The 2025 State of AI in Retail Media

AI is getting a lot of airtime in marketing right now, and retail media—more broadly, commerce media—is right in the thick of it. As these channels get more complex—more formats, more partners, more data flying around—marketers are leaning on AI to help manage the sprawl. To boost performance, stay agile, and bring some clarity to the chaos.

The excitement is real. But turning that into consistent, real-world results? Still a work in progress.

Some teams are already seeing impact—faster insights, smarter decisions, better outcomes. Others are still figuring out where (or if) AI fits into their workflow. Because it’s not just about having the tools. It’s about team readiness, internal alignment, and a culture that’s willing to test and adapt.

Now in its fourth year, Skai’s annual 2025 State of Retail Media report and survey of retail media marketers reveals the trends, challenges, and opportunities shaping the future of this essential marketing channel. It also provides some insight into where AI is gaining traction inside retail media—what’s moving the needle, what’s earning exec attention, and what barriers are still in the way. 

The shift from experimentation to execution is underway. And the gap between testing and full-scale adoption? It’s finally starting to close.

AI adoption is still early—and uneven

The potential is obvious. But most retail media orgs are still in the early innings when it comes to actually using AI in a meaningful way. “I am especially excited about the AI capabilities rolling out everywhere,” says Kaitlyn Fundakowski, Sr. Director, E-Commerce, Chomps. “I know we have just scratched the surface, and I am excited to see what we can leverage in the years to come.”

According to the 2025 State of Retail Media report, only 2 in 5 marketers say their team is highly mature in AI usage. And the spread is wide—maturity varies by category, budget, and role, which speaks to how fragmented the landscape still is.

That said, the long-term belief is strong. 75% of retailers expect AI agents to be essential to compete in the future. So the mindset is shifting. AI isn’t being treated as a nice-to-have anymore—it’s becoming core to the strategy.

But getting there? That takes more than tools. It takes process, patience, and real buy-in across the org.

Optimization is where AI’s showing up first

Right now, the clearest role for AI in retail media is optimization. Think: smarter budget recommendations, real-time campaign tweaks, sharper performance forecasts. It’s where AI’s strengths—speed, pattern recognition, scale—map cleanly to day-to-day needs.

In fact, 55% of decision-makers expect AI to deliver better insights and recommendations. Nearly half are leaning on it for real-time campaign optimization. These aren’t future-state hopes—they’re practical, measurable use cases that are already gaining traction.

As Briana Cifelli, Senior Director of Retail Media at Jellyfish, puts it: “The integration of AI into retail media is accelerating, with marketplaces developing their own creative AI studios and insight generation tools. Learning and leveraging these rapid advancements is crucial in this dynamic landscape.”

What’s interesting is the shift in mindset. AI isn’t being framed as a replacement for human judgment—it’s becoming a decision-accelerator. A way to cut through the data noise and act faster, with more confidence. No need to rebuild the whole team structure—just plug in a smarter layer of intelligence where it counts.

Personalization is what’s getting the C-suite to lean in

Creative and personalization use cases are climbing to the top of the executive agenda—and fast. Since the release of ChatGPT, mentions of AI and retail media on earnings calls have surged, peaking in mid-2023 and picking up again into 2024. This isn’t just curiosity. It’s conviction—backed by real investment.

Why the sudden urgency? Because personalization is finally moving from theory to impact. 46% of marketers say they expect AI to boost personalization capabilities. And brands using AI-driven personalization are already seeing a 1.3x lift in incremental ROAS, according to data from 84.51°.

It’s become the most visible—and arguably the most defensible—use case for AI in this space. It shows up in the results and the boardroom.

Roger Dunn, Global Lead, Retail Media & Performance Media, Diageo: “Generative AI could supercharge retail media, with AI potentially helping extend retailers’ digital advertising networks’ reach across hyper-personalized content and new search platforms.”

The signal is clear: personalization isn’t just a feature. It’s a wedge.

AI isn’t just supporting retail media growth—it’s accelerating the top investment drivers.

When marketers were asked what would actually get them to invest more in retail media, the answers weren’t surprising:

1. Better insights
2. Clearer measurement
3. Stronger ROI

AI directly impacts all three. According to Skai’s 2025 State of Retail Media report, these aren’t abstract priorities—they’re real friction points. And AI helps relieve them by doing what most teams don’t have the time or tools to do well: isolating what’s working, connecting insights to action, and finding pockets of efficiency that stretch spend further.

It’s not just about automating analysis—it’s about compressing the time between spend and proof. In a media landscape where everyone’s under pressure to justify every dollar, AI isn’t just a tool in the stack. It’s becoming the reason the stack performs at all.

The takeaway? What used to slow investment down is starting to push it forward.

The future of AI is now

AI isn’t plug-and-play. Not in retail media.

The landscape shifts by the hour—inventory fluctuates, promos rotate weekly, shopper behavior swings with the season or even the weather. Generic AI models don’t stand a chance.

The real unlock? AI trained on commerce-specific signals.

Not just what’s happening in aggregate, but what’s happening right now on a Tuesday afternoon, when a brand is low on inventory in the Midwest and running a regional BOGO. That’s where the performance lies. And where the next wave of differentiation begins.

Skai is already moving in that direction—embedding AI into the guts of campaign management in a way that actually gets the nuances.

• Adjusting bids based on incremental ROAS
• Forecasting performance across specific retail channels
• Recommending budget shifts in real-time

Caroline Ballard, VP Commerce Media, Profitero agrees that technology partners will play a significant role in the future of retail media/commerce media. “Open ecosystems are crucial in today’s reality to predict and proactively address market trends… Integrated solutions with a custom partner set across media, content, and others is what increases speed to innovation and ultimately, achieving and exceeding business goals.”

You can feel the shift coming. More sophisticated tools, better training data, and a sharper sense of where AI—especially generative AI—fits into the workflow.GenAI’s influence is undeniable, reshaping everything from creative optimization to insight generation. Over the next 12 months, the curve steepens, and marketers who are already laying the foundation won’t just keep pace—they’ll set it.