Amazon poised to overtake Alibaba as the world’s largest retail media owner

Alex Brownsell

Insights into retail media investment from WARC Media’s latest Global Ad Trends report.

For all the growth in retail media, the majority of the market is dominated by two players: Alibaba and Amazon. Between them, they earned nearly $80bn in ad revenue in 2022 – equivalent to more than two-thirds (68.3%) of global retail media investment.

In China, market leader Alibaba is pursued by rivals including Pinduoduo, JD.com and Meituan. Elsewhere, Amazon rules the roost: WARC Media estimates its share of worldwide retail media spend (excluding China) in 2023 will stand at 87.8%. 

Of the additional $8.3bn to be spent on retail media in 2024 in all markets bar China, WARC Media forecasts...

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