Mary Gabrielyan
October 23, 2025
18
minutes read
In 2026, retailers without a sharp digital strategy lose—simple as that. Brick-and-mortar still rings the tills, yet journeys are stitched through many digital moments. If you can’t connect them, you won’t matter.
Retail digital marketing in 2026 is a system, not a grab bag. Retailers that connect data, creative, media, and measurement into one operating model outpace those optimizing channel by channel.
Attention has already shifted. Streaming accounted for 47.3% of U.S. TV usage in July 2025—within striking distance of half of all viewing—and 57% of Americans now start their TV time inside a streaming app, not live TV. That’s where targeting and shoppable formats can do real work.
Demand creation and capture are converging, too. U.S. online shoppers spent $292.9B in Q2 2025 (up 5.3% year over year), with $6.6B in August purchases financed via BNPL—up 15% in a single year—shaping how baskets are built and measured.
And retail media isn’t a side channel anymore. Globally, it’s on track for $176.9B in 2025—about 15.9% of all ad spend—with the U.S. and China driving the majority. For retailers, it’s become a primary growth engine and a measurement backbone.
This article defines what “digital retail marketing” means for the year ahead, then shows how to put it to work: the core types (online, omnichannel, phygital), the essential building blocks (data & analytics; social & influencer; paid media, etc.), and eight practical strategies you can execute with today’s tools.
💡 Dive deeper into AI in digital marketing in our primer: How artificial intelligence is transforming strategies in 2026.
Retail digital marketing is the coordinated use of data, content, media, and measurement to attract shoppers, convert them, and keep them coming back. It isn’t a grab bag of channels; it’s a system that only delivers when you treat it as a strategy tied to clear outcomes.
At a practical level, that system connects:
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💡 For the technology stack that enables this system — CDP, CRM, ad platforms, attribution, and more — see MarTech: Complete Guide to Marketing Technology in 2026.
Channel-by-channel optimization won’t cut it next year. Attention has shifted to connected environments, and budgets follow attention—streaming captured nearly half of U.S. TV viewing in July 2025, having surpassed the combined share of broadcast and cable, which changes how retail brands build reach and frequency.
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At the same time, e-commerce reached 15.5% of total U.S. retail sales in Q2 2025, so the path to purchase spans search, social, retail media, CTV, and stores. Treating those touchpoints as a system—shared data, consistent audiences, unified measurement—lets you decide where each dollar works hardest, not just where it last clicked.
Measurement and targeting are also changing. Chrome’s Privacy Sandbox is moving the web away from third-party cookies, which pushes retailers toward first-party data, clean-room collaboration, and tests that prove incremental lift rather than relying on legacy attribution. Yet only about a quarter of marketers run incrementality testing in-house, a gap that strategic teams will turn into an advantage.
💡 If you need a refresher on why “good” dashboards can still mislead growth decisions, see Why your marketing metrics are lying about growth—then design your retail digital marketing strategy to answer for causality, not just correlation.
Think of the “types” as the three arenas where your program actually plays out. First, the digital storefronts you control or rent (site, app, marketplaces, social commerce). Second, the connected journey across channels—online into store and back again. Third, in-store experiences that add digital utility at the shelf so decisions get easier and data flows back into your system.
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This covers the digital storefronts you own or rent: your website and app, marketplaces (Amazon, Walmart, eBay), and social commerce surfaces.
The work is straightforward—get found, convert, and retain. Practically, that means fast product pages, relevant on-site search, trusted reviews, smooth checkout, and remarketing that respects consent.
Treat marketplaces as performance channels with clear targets (share of voice, ROAS, new-to-brand) and use your own site to build first-party data you can activate across paid media and CRM.
For context on where attention is shifting—as mentioned, streaming’s share of TV usage has surpassed the combined broadcast and cable, expanding the addressable surfaces where retail ads can push shoppers back to these storefronts.
Omnichannel connects discovery, purchase, and service across web, app, and stores so a shopper can start anywhere and finish anywhere.
Two signals show why this matters: shoppers who used four or more channels spent 9% more in store than single-channel shoppers in a 46,000-shopper study, and 85% of BOPIS customers made an extra purchase when picking up.
Plan around one customer profile, consistent offers, and shared inventory so tactics like BOPIS/curbside, ship-from-store, and clienteling compound rather than compete.
