Canada’s leading retailer is massively scaling up its in-store digital media infrastructure, and this week TWIRM is asking if Loblaw’s move may signal the start of a wave of in-store digital network expansion.
TWIRM, as every retail media maven knows, is the This Week in Retail Media podcast, hosted by Kate Dickson, Head of Marketing and Communications, Retail Media, STRATACACHE, and Jonathan Rosen, STRATACACHE’s Global EVP of Retail Media Strategy. Usually chatting across the Atlantic, this time Kate and Jonathan are shoulder to shoulder in London discussing three retail media news stories that excite them, intrigue them and set them thinking where retail media is set to evolve.
This week’s first story is about Canadian retail giant Loblaw—which operates 2,500-plus stores across the Great North—ramping up its in-store advertising in partnership with digital signage leader STRATACACHE. Currently operating nearly 2,000 screens across more than 700 stores, it will deploy new screens in hundreds more stores through autumn and into 2026. With more than 90% of its revenue generated in-store and a wealth of loyalty data at its fingertips, its plan is to deliver more precision ad targeting at the point of sale.
The move shows that retailers are finally recognizing that in-store data measurement pays off, Jonathan notes. “Loblaw has been doing their homework for years on in-store and now they’re ready to scale because they see that it shows results,” he says.
From checking out Loblaw’s major scale-up, Kate and Jonathan check in on Instacart’s new partnership with TikTok, which will offer end-to-end targeting and measurement natively within TikTok’s ad manager. Lastly, they chat up Duolingo’s launch of its in-house advertising platform, which bakes brand messaging directly into the app’s learning tools.
Click here to listen to Kate and Jonathan dive deep into Loblaw’s in-store digital screen expansion and why 2026 may be the year of the big scale up.
