For CPG and category brand marketers planning 2026 retail media budgets, the platform landscape became meaningfully more complex over the last three years. What was once "Amazon Ads plus maybe some Walmart" is now a multi-platform ecosystem spanning Amazon, Walmart Connect, Instacart Ads, Carrefour Links, Kroger Precision Marketing, Target Roundel, and dozens of other retailer-specific programs. Getting the allocation right matters more as retail media share of total CPG marketing budgets crossed 25-30% in 2026, with the trajectory pointing higher through 2028.
This guide walks through the three platforms that drive most of the new retail media budget allocation decisions for CPG brands in 2026 — Walmart Connect, Instacart Ads, and Carrefour Links — with platform-by-platform analysis of ad formats, attribution, AOV ranges, CPMs, and brand category fit. We focus on these three specifically because they represent the largest non-Amazon retail media opportunities for mid-market and enterprise CPG brands. For the Amazon Ads strategic comparison, see our Criteo Retail Media vs Amazon Ads guide.
Three structural forces drove the shift. (1) Amazon Ads CPC inflation made marginal Amazon spend less efficient — average CPCs in competitive CPG categories rose 35-50% from 2022 to 2026, compressing ROAS. (2) Retailer first-party data became more valuable as cookie deprecation reduced third-party tracking options — Walmart's, Instacart's, and Carrefour's loyalty-card-linked shopper data became more relatively valuable. (3) Attribution capabilities at non-Amazon retailers matured — in-store sales lift measurement, omnichannel attribution, and brand lift studies became operationally viable across multiple platforms. The shift isn't ideological (anti-Amazon) — it's economic. The marginal dollar in 2026 increasingly delivers better return on Walmart Connect, Instacart, or Carrefour for the right category and retailer distribution than incremental Amazon spend.
Why retail media beyond Amazon matters in 2026
Three structural shifts make the Walmart Connect, Instacart, and Carrefour conversation more strategic in 2026 than it was even 18 months ago.
1. Retail media share of CPG budgets crossed the 25% threshold. Per industry research (eMarketer, BCG, IAB), US CPG brands allocated approximately 25-30% of total marketing spend to retail media by 2026, up from 12-15% in 2022. With this much budget at stake, getting the multi-platform allocation right has 8-figure consequences for large CPG brands and 7-figure consequences for mid-market. The platforms beyond Amazon now command billions in annual spending — Walmart Connect alone exceeded €4B in 2025 ad revenue.
2. First-party retailer data became disproportionately valuable. As cookie deprecation reduced third-party tracking options, retailer-owned shopper data (loyalty cards, purchase history, basket composition) became the most valuable targeting signal in advertising. Walmart Connect, Instacart, and Carrefour each have proprietary shopper data that Amazon doesn't have access to — and that traditional digital platforms (Meta, Google) can't replicate. For brands that want behavioral targeting based on actual purchase behavior at specific retailers, these platforms are uniquely positioned.
3. Omnichannel attribution capabilities matured. Walmart Connect can now link digital ad exposure to in-store sales via loyalty card data. Instacart attributes ad exposure to grocery delivery purchases across multiple retailers. Carrefour Links links Carrefour loyalty card purchases to digital ad exposure across the Carrefour ecosystem. These attribution capabilities — measuring what happens at the cash register or in the basket after ad exposure — were partial or theoretical in 2022 and operational in 2026.
The strategic question for 2026 isn't whether to use these platforms — most CPG brands now do — but how to allocate budget across them, which capabilities to leverage on each, and how to measure cross-platform performance honestly.
Walmart Connect: scale, data, and the in-store layer
Walmart Connect is Walmart's owned-and-operated retail media platform, leveraging Walmart's massive US shopper data and physical store footprint. Understanding what makes it distinct helps clarify when it deserves significant budget allocation.
