Why Loyalty Programs Are the Real Power Play as AI Reshapes Retail Media

Recently I joined a retail media panel at Loyalty Connect in Atlanta, surrounded by the people who’ve spent decades building and evolving loyalty programs. What became crystal clear to me is that loyalty and retail media are no longer parallel industries: they’re fundamentally intertwined. In this episode, a recap of my article for The Drum, I unpack why loyalty data has become the backbone of modern retail media networks, powering audience creation, closed-loop measurement, and advertiser confidence at scale. From Kroger Precision Marketing and Costco to CVS and Marriott, I share the examples that prove the strongest retail media businesses are built on strong loyalty ecosystems.But the bigger shift is what happens next. As AI agents compress the shopping journey and consumers increasingly arrive at retailer websites already knowing what they want, many of today’s high-margin retail media ad surfaces are under threat. What survives? Loyalty. I explore why emotional drivers like status, belonging, and access may become retailers’ most defensible advantage in an AI-driven commerce environment. And why the future winners won’t just offer points and discounts, but experiences consumers genuinely care about.This episode is sponsored by Mirakl AdsTimeline[00:00] — Why loyalty and retail media are inseparable [01:18] — Kroger’s loyalty data advantage and retail KPI measurement [03:56] — Why measurement is the foundation of loyalty-powered media [04:30] — How AI shopping journeys threaten retail media revenue [05:18] — The emotional side of loyalty that AI can’t replicate [08:16] — Why AI agents may disrupt earning points, but not redemptionLinks & ResourcesRead my full article on The Drum: Loyalty data is becoming retail media’s strongest defenseRead my related articles:Why Agentic Shopping Poses an Existential Threat to Retail Media (Part 1)Agentic Shopping Poses an Existential Threat to Retail Media (Part 2)7 Ways to Break the Retail Media Doom LoopEMARKETER is teaming up again with Bain to survey retail media network leaders for a unique insight into the forces shaping the industry. The survey is intended for people working in-house on retail media teams, and it is global this year! The survey is also double-anonymized. The survey organizers will not know, nor are they trying to determine, which specific retail media network a respondent works for. The goal is to understand broader retail media trends, not attribute responses to individual companies. Please take the survey here. In Atlanta? Join the Commerce Media Happy Hour on Wednesday May 27! RSVP hereI'm sharing comedy skits on Instagram about retail media! Follow along: @retailmediabreakfastclubSubscribe to Retail Media Breakfast Club's daily newsletterFollow Kiri Masters on LinkedIn