Modern Marketing in the Age of Connected Commerce—5 Ways to Win with Retail Media and Connected Marketing

How Leading Brands Are Using Data, Retail Media, and Omnichannel Strategies to Drive Growth

Retail and CPG marketing has fundamentally changed. Today’s consumers expect seamless shopping experiences—whether they’re browsing on social media, seeing an ad on a retailer’s website, or standing in a physical store. The challenge isn’t just about optimizing ad spend or running great campaigns—it’s about ensuring that every aspect of marketing is connected across retail media, e-commerce, and in-store touchpoints. Yet, many brands still operate with a fragmented approach. They invest in retail media networks but don’t integrate them with their brand campaigns. They run digital ads but don’t connect them to in-store activations. The result? Disjointed marketing that fails to deliver a cohesive consumer experience. The most successful brands aren’t just refining their media strategy—they’re building fully connected marketing ecosystems that integrate retail data, digital commerce, and physical stores into a unified growth engine.

1. Build a Fully Integrated Retail Media Strategy

Retail media networks (RMNs) have revolutionized how brands reach consumers. By leveraging first-party retailer data, brands can now target high-intent shoppers with precision, improving both engagement and conversion rates. But many brands treat RMNs as standalone channels rather than integrating them into their broader strategy.

Winning Example: Walmart Connect

Walmart’s retail media arm, Walmart Connect, saw 30% growth in 2024, largely due to its ability to integrate in-store and online purchase data into its advertising solutions. By providing advertisers with unique insights into customer behavior, Walmart is turning its retail footprint into a powerful media business while enhancing shopper experiences.

Best Practices for Integration:

• Align retail media with national and local campaigns to amplify reach.

• Use retailer data to refine audience targeting across search, social, and programmatic channels.

• Ensure digital ads align with in-store activations, making messaging consistent at every touchpoint.

Rather than treating retail media as a transactional ad buy, top brands make it a core component of their marketing ecosystem.

2. Connect Retail Media and E-Commerce for Maximum Impact

Retail media isn’t just about driving awareness—it’s about converting shoppers. Brands that connect their retail media investments to their e-commerce and marketplace strategies see higher conversion rates and more efficient ad spend.

Winning Example: Kroger Precision Marketing

Kroger’s retail media network is expected to grow by 20% in 2024, helping brands use Kroger’s first-party data to target shoppers across digital and in-store channels. By integrating media investments with their e-commerce and merchandising strategies, brands can maximize return on ad spend (ROAS) and drive measurable sales growth.

Best Practices for Connecting Retail Media and E-Commerce:

• Use retail media data to optimize product detail pages and improve discoverability.

• Coordinate paid media with organic search strategies to maximize visibility.

• Monitor real-time inventory levels so that ad spend isn’t wasted on out-of-stock products.

Brands that merge their retail media and e-commerce strategies create more efficient, data-driven marketing systems that drive both traffic and sales.

3. Bridge the Gap Between Digital Marketing and In-Store Retail

Even as digital commerce grows, 85% of retail sales still happen in physical stores. That means digital marketing shouldn’t just drive online transactions—it should also fuel foot traffic and in-store engagement.

Winning Example: Adore Beauty’s In-Store Expansion

Australian retailer Adore Beauty moved from an online-only model to opening physical stores that integrate digital experiences. Their Melbourne store uses networked screens to curate product selections based on real-time online trends, creating a fully connected omnichannel shopping experience.

Best Practices for Connecting Digital and Physical Retail:

• Use geo-targeted retail media ads to drive shoppers to nearby stores.

• Integrate mobile promotions, QR codes, and interactive displays to bridge online and in-store experiences.

• Leverage store-level sales data to adjust digital ad spend based on local demand.

Instead of treating digital and in-store shopping as separate journeys, leading brands connect them into a seamless consumer experience.

4. Leverage Retail Data for Smarter Marketing Decisions

Retailers have access to some of the most valuable first-party shopper data available—but many brands aren’t fully utilizing it. The best marketers integrate retailer data with their own insights to create smarter, more personalized marketing.

Winning Example: Bunnings’ In-Store Media Expansion

Australian home improvement retailer Bunnings is rolling out 300 large LED screens in stores to display targeted advertisements. By using in-store shopper data to deliver hyper-relevant messaging, Bunnings is strengthening its position in the $1.6 billion retail media market.

Best Practices for Using Retail Data Effectively:

• Use retailer loyalty data to personalize promotions and product recommendations.

• Analyze basket-level insights to identify cross-sell and upsell opportunities.

• Combine retailer data with social listening and DTC data for a full view of consumer behavior.

When brands treat retail data as a strategic advantage, they improve both targeting efficiency and customer experience.

5. Break Down Internal Silos to Create a Unified Marketing System

Connected marketing isn’t just about data and media—it’s also about how teams work together. Many brands still separate retail marketing, e-commerce, and brand marketing into different departments, leading to misalignment and inefficiencies.

Winning Example: Amazon’s Cross-Functional Retail Media Approach

Amazon’s retail media strategy blurs the line between advertising and commerce. Its teams collaborate across sales, merchandising, and advertising to ensure that marketing investments directly support sales objectives. This approach has made Amazon a global leader in retail media, with ad revenue surpassing $40 billion in 2024.

Best Practices for Breaking Down Silos:

• Create cross-functional teams ("pods") that combine retail, digital, and brand marketing expertise.

• Align KPIs across teams to ensure that marketing efforts drive both immediate sales and long-term growth.

• Embed e-commerce and retail experts within brand teams to foster deeper collaboration.

The best brands don’t just optimize individual channels—they ensure that all teams are working toward a common goal.

Connected Marketing Is the Future of Retail Growth

Retail marketing has evolved. It’s no longer about treating brand campaigns, digital ads, and retail media as separate initiatives—it’s about building a fully connected marketing ecosystem that meets shoppers wherever they are.

Key Takeaways:

✔ Retail media, social commerce, and in-store activations should reinforce each other.
✔ Data-driven insights should power both paid and organic marketing strategies.
✔ Consumers should experience a seamless, personalized journey across all touchpoints.

The brands that do this best aren’t just optimizing campaigns—they’re creating scalable, adaptable marketing systems that evolve with changing consumer behavior.

And the ones who truly lead? They’re not just outspending their competitors.

They’re out-connecting them.