The Walmart Connect architecture:
1. Inventory across Walmart's ecosystem:
- Walmart.com search results, product detail pages, category pages (the foundation)
- Walmart mobile app (rapidly growing share of Walmart shopping)
- Walmart in-store kiosks and self-checkout displays (emerging)
- Walmart Pickup and Delivery (omnichannel touchpoints)
- Vizio Ads (acquired by Walmart in 2024) — connected TV inventory accessible through Walmart Connect with shopper data overlay
- Off-Walmart programmatic display via Walmart Connect's DSP capabilities
2. Shopper data depth:
- Walmart purchase history (in-store AND online, linked via Walmart+ membership and payment data)
- Walmart Pay and credit card transaction data
- Loyalty program and Walmart+ subscription data
- Category affinity and brand purchase patterns
- Household-level shopping behavior (for households where Walmart shoppers are identifiable)
3. Attribution capabilities:
- In-store sales lift measurement — link digital ad exposure to in-store purchase via Walmart+ and payment data (gold standard for CPG brands)
- Online sales attribution — clean attribution from ad exposure to Walmart.com purchase
- Brand lift studies — for upper-funnel campaigns including Vizio CTV inventory
- Cross-device and cross-environment attribution — link ad exposure across devices to ultimate purchase
Walmart Connect strengths:
- Largest US retail footprint provides massive shopper reach
- In-store sales attribution is uniquely strong (Amazon can't match in-store measurement)
- Vizio CTV integration provides legitimate brand-building inventory with retail attribution
- Walmart+ membership data enables high-value customer segmentation
- Strong fit for mass-market CPG categories
Walmart Connect limitations:
- US-focused (Walmart's international presence is much smaller; Mexico via Walmart de Mexico, Canada via Walmart Canada have meaningful presence)
- Operational complexity higher than Amazon Ads for self-service buyers
- Inventory for premium brand-building still developing (Vizio integration is recent)
- Brand fit weaker for premium and aspirational categories (Walmart shopper demographic skews mass market)
Buying paths:
- Self-service via Walmart Connect Ad Center (accessible to vendors and suppliers)
- Managed service via Walmart Connect sales team
- Agency-managed via Walmart Connect Certified Agencies
Typical Walmart Connect buyer: US CPG brand with Walmart distribution (essentially all major CPG brands), with annual marketing budget of €1M+. The threshold for meaningful Walmart Connect investment is around €25k/month in Walmart-distributed product spend; below that, ROI math gets challenging.
Average order value (AOV) ranges by category at Walmart:
- Grocery and household: typical AOV €45-95 per Walmart purchase occasion
- Beauty and personal care: typical AOV €25-60
- General merchandise: highly variable, €30-200+
- Electronics and tech: typical AOV €80-300+
- Apparel: typical AOV €40-120
Typical CPM and ROAS benchmarks (2026, US):
- Walmart Connect display: €5-25 CPM depending on placement
- Walmart Connect sponsored products: €0.30-€2.50 CPC
- Walmart Connect Vizio CTV: €18-35 CPM
- ROAS for established CPG: 5-10x typical for sponsored products; 3-7x for display; 2-5x for Vizio CTV brand-building
Instacart Ads: the grocery delivery ecosystem
Instacart Ads operates as the advertising layer for Instacart's grocery delivery and pickup ecosystem, providing CPG brands with reach across multiple grocery retailers via a unified buying interface.
The Instacart Ads architecture:
1. Inventory across Instacart's ecosystem:
- Instacart app and website search results, category pages, product detail pages
- Retailer-branded experiences — Instacart's white-label apps for individual retailers (Kroger, Costco, Wegmans, Aldi, etc.)
- Display inventory across Instacart properties
- Emerging video and shoppable formats (expanded 2024-2025)
- Off-Instacart retargeting via partnership inventory
2. Retailer partnerships: Instacart connects shoppers to a large network of grocery retailers including Kroger, Costco, Wegmans, Aldi, Publix, H-E-B, ALDI, Sprouts, Food Lion, Weis Markets, and dozens of regional and specialty grocers. The breadth of retailer partnerships is what makes Instacart distinctive — single buying interface, multi-retailer reach.
