Retail Media Reaches $73 Billion as Own Label Grows
The Financial Times reported on August 19, 2026 that US retail media sales are expected to rise 20 per cent this year to $73 billion, citing eMarketer, as retailers sell advertising exposure to the consumer goods companies that supply them. The same report puts private label at over a quarter of total US sales, a gain of more than one percentage point.
Retailers have moved own label upmarket. Walmart has opened three milk and two beef processing plants and created its Bettergoods line, while still relying mostly on contract manufacturing. Oisin Hanrahan, chief executive of Keychain, told the paper that a sustained expansion of third party contract manufacturing has left excess capacity available in the market.
- $73B US Retail Media Sales
- 20% Expected Growth This Year
- 25%+ Private Label Share of US Sales
Assortment change is a flow change. As own label takes share, the shipper of record moves from the brand house to the retailer and its contract manufacturers, which alters lane structure, case configuration, replenishment cadence and who owns the delivery terms. Surplus contract manufacturing capacity makes that shift cheap to execute, so the network consequence tends to arrive faster than the category data suggests.