Shoppers are spending more carefully, and familiar brands are no longer guaranteed a spot in the cart.

In Grocery TV’s Q2 2026 CPG Pulse survey, 72% of shoppers said they’re more concerned about their grocery bill than they were six months ago. Sixty-five percent have switched from a name brand to a store brand in at least one category to save money.

Those individual swaps are adding up across the market. U.S. private-label CPG sales reached $330 billion in 2025, according to consumer research firm Circana, with store brands accounting for 24% of unit sales.

Grocery TV's research shows shoppers making the loyalty calculation one category, one purchase at a time, giving brands an opportunity to compete on every trip.

Loyalty breaks differently by category

Brand loyalty doesn't look the same across the grocery aisle. Shoppers are more willing to switch brands in some categories than others, depending on how they weigh price, familiarity, and the importance of the product to their household. A shopper who grabs their favorite brand-name snack in one aisle may reach for store-brand flour in the next.

Trade-down runs highest on shelf-stable goods. Switch rates average 31% across packaged categories like pantry staples and snacks, compared with 21% for fresh produce and meat and seafood. Pantry staples top the list in our survey, with 40% of shoppers willing to swap a name brand for a more affordable option.

Kids' snacks and drinks hold the lowest loyalty, with just 12% sticking with their usual brand, a sign parents are especially willing to trade down here. At the other end of the loyalty spectrum is alcohol, where only 18% have switched to private label and 38% say they never would.

Economic pressure is changing where people shop, too. Shoppers are increasingly willing to visit multiple stores to stretch their budgets: 58% shop across retailers for better prices, while just 2% stay loyal to a single store.

A shopper may have a preferred brand, but that preference isn't a guarantee of purchase. As budgets tighten, which brand wins can change from one category, retailer, or shopping trip to the next.

The category may be decided, but the brand often isn’t

Most shoppers walk into the grocery store with an idea of what they need. Our survey found that nearly 67% of shoppers decide which product categories they need before the trip but haven't decided which brands to buy. Another 11% make the brand decision entirely in-store.

A shopper might arrive knowing pasta is on the list, for example, then stand in the aisle deciding whether the familiar name brand is worth the extra dollar this week. A promotion, a lower-priced alternative, or a product they haven't tried before can all change what goes into the cart.

For brands, that makes the store an important part of the consideration journey. Digital, social, and CTV can build awareness and consideration before the trip, while in-store media gives brands another opportunity to influence the decision when shoppers are comparing their options.

In-store media can also extend the reach of those campaigns. Grocery TV’s Incremental Reach study found that adding in-store media to another media channel increased campaign reach by 49% on average. For an established national candy brand, that added reach translated into an 11.7x incremental return on ad spend. The brand also saw a 2% increase in household penetration above the benchmark when it used in-store media to promote its holiday candy shapes.

Brand switching creates room for trial

Loyalty and trial are two sides of the same moment. Every shopper reconsidering a familiar purchase is also an opportunity for another brand to win it, and many shoppers are already willing to experiment.

In our CPG survey, more than 84% said they’d recently tried a new food or beverage brand, most often because it was on sale or because they spotted it while browsing the shelf. Visibility in the store can reinforce a familiar choice or create an opening for trial.

What happens after the purchase matters, too. Grocery TV partnered with IAB to understand how marketers measure in-store media. Among marketers fully leveraging the channel, 75% measure loyalty or repeat purchase, compared with only 42% of those who say they're underutilizing it. Measuring repeat purchase is how a brand knows whether that shelf moment turned a one-time trial into a lasting choice.

Every shopping trip puts brand choice back in play. Reaching shoppers at the shelf gives you another chance to keep your brand in the cart or earn a place in it.

Learn how to make in-store part of your media strategy in The In-Store Retail Media Playbook for Brands.

Survey of 100 retail media buyers and decision-makers finds marketers see a full-funnel role for in-store media, while scale, measurement and cross-functional ownership still shape how much value they capture

In-store retail media is increasingly viewed as a full-funnel channel, but the way marketers plan, measure and organize around it has yet to catch up, according to new research from Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and Grocery TV.

The report, In-Store Retail Media’s Full-Funnel Opportunity, surveyed 100 retail media buyers and decision-makers with active in-store retail media investments to understand how marketers are using the channel today, where they see the most value, and what could drive further investment.

The findings point to an industry moving beyond the traditional view of in-store as primarily a point-of-purchase or shopper marketing tactic:

• Marketers see in-store as a full-funnel channel. More than 90% of respondents rated awareness or reach, consideration, sales lift, and repeat purchase or loyalty as important or essential metrics for evaluating media investments.
• In-store is increasingly relevant to teams beyond shopper marketing. Organizations with dedicated retail media and national media or brand teams are more likely to report fully leveraging in-store media, while organizations where shopper or trade marketing owns the channel are more likely to report underutilization.
• Scale is a leading consideration for investment. Fifty-nine percent of respondents ranked inventory and scale among their top three factors when evaluating in-store digital media investment, ahead of measurement opportunities and cost/CPM.
• Many marketers see room to get more from the channel. Forty-three percent of respondents said their organization is underutilizing its in-store retail media investment.

“In-store media is becoming an increasingly important part of retail media’s evolution,” said Collin Colburn, VP, Commerce & Retail Media, IAB. “For marketers, the question now is how to integrate in-store into their media strategy in a way that makes sense for their objectives, teams and investment priorities.”

