A retail media network (RMN) is the advertising arm of a retailer or marketplace. Brands pay to place ads where shoppers are already looking to buy, on the retailer's own website or app, and target them using the retailer's own shopper data. The most common format is the sponsored product that appears in search results. WPP Media's mid-year 2026 forecast says retail media ad revenue in India is expected to rise 30% in 2026.
What does a retail media network look like for an Indian seller?
If you have ever paid for a Sponsored Products campaign on Amazon.in, you have used one. The same idea runs on Flipkart's ad products and inside quick-commerce apps. You bid on search terms or product placements, and the platform shows your listing to its own shoppers. The platform knows what people searched and bought on its app, so the ads can be matched to purchase intent. Our Amazon Ads guide for India covers the Amazon formats.
Amazon's own page describes Sponsored Products as cost-per-click ads for individual product listings, which may appear at the top of, alongside or within shopping results; you set a bid and budget and pay only when a shopper clicks. That is the simplest form of retail media. The same page says these ads also run on third-party sites and apps, so the ad reach is not limited to the retailer's own pages.
Who runs retail media networks in India?
Marketplaces and quick-commerce apps are the obvious ones, since they own both the audience and the checkout. We did not find a single official list of Indian networks, and we do not quote counts or revenue by platform. Check each platform's own ad pages for the formats on offer to Indian sellers.
How is it different from Google or Meta ads?
On Google or Meta, you send the shopper to a page and the sale happens later. On a retail media network the shopper is already on the page where the sale happens, so the ad and the purchase sit in one place. The retailer also reports sales against the ad. Platforms choose how they attribute sales, so compare each platform's own reporting rules before you compare results across platforms.
Which formats do retail media networks sell?
Typical formats are sponsored listings in search and category pages, banners and brand-store placements, and off-site or video ads that use the retailer's audience data. Amazon, for instance, sells programmatic ads through Amazon DSP, which we explain in the Amazon DSP entry. Exact formats and minimum budgets differ by platform, and we have not confirmed any single set for all Indian networks.
What numbers should I watch?
Track ad cost against sales with ACOS, and judge the whole business with TACoS. CPC varies by category and platform, so use your own account's data rather than a market average.
Blooprint, a Bengaluru e-commerce agency and Amazon Ads Advanced Partner, runs sponsored ads for sellers through its marketplace ads management service.