Is retail media reaching its limits — or are we only scratching the surface?
In this episode of Commerce Media Matters, Nick Morgan and Paul Blackburn sit down with Adam Skinner, Managing Director of Retail Media at Epsilon and former COO & CTO of CitrusAd, to discuss what's next for retail and commerce media. Drawing on more than a decade in the industry, Adam explores retail media's evolution, the shift beyond sponsored products, and the opportunities driving the next phase of growth.
The conversation covers measurement and incrementality, commerce media, AI-driven discovery, market maturity, and the growing importance of authenticated customer relationships. From in-store media and clean rooms to airlines, banks and fitness networks entering the space, Adam shares a global perspective on where the industry is headed next.
If you're looking to understand what comes after retail media's first wave of growth, this episode offers valuable insights into the trends and models shaping its future
What you’ll learn from this episode:
Why retail media isn’t new: While retail media is often framed as a modern digital phenomenon, but the foundations have existed for decades. From end-cap displays to premium shelf positioning, brands have always paid retailers for visibility — today's retail media networks are simply the latest evolution of that model.
The truth about retail media saturation: The perception that retail media is becoming overcrowded is only partly true. While endemic sponsored product budgets are becoming increasingly concentrated among major players like Amazon, Walmart and Target, enormous growth opportunities still exist across audience monetisation, commerce media, data partnerships, in-store media and non-endemic advertising.
Why audience uniqueness matters more than scale: Not every retail media network can compete on reach. The networks succeeding today are those that can demonstrate access to unique audiences that brands cannot easily reach elsewhere, creating value beyond simply adding another media buy into the mix.
How commerce media expands beyond retail: Retail media may be the foundation, but commerce media is becoming the broader ecosystem. Airlines, hotels, banks, fintechs and fitness platforms are increasingly using transaction data and customer relationships to create new advertising opportunities that extend far beyond traditional retail environments.
Why incrementality matters more than ROAS alone: ROAS remains important, but it rarely tells the full story. Adam explains why brands need to focus on incrementality, new-to-brand customers, category growth and lifetime value to properly understand campaign performance and long-term business impact.
The rise of full-funnel commerce media: Commerce media is rapidly evolving from a lower-funnel performance channel into a full-funnel ecosystem. Success increasingly depends on connecting awareness, consideration and conversion across onsite, offsite, in-store and connected TV environments.
How global markets are maturing differently: The US leads in clean rooms, offsite media and data partnerships, while Australia continues to excel in onsite innovation, in-store media and omnichannel retail experiences. Meanwhile, Asia and Latin America are emerging as some of the most exciting markets to watch as commerce, payments, travel and retail converge.
Why AI will reshape discovery before it reshapes transactions: While AI-powered agents may help consumers search and shop, Adam argues they are ultimately just a proxy for the person behind them. Success will still depend on understanding customer identities, preferences and behaviours to deliver relevant recommendations and experiences.
Soundbites to listen out for:
On retail media saturation
"The endemic ceiling is real... but retail media isn't approaching a ceiling. It's like living in a ten-bedroom mansion, but only four rooms have been walked into."
On Customer Data & Intent Signals
"The next evolution of commerce media is not gonna be just around ads. It's gonna be around the authenticated customer relationships and the intent signals that these retailers and commerce players are sitting on. And that is liquid gold."
On Attention as the New Currency
“Retail media is a pretty expensive surface space, and the real estate is pretty limited. So you need to maintain every single second of that shopper's attention, because if you're just putting things in there that have no value to the consumer, then that's a wasted opportunity.”
On Defining Commerce Media
"Commerce media is advertising powered by first-party customer and transaction data, regardless of where that transaction actually happens. Versus retail media, which is the version of that that exists only inside the retailer."
On full-funnel commerce media
“The anchor in all of this is that connected identity becomes more important in AI and the agentic world. In my eyes, the agent's just a proxy for the human, it's not the agent that's buying the product for itself. It's a tool for the person.”
On Measurement & Incrementality
"Incrementality is more than just that metric itself. It's actually the anchor to be able to tell the story as to the truth of whether or not that campaign actually did and had an outcome."
About the guests
Adam Skinner is the Managing Director of Retail Media at Epsilon, where he helps brands, retailers and media owners navigate the rapidly evolving commerce and retail media landscape.
With a background spanning both the commercial and technical sides of the industry, Adam previously served as COO and CTO at CitrusAd, one of the pioneers of retail media technology. Throughout his career, he has worked at the intersection of retail, advertising, data and commerce, helping shape how brands connect media investment to measurable business outcomes.
Today, Adam is a recognised industry voice on the evolution of retail media, the rise of commerce media, and the role of identity, measurement and emerging technologies in the future of advertising.
Connect with the hosts on LinkedIn
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