Source: Beet
Amie Owen identifies a concrete constraint: retail media's fragmentation tax. When brands maintain relationships across hundreds of networks—each with different APIs, reporting standards, and minimum spend requirements—operational overhead compounds faster than revenue gains, especially for mid-market players without dedicated trading teams. Only the largest spenders can absorb the coordination cost. The result is an efficiency gap that inverts retail media's democratization promise, favoring consolidated buyers over smaller competitors.