Retail media’s growing pains

Retail media may be the fastest-growing sector in advertising, but Australia’s market is entering a moment of reckoning. Moving from a line item on a media plan, it’s now a headline act—with nearly every major retailer launching or expanding their own network. But as the ecosystem expands, so too do the challenges. Increased scrutiny from brand partners is building, and the tension between ambition and execution is starting to show.

According to Arktic Fox and Six Degrees Executive’s Digital, Marketing & eComm in Focus Report 2025, retail media is finally getting serious attention from brand marketers, but not necessarily their confidence. While networks are proliferating, trust remains conspicuously low. Not one respondent in the study said they had high trust in Australian retail media networks. That’s a red flag in a sector where collaboration and data-sharing are key to success. For many marketers, the shift in dynamic, from the retailer being the buyer to becoming a media inventory seller, is still far from resolved.

Brands are also grappling with measurement. Return on investment is murky, and many networks are still struggling to offer transparent, standardised performance reporting. Attribution remains a sticking point, particularly when retailer platforms act as both media seller and conversion gatekeeper. The study found that 96% of brands face challenges around their ability to quantify return, uplift and value from retail media spend. As a result, some marketers are questioning whether retail media is a growth channel or just another tax for distribution.