The research, powered by IAB’s Insights Engine, also identifies measurement and activation as practical barriers to further investment. Activation complexity and measurement limitations tied as the top barriers, each cited by 27% of respondents, followed by a lack of creative resources at 23%. At the same time, proof of performance and better KPI alignment across teams were the two factors marketers cited most often as reasons they would be more likely to invest in in-store media.

“In-store has traditionally lived within shopper marketing, but our research shows that marketers are beginning to see a bigger role for the channel,” said Marlow Nickell, co-founder & CEO, Grocery TV. “National media, brand and retail media teams bring different objectives, budgets and measurement approaches to the conversation. Bringing those perspectives together can help marketers incorporate in-store more deliberately into the media plan.”

With 43% of marketers saying they're already underutilizing the channel, the opportunity is less about proving in-store belongs in the media plan and more about giving teams the scale and measurement to invest in it fully.

Download the full report today: In-Store Retail Media’s Full-Funnel Opportunity.

Methodology

This research was commissioned by Grocery TV and IAB and fielded online via IAB's Insights Engine, powered by Attest, in July 2026. It surveyed 100 US retail media buyers and decision-makers who plan, allocate, or influence retail media budgets and have active in-store retail media investments. Respondents represented brands, agencies, and retail media networks. For this study, in-store retail media refers to paid advertising within physical retail environments, including digital screens, audio, and displays, and excludes traditional merchandising and trade promotions.

Financial services marketers have spent years getting better at targeting consumers. Solutions like behavioral signals, intent data, lookalike audiences, predictive modeling are better than they have ever been. Yet most campaigns still struggle with the same fundamental problem: reaching people at the moment they're actually thinking about money.

One of the biggest challenges with relying too heavily on intent signals is that they are inherently backward-looking. By the time a behavioral profile marks someone as "in-market" for a credit card, a personal loan, or a mortgage product, the window may have already closed. The contextual relevance of reaching consumers in an environment where the message fits the moment is a different kind of match, and one that digital channels rarely deliver.

There's a channel that gets financial services brands closer to that moment than most, and it’s not a new platform or an emerging format. It's the grocery store.

The store is already a financial environment

Grocery shopping is a financial exercise, and, for most households, groceries represent the single largest recurring weekly expense. According to the USDA, the average cost of food at home for a family of four can reach $300 per week. That makes the grocery run something most financial services brands overlook: a high-stakes spending moment that happens every week, on a predictable schedule.

The person shopping in the store is also often the household financial decision-maker. They compare prices, weigh trade-offs, and decide in real time what's worth paying for. New research makes this concrete: 82% of grocery shoppers say they are careful with their money, 78% compare prices online before buying, and 82% know their credit score. This audience is financially literate, budget-conscious, and already primed to think about value.

For financial services brands, that context is hard to manufacture anywhere else. When a credit card ad reaches someone who is, at that moment, choosing between store brands or calculating what's left in the week's budget, the message lands differently than it does on a social feed or a streaming platform. You're speaking to them when they’re in a financial mindset.

The reach problem digital channels can't solve

Even for brands that have built sophisticated digital targeting programs, there's a ceiling to how many customers they can reach. In-store retail media reaches a meaningful share of audiences that aren't captured by display, streaming, or linear TV. The store drives 49% more incremental reach on top of existing campaigns, and it doesn't require bidding against the same crowded programmatic inventory.

The frequency math also works differently. Grocery is one of the few remaining high-frequency media touchpoints. Consumers return weekly, creating consistent exposure over time without the escalating CPMs that come with digital saturation. For financial services brands trying to build awareness and consideration among a specific audience, that combination of frequency and context is difficult to replicate elsewhere.

The behavioral profile of a grocery audience also skews toward exactly the consumers financial services brands are trying to reach. Research shows that 77% of grocery shoppers research financial services before making a decision, suggesting an audience that actively engages with financial advertising.

Where in-store fits in the marketing plan

The most common question financial services marketers ask about in-store media is where it belongs in the funnel. The honest answer is that it depends on the objective, but the channel has demonstrated performance across multiple stages.

For brand awareness and consideration, the contextual environment and consistent frequency make in-store a natural fit.

For acquisition-focused campaigns, the timing matters, and the intent signal is more direct than most marketers realize. Every time a shopper reaches the checkout, they're making an active decision about which card to pull out of their wallet. That moment is one of the most valuable touch points available to a financial services brand, and one that no digital channel can reproduce.

Measurement in physical retail environments is different from digital attribution, and brands that apply the right measurement framework typically see strong results. Matched-market analysis and third-party lift studies are the standard for in-store, providing reliable campaign-level ROI data. Brands that approach in-store with the same attribution expectations they bring to display advertising will be frustrated.

What forward-looking financial services brands are doing

A growing number of financial services brands are beginning to treat in-store retail media as a consistent part of their awareness strategy. What separates the brands that have gotten traction from those still in pilot mode tends to come down to three things.

First, they've matched their objective to the channel. In-store is particularly effective for building awareness among financially engaged consumers and for reaching specific in-market segments at moments of heightened relevance, from mortgage to credit card acquisition and tax-season products. Brands that have tried to force last-click attribution models onto in-store campaigns have largely come away disappointed.

