To keep the industry updated between the periodic editions of our Retail Media Report Card, Mars United monitors the efforts at leading retailers and platforms around the globe as they work 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 retail media investments, either directly through new behind-the-scenes tools and capabilities, or indirectly through new engagement opportunities that will affect 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.
Walmart Connect (U.S.)
Walmart Connect again used the CES technology show in Las Vegas as a forum to unveil retail media innovation, this week acknowledging the ongoing implementation of advertising into its Sparky agentic search engine and an “agentic advertising assistant” into Marty, the AI-driven tool for brand partners.
The platform has been testing ad formats within Sparky since last fall and will continue throughout 2026, said Khurrum Malik, Walmart Connect’s Vice President of Business & Product Marketing, in a new blog post. According to Adweek, ads are appearing as sponsored prompts alongside organic suggestions when shoppers ask Sparky for product recommendations.
Meanwhile, the agentic advertising assistant “helps brands of all sizes to run smarter, faster, and more effective campaigns,” Malik explained. Launched in beta for sponsored search campaigns, the tool “provides clear answers and actionable recommendations via conversational chat — from bidding and keywords to billing — including personalized alerts,” Malik said. It also provides access to four advanced research reports delivering information on change analysis, account and keyword impression share of voice, and category benchmark opportunities.
“We’re building the future of AI-powered retail media — one that is more intelligent, more connected, and more accountable than ever before, powered by our unparalleled omnichannel scale, solutions, and signals,” Malik said in the post.
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Albertsons Media Collective (U.S.)
Also at CES, Albertsons Media Collective introduced new capabilities for measuring the incremental sales impact of in-store media. The upgrade strengthens the in-store digital display network Albertsons began rolling out last summer.
Using a matched market framework, The Collective promises to measure true incremental impact “by attributing sales, orders and unit lift solely to media exposure rather than correlation, according to a release. The solution “operates at the store level, comparing sales performance in test stores exposed to ads against a rigorously selected set of control stores with no media exposure.” It also “leverages nearly 60 variables for advanced store-level matching to reduce bias and noise, scales nationally across diverse store formats, and works across both existing and new in-store screens.”
The Collective has worked with roughly 50 advertising partners so far as it continues to build out the in-store network. Plans in 2026 call for expansion to 800 more stores that will broaden the presence to 10 Albertsons operating divisions.
In other updates, a new offsite format named “Add-It” lets shoppers place advertised products into an Albertsons shopping cart with one click without having to leave their current digital environment.
“Shoppers can now add products, recipes, and soon, coupons … directly to their Albertsons cart from offsite media, simplifying the shopping journey and turning high-intent moments into real purchases,” Albertsons Media Collective promised when unveiling the new format last month. Add-It currently spans display ads and shoppable content but will soon extend to connected TV and social media.
The technology “reflects our core belief that retail media should add value, not complexity, to the shopper experience,” said Evan Hovorka, the Collective’s Vice President of Product Innovation. “We’re unlocking a new era of frictionless commerce where inspiration seamlessly leads to action.”
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Amazon Ads (U.S. & Canada)
A recently announced partnership makes audience segments within the Nielsen Marketing Cloud available for media activation across the Amazon Ads marketplace, including the Amazon DSP and Amazon Marketing Cloud data clean room. The pact lets brand advertisers access Nielsen data (including shopper behavior and media consumption) to target specific audiences, deliver ads across multiple Amazon platforms and formats, and measure performance. The data sharing is made possible through the distribution platform of third-party solution provider Zeotap.
In Canada, meanwhile, Amazon Prime Video has become the first streaming service to subscribe to the new national Video Audience Measurement (VAM) solution operated by Numeris. Advertisers can now measure the performance of Prime Video activations alongside linear TV campaigns through the reach and frequency calculator of Numeris subsidiary NLogic.
A not-for-profit “joint industry committee,” Numeris’ board of directors includes executives from CBC/Radio-Canada, Bell Media, Corus Entertainment, Rogers Sports & Media, and other leading media companies. The VAM solution expanded nationally at the end of 2025 and now covers roughly 95% of Canada’s linear, streaming, and digital media platforms.
“I am excited for this integration to further evidence how we’re helping brands connect with unique audiences and drive meaningful results,” said Uri Gorodzinsky, managing director of Amazon Ads for Canada and Mexico.
Elsewhere, the Video Generator tool in Amazon Ads’ Creative Studio has rolled out to Canada after its successful introduction in the U.S. last fall. The free tool lets advertisers produce high-quality video ads from static images in a matter of minutes.
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Cartology (ANZ)
Cartology, Woolworths Group’s stand-alone retail media business, has acquired retail out-of-home company Shopper. With a digital media portfolio that spans 420 shopping centers, Shopper bills itself as the “fastest-growing offline media business” in Australia.
“This is an exciting development for Shopper [that] will benefit our agencies, advertisers and property partners and the industry overall,” said Ed Couche, Shopper’s Chief Executive Officer and co-founder. “Integrating with the Cartology offering will deliver enhanced data and advertising capabilities for Shopper’s existing partners.”
