To keep the industry updated between the periodic editions of our Retail Media Report Card, Mars United monitors the efforts of leading retailers and platforms around the globe to improve and expand their capabilities and services. We focus on the initiatives that are expected to impact the way advertisers effectively plan, execute, and measure their marketing programs on these networks, either directly through new behind-the-scenes tools and capabilities, or indirectly through new engagement opportunities that will enhance (or at least alter) the way they interact with shoppers.
The Retail Media Report Card is produced in five markets: U.S., Canada, Europe, Australia-New Zealand, and Latin America.
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Ahold Delhaize Retail Media
Ahold Delhaize USA has teamed with shoppable media specialist Pear Commerce to let consumers “move directly from meal inspiration and product discovery to their online grocery carts.”
Technology from Pear lets visitors to brand websites, product pages, store locator tools and other digital touchpoints within the tech company’s ecosystem add featured items directly to Ahold Delhaize carts. Central to the ecosystem are shoppable recipes that let visitors browse meals and directly buy ingredients.
“By creating more intuitive connections between inspiration and purchase, we’re helping shoppers move from discovery to cart with fewer steps while unlocking additional opportunities for our CPG partners to engage shoppers in more meaningful and actionable ways,” said Keith Nicks, Ahold Delhaize USA’s Chief Commercial and Digital Officer, in a release.
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Cartology (Australia-New Zealand)
Cartology in July launched its third-annual Campaign of the Year Awards program, which recognizes strategic brand activations that exemplify the “impact and effectiveness” of retail media in driving business results. The retail media business of The Woolworths Group, Cartology has operations in both Australia and New Zealand.
Among the winners in 2025 were Unilever’s Vaseline and the Fonterra dairy cooperative, which won Campaign of the Year honors in, respectively, Australia and New Zealand. This year’s program includes an award for Unified Planning, a new category “dedicated to celebrating brands who are breaking down silos to seamlessly bring brand and trade marketing together,” the company said in its official announcement.
“This program isn’t just about celebrating success, it’s a direct reflection of our unwavering commitment to delivering and supporting retail media effectiveness [and] helping our partners achieve measurable impact,” said Tony Prentice, Cartology’s Director of Client Partnerships and Sales in Australia.
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CVS Media Exchange (U.S.)
CMX is expanding its digital in-store media opportunities with two unique new formats:
- Freestanding screens at the entrances of 450 stores that will be sold in four-week flights.
- Checkout screens located in the pharmacy and front-of-store at 7,000 locations that are available for weekly flights. Campaigns will involve three-stages of messaging: engagement, welcome, and scan.
Parbinder Dhariwal, VP-General Manager of CMX, recently shared his perspective on in-store media and other industry trends in an interview with Mars United.
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Deliveroo (DoorDash Europe)
On-demand delivery service Deliveroo’s retail media network has moved beyond direct sales for the first time by introducing programmatic buying for its post-checkout inventory through Google Display & Video 360, The Trade Desk, and Amazon DSP. Placements are routed through Google Ad Manager.
The available inventory resides on Deliveroo’s Order Tracker page, which the company calls its highest-frequency ad surface and is visited up to six times after customers place an order to get delivery updates, the company said.
Initially launched in the UK, France, Italy, and United Arab Emirates, the service is expected to expand elsewhere across EMEA. Owned by DoorDash, Deliveroo operates in more than 40 countries.
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Kroger Precision Marketing (U.S.)
Kroger has joined the ranks of retailers sporting generative AI-enabled shopping assistants with a new tool designed, among other functions, to simplify and speed up the customer experience by letting users generate recipes from ingredients they already have, find relevant deals, compare products, and build grocery lists. Already available on all Kroger websites and apps, the generically named AI Shopping Assistant comes complete with paid advertising via existing KPM campaigns.
The tool gives brand partners additional reach for driving engagement by extending the reach of their KPM search and browse product listing ads (PLAs). The assistant’s organic product recommendations include two contextually relevant sponsored placements, allowing brands to appear in more relevant, personalized shopping moments when shoppers are actively evaluating options. PLAs automatically appear in results for active campaigns without the need for additional setup or bidding. Performance metrics can be tracked distinctly from other campaign elements.