⚡ One identity, one offer engine, one inventory view—everything else is orchestration.
Phygital brings digital utility into the aisle: guided selling on associate devices, AR try-ons, interactive signage, and store apps that recognize loyalty members. These experiences are not gimmicks—they influence behavior.
In Deloitte’s 2025 U.S. retail outlook, 47% of surveyed shoppers said digital screens positively impact their in-store grocery shopping, underscoring the role of well-placed content and promotions.
Use these touchpoints to enrich the experience and to capture consented data that improves the next interaction online or in store.
These are the building blocks that make the system work. Each element plays a distinct role—collect signal, shape the experience, reach the right people, and prove what moved sales. Wire them to the same data and measurement so they reinforce one another instead of acting alone.
Treat data as the control system. Unify consented first-party data (site, app, store, loyalty), then use analytics and AI to segment, predict, and automate. Adoption is now mainstream—78% of organizations report using AI in at least one business function, with marketing and sales among the most active, according to McKinsey’s 2025 global survey.
What to prioritize: a clean data layer (CDP/warehouse), privacy-safe audience building, predictive models for propensity and churn, experimentation frameworks (incrementality tests), and transparent AI that explains its decisions.
Your site and app are the highest-control sales channels. Make them fast, searchable, and persuasive—then keep testing. A practical reason to obsess over UX: about 70% of online shopping carts are abandoned, per Baymard’s ongoing checkout usability research. Fix the basics (fees transparency, guest checkout, reliable payments, mobile page speed), and run continuous A/B tests on PDPs, search, and checkout flows.
Content should answer real buying intents (comparisons, sizing, how-tos, care guides) and feed both search and onsite discovery. Build a small set of evergreen pillars, map them to category demand, and structure pages with clear metadata and internal links. Measure beyond rankings—track assisted conversions and contribution to email capture so content is tied to revenue, not just traffic.
⚡ Search intent isn’t a keyword list; it’s a sequence. Design pages to answer the next question, not just the first.
Owned channels compound when they’re fueled by good data. Use your CRM to drive lifecycle messaging (welcome, browse/cart recovery, replenishment, win-back) and coordinate with SMS and push. Keep segmentation simple and test creative often; report on revenue per recipient and incremental lift, not just opens and clicks.
💡 For a deeper build-out — including data model, channel mix, and team workflow — see CRM in retail: complete guide to customer relationship management in retail.
Plan social for two jobs: daily reach (paid/organic video, UGC) and trust (creator partnerships with clear disclosure and measurement).
Budgets are following through—US influencer marketing spend is set to surpass $10.5 billion in 2025, reflecting its role in product discovery and mid-funnel persuasion.
Standardize briefs, audience fit checks, and performance tracking (unique links/codes, MMM inputs) so creator work rolls into your broader measurement.
Balance intent and inspiration. Cover search for high-intent demand capture; use retail media networks to win digital shelf space and prove sales; add video/CTV for scalable reach tied to audiences you can also activate elsewhere. Two planning anchors:
Tie all elements back to one measurement plan so creative, audiences, and budgets can be reused—not rebuilt—across channels.
⚡ Models don’t fix messy data; they amplify it. Clean the inputs first.
These strategies turn the building blocks into repeatable action. Start with evidence, then scale what proves incremental. Each playbook outlines how to run, measure, and refine so every cycle learns faster than the last.
⚡ Any retail digital marketing strategy is a hypothesis—treat it like one. Test, measure, adjust, repeat.
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Great retail marketing runs on evidence, not hunches. Optimization means proving what causes lift, then reallocating budget and creative toward the winners. Predictive analytics adds foresight: models estimate the likelihood of purchase, churn, or response so you can act before the outcome. The goal isn’t fancy math for its own sake—it’s faster learning cycles and higher confidence in each dollar you spend.
Playbook:
AI is best at high-volume, high-speed decisions—budget pacing, bid moves, audience expansion, creative versioning—while humans set strategy and constraints. The payoff is responsiveness: campaigns adapt to new signals in minutes instead of days, and teams reclaim time for positioning, offers, and assortment.
💡 Read more in The future is now: how AI Digital embraces AI technologies to change the programmatic game.
