Issue #1: Retail Media’s Best Friend: Loyalty Data

Retail Media Networks (RMNs) and Commerce Media Networks (CMNs), are the latest revenue engine sweeping through every loyalty-heavy sector—not just retailers, but airlines, hotels, even banks. (For simplicity, I’ll call them all RMNs in this post, but see Criteo for a good 101 definition breakdown).

At the core, RMNs are digital ads sold on a brand’s own assets—websites, apps, in-store screens, even connected TV. The retail and commerce media market is expected to reach $180B this year. Nearly 40% of that revenue is from Amazon, while Walmart is the distant #2. But if a brand can get even 0.5% of that share, that’s enough additional revenue to make any CFO smile.

Why can loyalty data help RMNs bring in ad dollars? Because loyalty members are:

Just look at this list of 4 loyalty-deep brands with ad networks and how they promote them:

RMNs are widely profitable (70-80% margins), and have the potential to contribute even more revenue than what a brand can rake in selling points to banks for cobrand cards.

But here’s the loyalty irony: cobrand card economics already transformed programs into massive profit centers… and those programs aren’t getting better for the consumer. Points became more plentiful but less valuable, award charts disappeared in travel, and perks eroded or got more difficult to obtain.

So the question now: will RMNs repeat the pattern? Loyalty-heavy brands with RMNs (or who are thinking about having an RMN) have options:

Or is there an option C?

Loyalty leaders might want to tread carefully. Members notice when loyalty economics tilt against them, and know when they are being advertised to.

For a sharper perspective on these dynamics (including why not every brand should even launch a network, and agentic AI’s potential impact on loyalty), check out my interview below with Kiri Masters, one of the smartest voices in the retail media space.

If RMNs are going to be loyalty’s next big P&L revenue line, what’s the strategic stance on reinvesting in member value? Are we comfortable with loyalty as a key part of the data engine for other revenue streams, or do we use that upside to make the program itself more compelling?  Curious about your perspective, so leave a comment!

So Many Points is lucky to have Kiri Masters with us. She is an independent commentator, speaker, advisor, and podcast host covering the retail media industry. She produces the "Retail Media Breakfast Club" podcast & newsletter —  10-minute snippets of industry commentary shared Monday-Thursday at 6AM ET. 

Her work is informed by a decade in the industry as the founder of an award-winning agency (acquired in 2022). She writes regular columns for Forbes and WARC, and has been named a Top Retail Expert by RETHINK Retail for three consecutive years.

Follow Kiri on LinkedIn and subscribe to the Retail Media Breakfast Club newsletter  or podcast. 

SMP:  Every brand with a decent amount of first-party data seems to want in on the RMN game. When does it make sense to launch a network—and when doesn’t it? What’s the “minimum viable RMN” in terms of data, audience scale, and owned channels?

Kiri:   Retail media isn’t just one channel—it’s called a network for a reason. There are three main components, and each comes with very different economics. On-site retail media—things like sponsored product ads, featured placements, or branded display on a retailer’s own site or app—is the most profitable, often yielding 70–80% margins because the retailer is monetizing its own real estate. Off-site retail media is more of a data play, where shopper data gets activated on other platforms (think Disney+ or Forbes) through partners like The Trade Desk. Margins aren’t as high, but it’s relatively easy to stand up, so that is within reach for really any retailer. Then there’s in-store retail media, which is much more CapEx-heavy and complex, requiring significant investment in infrastructure and sales motion.

So the “minimum viable RMN” depends on which mix of these a retailer is serious about pursuing. But candidly, I think the explosion of standalone networks in the U.S. is unsustainable. Advertisers are really only investing in about five to seven RMNs, and there’s little appetite to spread dollars across dozens more. That’s why I expect to see consolidation over time, with many smaller networks joining federations or alliances rather than surviving independently.

SMP: RMNs are generating meaningful incremental revenue, largely because of loyalty program data. But most of these same programs aren’t evolving the member value prop for the better. Do you see this as a missed opportunity—or is it unrealistic to expect brands to share the wealth with their most frequent customers?

Kiri: I think this comes back to how loyalty will hold up in the era of agentic shopping. Consumers are already using AI for different parts of the buying journey, and over time we’ll see autonomous agents making purchases directly on behalf of their owners. That shift creates a new layer of scrutiny on loyalty programs—scrutiny that goes beyond what humans, who can be swayed by perks like exclusivity or early access, might accept at face value. Non-monetary benefits like prestige or “first look” access will still matter, but AI agents will be evaluating programs in much more rational terms: Does this actually deliver financial or practical value?

