Ask a brand marketer which retail media networks matter and you will get a different list in every country. In the US the conversation starts with Amazon and Walmart and runs on through grocery, home improvement and delivery apps. In the UK it starts with the big supermarket loyalty schemes. In Europe it often runs through a handful of national retailers and shared technology. In Australia two supermarket groups dominate the discussion. The channel is global, but the map is local.
In short: the major retail media networks share the same basic model, which is retailer-owned shopper data turned into onsite, offsite and in-store ads, but they differ in reach, self-serve access, measurement and how much work they take to run. Prioritize by where your products already sell, which networks give you usable measurement, and how many you can manage well. Most brands do better with two or three networks run properly than with ten run thinly.
1What Makes One Network Different From Another
Before looking at names, it helps to know what actually varies. Every network sells some version of sponsored search and display on its own properties, and most now sell some form of offsite media. The differences sit underneath: how much of your category's demand happens at that retailer, whether you can buy through a self-serve console or only through a sales team, what audiences and reports you get, and whether the retailer lets you measure beyond its own sales.
Maturity also varies. Some networks have been running ad products for many years and have detailed documentation, certified partners and predictable support. Others are newer, with fewer formats and manual processes. Neither is better in the abstract. A smaller network with a strong grip on your category can be worth more than a large one where your product is a minor line. If you are new to the model, our explainer on what retail media is covers the three layers these networks sell.
It also helps to separate the networks that sell their own ad inventory from the technology companies that power them. Criteo, Pacvue and Skai appear in many conversations, but they play different roles: Criteo supplies commerce media technology to retailers and brands, while Pacvue and Skai are platforms advertisers use to manage campaigns across several networks. Knowing which layer you are dealing with avoids confusion when a vendor and a retailer both claim to offer retail media.
2The United States
The US has the widest range of networks. Amazon Ads is the reference point: sponsored ads inside the shopping experience, Amazon DSP for programmatic buying, and tools such as Amazon Marketing Cloud for deeper analysis. Walmart Connect is the other anchor, with onsite search and display, offsite options and in-store media tied to its store estate. Together they are the starting point for most US plans.
Beyond those two sit the grocery and specialty networks. Instacart Ads and Carrot Ads reach shoppers who order groceries through apps. Target Roundel, Kroger Precision Marketing and Albertsons Media Collective sell media on the back of large loyalty and transaction datasets. Costco, Best Buy Ads and Home Depot Retail Media+ matter where those retailers carry your category. Delivery platforms such as Uber Eats and DoorDash have also built advertising businesses around restaurant and grocery orders.
For a closer look at the two largest, see our posts on how Walmart Connect works and when to use Amazon DSP versus sponsored ads.
3The United Kingdom
UK retail media is built around supermarket and health and beauty loyalty data. Tesco Media and Insight Platform sells advertising and analysis based on the Tesco Clubcard relationship. Sainsbury's Nectar360 does similar work using Nectar data. Boots Media Group serves brands in health, beauty and pharmacy. Amazon is also a major channel for UK brands, and its tools work much as they do in the US.
What stands out in the UK is the emphasis on data and insight rather than ad slots alone. Several networks pitch themselves as analytics partners as much as media sellers, and brands often get access to shopper research and measurement alongside campaigns. Because grocery in the UK is concentrated among a few large chains, a brand can cover much of its category with a small number of networks, which makes prioritization easier than in the US.
4Continental Europe and Australia
Continental Europe is more fragmented. Carrefour Links is among the better-known retailer networks, built on Carrefour's shopper data and sold to brands across several markets. Beyond that, many European retailers run national networks, and some rely on technology from vendors such as Criteo to power their onsite and offsite ads. Language, privacy rules and market-by-market differences mean a pan-European plan usually means several separate setups, not one buy.
In Australia the large supermarket groups lead the conversation. Woolworths runs Cartology and Coles runs Coles 360, both combining loyalty data with onsite, offsite and in-store media. Amazon also operates in the market. With a smaller number of dominant retailers, many Australian brand plans are effectively a decision about how to split effort between those two groups, plus marketplace and online-only channels.
Network details change often, so confirm current formats and access with each retailer before committing budget. A good retail media strategy and planning process starts with that check.
One regional point applies everywhere: privacy rules shape what data a network can use and how audiences are shared. Requirements in the UK and Europe differ from those in the US, and Australia has its own rules, so audience plans and clean room use should be checked against local requirements before you copy a campaign from one market to another.
5Side-by-Side View by Region
The table below summarizes the pattern in each region. It is a planning aid, not a ranking, and it does not replace checking each network's current offer.
| Region | Typical anchor networks | Common strengths | Planning note |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | Amazon Ads, Walmart Connect, Instacart Ads, Target Roundel, Kroger Precision Marketing | Wide choice, mature self-serve tools, strong offsite options | Many networks to choose from, so prioritization matters most |
| United Kingdom | Tesco Media and Insight Platform, Nectar360, Boots Media Group, Amazon | Loyalty data, insight and analysis alongside media | A few networks cover much of grocery and health and beauty |
| Continental Europe | Carrefour Links, national retailer networks, Criteo-powered networks | Local retailer reach in specific markets | Treat each country as its own setup |
| Australia | Cartology (Woolworths), Coles 360, Amazon | Two dominant grocers with loyalty data | Plan the split between the two groups first |
6How to Prioritize Which Networks to Buy
Start from sales, not from the network list. Rank retailers by how much of your category volume moves through them, and by how strong your distribution and availability are there. Advertising a product that is out of stock or poorly ranked wastes budget on any network. If you have no meaningful presence at a retailer, advertising there rarely fixes that.
Then weigh four practical factors:
- Access: can you buy self-serve, or only through a retailer sales team with minimum commitments and longer lead times?
- Measurement: does the network report sales, new-to-brand shoppers and incrementality in a way you can use, and does it work with clean rooms?
- Audience fit: do the retailer's shoppers match your target buyer, and can you reach them offsite as well as onsite?
- Operational load: do you have the people to manage creative, feeds, budgets and reporting for each network?
A sensible pattern is to begin with the networks where you already sell the most, prove results with search ads, and then extend into display, offsite and in-store. Our guide to managing multiple retail media networks covers what changes once the list grows.
Be wary of a plan that treats every network as equally important. A brand may reasonably decide to run always-on search ads at its two biggest retailers, test display and offsite at a third, and only run seasonal campaigns elsewhere. Writing that tiering down, with a reason for each decision, gives you a clear basis for budget conversations and makes it easier to say no to a network whose pitch is stronger than its fit.
Revisit the list at least once a year. Networks add formats, change access rules and open new offsite options, and your own distribution shifts as retailers add or drop products. A ranking that was right last year may not be now, and a network you skipped may have become easy to test.
7Measurement and Operations Across Networks
Each network reports in its own way. Attribution windows differ, definitions of a new customer differ, and some count sales from ads that ran in a different format. That makes it hard to compare results across networks without a common framework. Agree internally on the few metrics that matter, document how each network defines them, and avoid adding up reported sales across networks as if they were independent.
Clean rooms and incrementality tests help close the gap. They let you check whether ads caused additional sales rather than claiming credit for purchases that would have happened anyway. See our posts on measurement and clean rooms and incrementality testing for how to set those up.
Operations are the other hidden cost. Product feeds, creative specifications, budgets, pacing and reporting all need regular attention on every network. That is where many teams run out of capacity, and it is the reason agencies and brands often hand network management to a specialist desk. AdOps Media provides this as a white-label service through our retail media marketing services, working across the networks described above.
If you are weighing whether to build this in-house or bring in a partner, how to choose a retail media agency sets out the questions to ask.