Playbook:
As third-party identifiers fade, durable performance comes from consented data, clean measurement, and tactics that don’t depend on cross-site tracking. First-party and zero-party data anchor targeting and personalization, while clean rooms and server-side conversion APIs maintain signal quality. Expect more contextual, cohort, and geo approaches, with incrementality and modeled outcomes replacing user-level stitching.
💡 See In a cookie-less world: new challenges and opportunities.
Playbook:
Personalization should reduce decision effort. Start where choice is hardest—homepage hero, category sort, PDP recommendations, cart cross-sell, lifecycle messages—and let behavior, product attributes, and economics decide what appears. Keep the system explainable so merchandisers can audit outcomes and prevent bias.
Playbook:
Customers don’t think in channels; they think in tasks—discover, compare, buy, return. Integration means one identity, one offer engine, and accurate inventory across web, app, and stores so people can start anywhere and finish anywhere. It also means reporting that recognizes digital influence on store sales.
Playbook:
Trust compounds when real people advocate for you. Creator partnerships and owned communities supply credible product proof and ongoing dialogue. The aim is long-term relationships, not one-off posts—measured by attributable sales, assisted conversions, and lift in consideration.
Playbook:
RMNs blend shelf position with performance media, using retailer first-party data to reach shoppers near purchase. Treat each network as a distinct market with its own auction dynamics and measurement rules, and compare them with a standard taxonomy so decisions are truly apples-to-apples.
💡 For fundamentals, see What is a retail media network: definition, trends, insights.
Playbook:
⚡ Winning the digital shelf isn’t just about bids; it’s about product detail pages that deserve the win.
CTV delivers television-level attention with digital addressability. Use audience packages you can also reach in search and social for follow-up, and make spots shoppable with QR or send-to-phone options. Prove value with geo or household-level lift tests and triangulate with site visit and store traffic proxies.
💡 Learn more in Connected TV advertising and Streaming TV advertising.
Playbook:
⚡Plan creative for the mute button first—if the story works without sound, it works everywhere.
The right stack turns strategy into repeatable execution. Below are the categories most retailers rely on, with examples and how each supports personalization, measurement, and efficiency.
Examples: Shopify, Adobe Commerce (Magento), BigCommerce, Salesforce Commerce Cloud
E-commerce platforms are the foundation. Shopify powers roughly 4.8–5.6 million stores worldwide and holds about 29–30% U.S. platform share, making it the default choice for many retailers, while Adobe Commerce (Magento) and BigCommerce serve mid-market and enterprise use cases. Platform choice shapes everything from SEO flexibility to checkout conversion.
AI is now built in. Shopify’s Magic features auto-generate product descriptions and other copy, and the company is bolstering AI search via its acquisition of Vantage Discovery; it also introduced an AI Store Builder that creates full storefronts from a prompt. BigCommerce is rolling out BigAI tools for copy, analytics, and recommendations. Modern platforms also ship mobile-first themes and true omnichannel—connecting online catalogs to POS and marketplaces.
Examples: Salesforce, HubSpot, Klaviyo, Braze
CRM and marketing automation are the orchestration layer for customer engagement. Platforms like Salesforce, HubSpot, and Klaviyo centralize profiles and run personalized programs—behavioral triggers, predictive segments, and coordinated messaging across email, SMS, web, and ads. Most modern teams are already wired for this: 88% report having a marketing automation platform or CDP in their stack, and marketers now work across an average of 10 engagement channels, which makes orchestration—not channel silos—the job.
Integration is the make-or-break. When CRMs are cleanly connected to ecommerce, POS, and service systems, triggers and predictions can fire in real time; yet about two in five marketers still lack real-time data for key tasks, slowing activation and personalization. That’s why tight integrations (and data hygiene) determine how much value you actually get from the toolset.
Examples: Amazon Ads, Walmart Connect, Target Roundel, Instacart Ads
Retail media platforms are where marketplace demand is won. Amazon Ads and Walmart Connect (along with Target, Instacart, Kroger, and others) let brands advertise at the point of purchase.
As brands scale, fragmentation kicks in: 78% of consumer brands increased RMN investment year over year, and the average brand now works with 5+ retail media networks—which makes cross-network management a real tax on time and performance. This is why third-party tools like Pacvue (unified management across 100+ retailers) and Perpetua (Amazon, Instacart, Walmart, Target, plus Amazon DSP) have become essential to plan, automate, and analyze campaigns from one place.
