Retail Media Taking Back Control Through AI

At the World Retail Congress, where retail media was high on every retailer’s agenda on the main stage, Diana Abebrese, Global Retail Media Lead at EPAM Continuum, explained why it was perceived as such a strategic priority. Retail media, which witnessed a 20% growth to $119bn in 2023, is not just a lucrative revenue stream, but the financial opportunity is driving retailers to increasingly view themselves as media owners, resulting in a paradigm shift in current business models.

While the opportunities are enormous, building and scaling a retail media network has several complex hurdles and challenges. Securing investment into RMN s over other initiatives requires a significant business case to be presented. However, the challenges of embracing retail media extend far beyond financial considerations. Retailers are frequently overwhelmed with the need for rapid change across their technology, data, and operational organizations to grow revenues at pace. In a world where data is power, navigating the complex and fragmented data sources generated from retail media poses significant challenges.

Cutting through these complexities, the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) emerges as a potential game-changer. Applying AI within retail strategies, such as automated data aggregation, can be immensely beneficial. In retail media, it can manage, analyze and support data insights. It has the capability to build predictive audience segments, forecast campaign performance, optimize campaigns in real-time and generate media plans and strategies with the correct data prompts.

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