That means what once passed as an adequate value prop won’t cut it anymore. Loyalty programs that haven’t been set up strategically will stand out quickly, because agents (and by extension, the humans they serve) will see through thin perks. To me, that’s the missed opportunity—brands that fail to evolve loyalty risk being sidelined when agents start choosing where to allocate spend.

SMP: Loyalty data can be the fuel here, but members didn’t exactly sign up thinking they’d become ad inventory eyeballs. How should brands balance monetization with member trust, transparency, and privacy expectations?  And perhaps members don’t care if they are receiving more relevant content? 

Kiri: Loyalty data is powerful, but it’s not the only data stream powering retail media. Tech partners like LiveRamp or The Trade Desk can help retailers isolate and identify shoppers, which means ads are being served based on a wide range of signals—not just whether someone joined a loyalty program. In reality, shoppers are going to see ads both on-site and off-site regardless of loyalty status.

And while consumers often say they dislike ads, behavior tells a different story. Look at Amazon: their search and home pages are packed with ads, and that hasn’t diminished in years. If anything, it’s grown. Why? Because ads work. Amazon has armies of people constantly optimizing the balance between ad load and sales performance. If too many ads ever caused sales to dip, they’d dial it back—but their ad business continues to scale aggressively, which means customers are still clicking and buying.

To me, the takeaway is that what consumers say they want (fewer ads, more privacy) and what actually drives their behavior aren’t always aligned. Trust and transparency matter, but if ads deliver relevant value, most shoppers tolerate them—even in loyalty contexts.

SMP:  You’ve spoken about loyalty as a moat against agentic shopping agents that could disrupt how people shop. Can you break down the risk of these agents in practical terms and how loyalty programs can realistically play defense?

Kiri: The real risk isn’t to consumers—it’s to retailers and the highly profitable revenue stream they’ve built around on-site ads. Imagine a future where my AI agent doesn’t just research but actually builds my basket and completes the purchase inside an LLM. In that scenario, I never visit a retailer’s website or app. No human eyeballs means no impressions on those sponsored placements that today carry 70–80% margins. That’s a serious threat to the RMN model.

Where loyalty programs can play defense is in shifting the choice beyond just price. If my agent shows me that Retailer A offers the cheapest basket, but Retailer B has faster fulfillment, better brand selection, and a loyalty program that rewards me with points, tiers, or even creative perks like meaningful samples—that could tip me toward B. Loyalty becomes a differentiator that agents can factor into the decision, helping retailers avoid being reduced to a lowest-price commodity.

SMP:  Building a network off loyalty data isn’t a flip-the-switch exercise. What are the first steps a brand should take if it wants to explore this path? Where should they pressure-test before over-committing?

Kiri: Ironically, the off-site side of retail media has been almost too easy to flip on. Many retailers essentially syndicated their loyalty data to intermediaries like The Trade Desk without realizing how valuable it was—selling it for a song. That early land grab left some retailers undercompensated for what is arguably their most valuable asset. Step one should be peer benchmarking and note-sharing to make sure the data is being priced and valued correctly.

Beyond that, retailers need to be clear on why they’re entering retail media. Is it purely about incremental revenue? Is it about building stronger vendor partnerships? Or is it just PR optics to say, “we’ve launched a network”? If the economics aren’t thought through, RMN can actually be dilutive—especially if it cannibalizes trade spend like in-store displays and end caps, which are often higher-margin.

So the first steps should be brutally honest: What incremental dollars do you expect to unlock? Why would brands, who only seriously engage with 5–7 networks, prioritize yours? And are you capturing the true value of your loyalty data, or just taking the easy money from intermediaries? That hard look will determine whether retail media is a growth engine—or a distraction.

Bonus Question: If you had to call it now—what brand or category feels ripe for RMN but hasn’t jumped in yet?

Kiri: Honestly, I don’t think there’s a big untapped category left. Most that make sense have already waded in—and we’ve also seen where it doesn’t work, like the failed GAP RMN. That showed us that single-brand or vertical retailers just don’t have the scale to sustain a standalone network.

The bigger opportunity now isn’t about a single category—it’s in alliances and federations. Smaller or mid-sized retailers who can’t gain traction alone could create real advertiser value by combining their shopper data in a safe and compliant way.