Retail media is no longer an experimental line item in the marketing budget, with U.S. retail media ad spending projected to reach $69.3 billion in 2026, up from $58.8 billion in 2025. For many consumer products organizations, advertising experiences on retailer-owned channels have become one of the fastest-growing commercial investments. That growth has increased expectations from retailers, internal stakeholders, and leadership. While the investment has grown quickly, the operating model often hasn’t.  

Retail Media Growth is Outpacing the Model 

Over the past several months, we’ve heard a consistent theme surface in conversations with commercial leaders across for Brand, Sales, Shopper Marketing, Retail Media, Commercial Strategy and Analytics. The start-up mentality and approach that worked when retail media was still emerging may no longer cut it, and many organizations are looking for a consistent and best-in-class retail media operating model. 

As retail media has grown, the same questions continue to surface. Who actually owns retail media? Who decides when investments shift? How should teams work together? Which meetings actually add value? What metrics matter, and what does good look like? When should leadership get involved?  

We know that organizations aren’t really looking for more activity, but rather a clearer way to operate.  

The interesting part is that these organizations usually aren’t missing data; if anything, retail media organizations have never had more data, including retailer-specific dashboards, ROAS, attributed sales, CTR / CVR, incrementality studies, and more. But we know that more data doesn’t always mean better decisions.  

The most important question that continues to come up is, “Was this investment actually worth it?” 

Building a Retail Media Operating Model that Can Scale 

As retail media continues to mature and becomes a larger piece of the puzzle, organizations are starting to realize that it isn’t just another marketing lever. It changes how planning happens, how investment decisions are made, how performance is measured, and how cross-functional teams work together.  

That shift requires clearer ownership. It also requires governance, role clarity, decision rights, and structured visibility across functions.  

One approach we’ve seen work well when organizations are rethinking their retail media operating model is creating a common Retail Media KPI scorecard that Brand, Sales, Shopper Marketing, and Retail Media teams use to evaluate overall performance. It’s common for different functions to have different views of what success looks like. Aligning early on the role retail media plays, and just as importantly, the role it doesn’t play, helps create a shared understanding that leads to better investment decisions. 

We’ve also seen organizations strengthen planning by bringing retail media teams into conversations with National Media earlier in the process. Instead of developing retail media plans as a reaction to brand strategies, involving those teams from the beginning creates stronger alignment across Brand, National Media, and Retail Media. It can also reduce duplicated investments and ensure each channel is playing a distinct yet complementary role. 

The organizations that will get the most value out of their retail media investments won’t necessarily be those spending the most, but rather they’ll be the ones that build operating models capable of supporting sustained investment. As retail media matures, the differentiator becomes less about buying media and more about how effectively the organization plans, measures, governs, and continuously optimizes it.  

Putting the Operating Model into Practice 

At Clarkston, we help consumer products organizations bridge the gap between retail media strategy and day-to-day execution. From operating model design and governance to organizational change management, measurement frameworks, planning processes, and role-based enablement, we help clients build retail media capabilities that scale with the business.  

If you’re looking for guidance on keeping your retail media operating model up to speed, let’s chat.