"2026 is like 2020 on speed." That's what stood out to me from my conversation w
By Melissa Burdick · March 12, 2026 · Curated by George's Blog
"2026 is like 2020 on speed."
That's what stood out to me from my conversation with Sherry Smith.
Sherry is President, Retail Media at Criteo. The more we talked at CES, the more it clicked:
During COVID, retailers had to figure out pickup, digital ordering, and omnichannel almost overnight.
Now something similar is happening again... but this time it's retail media infrastructure.
Three takeaways from our conversation:
➡️ Performance is no longer optional.
You're not just running retail media to run retail media anymore.
Brands need proven performance, especially as third-party marketplaces continue rising and adding another dynamic to how brands spend.
➡️ The other big shift is fragmentation.
Brands are demanding unified measurement and the ability to work across multiple retailers instead of thinking retailer by retailer. Agentic AI is going to push this even faster.
Sherry also said something I appreciated:
➡️ "The walls are coming down."
Retailers are realizing that in order to push retail media forward, there needs to be a blend of data with brands and agencies working together.
Link in comments to watch the full conversation now!