How SMBs Should Approach Retail Media
When it comes to retail media strategy, not all brands are alike.
Whereas global enterprise brands have larger budgets to invest in more tactics, SMBs (small- and medium-sized businesses) have to be more selective. To provide SMBs with better guidance, agency BirdDog teamed with Keen Decision Systems this summer on a research report with insights directly relevant to mid-market companies.
With SMBs representing more than 60% of sales across Amazon and many other retailers, they are the dominant group of suppliers, said Shaun Brown, BirdDog founder and CEO. Despite their outsized role, the SMBs have largely been overlooked in research.
SMB Versus Enterprise
The research data indicates SMBs lean heavily into search, while enterprise brands are diversifying into more display and streaming tactics.
Most SMBs are concentrated on search because it captures demand from shoppers already on the marketplace with strong purchase intent — and that's delivering the results they need, Brown said. Enterprise brands, by contrast, are investing more in mid- and upper-funnel tactics to build awareness and future demand.
"What we often see is that, over time, ROAS on search starts to plateau, and that's the moment when expanding into display and streaming can unlock new audiences and incremental growth," Brown said.
The Biggest Challenge
The research report advises piloting a 10%-20% shift into display and streaming TV (STV). The biggest barrier SMBs face in making the leap beyond search is the mindset shift, Brown says.
For many SMBs, it's difficult to move beyond search because early returns on mid- and upper-funnel tactics rarely match the ROAS to which they've become accustomed.
Brown said brands are encouraged to think "better together" and view this not as replacing search, but as building a stronger mix — search, display and streaming TV work better together. With costs coming down, especially for STV, these channels are becoming far more accessible to SMBs compared to a few years ago.
Retail media networks can often be built around large enterprise brand clients, leaving SMBs feeling overlooked. The smaller brands represent meaningful scale, and making platforms more accessible to them could unlock big wins on both sides, Brown said.
"If I were building a network today, I'd go beyond just search inventory and start from the center out, leveraging the retailer’s most valuable asset: Audience data," Brown said. "By enabling integration with a brand's first-party data, retailers can deliver stronger performance, better outcomes and a more compelling case for SMB investment."
Looking Ahead
To stay sustainable, Brown said retail media networks need to evolve in two key ways:
1. Making clean room data easier to use so brands can achieve greater precision and clearer attribution.
2. Extending reach beyond the retailer's walls while tying it back with transparent attribution – so brands can confidently invest knowing the impact.
"This is the most exciting time in retail media," Brown said. "There are more advancements and improvements ahead based on the market demands for it, and SMBs are a big driver of that. I see SMBs gaining more attention and leverage with RMNs in the future as they become a growth channel for retailer marketplaces."
