Retail media blurring lines between commerce, content & culture: Priyanka Khaneja Gandhi 

The tenth edition of the Dentsu-e4m Digital Advertising Report 2026 was unveiled today in Mumbai, bringing together senior leadership from media, marketing and technology to decode the next phase of India’s advertising evolution. The event featured deep-dive sessions on emerging ad models, measurement paradigms and insight-driven growth strategies. 

One of the standout discussions of the day was ‘Retail Media 2.0: A Full-Funnel Advertising Revolution’, chaired by Narayan Devanathan, President & Chief Strategy Officer, South Asia, Dentsu, in conversation with Priyanka Khaneja Gandhi, Head, Marketing & Creative Solutions, Amazon Ads India.

The session opened with Devanathan reframing how retail media is increasingly being perceived globally. Drawing on international examples, he noted how retail giants are now being viewed less as pure commerce platforms and more as advertising channels. In this era of Retail Media 2.0, the focus has shifted from a narrow emphasis on search-driven online shopping to a more holistic, full-funnel approach that leverages the wealth of first-party shopping and streaming signals to power impactful advertising solutions.  

Building on this, Gandhi positioned Retail Media 2.0 as a structural shift rather than an incremental evolution. “Retail media today is transforming the way brands grow,” she said, adding that its real strength lies in the convergence of commerce, content and culture, anchored by trust.

Elaborating on what truly revolutionises retail media, Gandhi explained that the model rests on three core pillars. The first is real-time signals, powered by trillions of signals across entertainment and commerce touchpoints, allowing advertisers to understand and reach audiences with greater relevance. 

The second pillar is a comprehensive advertising suite spanning awareness, consideration and purchase, enabling brands to engage consumers across every stage of the funnel. The third, and most critical pillar she mentioned is holistic measurement, which allows brands to track outcomes end-to-end, from brand impact to sales, thereby delivering measurable business results. “Retail Media 2.0 is not just an evolution; it’s transforming how retail media enables growth for brands,” she said.

She further noted that while retail media accounts for 15–20% of total ad spends in mature regions, India is on a similar growth trajectory. With retail media already contributing over 10% of ad spends and growing rapidly, she said the foundation for sustained expansion is firmly in place. She also pointed to dentsu’s own report highlighting the convergence of commerce, content and culture, adding that trust is the critical layer binding these elements together and enabling retail media to drive transformative growth.

She further explained that consumer journeys today are no longer linear, with attention fragmented across multiple touchpoints. In such an environment, no single interaction can effectively drive awareness, consideration and conversion on its own. Full-funnel advertising, she noted, enables brands to remain present across the entire journey. “It helps drive awareness through avenues like video streaming and brand storytelling, supports consideration by remarketing to consumers evaluating options, and finally nudges shoppers at the point of purchase with relevant messaging,” Gandhi said.

According to her, full-funnel advertising allows brands to reach the right audience at the right time, expand reach, build preference, drive conversions and foster loyalty — completing the entire growth cycle. She was quick to differentiate this approach from traditional performance marketing. While performance marketing focuses on converting in-market shoppers and driving short-term sales, full-funnel strategies are designed to build future demand while simultaneously capturing present-day consumers. “It’s about creating long-term growth while continuing to deliver near-term business outcomes,” she explained.

Addressing the often-debated challenge of measurement, Gandhi acknowledged the fragmentation across channels but argued that retail media’s integrated signals make holistic measurement possible. Brands, she said, can track reach and brand lift at the awareness stage, engagement and page views during consideration, sales and new-to-brand customers at conversion, and repeat purchases to measure long-term loyalty.

To illustrate this, she shared multiple brand case studies. L’Oréal Dermatological Beauty division launched CeraVe on Amazon in India and leveraged a mapped full-funnel approach that helped the CeraVe became a top-3 brand in Amazon India's derma skincare category within six months. 

Similarly, Colgate’s premium whitening toothpaste adopted an integrated full-funnel strategy to emerge as the category’s best-seller within three months of launch. For digital-first brands, she noted, full-funnel advertising has proven critical in expanding reach while maintaining conversion efficiency, resulting in significant lifts in brand searches and sales.

The conversation then moved beyond commerce into the growing role of content and culture. Gandhi spoke about the introduction of advertising on Prime Video and the strong response it has received from both Amazon-selling brands and advertisers outside the service, including categories such as insurance and automotive. 

With access to over 250 million monthly active users with Amazon MX Player and premium Prime households, Amazon Ads enables advertisers to combine reach, relevance and rich storytelling. What makes this integration particularly powerful, she added, is the ability to link streaming exposure directly to shopping behaviour and measure outcomes across the funnel.

Looking ahead, Gandhi said retail media is fast becoming a necessity rather than an option for brands operating in India’s rapidly evolving landscape. With digital accounting for over 60% of total ad spends and retail media expected to reach 15% by 2026, she believes the next phase will see deeper integration of streaming, shopping and full-funnel advertising. “Retail media will become an active growth partner for brands,” she said, adding that this convergence will define what comes next.