Key Takeaways 💡
- Retail media success depends on operational readiness
- Retail media is booming, but only converts if the post-click experience is optimized.
- Stockouts, poor listings, or bad fulfillment kill ROI—even with great ads.
- Marketplaces are where conversions happen. That’s where you need to shine.
- ChannelEngine helps brands synchronize listings, stock, pricing, and fulfillment across channels.
- Retail media and marketplace performance must be managed together—not in silos.
You search for a new coffee machine. You see an ad. It looks perfect—great price, solid reviews, exactly what you want. You click through, ready to buy…
And it's out of stock. Or worse, the delivery ETA is three weeks. Or the product details are so vague, you’re not sure if it even comes with a carafe.
That’s the post-click reality many brands forget to fix. Retail media is great for visibility. But if your backend can’t keep up, you’re paying to disappoint shoppers.
Online marketplaces are where that traffic lands. And if they’re not optimized, your ad budget won’t get you far.
Retail media is booming
Brands are pouring budgets into ads to win visibility. And retail media has grown into a $115 billion global industry, projected to surpass TV advertising by 2027. The appeal? First-party data, proximity to the point of purchase, and better targeting.
In the financial sector, media networks are gaining traction too, with US ad spend forecasted to nearly double from $640 million in 2025 to $1.22 billion in 2026. That’s a staggering 66.8% CAGR. First-party data is the fuel behind it all.
Why is this channel working so well? Because it shows up where shoppers are already shopping.
Our latest consumer shopping behavior report reveals that over 60% of shoppers start their product search on marketplaces, not search engines.
Understanding how and where consumers shop helps you position your products in the right place at the right time, maximizing visibility and conversion.
Ever seen an ad for running shoes on CNN while reading about world events? Not the moment. But seeing that same ad while browsing “trail runners” on Amazon? That’s where retail media shines. It reaches customers while they’re in “purchase headspace”, not distraction mode.
Even better: it does all of this without third-party cookies. With cookies being phased out, already gone from Safari and Firefox, and on Chrome’s chopping block, advertisers are turning to platforms that can serve relevant ads and respect privacy.
Retail media delivers. It gives brands access to first-party data from real user behavior: search terms, clicks, product views, and purchase history. No cookies needed. No guesswork. Just real insights from shoppers who are ready to act.
Post-click friction is killing media ROI
When media drives traffic, it only delivers value if the shopping experience delivers in kind. Let’s say you win the buy box for “espresso machine” on Amazon. A shopper clicks… and lands on a page with grainy photos, vague specs, and a delivery date three weeks away.
That shopper bounces. Your ad budget? Wasted.
Retail media can get attention, but conversion still depends on the post-click experience. And that’s where many brands stumble. Here are some things that typically break down after the click:
- Bad listings: Incomplete titles, missing specs, poor images—all reduce shopper confidence and kill conversion.
- Stockouts: Advertising an unavailable product wastes budget and irritates customers.
- Pricing gaps: Inconsistent pricing and promotion strategies across channels confuse buyers and weaken trust.
- Fulfillment failures: Slow, unreliable delivery damages the post-purchase experience and future loyalty.
Retail media can’t fix any of this. But marketplaces, and the right product listing integrations, can.
Why marketplaces matter and where ChannelEngine comes in
Marketplaces are where customers go to buy. According to our latest Marketplace Shopping Behavior Report, 61% of consumers say they always start their product searches on marketplaces—not search engines, not brand websites. It’s where trust, convenience, and product variety collide.
This is where ChannelEngine helps brands stand out. We combine deep marketplace expertise with powerful technology and the support of our extensive partner ecosystem, from top retail media agencies to ERP and fulfillment providers, so you're not doing it alone.
ChannelEngine is more than just a marketplace connector. It’s a full performance engine for your marketplace strategy. With us, you get:
- Marketplace-first product automation: Enrich and optimize listings with dynamic content templates, attribute mapping, and channel-specific adjustments — all from one place. Check out all our seller hub features.
- Multi-channel stock control: Sync inventory across every marketplace and backend system, in real-time, to avoid overselling and protect campaign ROI.
- Smart pricing strategies: Automate pricing rules, react to competitive changes, and scale promotions without manual intervention with our dynamic repricer.
- Flexible, reliable fulfillment: Connect to 3PLs, D2C carriers, or FBA-style programs. Route orders automatically based on destination, margin, or delivery time.
- Performance insights across channels: Track sales, returns, campaign impact, and the main marketplace KPIs in one unified dashboard, so your retail media and marketplace performance actually speak to each other.
- An ecosystem that scales with you: Whether you need a media partner, feed management expert, or logistics provider, our partner network helps you move faster and smarter.
Retail readiness = Media success
The truth is simple: operational excellence is the foundation of effective retail media. A disjointed backend doesn’t just create friction—it drains ad budgets.
According to the IAB, 69% of media buyers cite complexity and siloed operations as top challenges in retail media. Without clean catalog data, accurate inventory, and fulfillment reliability, no amount of budget will deliver lasting growth.
Retail media is here to stay—and it's inspiring a wave of new data-powered media channels across industries. But media can’t exist in a vacuum. The brands that treat clicks as the finish line will stall. The ones who optimize from clicks to cart to doorstep will thrive.
If you're investing in retail media, the real question is: Are you ready to capitalize on it?
