Video Still Reigns Supreme — but Retail Performance Depends on Where it Plays

Retail is experiencing a new level of growth pressure. Margins are tighter, loyalty is harder to earn and brands are demanding proof that advertising dollars actually drive sales — not just clicks. In this environment, retailers are rethinking every lever they control. One of the most powerful, and most misunderstood, is video.

Video has long been viewed as an upper-funnel tool: great for storytelling and inspiration, less relevant for driving transactions. That assumption no longer holds. Today, video is influencing what shoppers search for, which brands make their shortlist and what ultimately lands in the cart.

For retailers, the capacity for video ads to drive those conversions depends far more on where the video runs, not its frequency. Video’s Role in Retail has Expanded Retail media has done an exceptional job building lower-funnel performance engines. Sponsored search, on-site display and shoppable formats now sit at the center of many media strategies.

But these tactics don’t operate in a vacuum. They work best when shoppers arrive with familiarity, confidence and intent. The old adage of ‘priming the pump’ still holds true. Brands that sequence upper- and lower-funnel activations see up to 90% stronger revenue returns.

The key is not choosing between awareness or conversion, but recognizing how they build on each other. When video is used to connect inspiration with action, rather than sitting apart from it, the entire commerce journey is strengthened.

Shoppers exposed to video before a retail moment are more likely to search, more open to brand switching and more willing to trade up. In other words, video doesn’t replace lower-funnel tactics in retail. It makes them work harder. Why Environment Matters in a Shopping Mindset Not all video environments influence shopping behavior equally.

Retailers see this play out every day: attention and trust vary dramatically depending on context. Fast, scroll-based social video excels at immediacy, and with influencer-led content — they excel at advocacy too, but shopping decisions are rarely made at that speed.

Consideration, especially for higher-value or unfamiliar products, requires a different mindset shaped by focus, credibility and time. In fact, 23% of customers research products on five or more occasions before making a purchase. Premium digital environments and Connected TV (CTV) mirror how people naturally absorb information before making decisions.

These moments allow shoppers to engage with brands and form impressions that carry forward into the shopping experience. For retailers, that matters because shoppers aren’t first discovering a brand or product when they get to the digital or physical shelf. They arrive there already primed.

CTV’s Growing Role in Retail Performance CTV is often discussed in terms of reach, but its relevance to retail runs deeper. It reaches households before shopping moments, across categories and buying cycles, creating familiarity that shows up later in measurable ways.

As measurement capabilities improve, including the use of probabilistic modeling and household-level insights, retailers and brands can see how CTV exposure lifts downstream performance. Search performs better. On-site media formats convert more efficiently. Incrementality becomes clearer — growing share for the retailer and its brands.

In this sense, CTV doesn’t compete with retail media — it fuels it. The Omnichannel Gap Retail Still Needs to Close Shoppers don’t distinguish between screens. They move seamlessly from living room to mobile device to store, expecting consistency along the way.

Retail media strategies, however, are often fragmented: disconnected buys, siloed creative and measurement that stops at individual placements rather than overall impact. You know an exemplary omnichannel campaign when you see it, partly because it is rare. This disconnect limits performance.

Video works best when it’s treated as a connective layer across the entire retail ecosystem, reinforcing the same story wherever the shopper encounters it. When creative, delivery and measurement are aligned, each exposure builds on the last, creating momentum that shows up in real business outcomes. The challenge isn’t ambition. It’s infrastructure.

Retailers and brands need systems that unify video across environments rather than stitching together point solutions after the fact. Those who build for this first will be the outsized winners — both in product sales and their media businesses.

What Retailers and Brands Should Take Away As retail media matures, the conversation is shifting from monetization to growth. Video has a central role to play in that shift as part of a cohesive commerce strategy. That means: Treating video as demand creation, not decoration. Investing in environments that support attention and trust.

Using video to connect inspiration, consideration and purchase. Video still reigns supreme. But in retail, performance depends on where it plays — and how w