The Brazilian Retail Media market – advertising networks supported by retailer assets – is experiencing a growth boom. The market reached R$ 3.8 billion last year, a 42.3% leap from 2023 – advancing at a pace that is double the global average of 20.3%. Although it represents about 0.6% of the global market, Brazil currently has the world’s highest expansion rate in the category.
And this movement is happening precisely because retailers and the industry are embracing this trend swiftly – so much so that the expectation is for this media channel to end 2025 with significant growth compared to 2024. This demonstrates that the national retail sector is determined to become a key player in digital advertising, riding the ‘third wave’ of online media – as retail media networks have been called. In other words, there is a growing consensus that retailers will become advertising powerhouses, with a central role in the connection between brands and consumers.
At least 64% of major Brazilian brands already work with retail media, according to the 2024 Retail Media Insights survey. On the retailer side, 55% claim to already operate their own media network – from supermarkets to pharmacies and marketplaces, various segments are creating structures to monetize their audiences.
The Retail Segmentation Power
Behind the rise of retail media is a valuable asset for the retailer: the primary data (first-party data) of its consumers. Unlike other channels, retailers hold rich information about buying behavior – transaction history, viewed items, visit frequency, preferences, and even loyalty program data. This information allows extremely precise audience segmentation. Retailers can leverage their customers’ purchasing insights to offer hyper-targeted advertising solutions, reaching the right consumer with the right message at the most opportune moment.
This ability to segment based on proprietary data gains strategic importance in a context of increased restrictions on third-party cookies and demand for privacy. Retailers, acting as ‘audience owners,’ can deliver qualified and intent-based audiences to brands, something hard to find in other media on the same scale.
For example, a pharmacy chain can segment ads for vitamins only to customers who recently purchased health products, or an online grocery store can promote organic foods to consumers searching for fitness items. The intelligent use of purchase history, searches, and demographics makes ads much more relevant to the consumer, boosting sales and brand loyalty. Studies highlight that retail media precisely offers this possibility of mass customization, combining reach with tailored content for each customer.
Furthermore, the quality of retail data allows for more robust performance metrics. Since retail media networks operate within the retailer’s systems, it is possible to directly attribute the outcome of a campaign to sales, closing the loop of measurement. This ‘closed-loop’ attribution – where the ad impression can be connected to the transaction at the cash register – is a significant advantage. The richness of purchase data and the ability to directly attribute return on investment make retail media a highly valued strategy for brands.
For advertisers, this means that investing in the retail channel is not a shot in the dark: on the contrary, sales results can be quickly and accurately proven, facilitating investment justification and real-time campaign optimization.
Integration between digital and offline: direct impact on the point of sale
An important aspect of retail media networks is the integration between the online and offline worlds. Some of the largest retailers operating in Brazil have a vast customer base in both online and offline channels. This allows these companies to make a unique blend of channels to engage the consumer at multiple touchpoints during their shopping journey.
Another example: a customer may be impacted by a product banner in the supermarket’s mobile app and, when visiting the physical store, encounter a personalized offer on a digital screen in the aisle or near the checkout. This online-offline synergy takes the advertising message to the “last mile” of the decision-making process, literally when the consumer has the product in hand. Not by chance, experts see retail media as a way to influence consumer choice at the critical moment of purchase – a potential previously restricted to traditional POS materials.
Within stores, in-store digital media is gaining ground as an extension of retail networks. Smart screens, interactive kiosks, electronic shelf labels (ESLs), and even monitors on shopping carts become advertising inventory. Retailers can strategically position these screens near checkouts or high-traffic aisles to stimulate last-minute purchases.
It is logical that, from an operational point of view, the integration between online and offline requires a technological measurement effort: unifying the two means. This has still been a challenge for retailers, whose solution has been personalization through increasingly sophisticated loyalty campaigns. Even though there are still technological issues, the direction is clear: the future of retail media lies in offering a cohesive omnichannel experience, where it matters little whether the interaction occurred in the virtual world or the physical world – both environments complement each other to engage the consumer and generate results for brands.
Paradigm shift: from sales channel to media channel
The emergence of Retail Media Networks represents a paradigm shift in how the role of retail in the marketing mix is perceived. Historically, retailers were seen only as distribution channels and points of sale, while brand building and advertising were the responsibility of traditional media vehicles, or more recently digital platforms. With the turn to retail media, this separation dissolves: retail is now also a mass communication vehicle, competing for advertising budgets that previously went to other means.
In practice, large retail chains have become true publishers, monetizing their websites, apps, and stores much like a news portal lives on ads or a TV channel sells commercial space.
For advertising brands, this represents a reconfiguration of strategies. Part of the investment that used to be directed to trade marketing actions in physical stores now migrates to media actions on the retailer’s digital properties. Another portion, which would go to generic mass media, can now be allocated in a more focused way through retail media, reaching the shopper exactly at the ‘moment of truth’ of purchase.
This convergence causes marketing and trade to unite, requiring managers to think in an integrated way: selling and communicating have become facets of the same consumer journey. As a result, major global advertisers are already reorganizing teams and budgets to include this new pillar. Some call this movement the ‘mediafication’ of retail – meaning, retail is no longer just distribution but also media.
If previously supermarkets, pharmacies, and department stores were just a stage for the strategies of other media, now they have their own spotlight. This model redefines not only investment flows but also demands new approaches from all market players. Brands need to be more data-driven and performance-oriented, agencies need to incorporate new knowledge and skills, and retailers take on media company responsibilities, ensuring consumer experience also in terms of content and ad relevance.
The advertising ecosystem expands and becomes more complex – however, at the center of this transformation, there is a clear logic: whoever is closer to the consumer in the buying journey gains voice and value in the media game. Retail, with its own platforms, has proven to be in the right place at the right time to capitalize on this dynamic. It remains for the other pieces of the market to adapt to this new paradigm, integrating retail media into their strategies so as not to fall behind in this evolution that, by all indications, is here to stay.