In other activity at KPM, a new Branded Landing Page opportunity available via self-service features branded headers and footers, a curated list of up to 50 SKUs, and storytelling space. Designed for simpler activations compared with the existing Campaign Page option, the pages can remain live for a full year to serve as consistent, ongoing destinations. The pages are only visible through KPM media and do not have separate reporting metrics.
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Loblaw Advance (Canada)
Commerce intelligence platform Criteo has been named a “preferred demand partner” to serve as a direct sales agent for email display ads across the newsletters for Loblaw’s’ Shoppers Drug Mart, PC Optimum, and PC Express chains. Combined, those retailers deploy roughly 25 million emails to opted-in customers each week.
“Criteo brings established commerce media expertise, strong agency and brand relationships, and the demand capabilities to help more brands activate through our loyalty-linked email channels,” said Loblaw Advance SVP Leanne Gibson in a release. “This partnership allows us to extend our sales reach while maintaining the quality, control, and trusted execution standards that define Loblaw Advance.”
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Nectar360
The retail media, loyalty, and insights arm of Sainsbury’s Group, Nectar360 last month became the first UK-based network to earn IAB Europe’s Retail Media Certification following an independent audit by non-profit ABC. Netherlands-based Albert Heijn was the first retailer to get certified, in 2025. The certification program launched in 2024.
“The Retail Media Certification Programme is designed to bring greater clarity and consistency to how retail media is measured and reported,” IAB said in a release. “By completing the audit process, Nectar360 demonstrates alignment with industry-agreed standards that support transparent reporting and more consistent campaign evaluation for advertisers and agencies.”
The program lets networks validate specific elements of their retail media toolkit. In this case, Nectar360’s certification covers performance metrics for offsite display and video ad activation on Meta (Instagram and Facebook), Google DV360, and Google’s YouTube.
The precedent-setting certification is “an important milestone not just for Nectar360, but for the evolution of retail media as a whole. As the industry continues to scale, standardization in measurement is critical. It underpins trust, enables better investment decisions, and ultimately drives stronger outcomes for our clients,” said Amir Rasekh, Nectar360’s Managing Director. “We’re excited to be working alongside IAB Europe to help shape a more consistent and credible future.”
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RedVest Media (U.S.)
Ace Hardware’s RedVest Media has partnered with third-party demand side platform Pacvue to let advertisers activate, manage, and optimize media campaigns alongside existing investments at other integrated networks including include Amazon and Walmart.
Enabled through Pacvue’s relationship with Publicis Groupe-owned Epsilon Retail Media, which also powers the RedVest network, the integration eliminates the operational overhead of managing RedVest as a standalone channel; provides a unified, cross-retailer view of performance; and applies automated rules-based optimization to bid management and budget pacing, according to the official release.
“By partnering with Pacvue, advertisers now have the ability to engage our customer in a way that fits into their broader retail media approach, making it even more seamless to engage the Ace customer and providing more ways to activate their RedVest Media campaigns,” said Molly Hjelm, General Manager of RedVest Media.
“The retail media landscape is shifting from a world dominated by big box to one where specialty and mission‑driven retailers are becoming essential to brand growth,” said Emily Vallor, RedVest’s Head of Product. “As advertisers push for more efficient spend and higher‑intent audiences, they’re increasingly prioritizing retailers that sit closer to the point of purchase.”
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Roundel (U.S.)
Roundel is testing a new shoppable ad format that combines video with a product carousel, allowing Target.com shoppers to view content and add products to their cart in the same experience. Target introduced the format with ads for products from its Good & Gather and up&up owned brands.
Beyond offering a new opportunity for brand partners, the video format could also signal a possible new direction for Roundel: giving brands new and unique ways to combine storytelling with commerce.
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Tesco Media (Europe)
Tesco, John Lewis/Waitrose, and Kingfisher’s B&Q are working with dunnhumby this summer to conduct a series of pilots designed to determine the effectiveness of a partnership that allows brand advertisers to plan, activate, and measure media investments across multiple retailers and networks. Undertaken by the newly unveiled Dunnhumby Network Alliance, the tests span a variety of product categories and media channels.