Examples: Google Analytics 4, Adobe Analytics, Adjust, AppsFlyer, Rockerbox, MMM platforms
Analytics and attribution tools are how you see what’s really working. Google Analytics 4 now replaces Universal Analytics by default and tracks web + app behavior with an event-based, privacy-aware model (modeling for consent gaps, cookieless signals, and predictive insights).
For multi-touch and cross-channel truth, specialized platforms step in. Rockerbox bundles attribution, MMM, and incrementality testing so you can connect media to outcomes beyond last-click. AppsFlyer remains a leading mobile measurement partner for app tracking and SKAdNetwork-era attribution.
Examples: Elevate (media intelligence) and Smart Supply (supply optimization)
Elevate is AI Digital’s intelligence layer that plans, forecasts, and optimizes campaigns across platforms—then explains every move. It builds plans in about 30 seconds via a conversational planner, forecasts performance with predictive models, and aligns spend to custom KPIs (e.g., ROAS, CAC) rather than proxy metrics. Once live, Elevate recalibrates bids and budgets about every 15 minutes, guided by an Impact Score that highlights the highest-leverage audience, placement, and creative changes. The Ask Elevate assistant turns complex data into plain-language answers, so teams can audit why a change was made and what it’s expected to deliver. In short, Elevate speeds decisions, reduces waste, and keeps strategy in human hands with transparent, AI-driven recommendations.
Smart Supply orchestrates where your ads run, prioritizing premium, brand-safe inventory and short, efficient supply paths that protect working media. It operates DSP-agnostically across display, video, CTV, and audio, filtering out low-quality and IVT traffic, removing unnecessary bid-stream hops that inflate CPMs, and building custom Deal IDs tuned to your KPI—then optimizing them continuously. Buyers gain full placement transparency and can activate quickly (deal libraries or campaign-specific curation), without added platform bias or extra tool fees. The result is cleaner supply, better viewability, and fewer wasted impressions—so more of your budget reaches the environments that actually drive outcomes.
Here’s a pragmatic way to stitch the tools together so data, creative, and media pull in the same direction. Build in layers, validate each layer with measurement, and only add components that clearly improve speed, personalization, or proof of impact.
A focused stack—wired deeply and measured consistently—enables personalization customers can feel, reporting you can trust, and execution that scales without adding headcount.
Here are three concrete plays that show the system at work—from marketplace search to unified commerce to shoppable TV. Each ties a clear tactic to measurable outcomes so you can see what to borrow and where to test first.
Made for Locs used Sponsored Products to expand reach and test bundles. In six weeks, campaigns delivered a 10× ROAS and a 40% increase in average order value as shoppers explored the broader routine. Amazon’s case study attributes the lift to product bundling and traffic to the Brand Store, not just bids.
Takeaway: treat Sponsored Products as more than keyword auctions—pair them with on-page merchandising (Brand Store, bundles) so clicks convert into bigger baskets.
Mizzen+Main unified ecommerce and stores on Shopify (POS + online), giving associates a single customer profile and real-time inventory. In 2023 they recorded 27% growth in retail revenue, 16% in retail orders, and 15% in online revenue year over year after rolling out the integrated stack and clienteling workflows.
Takeaway: a unified platform turns store staff into informed sellers and keeps promotions consistent across channels, which shows up in both store and online results.
A skincare advertiser targeting households around department store locations ran a CTV campaign with QR-enabled creative. Results: 96% video completion, 4% click-through rate, and 3.4× higher sales in optimized markets versus the rest, across premium publishers.
💡 If you’re weighing addressable versus CTV buys, this primer can help: Addressable TV vs connected TV.
Takeaway: make TV actionable (QR/send-to-phone), localize delivery around stores, and confirm impact with market-level sales comparisons.
A clear view of upside and trade-offs helps you plan with intent. Start with the advantages retailers unlock when digital runs as a system.
Done well, digital programs widen reach, improve relevance, and prove impact. Here are the main gains you can expect.
There are hurdles to clear before results compound. Address these constraints early so they don’t cap performance later.
Bottom line: treat digital as a system. When data, creative, media, and measurement operate on the same playbook, benefits compound and the common pitfalls become manageable constraints rather than growth killers.
