In-store retail media has an adoption problem that is not about belief. New research from the IAB and Grocery TV found 43% of US retail media buyers say their organization underuses its in-store investment. The gap, they say, is less about whether screens belong in the plan and more about who controls the budget, how inventory is bought and how results are counted.
The real bottleneck is organizational
The survey of 100 buyers, agency and retail media network decision-makers found a clear split. Organizations with dedicated retail media teams, or national media and brand teams, were more likely to report full use. Where shopper or trade marketing owns the channel, underuse was far more common.
As Marlow Nickell, co-founder and CEO of Grocery TV, put it: “In-store has traditionally lived within shopper marketing, but our research shows that marketers are beginning to see a bigger role for the channel.”
That finding matters because it shifts the conversation from whether in-store works to who is allowed to fund it. The teams that report success plan against reach and awareness; the teams that report underuse plan against trade terms.
Full-funnel expectations, fragmented proof
More than 90% of respondents rated awareness or reach, consideration, sales lift and repeat purchase or loyalty as important or essential metrics. That means in-store is now held to the same multi-goal scorecard as TV and online, not just point-of-sale sales. Yet measurement remains the sticking point. Activation complexity and measurement limitations tied at 27% as top barriers, with creative resources at 23%.
- 43% say their organization underuses in-store retail media.
- 59% rank inventory and scale among their top three investment factors, ahead of measurement and cost/CPM.
- 27% cite activation complexity and measurement limitations as top barriers.
What marketers can do
First, pull in-store out of the trade silo. Invite brand and retail media owners into planning so screens get reach-based budgets. Second, run one KPI scorecard across awareness, consideration, sales and loyalty from the start. Third, pressure networks for comparable counting. IAB Europe’s newest draft proposes starting audience estimates from store footfall, not ad plays, while the ANA recommends a standard 14-day lookback. Until networks converge, comparing two sellers can mean comparing different units.
The scale race is already on
The survey’s scale finding lines up with market movement. Walmart Connect operates 170,000 screens across more than 4,500 stores; Grocery TV says it reaches one in four Americans across more than 6,700 stores; Perion is buying PRN for up to $12 million. Commerce media revenue hit $63.4 billion in 2025, up 18%. In-store may be the next contested battleground once budget ownership and measurement catch up.
Source: PPC Land
