# 43% of marketers admit they underutilize in-store retail media, IAB survey reveals

*The gap signals opportunity for physical brands to claim neglected shelf-level media before competitors do.*

By **Jenny Huang Goodman MPA MSc MHSA, Principal** — The Stash Edge, Hako Shikin LLC.
Published 2026-10-10.

Canonical: https://www.pops4.com/stash/articles/marketers-using-in-store-retail-media-2026-10-10t15-3
Subject: Marketers using in-store retail media
Tags: in-store media, retail media networks, point-of-purchase, shelf marketing, grocery retail

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An IAB and Grocery TV survey published in The Shelby Report found that **43%** of marketers report underutilizing in-store retail media, even as they increasingly recognize it as a full-funnel channel. The admission exposes a capability gap: most brands understand the value of reaching shoppers at the point of decision, but few execute well enough to claim the available inventory.

The underutilization stems from fragmentation and unfamiliarity. In-store retail media—digital screens, shelf-edge displays, end-cap placements, even audio zones—operates outside the programmatic infrastructure marketers use for digital channels. Buying inventory requires direct relationships with grocers, drug chains, or convenience networks. Creative must be tailored to the format and the moment. Attribution is harder. So marketers default to what they know, leaving the channel underfunded even when they acknowledge its relevance.

The opportunity sits in that gap. In-store media reaches shoppers when intent is highest and switching costs are lowest. A shopper standing in the aisle has already traveled to the store, navigated to the category, and is seconds from a choice. A well-placed message at that moment—a recipe suggestion, a limited offer, a new variant callout—shifts purchases in real time. According to the IAB research, marketers now see this channel as relevant across awareness, consideration, and conversion, not just the final moment. That makes it rare: a media type that works throughout the funnel and captures the customer at the decision point.

For a small physical-product brand, the play is to start narrow and prove unit economics before scaling. Identify one retail partner where you already have distribution—a regional grocer, a specialty chain, a convenience network. Request their in-store media kit. Most chains now offer programmatic or self-service access to their digital screens and shelf displays, often priced per store per week. A **$500** test in ten stores for two weeks gives you read-through data and basket lift without committing to a national buy.

Create one asset: a single static image or ten-second loop that communicates the new, the different, or the exclusive. If you have a flavor launch, show the product and the flavor name in large type. If you have a use case competitors ignore, show the context—the product in the moment of use. Keep the creative tight to the shelf set. A screen ten feet from your product should drive a shopper to your product, not to a brand awareness exercise. Run the test, pull the sales data from the retailer, and calculate the incremental volume per media dollar. If the return clears **2x**, expand to more stores in the same chain. If it does not, adjust the creative or the timing and test again.

The larger pattern is that in-store retail media is moving from a nice-to-have to table stakes as retailers build out their media networks and marketers chase offline conversions. The **43%** gap will close, and when it does, the inventory and the favorable rates will disappear. Brands that move now buy at early-market pricing and learn the mechanics before the channel becomes crowded.

## The takeaway

In-store retail media remains underutilized; small brands can test shelf-level screens for under $500 and prove lift before competitors fill the gap.

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## Publisher

**Hako Shikin LLC** — Virginia Beach, Virginia. Founded 1997. ASI 217876 · DUNS 18-204-6339.
Principal and author: **Jenny Huang Goodman MPA MSc MHSA**.

- Author: https://www.huanggoodman.com/about
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