Second, they've invested in contextually relevant creative. An ad for a rewards credit card that appears in a grocery environment, where consumers are actively thinking about how to stretch their budget, benefits from that context. But the creative has to meet the moment: generic brand advertising doesn't take advantage of the environment the way message-specific, benefit-led creative does.

Third, they've built frequency. The grocery visit is a weekly habit, and that environment rewards consistency. Brands that show up regularly over time, rather than running a short flight and measuring lift after only a few weeks, see compounding awareness gains.

The case for getting in early

In-store retail media is still in a relatively early stage of adoption for non-endemic advertisers, including financial services. That's both a challenge and an opportunity.

The challenge is that internal stakeholders need to be educated on a channel that doesn't map cleanly onto existing digital frameworks. The opportunity is that early movers benefit from strong inventory availability, lower competition, and the ability to establish creative and measurement best practices before the channel becomes crowded.

The brands that waited on CTV, social video, and digital audio and then scrambled to catch up as costs rose and attention fragmented will recognize the pattern. In-store is at a similar inflection point. The audience is captive. The measurement infrastructure exists. The scale is meaningful. The question is whether financial services marketers are willing to treat context as a targeting parameter rather than an afterthought.

The grocery store already has the audience financial services brands want to reach. The consumers are financially engaged, high-frequency, and already in a decision-making mindset. Getting in front of them there is less complicated than most marketers assume, and more effective than most digital alternatives can deliver.

For retailers considering in-store media, one concern often comes before the first screen is ever installed: How will it impact the shopper experience?

Retailers spend years building a store environment that feels intuitive and prioritizes the shopper. Adding screens can raise questions about whether advertising will distract shoppers, compete with the products, or disrupt the experience they’ve worked to create.

Research suggests those outcomes aren’t inevitable. Nearly 80% of grocery shoppers are favorable toward in-store retail media, and they perceive it as 3x less disruptive than other advertising channels.

The difference comes down in part to how the media fits into the shopping trip. The right placement, content, and execution can make in-store media feel like part of the environment rather than an interruption.

In-store media enhances the shopping trip

A major retailer concern is that shoppers simply don’t want to see digital advertising in the store. But shopper feedback points to a more nuanced picture of what people value from in-store media.

For example, 36% of shoppers say in-store digital signage gives them ideas for recipes or new ways to use products, while 31% say it entertains them while they wait in line. In a separate study, shoppers also rated in-store media 1.5x more enjoyable and 1.7x more useful than advertising in other channels.

Acceptance also remains consistent across generations. Just eight percentage points separate the most and least receptive age groups, suggesting that positive responses to in-store media aren't limited to younger, more digitally accustomed shoppers.

Not every part of the store should be treated the same

Shopper acceptance varies significantly by where screens appear in the store. Entrances are among the most receptive environments, with 88% of shoppers responding positively to screens there. Cooler doors sit at the other end of the spectrum: 41% of shoppers respond negatively, the highest rejection of any format tested.

The difference comes down to how the placement fits into the shopping trip. As Grocery TV CEO Marlow Nickell explains, cooler screens, shelf blades, and shelf talkers “all share the same problem: they come between the shopper and the product.” In the aisle, shoppers are often focused on finding something specific, so media that obscures a product or slows them down can create friction.

The 2026 In-Store Shopper Perception Report groups placements into three categories based on shopper acceptance: “No-Brainer,” “Handle with Care,” and “Extreme Caution.” That framework gives retailers a practical starting point for deciding where media can add value and where it needs more consideration.

Content should follow the same logic. Promotions and information about current sales can work across a range of placements, while higher dwell-time areas such as checkout can create opportunities for recipes, health tips, seasonal ideas, and other useful or entertaining content.

An in-store media strategy that fits the store you built

The same retail media setup won’t work in every store. Retailers have different layouts, shopper patterns, and brand identities, so the goal should be to build an in-store media environment that feels native to the store rather than applying the same approach everywhere.

You can start by testing a representative mix of store types and layouts. See how media fits into the shopping trip, gather feedback, and adjust placement, content, or execution before expanding. This gives you a way to learn what works without getting stuck in pilot purgatory.

Hy-Vee’s experience points to the value of treating in-store media as part of the broader retail media strategy. Britt Polihronis, Chief Operating Officer at Hy-Vee’s RedMedia, says the retailer approaches screens alongside merchandising, onsite, and offsite media rather than treating each as a standalone channel. That integration helps ensure the media supports what the retailer is already trying to accomplish in the store.

For retailers evaluating in-store media, the decision comes down to where it belongs, what role it should play, and how it fits the experience they've already built.

See more of what shoppers have to say about in-store media in the 2026 In-Store Shopper Perception Report.

In-store retail media can influence shoppers throughout the purchase journey, but marketers aren’t yet planning and measuring the channel to its full potential. New research from IAB and Grocery TV surveyed 100 retail media buyers and decision-makers with active in-store investments to understand how they’re using the channel today, where they see the most value, and what could unlock further investment.

