As the retail media landscape continues its meteoric rise, agencies are stepping up to shape its trajectory. At the What’s In Store for Retail Media event in London, the fourth masterclass session gathered a powerhouse panel — Amo Aujla-Tse (Publicis Media), Jill Orr (Criteo), and Uche Ofili (SMG) — to unpack agency perspectives, emerging challenges and the evolving shape of in-store and omnichannel retail media.
Moderated by James Chandler, Chief Strategy Officer at IAB UK, the discussion offered a frank, multi-layered view of how agencies are adapting to support clients in this high-growth media space.
Retail media may have started as a retailer-led proposition, but recent years have shifted the conversation. Brands and agencies are now firmly in the driver’s seat, demanding scalable, integrated solutions that can navigate the fragmentation of Europe’s retail media market.
Jill Orr (Criteo) noted that despite pockets of progress, it’s still “very difficult for a brand or agency to activate at scale.” The acceleration of demand-side influence over the past 18 months has redefined how agencies approach media planning and buying across retail networks.
With the increasing complexity of retail media, particularly as it expands across onsite, offsite and in-store channels, the need for specialist knowledge remains. But how should that knowledge be integrated?
Amo Aujla-Tse (Publicis Media) advocated for a hybrid model: “Everyone being around the same table” supported by a dedicated center of excellence like Publicis Commerce ensures the right expertise is injected throughout the planning and activation process.
Uche Ofili (SMG) echoed this sentiment, explaining that “commerce functions or centers of excellence” within agencies are where the real stickiness lies for retailers. However, the agency structure must remain fluid, with flexibility to serve various verticals, each with its own retail media flavor — from FMCG to automotive to beauty.
The in-store environment is gaining fresh attention as agencies and retailers explore how physical locations can amplify digital campaigns and vice versa.
“Stores offer the opportunity to have a bigger, broader view of the customer journey,” said Orr, referencing a LiveRamp–Boots partnership that connects offsite, onsite and in-store touchpoints. For brands, this can unlock higher average customer value and smarter targeting—particularly when digital data is used to inform in-store executions.
But the panel was cautious too. “Everyone’s racing to get screens in store, but I don’t think we’ve cracked what best-in-class looks like,” said Ofili. Without clear objectives, in-store retail media could risk becoming noise rather than a strategic asset.
Measuring the impact of retail media remains a thorny issue, particularly in the store. While ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) remains a go-to metric, panelists agreed it offers only a narrow view.
“We’ve got to start really getting into what is happening on the agency and brand side,” said Orr. Agencies face platform fragmentation and inconsistent data access — especially from smaller or emerging retail networks — making cross-retailer planning complex and labor-intensive.
Aujla-Tse highlighted the potential of self-serve platforms and API integrations to reduce friction: “If you can’t give us APIs, bring us insights from your data.” The message was clear—retailers must consider what a “minimum viable product” for agencies looks like in terms of data access, activation, and optimization.
The UK’s upcoming HFSS (high fat, salt, and sugar) online ad ban — slated for October — adds another twist. The panel discussed its potential to shift media budgets back to in-store and out-of-home environments, which are currently out of scope for the ban.
While there’s still ambiguity in how the law will be interpreted and enforced, agencies are already preparing. “We’re using it as an opportunity,” said Aujla-Tse. “Let’s get all the data we can now… so that we’re in a place where we’ve got lots of new customer data to use through the funnel come October.”
Amid the dominance of the “big boys” in retail media, the panel made a strong case for the growing importance of smaller, specialist retail networks. Convenience, health and beauty, and other vertical niches offer unique audience access and untapped value.
Retailers like Co-op are proving their worth with studies showing high brand recall in smaller store formats. And for agencies, working with a broader mix of retailers enables more targeted, innovative, and category-specific campaigns.
From vertical-specific planning and data sharing to organizational flexibility and in-store innovation, the takeaway was clear: retail media is not a one-size-fits-all proposition.
As Chandler reminded the room, the UK retail media market (including Amazon) is forecast to surpass £7 billion by 2028. Without Amazon, it’s already on track to pass the £1 billion mark this year.
The opportunity is vast — but realizing it will require collaboration, innovation and a willingness to reimagine how digital and physical media can work together.
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