eCommerce in Europe: Retail Media Network

Digital Retail Media Networks in Europe: Key Insights

• Future of Advertising: Retail media advertising, focusing on personalized content during crucial purchasing moments, is experiencing rapid growth. Global spending is anticipated to reach US$136 billion this year.

• Amazon Leads by Far: Amazon stands in first place in Europe's digital retail media market, holding a 54% share and generating US$3.42 billion in revenue in 2022, significantly outperforming its closest competitor, eBay.

• Top Players in Europe: eBay secures the second position with an 8% market share, followed by Zalando at 5%, generating US$300 million in revenue in 2022. The fourth to fourteenth spots exhibit smaller market shares ranging between 1% and 3%.

Online shopping has become an essential part of consumers' lifestyles and daily routines. Therefore, retail media is a key touchpoint to reach existing and potential customers for brands.

The term retail media advertising refers to ads placed on a (digital) retailer's media network. In contrast to traditional mass media, advertising in retail media offers customers individualized marketing content at or near the point of sale that facilitates their purchasing decisions.

The flourishing market is set for further growth: According to data from GroupM and Brands Vietnam, digital retail media advertising spending worldwide is projected to hit US$136 billion in 2024.

With this in mind, let's have a look at the top player in Europe's digital retail media network branch.

Amazon Is Far Ahead, eBay & Zalando Follow

Statista has identified the leading platforms where retail ads are booked in Europe. Hardly surprising, Amazon is the clear leader in terms of revenue.

A retail media network is an advertising infrastructure, including websites, apps, and other channels, provided by an (online) retailer to third parties for advertising purposes. The great advantage of retail media networks is their rich collection of consumer data, which is the basis for contextually relevant ads.

As Amazon is the leading eCommerce player both in terms of total first-party sales and marketplace GMV throughout most of Europe, it is not surprising that it also provides the leading digital retail media network in Europe.

The retail giant is responsible for 54% of the total European digital retail media market, generating revenues of US$3.4 billion in 2022. This is almost 6.5 times as much as second-placed eBay’s 2022 digital retail media revenue.

Both Zalando and eBay saw fluctuating retail media ad revenue over the pandemic years 2020 and 2021, while frontrunner Amazon was able to increase revenues constantly from year to year from US$1.3 billion in 2019 to the 2022 US$3.42 billion.

eBay’s media network generates 8% of the total European market in 2022, which leaves it in second place in the ranking before Zalando, which generated US$300 million or a share of 5% of all revenues generated in digital retail media networks in Europe in 2022. Ranks 4 to 10 are relatively close together with lower market shares between 1% and 3%.