Cartology’s retail media offering already spans Woolworths Supermarkets in Australia and New Zealand, Metro Supermarkets and BIG W stores in Australia, as well as retail out-of-home and off-platform opportunities.
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iFood (LatAm)
Brazil-based on-demand food delivery leader iFood has acquired Advolve, an AI-driven performance marketing specialist. The deal is expected to accelerate the introduction of optimized ad solutions to iFood’s retail media network.
Since launching its in-app retail media offering in 2021, iFood has worked with more than 230 advertisers across the restaurant, supermarket, pharmacy, and pet channels. It currently commands more than 80% of Brazil’s food delivery market.
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Impulso (LatAm)
Impulso, the retail media business of pharmacy retailer RD Saúde (owner of the Raia and Drogasil chains), is now letting advertisers adjust their media programming in response to local weather conditions such as temperature and solar radiation.
“The ability to respond to the external environment immediately transforms climate into a fundamental variable for retail media, allowing advertisers to anticipate demand peaks, optimize investments, and activate products according to the context of each region,” explained Impulso CEO Fabiana Manfredi.
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Instacart Ads (U.S.)
Instacart released its promised ChatGPT app in early December, professing to be the first grocery partner to offer an embedded, end-to-end shopping experience and instant checkout within a ChatGPT conversation. The app lets shoppers order multiple items, something ChatGPT’s own Instant Checkout can’t yet do. The app is available on smartphones, desktop, and mobile web.
Users can find the app through ChatGPT’s new app directory and then connect it to their own Instacart account. The app will surface whenever users begin a prompt with “@Instacart …” Ordering and payment are handled through the app via ChatGPT’s Instant Checkout tool once the user has approved a ready-to-review cart of recommendations.
“Together, we’re creating a seamless and secure way for people to turn simple conversations into real-world action — helping customers go from inspiration to a full cart delivered from the store to their door with ease,” Instacart Chief Technology Officer Anirban Kundu said of the partnership.
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JLP Insights & Media (Europe)
UK supermarket operator Waitrose is installing electronic shelf labels (ESL) across all 300-plus stores this year in conjunction with in-store technology specialist SOLUM. The custom-made ESLs were designed to align aesthetically with the interior of Waitrose stores.
The primary objective for the deployment is to reduce the labor required to manually change paper labels, which will give store employees more time to serve customers. The devices also carry a button that helps streamline daily operational tasks like inventory checks.
The ESLs are one component of Waitrose’s broader plan to spend £50 million (US$58.6 million) on updating technology and £1 billion (US$1.2 billion) overall upgrading the existing 317 Waitrose stores and opening new locations.
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Loblaw Advance (Canada)
Loblaw Advance is partnering with Bell Media to provide closed-loop performance measurement to video ad campaigns running on the latter’s TV platforms. The first-to-market offering uses clean room environments from Environics Analytics to match audience exposure data with point-of-purchase sales data to accurately report sales lift, ROAS, and other impact metrics. It’s currently available for linear and select connected TV campaigns but will expand to all CTV activity later this year.
“This isn’t just a technical achievement; it’s building a more effective media ecosystem for advertisers,” said Lauren Steinberg, Loblaw’s Chief Digital Officer, in a media release. “We’re setting a new standard for accountability and performance in the TV landscape.”
In other activity, Loblaw Advance is testing a unique product bin in Maxi grocery stores across Quebec that features immersive, wrap-around digital screens designed to attract passing shoppers. The pilot program was expected to run through mid-January when, “pending successful results, we’ll move into a full pilot phase,” Loblaw Advance General Manager Pratyush Kumar told strategy magazine. “Our focus is on leading in Canada and bringing forward new, high-impact advertising experiences.”
Last fall, Loblaw Advance announced an expanded partnership with digital in-store specialist Stratacache aimed at “substantially” increasing the retailer’s existing in-store network, which at the time encompassed 2,000 screens in 700 locations. Loblaw maintains that adding in-store digital activations to omnichannel campaigns can increase performance threefold.
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Magazine Luiza (LatAm)
Brazil-based Magazine Luiza last month opened Galeria Magalu, an experiential retail environment on the popular Avenida Paulista in Sao Paulo that brings together the company’s Magazine Luiza, Netshoes, Época Cosméticos, KaBuM!, and Estante Virtual retail brands.
The 4,000-square-meter (13,100-square-foot) space is a test concept created to illustrate Magazine Luiza’s omnichannel strategy and activate the company’s goal of transforming the physical store into a venue for socializing and creating content, according to media reports.
The concept store is also intended to provide a forum for retail media brand activation by integrating physical, digital, and live commerce. At launch, 150 brands were executing retail media programs, according to reports.
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Retailor Media (Europe)
Italy-based aggregator Retailor Media has added Gamelife to its portfolio of retail partners, which also includes Coop Alleanza 3.0, Dr. Max, Kasanova, Bricobravo, To market, Plantbasedlovers, Luisaviaroma, Vitaminstore, GameStop, and Tigota.
