How AI is already innovating retail media’s subsequent section

In the retail media revolution, shops around the bodily and virtual worlds are waking as much as the unbelievable price of their very own media channels, companies are rethinking how the ones retail channels have compatibility into the selling funnel and tech distributors are innovating techniques to glue up the pipes.

In the ramp-up section of AI mania, in the meantime, entrepreneurs are edging nearer to their goals of rapid, affordable personalization, integrations of ‘agents’ to radically enhance processes and plugging new AI-enabled tech into each part of the tech stack within the hopes of latest ranges of potency and function.

But what occurs the place the ones two uber-trends meet? For this week’s Agency Advice, the 2nd in a mini-series for the Retail Media for Drummies center of attention, retail media experts let us know how AI is pushing the sphere ahead.

Molly Anderson, vice-president of retail media, VaynerMedia: “AI being applied to product discovery, basket building and even platforms for shopping is going to be our industry’s next biggest change. At the start, the emergence of AI may pose an alternative option to the growth of retail media networks. With the emergence of AI personal shopping bots and AI platforms offering direct carting and checkout, the reliance on retail media for discovery and shopping may initially decline. But if retailers can use AI to surface products, there is the potential for huge growth, especially for things such as recipes, pairings, reminders or promotions. This brings opportunities for advertisers to plug in. Brands can create awareness or build long-term value. The knock-on effect will be that advertisers must invest in content, assortment and brand building. They will need to strengthen the brand touchpoints people come across when AI is reaching people at such scale.”

Ollie Shayer, senior director of worldwide technique and innovation, SMG: “As retail media networks scale and grow in complexity, the most exciting and urgent opportunity lies in the integration of AI, not just for targeting or measurement, but to power the very infrastructure of these networks. AI can unlock automation across campaign planning, creative versioning, optimization and reporting, making it possible for retailers to operate with the same agility and efficiency as the largest digital platforms. Whether through proprietary tools or off-the-shelf solutions, AI will be essential to helping retail media evolve from a high-touch operation into a truly scalable, responsive ecosystem. Without this transformation, retailers will struggle to compete with more mature media owners, digital or otherwise. The retailers that embrace AI now will not only streamline operations but also accelerate innovation across shopper experience and advertiser performance. It’s the single biggest unlock to move from promise to performance at pace in retail media.”

Nelleke van Grinsven, media director, Dept: “The future of retail media lies in the seamless fusion of content, commerce and personalization. There are already integrations of Amazon shopfronts with social media, accelerating social commerce. Let’s take that to the next level. Imagine watching a series such as Succession on Amazon Prime and instantly purchasing a candle holder from Logan Roy’s table, directly through your screen via the Amazon marketplace or brand site. Enabled by AI and visual search tools such as Google Lens, this technology turns passive viewing into interactive shopping experiences. Every interaction adds depth to audience data, empowering brands to deliver more relevant, real-time offers through retail media. The tech infrastructure already exists; what’s next is scaling and connecting these capabilities across platforms. This is how retail media will close the gap between entertainment and transaction.”

Jeremy Whitt, government media director, Hanson Dodge: “Agentic AI is fast becoming one of the most exciting frontiers in retail media and how we view what an ad is. Whether it’s curated fashion recommendations or agents fully buying on a customer’s behalf, the landscape for advertisers is promising. Ads will become smarter, woven into conversations instead of interrupting them. A shopper planning a hiking trip might receive sponsored boot recommendations as part of a personalized outfit bundle. In stores, brands can surface dynamic offers right at the decision point. Virtual try-ons, such as Google’s new AI-powered feature, will give space for branded placement in featured looks. This could mean a shift from paid impressions to paid interactions: relevant ads that don’t just get seen but actively assist.

Troy Townsend, co-founder and chief executive officer, Zitcha: “Retailers need to get all their non-readable data into a readable format for the rise of AI agents in retail media. Without clean, structured inputs, AI can’t deliver real value. Now, most trade and marketing data still sits in spreadsheets – siloed, inconsistent and disconnected. Trade is particularly messy: poor structure, low visibility and rarely aligned with media or marketing. If retailers want to be AI-ready, they need to invest in data governance and in turning fragmented data into something agents can act on. This isn’t just about technology. It’s about change management. It means reworking how teams operate to reflect where future value will come from. Get it right and retail media becomes a core operating function that unlocks incremental marketing dollars, surfacing value from trade budgets. Without it, there’s no single view of value and no way to leverage AI agents to drive margin per stock-keeping unit (SKU), per category.”

Annie Little, technique director, Initials CX: “The next frontier of retail media lies in the fusion of in-store digital innovation and AI-driven hyper-personalization, unlocking a new wave of value at the physical point of purchase. While many retailers currently leverage loyalty insights to serve broad, demographically relevant offers, I predict that we are on the cusp of a fundamental shift. Powered by advanced AI and enriched with first-party data, the future will see a move toward real-time, individually tailored content, responsive to each shopper’s intent, preferences and stage in their journey. This evolution transforms retail media from a retrospective tool based on past behaviors into a predictive engine that anticipates needs and shapes decisions in the moment. This opens opportunities for brands to deliver dynamically adaptive content that feels timely and personal, resulting in greater relevance, stronger impact and an in-store experience that truly reflects the intelligence of the digital world.”

Adrienn Major, founder, Pod Ldn: “We’ve seen an uptick in clients needing video content delivered at scale using automation and AI, as well as traditional ad content. Returns are a huge area of concern to retailers – they’re costly and affect all areas of the business, such as warehousing and shipping. We’ve been finding ways to better communicate products to customers in product videos. More content will enable people to make better purchase decisions and therefore avoid returns. By making a relatively small investment, our clients are seeing huge improvement in the process.”