Read the report to learn:

• Why marketers see in-store as a full-funnel channel, from building awareness and consideration to driving sales and repeat purchase or loyalty.
• Where measurement still lags behind the opportunity, including the gap between the outcomes marketers believe in-store can drive and the KPIs they use to measure it.
• How organizational ownership relates to in-store utilization, including what organizations that fully leverage the channel do differently.
• What buyers prioritize when evaluating in-store media investments, including why 59% rank inventory and scale among their top three considerations.

The shopping trip is rarely a straight line. Parents compare prices, kids ask for their favorite products, promotions catch shoppers' attention, and new choices emerge along the way.

Even as rising grocery costs make shoppers more deliberate about every purchase, children continue to shape buying decisions in real time.

Back-to-school brings this dynamic into focus. While families may head to the grocery store with shopping lists full of lunchbox staples, breakfast foods, and after-school snacks, the brands that ultimately make it into the cart are often decided in the aisle.

For advertisers, that makes the grocery store one of the most influential places to reach families during back-to-school season.

The shopping trip shapes the cart

Parents are the primary decision-makers during back-to-school shopping, but they rarely make every purchase decision alone.

Our recent CPG pulse survey found that when children are part of the shopping trip, purchasing behavior changes in meaningful ways. Nearly half of parents spend more than they planned, 43% say yes to children's requests, and more than 86% report they have changed their shopping behavior in some way when kids are present.

Those behaviors are particularly relevant because they’re especially likely to play out in the categories that define back-to-school season: kids' snacks and drinks, breakfast foods, frozen prepared meals, soda, and candy.

Nearly four in 10 shoppers buy kids' snacks and drinks regularly, and among shoppers with a child that climbs to seven in 10, close to double. The same category carries the lowest loyalty-hold of any we measured, at 12%, so the households reaching for it most are also the least committed to any one brand. High purchase and low loyalty stack on top of each other, and the decision gets made on the shelf, where a kid's request can settle it.

Most shoppers arrive in that same position. Nearly 67% decide which categories they need before walking in but haven't committed to specific brands. They're shopping for cereal, not necessarily your cereal, and looking for snacks without knowing yet which ones will make the cart.

The trial window is wide open

When shoppers are willing to reconsider familiar brands, they're also more likely to try something new. And much of that discovery happens right in the store.

More than half of shoppers say they’ll try something new simply because it’s in front of them, and the snack aisle is the top place shoppers discover new products.

That’s especially true in categories that kids influence. Kids’ snacks and drinks have the lowest loyalty-hold rate of any category at just 12%, giving brands a greater chance to stand out through in-store media.

For brands, that makes back-to-school one of the year's strongest opportunities to earn consideration, as long as they reach shoppers while those decisions are still unfolding. That 12% loyalty-hold is an opening, and in-store campaigns are built to capture demand that hasn't committed to a brand yet.

A leading kids' snack brand did exactly that, earning a 26x return on ad spend, an 8% sales lift for the advertised product, and a 4% lift for related products it never featured. The lift on unadvertised products shows how much of the category decision is still live at the shelf.

In-store deserves a larger role in back-to-school media planning

Back-to-school campaigns often focus on reaching parents through digital, social, and connected TV before they begin shopping.

While essential, those channels are only part of the story. We're seeing more advertisers recognize that the store itself is one of the last — and often most influential — places where brand decisions are made.

Natalie Cammerino, National Consumer Promotions Lead at Mars Snacking, put it this way: "Why would you not want to advertise at point of purchase when decisions are being made? Everyone who walks through that door is a potential buyer."

In-store media complements broader campaigns by reaching shoppers while they're actively comparing products, responding to promotions, and evaluating their options. One Grocery TV study found that adding in-store media to digital campaigns can deliver 49% incremental reach, helping brands connect with shoppers in moments other channels simply can't.

As shoppers become more selective, understanding what influences brand choice becomes even more important, and back-to-school media strategies should reflect how families actually make those decisions.

Parents may be steering the cart, but they're rarely the only ones filling it.

Explore the In-Store Retail Media Playbook for practical guidance on reaching shoppers at the moments that matter most.

Grocery TV today announced a partnership with Esri to enhance Grocery TV’s behavioral and psychographic targeting across its national retailer-owned network of 6,700+ stores. Through Esri’s Market Potential dataset, the platform now incorporates over 3,500 audience attributes spanning categories like automotive, finance, health and wellness, telecom, and CPG.

The collaboration enables brands and agencies to plan against in-store audiences aligned with how they already plan and buy TV and digital. While digital campaigns are built around specific behavioral segments, in-store media has historically relied on broad demographic or geographic proxies. With Grocery TV, advertisers can build custom store lists around shoppers who over-index on behaviors such as planning to purchase a vehicle, prioritizing organic food, or recently switching wireless carriers.

"In-store media is increasingly being viewed as an extension of video and digital strategies, not just an out-of-home buy," said Marlow Nickell, co-founder & CEO, Grocery TV. "The partnership with Esri enhances our ability to let media buyers approach in-store by audience, not just by placement. Most purchases still happen in physical stores, and reaching the right shopper at the point of decision is one of the most valuable moments in the funnel."

eMarketer raised its 2026 DOOH forecast by 18% to reflect in-store media’s growth. As the channel scales, measurement and targeting capabilities have become table stakes. Major retailers have announced investments in closed-loop attribution and audience segmentation, signaling that the channel is maturing beyond experimental budgets into performance-driven media plans.

