In September, we hosted our inaugural Retail Media Impact Summit in the heart of Amsterdam. A landmark event that brought together over 150 industry leaders to share insights, strategies, and bold ideas to help shape the future of Retail Media in Europe. One of the themes of the day was the transformative role of AI in driving smarter campaigns, better measurement, and richer shopper experiences.
To continue the great conversations sparked at the Summit, we caught up with Andreas Preuer, Senior Director, Business Development - EMEA at Moloco, one of our expert speakers, to dive deeper into this exciting topic and explore what lies ahead for Retail Media in the age of AI.
You can watch our highlights reel and catch up on all of the action from the day here, and get Andreas’ thoughts below.
“AI finally lets retailers activate their most valuable asset—first-party data—at scale and in real time. Instead of relying on static rules or third-party identifiers, models can predict intent, optimise bids, and match the right ad to the right shopper across billions of auction decisions.
This transformation helps retailers balance objectives like GMV, margin protection, and shopper experience. It also compresses the feedback loop from weeks to milliseconds, so learning compounds and campaigns continually improve rather than plateau.
The timing matters because retail media has reached an inflection point. Advertisers are demanding proof of incremental performance, not just vanity metrics. Shoppers expect seamless, helpful experiences. And retailers need to monetise without degrading customer satisfaction. AI is the only way to balance all three of these priorities simultaneously.”
“We’re seeing a shift from manual campaign optimisation to outcome-based automation. Advertisers are moving away from constantly tinkering with CPC or CPM bids and instead setting business objectives—target ROAS, cost-per-acquisition, or new-to-brand goals—while AI handles the tactical execution in real time.
This approach delivers dramatic efficiency improvements. Retailers using AI-powered personalisation combined with outcome-based bidding can increase ad load without degrading the consumer experience, which creates substantial value and breaks previous growth ceilings.”
“The best retail media doesn't feel like advertising but helpful discovery. AI makes true ad personalisation possible by understanding shopper intent and matching it with relevant products, even when the shopper doesn't know exactly what they're looking for.
Think about someone searching for "comfortable shoes for standing all day." Traditional keyword matching might show generic athletic shoes, while AI can process that query along with session behaviour and surface curated products like supportive work shoes, gel insoles, or compression socks.
AI also prevents ad fatigue and overexposure by understanding when a shopper has seen enough and adjusting frequency accordingly. When done right, AI-powered ads improve key engagement metrics. We've seen partners achieve 30% higher click-through rates because the recommendations are genuinely relevant, which boosts both ad revenue and overall sales.”
“I'm most excited about the standardisation of AI-native incrementality measurement. For too long, an overemphasis on last-click attribution has made it hard for retailers and marketers to gauge real impact. Now, advertisers are demanding proof that campaigns drive purchases that wouldn't have happened without ads.
At Moloco, we use a ghost bidding methodology that measures incrementality during live campaigns without the revenue sacrifice of traditional holdout groups. Early testing shows that up to 29% of conversions among exposed onsite users were truly incremental—new business that suppliers would have otherwise missed. This type of rigorous testing is becoming table stakes.
I'm also watching agentic AI closely. We'll see AI agents acting as personal shoppers on owned-and-operated properties, helping customers navigate complex catalogues using natural language. For retailers with extensive product ranges, this could dramatically improve discovery and reduce decision fatigue.”
“The Retail Media Impact Summit was one of the best events I’ve attended this year, bringing together heads of Retail Media Networks, leaders representing top brands, and agency executives. My biggest takeaway is that Retail Media continues to be the largest margin driver in retail, and AI will deliver the next wave of growth and scale for retailers, resulting in highly personalised ads, outcomes-based buying, and improved automation.
What also struck me was the shared challenge across the room: leaders are being asked to deliver future growth without additional resources or headcount. This is where AI becomes essential rather than optional. The technology exists today to automate campaign creation, optimise in real time, and dramatically improve efficiency. Retailers who embrace this, focusing on change management alongside technology modernisation, will build a sustainable advantage in the years ahead.”
To hear more from Andreas on how AI is advancing Retail Media, tune into our Retail Media Roundtable podcast episode, recorded live at the Retail Media Impact Summit. In the episode, Andreas joins Drew Cashmore, Managing Director, Adaptive Retail Group & Chief Strategist, Vantage, to discuss how AI is reshaping strategy, measurement and shopper experience in the space.