⚡ If the metric can’t change a decision, it’s a dashboard ornament—promote the few that do.
Here’s what will shape plans over the next 12 months. Use these trends to decide where to invest, what to test first, and which capabilities to build into your stack.
💡 For broader context on where media is heading, see Media trends 2025. For how shifts in TV buying shape retail plans, see Upfront trends and implications for marketers.
Treat retail digital marketing as a system. The retailers that win in 2026 connect four pillars into one operating model: omnichannel execution (web, app, and stores sharing identity, inventory, and offers), paid media that can prove outcomes (search, retail media, CTV), personalization that reduces decision effort (contextual rules plus explainable models), and AI-driven insight loops that reallocate budget and refresh creative based on real results—not hunches. Do this, and every campaign learns faster, wastes less, and compounds into higher lifetime value.
What’s practical on day one:
💡 If you want a deeper look at how to operationalize this, see How AI Digital helps seize retail and commerce media opportunities.
If you’d like us to build a 2026 plan or pressure-test your current mix, reach out. We’ll audit your data and measurement setup, size the opportunity across channels, and propose a pilot that proves lift before you scale—using Open Garden access, Elevate for intelligence, and Smart Supply to keep every impression working.
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Inefficiency
Description
Use case
Description of use case
Examples of companies using AI
Ease of implementation
Impact
Audience segmentation and insights
Identify and categorize audience groups based on behaviors, preferences, and characteristics
Automated ad campaigns
Automate ad creation, placement, and optimization across various platforms
Brand sentiment tracking
Monitor and analyze public opinion about a brand across multiple channels in real time
Campaign strategy optimization
Analyze data to predict optimal campaign approaches, channels, and timing
Content strategy
Generate content ideas, predict performance, and optimize distribution strategies
Personalization strategy development
Create tailored messaging and experiences for consumers at scale
Traditional retail marketing relies on broad, one-to-many tactics (mass TV, print, in-store flyers) with limited feedback loops. Retail digital marketing uses consented data, targeted media (search, social, retail media, CTV), and event-level measurement to reach specific audiences, adapt creative in near real time, and prove incremental sales. It’s not a set of channels; it’s a coordinated system that connects discovery, conversion, and loyalty.
Win by narrowing focus. Choose a defensible niche, build high-intent coverage (local search, product-led content, marketplaces), and use CRM to run tight lifecycle programs. Lean on retail media and look-alike audiences where you can close the loop on sales, and use lightweight AI tools to automate routine tasks so your team spends time on offers, creative, and service.
It’s the set of controllable levers a retailer uses to create demand and convert it: product and assortment; pricing and promotions; place and fulfillment (stores, site, marketplaces); and promotion across owned and paid channels. In a digital context, the mix is orchestrated with shared data and measurement so each lever supports the others rather than operating in silos.
Track a short ladder of metrics that tie directly to profit: Revenue, gross margin, and contribution per order New-to-file customers and cohort LTV Incremental ROAS (from tests/clean rooms), not just platform-reported ROAS Conversion rate, average order value, and repeat rate Media efficiency (CAC, cost per incremental reach/visit) and attention quality (viewability, completion rate, frequency)
Start with a planning guardrail rather than a universal percentage. Model spend from unit economics: target CAC ≤ a defined share of contribution margin for priority products, then size budgets to hit growth goals given expected conversion and LTV. Maintain a learning allocation (5–10% of media) for testing new channels or formats, and shift funds toward tactics that demonstrate incremental lift.
Digital programs power the full loyalty loop. Paid media and onsite capture consent; CRM uses that data for timely offers and reminders; retail media and CTV re-engage members with tailored messages; analytics confirm which benefits drive retention and higher basket value. The result is a program that feels useful—personalized perks, relevant replenishment prompts, and recognition across web, app, and stores.
In the retail industry, start with clear revenue goals, deep customer insight, and consented first-party data stitched into a unified profile. Retail companies should pair fast creative testing with the right mix of channels—search and retail media for capture, social/creators for discovery, email/SMS for retention, CTV for scalable reach—measured by incrementality, not vanity metrics. Omnichannel is non-negotiable in the retail sector: keep offers, inventory, and identity in sync across ecommerce and stores, with governance and a steady experimentation cadence