"Esri has long helped organizations understand consumer behavior at the local level,” said Chris Nickola, director of commercial, Esri. “Partnering with Grocery TV brings that intelligence directly into the in-store media planning process, connecting behavioral and psychographic insights to the physical environments where most shoppers visit every week. It's a natural extension of how location intelligence can inform smarter, more relevant advertising.”

With over 120 retail partners and reaching 95 million unique shoppers, Grocery TV activates behavioral targeting at scale across independent and regional grocers nationwide.

Audience-based targeting powered by Esri is available now to brands and agencies planning campaigns across Grocery TV's platform. Get more information here.

Financial services brands have spent decades optimizing for the right moment: the mortgage search, the credit card comparison, the tax deadline. The assumption is that these decisions happen at a desk, on a phone, or in front of a laptop.

But most people making those decisions also shop for groceries every week. And the grocery store, it turns out, is a more financially active environment than most finserv marketers have accounted for.

In Q1 2026, Grocery TV surveyed 600 verified grocery shoppers about their credit card ownership, banking behavior, mortgage status, tax filing, and overall financial confidence. The findings complicate a few assumptions worth revisiting.

The credit card market is less saturated than it seems

On the surface, the numbers suggest a crowded category. More than four in five respondents carry at least one credit card, and more than a third carry three or more. Legacy bank brands such as Chase, Capital One, Bank of America, Amex, and Discover still hold a firm grip on most wallets. Among cardholders, 83% carry at least one card from a traditional institution.

However, the cards shoppers own don't tell the whole story.

When we asked shoppers what would drive their next card choice, the priorities shifted meaningfully from what drove their current one. Low or no annual fee jumped 15 points to become the top priority at 54%. Sign-up bonuses nearly doubled, increasing from 13% for their current card to 27% for a future one. Fraud protection grew from 20% to 31%.

These movements suggest a shopper who is more deliberate and more incentive-driven at the point of acquisition than their existing portfolio would indicate. The cards they have aren't necessarily the cards they want next.

Confidence doesn't mean satisfaction

Two findings from the study stand out: 73% of shoppers feel confident managing their finances, and 65% are the primary spending decision-maker in their household. By most measures, this is a financially engaged audience.

Yet their next card priorities center on better fees, bigger sign-up bonuses, and stronger fraud protection. Confidence, in other words, isn't the same as contentment. It may actually be the precondition for switching: shoppers who feel in control are more likely to actively evaluate their options, not less.

For financial brands, high-confidence shoppers represent an opportunity to meet consumers with the right message at the right moment.

The mortgage market has more open doors than it appears

Marketers often treat housing as decided before a shopper is reachable, assuming the lender relationship is locked in once a search begins. The data tells a different story.

Among the 11% of respondents who are actively planning to buy a home, 27% haven't chosen a lender yet. Chase and credit unions lead among those who do have a preference, but the category is highly fragmented, and the lender relationship is still unresolved for a meaningful share of buyers.

Meanwhile, among current homeowners with a mortgage, no single servicer breaks 10% market share, and 17% of homeowners don't know who services their mortgage at all. The post-close relationship is, for many borrowers, essentially nonexistent.

That fragmentation is an opportunity. The shopper who hasn't picked a lender yet is still reachable, and grocery is a channel that reaches them weekly.

The store is already a financial environment

It's worth stepping back from the category-specific findings for a moment.

The grocery store has always had a financial dimension: budgets, trade-offs, impulse decisions. What the data reinforces is that the shopper making those decisions in the store is also, in many cases, the same person navigating a credit card switch, planning a home purchase, or filing taxes. Impulse purchases are common: 78% make them at least sometimes, and 51% don't strictly follow their shopping list. These are people in an active decision-making state.

Financial services brands haven't historically thought of grocery as a relevant environment. The category skews toward performance channels like search, direct mail, and affiliate, where intent is explicit and trackable.

But intent isn't the only moment worth owning. Familiarity, trust, and top-of-mind awareness are built in the spaces between active searches, in the environments where people spend time regularly.

The grocery store is one of those environments. The data suggests the audience is there. The question is whether financial brands are ready.

See how Grocery TV helps financial services brands connect with financially engaged shoppers.

If you think shoppers have already made up their minds before they enter the grocery store, the latest research suggests otherwise.

Our 2026 In-Store Perception Report found that 95% of shoppers make at least half of their purchase decisions while they're in the store, and nearly two-thirds have made a purchase after seeing an in-store ad. The findings challenge one of retail media's most persistent beliefs: that in-store advertising reaches shoppers too late to influence behavior.

We asked Marlow Nickell, CEO and co-founder of Grocery TV, and Andrew Lipsman, independent retail media analyst, to share their perspectives on the findings, the misconceptions they believe still surround in-store media, and what brands should take away from the research.

Does in-store advertising actually influence purchase decisions?

According to Nickell, the latest data leaves little room for doubt.

"Shopper receptivity increased across every major store zone compared to our 2023 study," says Nickell. "Digital display formats saw an average 10-point increase in positive customer experience ratings, climbing from 41% to 51%. That momentum is reflected in behavior as well, with 62% of shoppers saying they've purchased something after seeing an in-store ad."

Nickell says the findings put one of retail media's biggest myths to rest. "Brands that think in-store is only a last-mile reminder are undervaluing the channel. Shoppers are already in a buying mindset, surrounded by the products being advertised. In-store also delivers an average of 49% incremental reach on top of existing media plans."

