A joint survey by the Interactive Advertising Bureau and Grocery TV found that 43 percent of marketers report underutilizing in-store retail media relative to its potential, according to The Shelby Report. The same research shows marketers increasingly view the channel as viable across the full funnel, not just point-of-purchase, yet deployment lags belief.
The underutilization is structural. Marketers know the screens work but hesitate to commit budget because in-store retail media lacks the attribution plumbing of digital channels. The creative pipeline also stalls: most brands repurpose social or OOH assets rather than build for the in-aisle context, where dwell time is measured in seconds and the competing stimulus is the product itself three feet away. The result is a channel acknowledged but under-resourced, leaving share-of-screen available to brands willing to move faster.
The mechanism that makes in-store retail media work is proximity to conversion. A shopper sees the message within arm's reach of the shelf, often while holding a competitor's SKU. The ad is not asking for a click or a remember-later; it is asking for a swap in the next eight seconds. That compression of stimulus and action is why the channel performs, and why marketers who treat it as awareness-only leave performance on the table. The brands winning in-store are those that script the ad to the exact decision the shopper is making in that moment, not the decision they made last week on Instagram.
A small physical-product brand can claim this space without the media budget of a CPG major. First, approach the retailer or the screen network directly. Many in-store retail media platforms, including Grocery TV, offer self-serve or low-minimum buys for emerging brands, especially if the product is already on the shelf. Negotiate a test: four weeks, specific stores, daypart targeting if available. Budget $500 to $2,000 for a regional pilot. Second, write the creative for the exact aisle. If the product is in the snack section, the ad should name the category and the alternative the shopper is holding. Use a single line of copy and a pack shot. No brand story, no founder narrative. The message is swap logic: why this one instead of that one, in ten words. Third, measure at the SKU level. Pull scan data for the test stores and compare week-over-week movement. If the retailer will not share data, use a promo code exclusive to the in-store ad and track redemption. The ROI math is simple: did the screen move more units than it cost. If yes, scale to more stores. If no, rewrite the swap logic and test again.
The broader pattern is that marketers consistently underdeploy channels they cannot measure with the same rigor as digital, even when those channels demonstrably move product. The brand that wins is the one that accepts imperfect attribution in exchange for proximity to the buy.