Through the alliance, Gamelife will offer endemic brands data-driven ad opportunities in its proprietary, high-engagement media environment that incorporate advanced segmentation and predictive insights. Sky Media will handle ad sales.
“Our community is made up of highly profiled and passionate users. Thanks to Retailor Media, we can finally leverage our data more intelligently, offering brands a more effective tool for communicating with an extremely relevant audience,” said Angelo Di Giorgio, Gamelife’s Digital Media Manager.
“Gamelife’s entry into our network confirms that retail media is no longer the exclusive domain of large-scale food retail; today, any retailer with a strong digital base can become a true media player,” said Retailor Media co-founder Sara Buluggiu.
Retail media spending in Italy was expected to grow 27% in 2025 to reach €640 million (US$751 million), according to the Milan Polytechnic Observatory.
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Sainsbury’s Nectar360 (Europe)
Sainsbury’s expected to install center-aisle screens in 200 stores by the end of 2025, “at which point we will have over 2,500 screens connected through a single content management system,” the UK-based grocer stated in its most recent financial report.
“Our large format in-store screens are already delivering around eight percent brand sales uplift, demonstrating the value of digital formats in-store as brands look to build awareness of their ranges,” the report said.
The additional screens will bring the total number available for media activation through Sainsbury’s’ Nectar 360 media network to 2,500. The in-store network will “in time” be integrated with Pollen, the new ad management platform “co-created with partner brands and agencies” that unites audience insights, media planning and activation, optimization, and measurement in a single environment.
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Uber Advertising (U.S.)
Uber Advertising launched a data collaboration platform in December that lets brand advertisers tap into the consumer behavior insights derived from its mobility and delivery services. Powered by the clean room infrastructure of partner LiveRamp, the Uber Intelligence platform lets advertisers combine their own shopper data with Uber’s first-party cache to identify audience overlap and build stronger, more relevant campaigns.
“Uber Intelligence allows brands to transform their customer view by building connections grounded in real-world behavior that is human, contextual, measurable, and anonymized,” said Edwin Wong, Uber Advertising’s Global Head of Measurement.
The platform “goes beyond basic audience overlap to deliver richer, more actionable insights” that let advertisers “analyze how groups of people move, dine, travel, and order to build a more holistic understanding of their customers, revealing patterns and opportunities traditional datasets can’t surface,” according to Uber.
The platform is currently available exclusively in the U.S.
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Unlimitail (Europe)
Unlimitail has entered into a strategic partnership with global outdoor advertising giant JCDecaux that should ultimately produce a digital screen network in and around numerous shopping centers in France and Spain.
The international retail media alliance operated by global grocer Carrefour Group and Mars United parent Publicis Groupe, Unlimitail has initiated what a media release called “exclusive negotiations” with JCDecaux to “manage, upgrade and commercialize” a network of indoor and outdoor media opportunities at shopping centers operated by Carrefour and another partner, commercial property giant Carmila.
In France, upgrades to existing media assets will include the rollout of 75-inch LCD and “high-impact, iconic screens” to participating shopping centers, which also will be outfitted with “analog” advertising on “outdoor street furniture” and 81-inch LED screens in mall access areas. The agreement will cover 161 centers.
In Spain, new media opportunities will be installed in the access areas to Carrefour hypermarkets and overall will encompass indoor and outdoor media across 91 shopping centers.
“This agreement will make retail media an even more powerful growth driver for retail partners and brands” by “optimizing the impact of advertising campaigns with national reach and local effectiveness,” the partners said in the aforementioned release.
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Walgreens Advertising Group (U.S.)
A new partnership with personalized marketing specialist Rokt will help Walgreens Advertising Group deliver media opportunities to non-endemic advertisers through relevant offers on Walgreens.com order confirmation pages.
“We are committed to connecting brands with one of the most loyal and engaged consumer bases in the country,” said Abishake Subramanian, WAG’s Group Vice President of Consumer Marketing & Loyalty. “By expanding our retail media ecosystem with [Rokt’s] AI-powered capabilities, we’re giving advertisers new ways to engage customers in meaningful moments while creating incremental value for Walgreens.”
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Walmart Connect (LatAm)
Walmart Connect Mexico has enhanced its offsite offerings by integrating with third-party solution providers Pacvue, Skai, and ProfitlogiQ. The goal is to provide more advanced advertising solutions across the Walmart, Sam’s Club, and Bodega Aurrera ecosystems that align with global retail media standards, Gerardo Adame, vice president of Walmart Connect Mexico, told Mexico Business News.
The agreements are driven by a new API for sponsored ads that equips advertisers with the programmatic tools needed to more accurately and efficiently automate, optimize, and measure campaigns. While the deal with ProfitlogiQ is exclusive to Mexico, the Pacvue and Skai agreements represent global partnerships.
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].