Are younger shoppers really engaging with in-store media?

Generational differences are much smaller than many marketers assume.

"Only an eight-point gap separates the most and least receptive age groups," says Nickell. "There's also a persistent narrative that Gen Z is a digital-only generation, but 55% shop in-store at least once a week, and more than half have purchased something after seeing an in-store ad."

What this tells us is that brands that dismiss physical retail as a way to reach younger shoppers may be overlooking one of their strongest opportunities.

But who brands reach is only part of the story. How in-store media is designed matters just as much.

Why do some in-store ad formats perform better than others?

The research suggests shoppers respond best to advertising that complements the shopping experience rather than interrupts it.

"They all share the same problem: they come between the shopper and the product," Nickell says of lower-rated formats like digital cooler displays, shelf blades, and shelf talkers. "In the aisle, shoppers are task-oriented, and anything that slows them down or blocks their view creates friction."

Lipsman points to the industry's experience with the Cooler Screens platform as an example. "The biggest customer experience issues occurred when digital displays conflicted with merchandising or prevented shoppers from easily seeing products. The lesson is simple: don't let media come between shoppers and what they're trying to buy."

Do shoppers want personalized ads in-store?

Not in the same way they expect personalization online.

"Personalization assumes an individual experience, and the store is a shared one," says Nickell. "What shoppers responded positively to was relevance to the environment, things like promotions and contextual content that make sense given where they are in the store."

Lipsman adds, "People are comfortable with personalized ads on personal devices because those experiences remain private. Public displays are different. Contextual relevance is often a better form of targeting because it respects shoppers' privacy while remaining highly effective."

What should marketers take away from this research?

For both experts, the message is clear: shopper expectations around in-store media are evolving.

"Retailers that have been hesitant to invest in in-store networks can feel much more confident," says Lipsman. "The research shows shoppers are receptive, especially when brands focus on formats that enhance rather than disrupt the shopping experience."

Nickell sees the findings as a turning point. As he puts it, "The question shifts from whether it belongs in the mix to how much of the mix it deserves."

Download the 2026 In-Store Perception Report to explore the complete findings and see what they mean for your retail media strategy.

Regional grocery environments are becoming a more important part of the retail media conversation. For years, most retail media attention has centered on national retailers and massive scale. Bigger networks, broader reach, and larger datasets often dominate the conversation, but brands are increasingly looking for something more nuanced than reach alone.

What we’re seeing is that context matters more than ever. In-store retail media is evolving beyond questions like “How many stores?” or “How many screens?” Advertisers are looking more closely at shopper behavior, store loyalty, and the trust people place in the environments where they buy.

The store itself matters, not just as a place to transact, but as a setting shaped by habits, routines, and community. That’s part of what makes regional grocers increasingly valuable.

Why regional grocery environments matter

Grocery shopping is deeply habitual. Many shoppers visit the same stores weekly — sometimes multiple times per week — making those stores familiar environments tied to routine and trust.

Regional grocers, in particular, often reflect the preferences and identities of the communities they serve in ways that feel distinct from big national chains. Merchandising, product selection, store layout, and shopper behavior can vary meaningfully from one region to another.

This variation creates opportunities for brands to show up in environments that feel contextually relevant rather than generalized. For advertisers looking to capture authentic attention, regional can mean strategically valuable, not small.

Brands care about impressions, of course, but they also care about timing, mindset, and proximity to purchase. In-store retail media gives advertisers a way to reach shoppers while they’re actively making decisions in the environments they already trust.

What the Raley’s rollout signals about the future of retail media

The recent launch of The Raley’s Companies’ in-store retail media network with Grocery TV highlights how these trends are playing out. The rollout spans 208 stores across California, Nevada, and Arizona, including banners such as Raley’s, Bel Air, Nob Hill, Bashas’, Food City, and AJ’s Fine Foods. Many of these banners have deep regional roots, including stores curated for Latino and Native communities.

Part of what makes regional expansion increasingly viable is how quickly retailers can now stand up in-store retail media capabilities. Raley’s Vice President of Digital Commerce, Zac Wilson, noted that what may once have taken years to build was launched in a matter of weeks.

The speed of the rollout points to a more mature in-store retail media infrastructure. As retailers increasingly treat in-store media as a strategic capability rather than an experimental add-on, regional expansion becomes more feasible than it once was.

The next phase of retail media growth

For advertisers, regional relevance and aggregated scale no longer have to be tradeoffs. The biggest growth opportunities may not lie solely with the largest national chains. Regional retailers are emerging as key players in the media landscape because they offer something many brands are actively looking for: trusted environments, loyal shoppers, and high-intent moments close to purchase.

National reach still matters, but advertisers may increasingly prioritize context alongside scale. The future of in-store retail media may depend as much on connected regional networks as on one-size-fits-all national reach.

Explore the In-Store Retail Media Playbook for practical guidance on planning, measuring, and scaling in-store campaigns.

We sat down with Britt Polihronis, Chief Operating Officer at Hy-Vee's RedMedia, to talk about how the regional grocer built out its retail media network, what's working for brands in store today, and where the channel is headed.

