In less than a decade, retail media evolved from a monetization tactic piloted by margin-seeking mass retailers into one of advertising’s fastest-growing channels. By nearly every surface-level metric, retail media works. Marketers shifted billions of co-op funds into it, lured by the promise of closed-loop measurement and higher return on relationships with merchants. But beneath retail media’s exuberant marketing lies a complicated reality. The outsized influence of Amazon Ads sets expectations for what retail media can deliver. Retail media networks (RMNs) without Amazon’s inherent, peerless advantages struggle to replicate its runaway growth, leaving advertisers dealing with fragmented workflows and questionable incrementality. Retail Media’s Promise Outpaces Its Execution Retail media’s problem isn’t demand, it’s design. Brands navigate dozens of disparate platforms, each with unique data, measurement standards, and levels of automation.…