GROWTH SERIES 2026 | WEEK 7: THE MEDIA-FICATION OF RETAIL
Martin Bailie Bailie CEO and founder and MWB Advisory
If Week 6 was about the Back-End (Supply Chain), Week 7 is about the Front-End P&L.
In 2026, the retail store is no longer just a place to sell products; it has become a high-margin Media Channel. We are moving from the “Brick and Mortar” era to the “Pixel and Portal” era.
The High-Margin Revolution
For decades, retail has fought for every basis point of margin in a low-yield environment. But a seismic shift has occurred. Retailers are realising that their first-party data and physical floor space are more valuable than the products they carry. We are entering Retail Media 2.0, where the physical store becomes the “New Search Bar.”
Why Now?
The 2026 landscape is defined by the death of the third-party cookie and the birth of the “In-Store Impression”:
- The Revenue Engine: #BCG and #eMarketer report that Retail Media margins typically sit between 60% and 90%, far eclipsing the 3-5% standard in grocery or general merchandise.
- The Digitised Aisle: By mid-2026, over 50% of Tier 1 retailers have replaced paper labels with Digital Shelf Edges (ESLs), allowing for dynamic, programmatic advertising at the point of purchase. Vusion
- The Closed-Loop Advantage: Unlike social media ads, Retail Media offers “Closed-Loop Attribution”—the ability to prove that an ad on a cooler door led directly to a tap of a credit card five seconds later. Ambernova Retail Media
The Strategic Mandate: Turning Stores into Studios
To capture this revenue, your physical estate must be treated as a digital network.
Programmatic Physicality:
In 2026, brands don’t just “buy a display” for a month. They bid programmatically for “Impressions” on your end-caps and digital screens. If the weather turns hot, the agents we discussed in Week 6 signal the screens to switch from soup ads to cold drinks instantly.
“At MWB Advisory Ltd, we move you from ‘Static Merchandising’ to ‘Dynamic Monetisation.’ Your stores should be earning rent every second they are open.”
The “Data-Rich” Floorwalk:
Through computer vision and AI-enabled sensors (like those from our partners at Vusion , Quorso or Edgify ), the store knows the path to purchase. This data is the “Gold” that brands like Unilever or P&G are desperate to buy.
Personalisation at Scale:
As the consumer walks the aisle, their “Sentient Store” app (from Week 5) syncs with the digital shelf. The price doesn’t just change; the creative changes to match their dietary preferences or past purchase history.
The Bailie Perspective:
“At MWB Advisory Ltd, we see Retail Media as the great ‘P&L Stabiliser.’ By layering high-margin media revenue over low-margin retail operations, you gain the capital needed to invest in the very technology that makes the store sentient. It is a self-funding cycle of growth.”
The store is no longer a terminal point for a supply chain; it is the starting point for a brand relationship. If you aren’t monetising your traffic, you’re giving away your most valuable asset for free.
“In 2026, every retailer is a media company. The question is: are you broadcasting, or are you just shelf-stacking?”