Hy-Vee isn't a small operation. With 338 stores and over 10,000 screens, the Midwest grocer has built one of the more mature in-store retail media programs in the country. Britt Polihronis has been at the center of that build, bringing an agency background from her time at Merkle and a clear point of view on what it takes to build an in-store program that performs for the retailer, brands, and shoppers alike.

We talked to Britt about the evolution of Hy-Vee's network, how brands are (and aren't) using in-store screens effectively, and why she thinks measurement is still the most important unsolved problem in the channel.

From side hustle to strategic capability

Hy-Vee's retail media journey started about seven years ago, like most networks, as one piece of a broader omnichannel program. Three years ago, the company made a deliberate decision to treat it as a major investment, not an ancillary one.

Britt joined two years ago, as the network was moving from launch into growth mode. She describes her first year as stabilization: building the right foundation, understanding what suppliers actually needed, and making sure brands had reason to keep investing. The second year shifted to measurement, tying every campaign back to sales outcomes.

The differentiator Britt points to most is Hy-Vee's relationship with merchandising. "We always start with the cost of goods," she says. "Then we have strong merchandising support, and we amplify everything through retail media, including screens, onsite, and offsite. If all of those are working together, success is inevitable."

For Britt, in-store screens aren't a standalone channel; they're the final layer of a campaign that's already in motion.

What brands are getting wrong

Brands are generally willing to test in-store, but Britt thinks most are still treating screens like any other awareness channel, running banner-style creative without thinking about the point-of-purchase context.

"In-store messaging needs to align with everything the shopper has already seen, but it also needs to do something specific," she said. "It's not just a rinse and repeat of a banner ad on a screen. It really needs to focus on a clear, cohesive message."

Her other consistent observation: brands get stuck on zone placement. CPG brands often want to restrict campaigns to the aisle where their product lives, missing the opportunity to drive shoppers toward that aisle from other parts of the store. Britt pushes for testing in produce, front-end, dwell zones like pharmacy and checkout, and anywhere a shopper is already paused.

The health market section has been especially effective for Hy-Vee. "There's a little education needed for shoppers to make that final purchase decision," she said. "Being right there at the point of purchase, with the product on screen in a big way, seals it."

The measurement gap

Britt is direct about the hardest thing in in-store retail media right now: proving it worked.

Hy-Vee has strong results to point to. A chip brand campaign across 130 stores drove a 15% in-store sales lift and nearly an $8 ROAS. But Britt is more interested in the cases where measurement is harder, particularly newer categories, emerging brands, and health and wellness products where purchase behavior is less predictable.

"Someone's going to have to take the leap with us in those categories," she says. "We'll be there with them."

Longer term, she sees measurement, personalization, and deeper integration as the three areas that will define where in-store media goes. On personalization specifically, Britt is clear-eyed about what that means in a physical store context: not one-to-one targeting, but regional and contextual relevance. Weather-triggered messaging, local cultural moments, store-level audience context.

"I would not want a screen to say 'Hey Brittany, we noticed you have chips in your cart,'" she said. "But if it's telling me the pollen count is high and I should pick up eye drops, that's a different thing entirely."

On working with a partner vs. building internally

Some retailers are managing their in-store screens themselves. Britt's view on that choice is practical: Hy-Vee needed to move fast, and building the technology internally would have slowed everything down.

"We needed a partner that could build with us, with an interface that let all sides operate within the same environment," she said. Working with Grocery TV meant Hy-Vee could run its own media alongside RedMedia campaigns, while also accessing national and localized brand dollars that wouldn't have come through a self-built system.

Her advice for retailers still figuring this out: treat in-store as a strategic capability, not just a technology investment, and recognize that internal strength and external expertise aren't competing choices.

The In-Store Playbook covers what brands need to know before their first campaign, from zone strategy to share of voice. Get the playbook.

The in-store environment is becoming a more influential moment for brands, especially as shoppers grow more receptive to advertising during the purchase journey.

Across Grocery TV’s network of screens in 6,700+ grocery stores nationwide, shoppers are engaging with in-store media in ways that are driving both discovery and action. To better understand what’s resonating, we surveyed over 1,000 U.S. grocery shoppers on how they perceive and respond to in-store advertising today.

The findings show strong engagement across demographics. Nearly two-thirds of shoppers said they purchased an item after seeing it advertised on an in-store screen, while preferences around content, format, and placement varied significantly by age and income.

Inside the report:

• Which in-store formats and placements drive the strongest shopper response
• How content preferences shift across demographic groups
• Why in-store screens are becoming a growing driver of brand discovery and unplanned purchases

Financial services brands are under pressure to find differentiated reach. Search and social are table stakes, and the brands that stand out are finding ways to show up in the physical world, in moments that matter to consumers.

In-store retail media is one channel where that's happening. Grocery TV CEO Marlow Nickell joined Marketing Millennials’ Daniel Murray and Fintech Takes’ Alex Johnson to talk about why fintech brands in particular are leaning in, and what's working.

Why fintech gravitates toward advertising in the store

Fintech companies are digitally native by default, which creates a real brand-building problem. Most fintech apps look and feel similar, and the best ones are designed to stay out of the way.  That scarcity of brand touchpoints pushes companies toward channels with physical presence.

Consumers treat financial services as one of the highest-stakes product decisions they make. Physical presence, even through a screen at checkout, builds a kind of trust that digital alone struggles to create.

