CES & NRF 2026: Early Signals Shaping the Future of Retail Media
CES and the National Retail Federation: Retail’s Big Show generate no shortage of ideas. At Vantage, we look past the panels and booths to the conversations that reveal how retail media is actually evolving. Coming out of the first major events of 2026, a few themes stood out that are shaping how we’re thinking about the year ahead.
Many of these signals reflect the same pain points we see every day at Vantage: fragmented planning, buying, and measurement, disconnected data, and the growing need for unified intelligence across retail and commerce media.
1. Retail media is officially in its “prove it” era.
The chatter has moved past launches and logos. Brands—especially those managing tighter budgets—are pressing for clearer answers about performance, measurement credibility (metrics that align to objectives > reporting on what’s convenient), and incrementality to ensure investments are driving real impact.
Why it matters for retail media: Of all the themes emerging this year, this shift is most likely to shape how budgets get allocated in 2026.
2. Retail growth levers are extending beyond the core retail business.
Today’s leading retailers are building value beyond selling products—through media, entertainment, services, and brand-led experiences that keep customers coming back.
Why it matters for retail media: Retailers that remain overly focused on core commerce risk falling behind those redefining what “retail” even means.
3. In-store is back in the spotlight, but with sharper expectations.
CES showed off the tech; NRF focused on whether it actually scales, connects to shopper data, and drives measurable lift beyond awareness (as seen in new in-store incrementality capabilities announced by Albertsons).
Why it matters for retail media: Vendors that can’t adapt to retailer-specific operating realities will struggle to earn long-term investment.
4. Retail media tech stacks are having a transparency moment.
At NRF, networks spoke more candidly about what powers their retail media businesses and why. Costco openly walked through its full tech stack, alongside Amazon and Macy’s discussing their tech partnership (which has led to 175 net-new advertisers for Macy’s).
Why it matters for retail media: Shifting towards transparency with brands and agencies is more likely to build trust than become a competitive risk.
5. True omnichannel requires orchestration—not more tools.
At CES and NRF, our Chief Strategy Officer Drew Cashmore noted that many retail media announcements leaned heavily on product listing and search-led innovation, sometimes without fully considering what’s most valuable to advertisers.
Why it matters for retail media: Unified buying, data, and intelligence layers will become far more important as fragmented stacks continue to complicate planning, optimization, and measurement.
6. First-party data is becoming more collaborative by design.
Clean rooms and privacy-safe partnerships (such as the Data Hub Instacart rolled out at CES) are making it possible to activate richer audiences across shopping, entertainment, and loyalty ecosystems—without turning data sharing into a risk.
Why it matters for retail media: First-party data evolves from a standalone asset into a foundation for broader, privacy-safe reach.
7. Agentic commerce has momentum in headlines, but less clarity in practice.
While the term showed up frequently at NRF, there was little consensus on its definition (however this could change soon with the newly-announced Universal Commerce Protocol which aims to create an open standard for agentic commerce).
Why it matters for retail media: Without clearer definitions and execution models, agentic commerce remains difficult for brands and retailers to plan against or operationalize at scale.
8. Fragmentation fatigue is setting in.
Retailers, brands, and agencies all signaled a growing appetite for simplification: fewer platforms, cleaner integrations, and unified views of performance.
Why it matters for retail media: As networks expand into physical stores, retail media increasingly depends on media teams understanding how retail actually operates—and on breaking down organizational silos that slow progress.
9. The next phase of AI is about trust and loyalty, not just automation.
As attention windows shrink, conversations emphasized AI that enhances customer service and relevance in the earliest moments of engagement—while preserving the human touch shoppers still expect.
Why it matters for retail media: A higher standard for AI: one measured by experience and relationship-building, not just efficiency gains.
With 2026 just getting started, we’ll keep examining shifts like these—and what they mean for how retail and commerce media actually gets planned, bought, and measured—in our monthly newsletter, Vantage Point. Follow along here to stay ahead of what’s changing fastest and what’s worth prioritizing.
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