US Retail Media: Amazon Now Has Real Competition

In November 2022, when we first surveyed advertisers about their willingness to recommend US retail media networks, Amazon had a clear lead, with many rival networks posting negative Net Promoter Scores. By March 2024, that underperformance had drastically improved across almost all networks, and Target’s Roundel is now an NPS® leader alongside the pioneering Amazon. A similar story of improving NPS is emerging in Europe’s less mature retail media market.

Coming amid a high-profile push by retail media networks to better explain their offerings to advertisers, the NPS gains in our research—conducted in partnership with ROI Rocket—reflect how networks are now perceived to offer a stronger return on ad spend (ROAS), as well as more reliable measurement and reporting. Networks have become easier to work with, thanks to operating model tweaks, new tools, and a more integrated approach to campaigns. They have also expanded into the upper end of the marketing funnel with offsite products that allow for broad marketing campaigns and brand awareness building.

Networks still have much work to do in these and other areas. While advertisers are disproportionately increasing their retail media spending, budget allocations are very fluid and can’t be taken for granted, especially given that other channels such as search are still perceived to offer stronger ROAS (see the Bain brief “No More Easy Money on the Side: Retail Media Enters the Performance Era”). But there’s upside available to networks even after the recent improvements, and we expect winners to continue to distance themselves from the pack.