Retail media representation connects retailers with advertiser demand by doing three things: identifying which buyers want the retailer's shoppers, packaging inventory into products those buyers can understand, and making those products available through the routes each buyer already uses. Those routes range from direct sponsorships with brands to programmatic deals that agencies run from their own platforms, and increasingly to discovery by authorized AI buying agents.
This article looks at the demand side of the equation. For the basics of how a representation partnership works, start with what retail media representation is.
Who buys retail media?
Endemic brands
Endemic brands sell their products through the retailer. A cereal brand advertising on a grocery app is endemic. These buyers often have trade marketing budgets, know the retailer well and care about visibility close to the point of sale. They are the most natural first customers.
Non-endemic brands
Non-endemic brands do not sell through the retailer but want to reach its shoppers. A credit card provider, an airline or a streaming service might want to reach a grocery retailer's frequent family shoppers. These buyers can add a lot of new demand, but they usually need more explanation about what the audience is and why it matters to them.
Agencies and trading desks
Many brands buy through media agencies, and many agencies run programmatic buying through internal trading desks. Agencies care about consistency, reporting and the ability to plan retail media alongside other channels.
Programmatic buyers using DSPs
A large share of digital media is bought through a demand-side platform (DSP), the software buyers use to purchase ads automatically across many sellers. For these buyers, retail media has to be available in a form their DSP can read, which usually means a deal with an ID.
How does each buyer type prefer to buy?
| Buyer type | Common route | What they need to say yes |
|---|---|---|
| Endemic brand | Direct sponsorships, sponsored listings | Proximity to purchase, sales-linked reporting |
| Non-endemic brand | Curated audience deals, offsite campaigns | A clear audience story and brand-safe placement |
| Agency | PMP, PG, direct insertion orders | Consistent packaging, reporting and planning data |
| Programmatic buyer | PMP, PG, curated deals via DSP | A working Deal ID and predictable quality |
A retailer that only offers one route reaches only one slice of this table. Opening several routes is often the fastest way to spread revenue across more buyers, a topic covered in retail media representation and demand diversification.
Why packaging is the bridge between inventory and demand
A buyer rarely wants "all the inventory". They want something specific, like an audience in a season, on certain formats, at a price they can plan around. Packaging is the work of turning raw placements into that kind of product.
A good retail media package usually states:
- Audience: who it reaches, described in plain terms the retailer is comfortable sharing.
- Context: the categories, pages or content it appears next to.
- Channel and format: web, app or CTV; display, native, video or rich media.
- Timing: always-on, seasonal or tied to an event.
- Deal type and price model: PMP, PG, direct or curated, and how it is priced.
Packaging is where representation earns its keep. Knowing which combinations buyers respond to comes from talking to many of them. It also helps to package the same audience more than once, in different shapes for different buyers. An endemic brand may want onsite placements close to its own products, while a non-endemic brand may only care about reaching the audience offsite on video. Treating these as separate products, rather than one catch-all offer, makes each buyer's decision easier and keeps the retailer's pricing consistent.
Example (illustrative)
A regional grocery retailer has a strong base of parents shopping weekly. Its representation partner builds three packages from the same audience. For endemic snack brands, a back-to-school onsite package with sponsored listings and category display. For non-endemic family insurance brands, an offsite video package that reaches the same shoppers on CTV. For agencies running always-on activity, a curated PMP with a floor price. Same shoppers, three buyer types, three routes. This is a hypothetical scenario.
How curated deals and Deal IDs make retail media buyable
Curated deals group inventory around an audience, context or campaign goal and make it available to selected buyers. In programmatic terms, each deal is identified by a Deal ID, a reference that tells the buyer's DSP which agreed terms apply.
For a retailer, this matters because it lets buyers activate retail media without building a custom connection. The buyer adds the Deal ID to a campaign in their own DSP, and the agreed inventory, price and rules apply. Private marketplace deals keep an auction among invited buyers, while programmatic guaranteed reserves volume at a fixed price. The trade-offs between the two are explained in how PMP and PG deals redefine publisher revenue streams.
How do buyers discover retail media in the first place?
Discovery is often the hidden problem. Good inventory goes unsold if buyers do not know it exists or cannot find the right slice of it.
Discovery through people
Traditionally, discovery happens through sales conversations. A representation team shares packages with buyers, answers questions and shapes deals to fit briefs. This remains the most common route.
Discovery through a represented marketplace
Inventory discovery can also be organised around a structured view of what is available. At IncrementX, the Inventory Marketplace describes how advertisers discover opportunities across our represented media ecosystem by environment, channel, category, geography, format, context and deal type. It is not a self-serve search tool. Access runs through the IncrementX team, curated deals or Agentic Buying.
Discovery through AI buying agents
A newer route is agent-based discovery. A seller agent is software that makes represented inventory machine-readable for authorized buying agents. IncrementX's Seller Agent is an MCP-compatible interface (MCP, the Model Context Protocol, is an open standard for connecting AI tools to data sources). Authorized buying agents can use it to discover inventory by criteria such as site or app, category, geography, device, format, pricing, deal type and availability, then initiate deal creation and receive Deal IDs to activate through supported buying platforms. Access is by request.
This sits inside a wider idea called agentic buying, where advertiser-side agents handle parts of discovery and deal setup. Discovery and deal creation through Seller Agent exist today. Broader agent-to-agent buying workflows are still being built with partners, so retailers should treat this as a route that is forming rather than one that replaces people. Our article on agentic advertising and retail media monetization looks further ahead.
How IncrementX connects retail inventory with demand
Retail media is a new strategic focus for IncrementX. Through retail media representation, we apply the same demand work we do for publishers: mapping which buyers fit the inventory, packaging it, and aligning it with advertiser goals.
Our Demand Marketplace connects represented inventory with brands, agencies, DSPs, trading desks and programmatic buyers across web, app, video, CTV, native and rich media, using PMP, PG, audience, contextual, custom and curated deals. For a retailer, that can mean several routes to demand opened together, with Seller Agent available as a future-facing discovery channel for authorized buying agents. We have no retail partnerships to report yet, so any conversation starts with your inventory, not our claims.