Modern Retail+ Research: The marketers’ 2026 guide to retail media marketing, including The Home Depot, Milani Cosmetics and Tinuiti

01 Introduction 02 Methodology 03 Marketers diversify their RMN investments 04 Marketers align KPIs with each RMN’s role 05 Measurement remains a challenge, but solutions exist Keeping the complexities of marketing channels in mind, Modern Retail+ Research has analyzed strategies and challenges across leading marketing channels — like creator marketing, CTV and social media — to identify key trends and best practices in our CMO Strategies series.

In this installment, Modern Retail+ Research focuses on an analysis of retail media, its role in marketers’ playbooks and how the industry has evolved. 01 Introduction As the retail media landscape continues to evolve, marketers are rethinking where they invest, how they measure success and which retail media networks deserve a larger share of budget.

Although they once viewed retail media primarily as a lower-funnel performance channel, marketers are expanding their ad businesses beyond sponsored product listings into off-site media, streaming and full-funnel marketing.

“We’re seeing demand grow across the funnel, and retail media networks are continuing to advance,” said Mandy Hunsicker Adams, senior director of The Home Depot’s retail media network Orange Apron Media.

“The power of retail, customer, audience signal and point-of-sale data, and being that close to the purchase and having the ability to close the loop, is all too powerful when every marketer is trying to be as productive and efficient with their marketing budget as possible.”

In this report, we look at how marketers are increasing their investments across a wider range of RMNs, tailoring success metrics to each platform’s role in the customer journey and seeking better ways to measure performance as the channel continues to mature.

02 Methodology To map out marketers’ current digital playbook, Modern Retail+ Research sent out three surveys asking 125 respondents about past and upcoming investments, marketing channel tactics and preferences and business challenges.

Modern Retail+ Research also conducted interviews with the marketing executives from the following companies: The Home Depot Milani Cosmetics Tinuiti 03 Marketers diversify their RMN investments Amazon and Walmart’s Walmart Connect remain marketers’ most-used retail media networks for the fourth year in a row, according to Modern Retail+ Research survey results.

Eighty-nine percent of marketer respondents said they currently advertise on Amazon, while nearly half of respondents (47%) said they advertise on Walmart Connect. Nearly one-third of respondents (32%) said they place ads on Target’s Roundel, making it marketers’ third-most used RMN. Marketers have steadily increased their use of Amazon each year since 2023.

However, their use of both Walmart Connect and Target’s Roundel dipped slightly in 2025 before rebounding in 2026 to surpass 2024 usage rates. Marketers’ use of Kroger’s Kroger Precision Marketing RMN dropped in 2025 as well, before returning to almost identical 2024 usage rates this year.

These swings in adoption rates may signal marketers’ interest in testing and diversifying their use of various RMNs, rather than a large-scale divestment from retail media as a marketing channel. Jeremy Lowenstein, Chief Marketing Officer at Milani Cosmetics, said that while Amazon remains its priority, the brand is increasingly investing across other RMNs.

“Amazon is the must-play and is usually a reflection of our growth and spend as a percent of sales. … We started on the Criteo side with Target and Ulta and have expanded to Walmart and our drugstore accounts. … We’re piloting on Costco, so we are playing across the spectrum.”

Lowenstein added that a brand’s retail media strategy should align with where consumers are shopping. “There’s still a consumer journey. It just happens at different places. … It’s about finding what’s the right way to work synergistically to ultimately get to the consumer. Are people on Amazon all the time? We’re not. We’re all multi-dimensional.”

Marketers are increasing their investments across a variety of RMNs in 2026 too. Amazon, Walmart Connect, Target’s Roundel, Nordstrom’s Nordstrom Media Network and Kroger’s Kroger Precision Marketing all benefited from increased advertiser budgets this year.

Notably, on a weighted average basis, marketers have doubled the amount of marketing budget they devote to Target’s Roundel in 2026 versus 2025.

Although Target has faced consumer pullback because of its decision to reduce diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives as well as sluggish sales due to general economic conditions, its RMN has remained insulated from other parts of the business that depend on in-store and onsite traffic.

The retailer’s ad network operates on a data-driven model, monetization of shopper intent, behavior signals and first-party insights. “The audience data that Target can turn out is still highly effective and all