2026 CPG Marketing Formula #1: Turning Retail Media’s Rapid Rise Into a Lasting Foundation

Retail media has grown from an emerging channel to a key component of CPG marketing strategy in just a handful of years. Budgets soared, teams adapted, and the industry proved its ability to meet shoppers where it matters most: at the point of purchase.

But that acceleration came with a tradeoff.

In the rush to participate, many brands built on speed rather than structure. The tactical approaches that unlocked early wins now struggle under the weight of mature budgets and strategic importance. What worked at $5M in retail media network spend breaks at $50M.

Now, the channel’s maturity demands something different. The rapid rise that once rewarded quick adaptation is exposing cracks in scalability, consistency, and accountability. Retail media has reached the phase where old frameworks aren’t enough and where sustainable advantage comes from systems, not sprints.

This is the formula for transforming retail media success from a fast climb into a durable foundation that supports smarter investment, stronger operations, and long-term competitiveness.

Strategic frameworks aren’t optional anymore

Most CPG brands built retail media programs on tactical excellence based on their experience with other digital channels. But retail media is now much different from what it was in 2018, and that approach has a ceiling that most brands are hitting right now.

Current budget realities make this more urgent. According to eMarketer’s US CPG Industry Ad Spending Forecast 2025, overall CPG ad spending growth is slowing to just 4.6% in 2025, below the national average for the first time in three years. Meanwhile, rising input costs, tariffs, and supply chain pressure are forcing CPG brands to cut discretionary spending, meaning every retail media dollar needs to work harder.

Does this sound familiar? RMN portfolio strategy is decided reactively rather than strategically. Budget allocation prioritizes immediate pressures over long-term priorities. Measurement relies on platform-reported metrics because incrementality infrastructure takes time to build. Data sits across multiple platforms, making weekly pivots challenging when decisions still follow quarterly cycles.

These aren’t minor inconveniences. They’re compounding drags on performance that show up as wasted spend, missed opportunities, and organizational friction that grinds execution to a crawl.

When teams manage 8+ RMN platforms, yet can’t compare performance across them using a consistent methodology. When creative refreshes take four to six weeks, when competitive context shifts weekly. When Finance asks, “Which spend is incremental?” and Marketing can’t answer with data. When a pilot wins on Amazon but never scales to Walmart, Target, and Instacart because each partner requires starting from scratch.

Without frameworks, growth stalls.

Budgets plateau not because the channel stopped working, but because organizations can’t demonstrate strategic value at scale or execute with the speed retail media’s maturity now demands.

The strategic retail media framework foundation: what to build and how to know it’s working

Building an advanced retail media framework requires addressing specific capability gaps that prevent sustainable growth. The following capabilities form the foundation that separates organizations that scale effectively from those stuck in tactical loops.

Before building anything, diagnose where you actually are.

Quick gut check: Where does your retail media program actually stand?

• We’re winging it (and honestly, it’s getting expensive)
• We have frameworks… somewhere in a deck from 2023
• We’re structured where it counts, scrappy everywhere else
• We built this right and have the dashboards to prove it

Now let’s get specific. Use these 15 questions to assess the current state and identify the highest-priority gaps. Be honest.

Portfolio strategy and governance:

• Do you have documented criteria for determining which retail partners deserve investment, maintenance, or exit?
• Can you articulate your portfolio strategy in writing, or does it live in someone’s head?
• When budget questions arise, do you reference strategic decision-making or default to “Amazon gets the most because it’s Amazon”?

True profitability measurement:

• Can you compare true profitability (not just platform-reported ROAS) across all major retail partners using a consistent methodology?
• Do you measure incrementality or just accept platform attribution?
• Can you distinguish defensive spend (required to maintain position) from offensive investment (driving genuine growth)?

Creative production velocity:

• How long does a creative refresh currently take from concept to live asset?
• Can you test multiple variants per retailer per week, or are you stuck in quarterly campaign cycles?
• Do creative teams spend most of their time on strategy or mechanical production tasks?

Data infrastructure:

• Is retail media data integrated with search and social for cross-channel comparison, or does each channel operate in isolation?
• Can you reallocate budgets weekly based on unified performance data, or do you wait until quarterly planning?
• How long does it take to get a unified performance view across all platforms: hours, days, or weeks?

Global-local coordination (for global brands):

• Can local markets launch retailer-specific campaigns in under five days without global approval?
• Do approval bottlenecks kill responsiveness and local relevance?
• Can you maintain brand consistency while enabling local speed?

Where you answered “no” or hesitated, you’ve identified capability gaps actively costing money or limiting growth. Those become your starting priorities.

Core capabilities that enable advanced frameworks

The following capabilities represent the essential infrastructure that retail media maturity demands. Build these systematically, not all at once.

Strategic portfolio management with tier-based governance

Most organizations treat all retail partners as equal priorities or allocate budgets based on revenue size rather than strategic potential.

Building this capability means defining three to four strategic tiers (typically: Strategic/Core/Opportunistic/Experimental) with explicit criteria for each. Revenue potential, audience reach, competitive necessity, operational complexity, and strategic alignment all matter. Document the logic.

Then assign every current and potential partner to a tier based on those criteria, not politics.

