actively shopping. That full-funnel capability, underpinned by first-party data, is what makes the channel so compelling for brands that need to demonstrate ROI. KPMG
The other side of the retail media story is the data.
Retailers know things about their customers that no publisher can match. They know what people actually bought, not just what they clicked on. They know basket composition, purchase frequency, brand loyalty and lapse behaviour. That data, when activated properly, allows advertisers to target with a precision that certain other channels struggle with.
Retailers are becoming media owners in their own right, monetising audiences through on-site, off-site and in-store ecosystems. The likes of Tesco, Boots, Sainsbury's and ASOS have built out media businesses that would have been unrecognisable ten years ago. Tesco Media & Insight Platform, Nectar360 and Boots Media Group are now serious media propositions, not afterthoughts bolted onto loyalty programmes. IAB UK
There is no single template for retail media strategy, but there are common principles that separate effective investment from wasted spend.
First, align retail media with your wider media plan. It should not sit in a silo managed by a trade marketing team with no connection to brand or digital budgets. The most effective retail media campaigns are those where the messaging is consistent with what a shopper has already seen on TV, out-of-home or paid social.
Second, understand the technology powering the market. Platforms like Citrus Ad and Criteo sit at the heart of how retail media inventory is bought and activated across some of the UK's biggest grocery and retail environments. Whether it is a sponsored product placement on Tesco, a display campaign on Sainsbury's, or driving consideration through Morrisons or Waitrose, these platforms allow campaigns to be planned, targeted and measured with a level of precision that traditional media simply cannot replicate. Knowing how to navigate those platforms and how to connect them back to broader campaign objectives is where media expertise genuinely earns its keep.
Despite all of this, most brands are still treating retail media as a performance add-on. A place to put promotional spend when a new product launches. A short-term lever to pull during key trading windows.
That thinking is leaving money on the table. Brands that treat retail media as a strategic, always-on channel, rather than a short-term sales lever, will be best placed to capture the next wave of growth. The same logic that applies to brand-building versus activation applies here. Retail media used consistently builds familiarity, drives consideration and converts at the moment of purchase. Used sporadically, it simply picks up sales that were probably going to happen anyway. IAB UK
There is also a first-mover reality at play. The UK retail media market now has at least 28 active retail media networks, and advertiser spend is expected to top £4.8 billion in 2026. That market is becoming more competitive by the month. The brands building expertise now, testing formats, learning what works, and building relationships with retail media teams will have a significant structural advantage over those who wait until it feels unavoidable. KPMG
Retail media in the UK is not a trend to monitor. It is a channel that is already reshaping how budgets are planned, how data is activated and how the relationship between brands and retailers works.
The growth figures speak for themselves. But the real opportunity is not in chasing the market. It is in getting ahead of it, treating retail media as a serious, integrated part of media strategy rather than a line item added at the end of a planning cycle.
The aisle has always been where purchase decisions get made. It is just that now, there is a media plan to match.
If you want to explore how retail media could work harder within your overall strategy, get in touch with the BBJ&K team.
