Retail media has an attention problem nobody solves by adding another screen.
Retail media is booming.
More networks.
More formats.
More screens.
More sponsored placements.
More opportunities for brands to reach shoppers.
But more inventory doesn't automatically create more influence.
Because somewhere between the impression and the purchase sits a scarce resource:
human attention.
A shopper walking through a store is already processing prices, promotions, products, lists, other shoppers and hundreds of visual cues.
Add another screen and we may have created another media opportunity.
But have we created another moment of attention?
That's a different question.
Perhaps the next phase of retail media needs to focus less on where we can place another message and more on where consumers have the mental space to engage with it.
Sometimes that's in-store.
Sometimes it's online.
And sometimes it's long before the shopping trip, when someone is sitting at home deciding what they need and where they'll buy it.
Retail media shouldn't just follow the shopper.
It should understand the shopper.
More media inventory or better moments of influence: where should retailers focus next?