"Fintech is dismissive of bank branches, but also secretly jealous of them," Johnson said. "It's a huge benefit to have that social proof with a physical presence in the communities you're trying to serve."

Grocery stores are a natural fit for that reason. Grocery TV's network spans 6,500 stores across 120 retail partnerships, reaching about 95 million shoppers weekly, and the person doing the shopping is typically the household decision-maker.

"Money is very much on the mind," Nickell said, "in terms of what they're buying, and for their whole household experience, generally."

The open wallet moment

There's a meaningful difference between reaching someone on the couch and reaching someone at checkout: one is a passive moment, the other is active.

Johnson called it the difference between closed and open wallet moments: "Being able to influence someone in that open wallet moment is a much more influential place to be. There are very few moments where you can reach a customer at that exact point."

The checkout aisle averages about four and a half minutes of dwell time. Nickell pointed to credit card companies running point-back promotions there as one of the clearest use cases: "You've usually got a couple of cards in your wallet. It's a really obvious and natural time to say, hey, make sure you use this card because we're going to help you with extra cash back on groceries."

What makes targeting work without cookies

In-store retail media doesn't rely on cookies or personal identifiers. Audience data comes from store-level mobile panel data: traffic patterns, frequency, and demographic composition that allows for accurate segmentation without the privacy friction of online tracking.

Where someone shops is predictive of a lot of other things about them, and fintech companies already think this way. A brand targeting young high earners is going to find them in different stores than a brand targeting middle-income earners in mid-size cities. "By picking a set of stores," Nickell said, "you know you're going to reach the audience you want with pretty high fidelity."

A six-week campaign Grocery TV ran with a financial health app showed 82% lift in brand rating, 72% lift in recommendation intent, and 34% lift in unaided brand awareness, all measured against a control group. Those results were significantly higher than what the brand saw across its other digital channels, and it has scaled investment since.

Getting started

For brands considering a first test, Nickell recommends starting with a tightly scoped objective, a defined audience subset, and a campaign window of at least six weeks, ideally a full quarter.

"People shop once a week," he said. "If you want 10 to 14 exposures, that's going to take two to three months." Most inventory is available programmatically through major DSPs, with the option to move into curated PMP deals as investment grows.

The store reflects the community it serves. For fintech brands trying to reach a specific segment of consumers in a moment when money is genuinely on their mind, that's a harder combination to replicate anywhere else.

Want to reach household decision-makers while their wallets are out? See how Grocery TV works for finance brands.

The Raley's Companies has launched an in-store retail media network with Grocery TV across 208 stores in California, Nevada, and Arizona. The rollout spans the company’s banners including Raley’s, Bel Air, Nob Hill, Bashas’, Food City, and AJ’s Fine Foods, enhancing the in-store promotional experience by connecting directly to shoppers at the point of purchase.

The launch advances another element of Raley’s full-funnel retail media strategy focused on rising demand for integrated in-store and digital campaigns. Brands can now reach shoppers closer to the moment they discover new products and make purchase decisions.

“Our retail media business has been evolving quickly, and in-store was the clear next step," said Zac Wilson, Vice President of Digital Commerce, The Raley's Companies. "With the Grocery TV partnership, what could have taken years to build, we were able to stand up in a matter of weeks. Speed is critical in an ever-evolving and fast paced industry. That speed, combined with their ability to help us build advertiser demand as we grow, is critical to a successful partnership. Together, we're creating an in-store retail media experience that feels cohesive for both our brand partners and our shoppers.”

The Raley’s Companies serve a broad cross-section of shoppers across the West, including brands directly serving and curated for Latino and Native communities with deep regional roots. For brand partners, the network offers scaled access to distinct audiences within established, high-frequency grocery environments.

“The Raley’s Companies have built deep trust across the diverse communities they serve throughout the West,” said Marlow Nickell, co-founder and CEO, Grocery TV. “That trust, combined with strong store traffic, creates a powerful in-store environment for brands. We’re proud to support Raley’s as they expand their retail media capabilities and to welcome Bashas’ back to the Grocery TV network.”

The addition brings Grocery TV's platform to more than 6,700 stores across more than 120 retail partners, continuing a run of regional expansions that includes Hy-Vee, Giant Eagle, Northeast Grocery, and ShopRite.

Discover how Grocery TV helps 120+ retailers independently operate their own in-store retail media networks.

In-store retail media delivers an average 49% reach boost when added to campaigns, yet many brands are still testing this channel for the first time.

That's changing fast. More brands are realizing how much physical retail stores shape purchasing decisions, and their confidence in bringing in-store into the mix is growing.

In this playbook we cover:

• How In-Store Advertising Works: See how in-store media's reach compares to other major channels, grabs attention, and drives performance.
• Overcoming Investment Hurdles: Tips on where to source budget and get your team on board.
• Planning, Execution & Measurement: Better understand strategic placement across store zones, choose the right buying method, and measure from brand lift to sales attribution.
• Creative Best Practices: Insights to help your ads stand out and perform better.

This playbook gives you the frameworks and data you need to build effective in-store campaigns, whether you're launching your first test or hoping to make this a key part of your strategy.

Ready to reach your audience where 90% of purchases happen? Grab the In-Store Retail Media playbook and start creating campaigns that drive results.