Retail Media Networks in South Africa: What Suppliers Need to Know

The ability of Shoprite to leverage the shopper data of over 33 million Xtra Savings loyalty members to power targeted in-store and radio campaigns exemplifies the rise of retail media networks in South Africa. But is the model working for the suppliers that pay to run on these platforms?

What "Retail Media" Means in Practice

A retail media network describes an advertising business that retailers like Shoprite build on their customer relationships and the media inventory they own—websites, apps, emails, and in-store screens. The power of a retail media network lies in the first-party data that retailers collect from shoppers: every purchase, every loyalty card swipe, every app interaction or store visit becomes a data point that can inform how promotions are targeted and measured.

As third-party cookies diminish, and privacy rules tighten, industry experts are finding that first-party data—directly collected from customer interactions—is the primary source for targeting and measuring consumer advertisements, according to industry sources. Supermarkets can use it to connect the dots, such as recognizing that a loyalty member who purchased fresh fish online is likely to buy chips in the same visit.

Think of it as an enhanced form of shopper marketing. Retailers are essentially acting as ad agencies, peddling their own environments.

South African Retailers Turn Themselves Into Media Platforms

Major South African retailers have already made the shift, positioning their loyalty programs as powerful data streams that can power precise digital and in-store campaign delivery. Pick n Pay Connect last year relaunched as the retailer’s unified ad platform, offering brands media opportunities “online, in-app, on social, and throughout the store”, according to its About page. The aim is to influence shoppers at every touch point, with text messages sent to "Smart Shopper" app users, in-app banner ads, and digital signage in stores.

It's all made possible by the retailer’s ability to gather data on what shoppers are doing: browsing, adding to carts, purchasing, and redeeming vouchers. An agency analysis, published on 5 January 2026, shows that Acclaimed retailers like Pick n Pay, Takealot, Checkers, and Woolworths are already putting this into practice, utilizing the data from purchasing and loyalty programs.

This retail media play also positions grocery rivals as direct competitors in the media business. Like Clicks, the health and beauty retailer, which last year deployed a multi-channel digital signage network aimed at informing customers and facilitating supplier advertising and promotions in store. These in-house channels, combined with digital features and location-based signals, allow the retailer to get their promotions miles closer to the point of purchase.

Woolworths, Takealot, or Mr Price have not yet come out with an official, explicit brand for their retail media offers.

The Data Spine: Purchase Behavior and Loyalty Data

A retail media network is ultimately defined by two key things: access to first-party purchase and behavioural data from the retailer, and the media environments the retailer possesses to show ads.

Check out the working definition from NielsenIQ in a July 2023 analysis: "all advertising offers made by retailers and marketplaces during the consumer's purchase journey", based on data collected directly from customer interactions on physical sites and online (like shopping carts, location data, product type, buyer profiles, loyalty card data, and purchase frequency).

So what does this look like in practice? For Pick n Pay's "Smart Shopper Media," that includes precisely targeted promotions across apps and websites sent to members with active "Smart Shopper" accounts. Checkers operates similarly with in-store digital signs and promotions.

Then there’s Shoprite. In a Moneyweb July 2026 article, the retailer’s media agency, Rainmaker, is described as a "specialist agency," boasting data-driven campaign precision, blending the chain's own inventory (the Shoprite website, app, email alerts, and in-store radio) with external digital assets (social media).

The Inventory: Where Retail Media Ads Actually Run

A typical South African retail media network would sell digital signage in store, email promotions, offers mid-way through a shopping cart checkout, a geo-targeted text message, retargeting ads on social media for the key customers it has already identified, and promotions on the retailer’s own social media, with specific targeting informed by their shoppers' cascade of purchase and browsing history.

Digital signage in store, with screens from the checkout line to the leafy aisle, are employed by Clicks, in conjunction with moving tactics, as means to flow relevant promotions for supplier products in real-time, disrupting the shopping session as the customer pauses to take in new, targeted product information. Moving Tactics’ November 2017 case study describes this as a “media platform” that informs customers and facilitates “supplier advertising and promotions.”

That's just the start, according to an industry analysis written by Christopher Wilson on 11 December 2025. The most advanced retailers are using first-party data to drive engagement across a range of media environments.

Does it Even Work for Suppliers?

Beyond serendipity, suppliers and media planners want to know: Is retail media effective? And how can they measure it? In their access all areas, retailers argue that their ability to show the customer a product midway through a shopping cart process, with access to their purchase history and preferences, is a powerful mix for consumer advertising.

"I doubt many retailers could tell you how their retail media efforts directly impact their bottom line," .

Mostly, suppliers are using the format for brand marketing, while those looking to nurture shoppers are using the tiered discount structures to reward their loyalty shoppers. Red Media uses this tiered approach, connecting to consumers through SPAR’s retail and digital channels.

An ROI-linked case study would show how Xtra impact radio packages comingle commercial radio, in‐store radio, and data-driven targeting to achieve results. Checkers runs targeted in-store promotions and digital ads alongside promotions to members.

Perhaps because the data has not yet been published, there's unease among suppliers about the extent to which retail media will bend to narrower, results-driven campaign demands. Many networks exist to augment revenue from important suppliers, and to reduce reliance on the donations offered by manufacturers. A December 2025 blog post by Wilson describes Pick n Pay as "capable, but currently in transformation mode."

Strategic Implications: What Suppliers Are Buying

The South African retailer media model is one of precise access to what shoppers are doing, at the moment of purchase, and across the very environments that are stopping them short of a purchase. It's not perfect, and data on effectiveness is hard to come by.

But given their focus on customer relationship? Retailers are able to easily target their promotions, as they own these customer environments, have access to the customer's broader data, and can easily shape how the promotion is presented, on whatever channel.

As suppliers book these retail media slots, they're buying a shopper-centric model that aims to enact promotions on the retailer's own channels, using their own data, informed by the actual shopper activity of the moment.

That's still evolving in South Africa, with no formal, widely-known network nation-wide, and many retailers in early "transformation" phases, according to Wilson's blog. But it's a template shaping how grocery retailers worldwide monetize data and transform their store environments into ad channels.