Digital retail media advertising in Europe - statistics & facts

Over the last few years, many retailers have discovered the possibility of monetizing their e-commerce platforms as advertising media. Ad revenue generated in this manner helps companies soften the blow dealt to their financial results by inflation and lower consumer spending. While digital retail media in the United States is already an established sector of the digital ad industry, the European market is still in its infancy.

A market overshadowed by U.S. players

Retail media spending in Europe was estimated at 10.5 billion euros in 2023, which gives it a nine percent share in the digital ad market on the continent. Industry sources project that the spending will experience an explosion of popularity, growing nearly 28 percent annually until 2026, when its value is expected to reach 22 billion euros. So far, the market has been dominated by U.S. companies – Amazon and eBay – that can and do apply strategies and technologies they had developed for their U.S. platforms across all their markets. That gives them a head start on native European platforms that are only catching up to the trend now.

Top local player

With a market share of five percent, Zalando – a German fashion and beauty online retailer present in 23 European countries – is the third-largest digital retail media platform in Europe. In 2023, advertising revenue generated by Zalando with its retail media business stood at 305 million U.S. dollars, reporting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 24 percent between 2018 and 2023. Zalando Marketing Services – responsible for selling retail media to advertisers – accounted for two percent of Zalando’s Fashion store gross merchandise value (GMV) in 2022. The online retailer’s long-term target is to double the percentage, as announced in a financial update for investors in March 2023.

A beginner with great aspirations

As a part of a digital expansion strategy, The Carrefour Group has set out to become a leader in the European digital retail media segment. In 2021, the company launched its retail media platform Carrefour Links. A year later, it entered a joint venture with the Publicis Groupe. By combining Links and Publicis’s retail media ad tech CitrusAd into Unlimitail, Carrefour hopes to create what the two call a “comprehensive media player.” Carrefour can count on 80 million customers and eight billion transactions, which helped attract 450 retail media ad buyers by the end of 2022. In 2021, Carrefour’s retail media ad revenue stood at a modest 64 million U.S. dollars. However, industry sources project that the amount will skyrocket to 500 million by 2026.
This text provides general information. Statista assumes no liability for the information given being complete or correct. Due to varying update cycles, statistics can display more up-to-date data than referenced in the text.
Published by Statista Research Department, Mar 19, 2024

Key insights

Digital retail media ad spend in Europe
14.3bn EUR
Leading retail media network in Europe
Amazon
Leading domestic retail media network in Europe
Zalando
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Editor’s Picks Current statistics on this topic

Digital retail media advertising spending in Europe from 2019 to 2026 (in billion euros)

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Digital retail media ad spend in Europe 2019-2026

Leading digital retail media networks in Europe in 2023, by advertising revenue (in million U.S. dollars)

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Leading digital retail media networks in Europe 2023, by ad revenue

Share of online retailers with a digital retail media offering in selected countries in Western Europe as of October 2022

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Share of online retailers with a retail media offering in Europe 2022, by country

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Advertising in Europe
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Online retailers in Germany
Retail trade in Europe
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