# Brands Shift In-Store Retail Media From Endcap to Awareness — Survey Shows 43% Underspend

*IAB data reveals marketers now deploy shelf-edge screens and in-aisle displays for top-of-funnel reach, not just conversion.*

By **Jenny Huang Goodman MPA MSc MHSA, Principal** — The Stash Edge, Hako Shikin LLC.
Published 2026-10-25.

Canonical: https://www.pops4.com/stash/articles/the-shelby-report-retail-media-survey-2026-10-25t03-7
Subject: The Shelby Report (Retail Media Survey)
Tags: retail media, in-store marketing, point of sale, sampling, shelf marketing, physical retail

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A new survey from The Shelby Report shows marketers are rethinking where in-store retail media fits in the funnel. Historically treated as a last-touch conversion tool — endcap displays, shelf talkers, instant discounts — brands now report using in-store screens, audio spots, and sampling stations to build awareness and consideration, not just close sales. According to IAB data cited by PPC Land, **43%** of retail media buyers say they currently underuse in-store media, suggesting the shift is opportunity-driven rather than fully deployed.

What brands are doing is straightforward: they are buying screen time on the digital displays that now sit above freezer aisles and near checkout at grocery chains, running video spots that introduce a new SKU or reinforce a brand story rather than pushing a coupon. They are placing sampling tables earlier in the store journey, paired with QR codes that lead to educational content or a brand quiz. The goal is to intercept a shopper before they reach the category, not after they have picked up a competitor's product.

The mechanism is环境控制 and context. In-store media delivers a message when the shopper is already in buying mode, budget allocated, cart in hand. Traditional upper-funnel tactics — social ads, YouTube pre-roll — reach people on the couch or commute, far from a purchase decision. In-store screens reach them ten feet from the shelf, in the exact moment when they are deciding what goes in the basket. That proximity collapses the time between awareness and trial, especially for physical products where tactile evaluation matters. The shopper sees the screen, walks five steps, picks up the product, reads the label, and decides. The entire funnel compresses into ninety seconds.

The steal for a small physical-product brand is to treat the retail floor as a micro-media buy, even without a formal retail media network contract. Start with point-of-sale materials that do awareness work, not just price work. Instead of a shelf talker that says "New Lower Price," use one that says "Made from Recycled Ocean Plastic — Scan to See the Process" with a QR code linking to a fifteen-second video. Cost: design template from Canva, QR generator free, print run of **500** talkers at a local shop for under **$150**. Place them on your own product facings; most retailers allow brand-supplied POS if it is professional and non-promotional.

Next, negotiate a sampling window with the store manager, positioned near the entrance or in a high-traffic aisle intersection, not buried at the back endcap. Offer **50** samples over a Saturday morning, staffed by you or a hire from a local campus ambassadors program at **$20**/hour for four hours. The sampling is not about immediate conversion — it is about getting the brand name and a single product benefit into the shopper's head before they reach your category. Hand them a sample, say one sentence about the differentiator, give them a card with the aisle number and a discount code for their next visit. Total cost: product cost, labor, cards printed at **$30** for **200** units. Under **$250** all-in for a brand awareness play that reaches shoppers already in buying mode.

If you have distribution in a chain with digital screens, reach out to the retail media sales contact — often listed on the retailer's corporate site under "Advertising" — and ask for the remnant inventory rate sheet. Screens go unsold in off-peak dayparts or less-trafficked stores. A **15**-second spot running **100** times across ten stores in a secondary market can cost **$500**-**$1,000**, far below the premium slots. Run a simple product demo or founder story, not a price callout. The objective is recognition, so when the shopper rounds the corner into your aisle, they think, "I just saw that."

The broader pattern is that the retail floor is no longer just a battlefield for share of shelf. It is becoming a media surface, and the brands that treat it as such — deploying awareness creative in high-traffic zones, not just conversion messaging at the point of decision — are compressing consideration and trial into a single store visit. The **43%** underspend figure from IAB suggests most marketers have not yet made that shift. The ones who do, early, will own the intercept before the competition even knows the game changed.

## The takeaway

Deploy in-store media for awareness, not just conversion — shelf talkers with QR codes and entrance sampling intercept buyers before they reach your category.

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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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