“Brands are demanding scale, consistency and transparency, but fragmentation has held the market back,” said dunnhumby CEO Josh Bottomley. “This groundbreaking alliance is made possible through dunnhumby’s unique position in the market, bringing the industry together under a shared framework, making it easier for brands to activate, measure, and grow through retail media.”
Dunnhumby was already serving as the analytics partner for the retail media networks operated by both Tesco (Tesco Media) and John Lewis/Waitrose (JLP Insights & Media).
The alliance model “allows retailers to maintain control of their own media businesses while benefiting from shared standards for activation, measurement, and reporting, creating a quality alternative to today’s closed ecosystems,” dunnhumby said in announcing the initiative, which is being undertaken in partnership with technology company Kevel.
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Unlimitail (Europe & Latin America)
Global retail media platform Unlimitail has entered an agreement through which clean rooms from AI data cloud company Snowflake will power a “Global Retail Media Data Hub” set to launch in Europe and Latin America later in 2026.
The partnership “will allow retailers to activate first-party data at scale and collaborate securely without data ever leaving their own environments,” the companies said in a release. Retailers and brand partners (along with media publishers and third-party data providers) will be able to “analyze shared audiences and measure campaign outcomes against real purchase data” in privacy-safe environments, according to the release.
“By building on Snowflake, we can give every retailer in our network full control of their first-party data while also giving brands the closed-loop proof they’ve been asking for,” explained Alexis Marcombe, Unlimitail’s Chief Executive Officer. “We are building the infrastructure to become the global standard for how retail media works.”
A joint venture between France-based retail giant Carrefour and Publicis Groupe (owner of Mars United), Unlimitail’s global network currently encompasses 35 retail partners that reach 250 million shoppers across Europe and Latin America.
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Walmart Connect (U.S.)
Walmart Connect has introduced negative keyword targeting for sponsored products. Advertisers now have the option of negating exact matches or “phrase matches.” The opportunity is available in the Walmart Connect Ad Center and through partner platforms including Pacvue, Skai, Quartile, Teikametrics, and DataCaciques.
“Advertisers want more control over where their ads appear so they can focus their spend and drive more meaningful results,” states the official Walmart Connect blog. “Negative keywords allow advertisers to exclude specific search terms … allowing the blocking of low-performing or misaligned terms without unintentionally filtering out related high-value traffic. This added control can help improve budget efficiency, reduce less relevant traffic, and support campaign optimization.”
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Walmart Connect (Canada)
Walmart Connect Canada caught up with its south-of-the-border colleagues by launching an end-to-end self-service platform for onsite display, which gives advertisers greater control over all aspects of campaign management and faster speed to market for activation. Brand partners will still have access to managed-service options as needed.
Additional capabilities available through the platform include AI-powered optimization, advanced targeting, real-time forecasting, inventory visibility, and on-demand reporting and sales insights, according to an article in Retail Insider. A new learning module in Walmart Connect Academy designed to facilitate platform adoption is available in English, French, and Mandarin Chinese.
“As retail media continues to evolve, advertisers are looking for more transparency in how they manage campaigns,” Lesley Conway, Head of Walmart Connect Canada, told Retail Insider. The self-service platform “gives brands the flexibility to manage campaigns directly while continuing to benefit from Walmart’s trusted shopping environment and first-party insight.”
Walmart recently unveiled a plan to better align the infrastructure of its retail media businesses around the globe to “combine scale, full-funnel solutions, and measurement signals to drive durable business growth for advertisers” as well as deliver “more relevant shopping experiences,” according to a corporate post.
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Mars United Commerce is a leading global commerce marketing practice that aligns people, technology, and intelligence to make the business of our clients better today than it was yesterday. Our worldwide capabilities coalesce into four key disciplines — Strategy & Analytics, Content & Experiences, Digital Commerce, and Retail Consultancy — that individually deliver unmatched results for clients and collectively give them an unparalleled network of seamlessly integrated functions across the entire commerce marketing ecosystem. For more information about our commerce media practice, contact Willy Blesener, SVP-Media, at [email protected].
