A joint study from the Interactive Advertising Bureau and Grocery TV found that 43 percent of marketers acknowledge they underutilize in-store retail media channels, according to The Shelby Report. The admission arrives as retail media networks pull $54 billion annually in ad spend, yet the physical store environment remains systematically underfunded relative to digital shelf placements.
The research shows marketers increasingly recognize in-store media as a full-funnel channel, not just a point-of-purchase vehicle. Brands report using in-store screens, end-cap displays, and shelf-talkers for awareness and consideration objectives traditionally reserved for social and search budgets. The gap between recognition and execution creates a structural arbitrage: retail media inventory in physical stores trades at a discount to its documented conversion lift because most marketers default to digital-only retail media buys.
The mechanism works because the shopper is already in the purchase environment. A brand message on a cooler door or an end-cap screen reaches someone thirty seconds from the shelf, wallet open, substitution decisions still fluid. Digital retail media on Amazon or Instacart competes with ten other tabs and requires the shopper to already be searching a category. In-store media intercepts before the search query forms. Grocery TV data cited in the study indicates that in-store video ads generate measurable lift in basket penetration within the same shopping trip, a outcome velocity digital formats cannot match.
The 43 percent underutilization figure signals where the margin hides. Most CPG brands allocate retail media budgets to search and sponsored product ads because the attribution is clean and the dashboards are familiar. In-store placements require a sales conversation with a retailer's media team, creative adapted for a ten-second loop, and incrementality measurement through sales data integrations. The operational friction keeps budgets in digital channels even when the unit economics favor the store.
A small physical-product brand runs this play by starting with a single retailer's in-store network on a test budget. Approach the retailer's media sales team directly or through a retail media platform like Grocery TV, Cooler Screens, or Vengo. Request a four-week placement in three to five doors where your product already has distribution. Creative specification: a looping ten-second video or static ad, product hero shot, one claim, clear branding, no Ask. Budget expectation: $2,000 to $8,000 for a regional test, depending on store count and screen real estate. Measure using retailer point-of-sale data for the test stores versus matched control doors. Track unit velocity change during the flight and two weeks post. If you lift 8 percent or more in test doors, the play scales. Negotiate a broader rollout with the retailer's merchandising team using the sales data as proof. The CPG incumbents are not doing this work at local scale, which means the inventory is available and the retailer is motivated to fill it.
The broader pattern is that retail media budgets are consolidating at the top of the funnel while the bottom of the funnel sits undermonetized. Brands that recognize the physical store as the highest-intent media environment will capture the margin the 43 percent are leaving on the table.
In-store retail media converts faster than digital shelf ads, and most brands still underfund it.
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