Marketing

In this episode of Total Retail Tech Insights, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan interviews Megan McDonagh, chief marketing officer at Wpromote, a top independent marketing agency that challenges convention to accelerate growth for brands. Listen in as McDonagh provides an overview of Wpromote and her career background (1:00), the wide variety of industries the agency serves (3:40),…

Retail media has become one of the fastest-growing segments of digital advertising, giving retailers a valuable way to monetize their first-party data. For years, retail media networks (RMNs) have focused on high-margin, lower-funnel ad placements across their owned-and-operated (O&O) websites and apps. However, as that inventory reaches saturation, the next phase of growth is happening…

Retail media is experiencing a full-blown boom phase. This is great news for advertisers and agencies — it means more retail media networks (RMNs) investing in best-in-class, competitive technology, providing more ways to reach target audiences. The catch is that when growth extends in all directions, the process of pursuing business objectives becomes that much…

Retail media ad spending is projected to reach over $165 billion this year, making up more than a fifth of digital ad spend worldwide. However, this booming industry is built on shaky ground: retail media networks (RMNs) can’t actually prove who is seeing their ads. While retailers promise targeted advertising through first-party data, most can’t…

The direct-to-consumer (DTC) landscape is shifting under the weight of rising customer acquisition costs, tariff threats, overdependence on Meta and Google, and a lack of long-term strategic planning. While performance marketing has fueled explosive short-term growth, it's also created fragile business models that often falter under pressure. The most resilient and profitable brands are those…

A single retailer makes up less than 0.5 percent of a shopper’s total retail visits, according to recent data. Adding to that challenge, consumers spend less than 5 percent of their free time shopping each month. These realities of fragmented shopping, combined with the impact of rising costs on essentials and discretionary goods, have made…

Retail has dramatically transformed in recent years as evolving consumer preferences and the COVID-19 pandemic turbocharged e-commerce growth. While online sales surged, profitability didn’t keep pace — leaving retailers scrambling for alternative revenue streams. In the rush to recover lost profits, many retailers handed over their retail media operations to third-party gatekeepers. This quick fix,…

For years, direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands have followed a familiar playbook: pour money into search and social, optimize for conversions, and scale what works. However, that formula is getting harder to sustain. Platform saturation, rising costs, and tighter privacy regulations are forcing brands to rethink their media strategies. Growth still requires performance, but now it also…

When the cost of living rises faster than paychecks, spending doesn’t stop — it shifts. As inflation and economic uncertainty continue in 2025, consumers are leaning harder on credit to bridge the gap between what they need, want, and can actually afford. In 2024, U.S. consumer debt grew by nearly half a trillion dollars. And…

Not long ago, retail media networks (RMNs) were considered niche players in the digital advertising space, with endemic brands making up the majority of advertisers buying sponsored product listings and display banners on retailers’ owned digital properties. Due to their proximity to the point of purchase, RMNs were effective but largely seen as a lower-funnel…