Once tiering is established, resource allocation follows automatically. Strategic partners get dedicated teams, aggressive testing budgets, and premium creative. Opportunistic partners get maintenance-level investment. This prevents the common trap in which minor partners receive disproportionate attention because someone on the team is personally invested.

Governance structures formalize this. Monthly portfolio reviews, guided by a documented framework, assess whether each partner is in the right tier. Quarterly strategic reviews decide when partners should move tiers based on performance and market shifts, not internal lobbying.

Progress indicators: Budget allocation matching strategic priorities within one quarter. Ability to defend partner investment decisions with documented frameworks rather than hope. Clear escalation paths when a partner sits in each tier. Resources allocated based on strategic tier rather than squeaky wheel dynamics.

True profitability measurement beyond platform ROAS

Platform-reported ROAS doesn’t reflect what CFOs actually care about: contribution margin after all fees, incrementality versus baseline sales, and the distinction between defensive spend (required to maintain position) and offensive investment (driving genuine growth).

Building this capability requires a unified measurement infrastructure that normalizes performance across retailers.

That means comparing cost-per-incremental-sale across Amazon, Walmart, Instacart, and others using a consistent methodology rather than accepting each platform’s self-reported success metrics.

Progress indicators: Answering budget questions with Here’s our incremental ROAS and true profitability by partner, rather than showing attributed revenue. Defending budgets with data rather than hope. Having Finance approve investments based on lift rather than questioning every line item.

Unified data infrastructure that enables speed

Data fragmentation slows decision-making and prevents cross-channel optimization. Instead of logging into 8+ separate platforms to stitch together performance views manually, leading organizations pipe RMN data, search data, and social data into unified systems that enable cross-channel comparison and weekly budget reallocations.

This matters even more given where CPG dollars are flowing. Retail media continues growing as part of broader commerce strategies across channels. Unified infrastructure means all these channels inform each other, not operate in isolation.

The most sophisticated setups connect retail signals (availability, pricing, competitive positioning, review velocity) directly to media optimization workflows. When a product goes out of stock or a competitor drops price, creative and bidding can adjust automatically, not after someone manually checks and sends an email.

Progress indicators: Time-to-insight dropping from weeks to days. Leadership reviewing one dashboard instead of juggling multiple platform logins. Budget reallocation decisions are happening weekly instead of quarterly.

Global-local systems that enable speed within guardrails

The bottom line: CPGs are inherently global. Retail media is inherently local.

As retail media grew, each region organically grew as an independent operation. Some years later, this has created a fundamental system flaw in most CPG retail media approaches. It makes it harder to manage the broader strategy, and gaps, such as the inability to learn from each other about what is and isn’t working, hinder performance. For global CPG brands, the impossible tension between global consistency and local relevance creates bottlenecks and missed opportunities.

The proper framework requires defining non-negotiable global brand elements alongside pre-approved playbooks, templates, and clear adaptation guidelines that enable local markets to move fast within bounds.

Instead of forcing uniformity (which breaks in local markets) or allowing total freedom (which fragments the brand), this creates translation layers that balance both needs. Technology can help manage template distribution and compliance monitoring, but the strategic work of defining what’s global versus local is fundamentally organizational.

Progress indicators: Local teams launching best-practice-driven campaigns without waiting for global approval. Brand consistency scores remain stable despite increased localization. Regional marketers report feeling empowered rather than constrained.

Turning frameworks into action

Building retail media frameworks requires systematic effort across multiple domains. While each organization’s journey differs based on current infrastructure, technical debt, and organizational readiness, several principles apply universally.

Start with an assessment. Use the 15 questions above to diagnose the current state and identify the highest-priority gaps. Focus on the areas where a lack of frameworks is actively costing money or limiting growth today, not just creating theoretical future risk.

Build slowly and deliberately.

Don’t try to solve everything at once. Focus on two to three critical capabilities that will unlock immediate value, prove ROI, and build momentum for broader transformation. For most organizations, unified measurement and portfolio management deliver the fastest returns.

Secure executive sponsorship. Framework transformation requires resources and organizational change. A CMO-CFO partnership is typically essential for funding and political support. Frame the business case around waste reduction and decision velocity, not just optimization potential.

Measure progress. Track the specific indicators outlined for each capability. Celebrate wins. Course-correct when progress stalls. The goal is institutional capability building, which shows up in how decisions get made and how quickly teams can move, not just in campaign performance metrics.

Plan for 12-18 months. Framework overhaul isn’t a quick fix. Set realistic timelines and maintain commitment even when competing priorities emerge. The organizations that started this work in late 2024 or early 2025 are already seeing the compounding benefits.

The real value of an advanced framework: you will be ready for whatever comes next in retail media

For CPG marketers ready to move beyond tactical improvisation, the path forward starts with unified infrastructure and clear frameworks that support decisions at scale. And to do that, you’ll need some help.

Skai’s Retail Media solutions enable marketers to plan, activate, and measure campaigns across 200+ retailers (including Amazon, Walmart, Target, and Instacart) as part of a broader commerce media strategy. AI-powered pacing, product intelligence, and keyword tools help teams meet shoppers across the journey and tie spend to sales with confidence.

See how Skai enables retail media frameworks for leading CPG brands. Schedule a quick demo.

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