"Retail media is evolving from clicks and carts to conversations and context. As generative and conversational AI reshape how people discover products across the answer ecosystem, retail media leaders are facing new challenges - and new opportunities. They sit at a rare intersection. They have first-party data, frequent customer relationships, and real-world transactions. The question isn't whether retail media will keep growing. It's how it evolves without losing performance, trust, or relevance."
"Albertsons is investing heavily in in-store media as the next phase of re-architecting the entire grocery journey. That investment reflects a broader shift in how retailers are thinking about discovery, measurement, and performance from the couch to the checkout. At IAB ALM, I sat down with Brian Monahan, SVP of Retail Media at Albertsons Media Collective, to discuss why conversational AI makes sense for retail media, why incrementality and common standards are critical to trusted measurement, and why building a modern in-store media network is "not for the faint of heart.""
"Brian Monahan: We're seeing conversational AI impact the grocery journey in three main ways. First, we make sure our data - including product data - is fed into large language models and chat experiences organically, so our assortment appears accurately in those environments. Second, we're actively participating in new ad alphas that allow paid advertising to appear inside those chat experiences. And third is our own conversational AI experience. Inside our app, we still have classic search, but we've also launched in partnership with Google Gemini."
Retail media is shifting from clicks and carts to conversations and context as generative and conversational AI reshape product discovery across the answer ecosystem. Retailers possess first-party data, frequent customer relationships, and real transactions that enable contextualized advertising while requiring preservation of performance, trust, and relevance. Albertsons is investing in in-store media to re-architect the grocery journey and address discovery, measurement, and performance from couch to checkout. Conversational AI affects the journey by feeding product data into LLMs, enabling paid placements via new ad alphas, and powering in-app conversational experiences with partners like Google Gemini. Trusted measurement requires incrementality and common standards; building modern in-store media networks is operationally complex.
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