3. Shopper data and audience capabilities:
- Purchase history across all Instacart shopping (multi-retailer, unified)
- Browse and search behavior
- Category and brand affinity patterns
- Replenishment cycle data (how often shoppers buy specific products)
- Basket composition analysis
4. Attribution capabilities:
- Sales attribution within Instacart ecosystem (purchase = digital order placed via Instacart)
- New-to-brand customer identification
- Repeat purchase tracking
- Brand lift studies (emerging capability for upper-funnel campaigns)
Instacart Ads strengths:
- Multi-retailer grocery reach via single platform
- Strong purchase intent (Instacart shoppers are actively buying, not browsing)
- Replenishment cycle data is uniquely valuable for high-velocity CPG
- Growing self-service tools accessible to mid-market brands
- Less crowded than Amazon Ads for grocery CPG
Instacart Ads limitations:
- Grocery delivery share, while growing, remains smaller than total US grocery retail
- Shopper demographic skews higher-income urban (delivery and pickup users)
- Lower reach in rural and lower-income markets where Instacart usage is limited
- Brand-building inventory still developing
- Attribution to in-store grocery purchases (not Instacart-delivered) requires retailer partnership integration
Buying paths:
- Self-service Instacart Ad Manager (accessible to most CPG brands)
- Managed service via Instacart sales team for larger accounts
- Agency-managed via Instacart Certified Partners
Typical Instacart Ads buyer: CPG brand with grocery retailer distribution (essentially all major CPG grocery brands), with focus on high-velocity replenishment categories or expansion into new household segments. Annual marketing budget of €500k+ typically justifies Instacart presence; €1M+ allows scale.
AOV ranges and category dynamics:
- Grocery basket on Instacart typically €60-150 per order (higher than in-store due to delivery basket sizes)
- Frozen, refrigerated, and pantry CPG benefit from high-velocity replenishment economics
- Single-product attribution within larger basket creates measurement nuance — your sponsored product's ROAS includes its contribution to basket, not just itself
Typical CPM and ROAS benchmarks (2026, US):
- Instacart Ads sponsored products: €0.40-€3.00 CPC
- Instacart Ads display: €6-22 CPM
- Instacart emerging video: €15-30 CPM
- ROAS for established CPG: 6-12x typical for sponsored products in high-velocity categories; 3-7x for display
The Instacart-Walmart-Amazon allocation question reveals a brand's strategic understanding of where their actual shoppers are. Brands that allocate roughly proportional to actual retail revenue share by retailer demonstrate strategic clarity. Brands that over-index Amazon allocation regardless of distribution are following platform momentum rather than shopper reality. The exception worth defending: brands building new category awareness sometimes over-index Amazon for the discovery layer even when their physical distribution is more retailer-balanced. But for established brands at scale, allocation should mirror revenue distribution within a 15-20% margin.
Carrefour Links and European grocery retail media
Carrefour Links is Carrefour Group's retail media platform, serving brands selling through Carrefour's European grocery network across France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, and emerging markets.
The Carrefour Links architecture:
1. Inventory across Carrefour's ecosystem:
- Carrefour.fr, Carrefour.es, Carrefour.it — country-specific e-commerce sites
- Carrefour mobile apps
- In-store digital displays in select Carrefour locations
- Carrefour Drive (pickup) and Carrefour Livraison (delivery) digital touchpoints
- Off-Carrefour programmatic via Carrefour Links DSP capabilities
- Criteo Retail Media partnership for additional inventory and capabilities
2. Shopper data depth:
- Carrefour loyalty card purchase history (in-store and online combined)
- Browse and search behavior on Carrefour digital properties
- Category and brand affinity
- Household-level shopping patterns (where loyalty card identifies households)
3. Attribution capabilities:
- In-store sales lift measurement via loyalty card data — link digital ad exposure to in-store basket
- Online sales attribution — clean attribution from ad exposure to Carrefour.fr/.es/.it purchase
- Cross-format attribution — link display ad exposure to sponsored product clicks to final purchase
Carrefour Links strengths:
- Largest grocery retail network in continental Europe (especially France and Spain)
- In-store sales attribution via loyalty card data is exceptionally strong
- Premium grocery shopper demographic in France (Carrefour skews slightly upmarket vs Lidl/Aldi)
- Multi-market reach via single platform for pan-European brands
- Less competitive than Amazon in European grocery CPG
Carrefour Links limitations:
- Reach limited to Carrefour-distributed brands and Carrefour shoppers
- Operational model often requires agency or managed-service for scaled buying
- Self-service tooling less developed than Amazon or Walmart
- General merchandise reach much smaller than grocery (Carrefour's general merchandise share is meaningful but not category-leading)
Buying paths:
- Criteo Retail Media partnership for some Carrefour inventory and capabilities
- Direct Carrefour Links engagement for larger commitments
- Agency-managed via Carrefour-certified agencies
Typical Carrefour Links buyer: CPG brand with Carrefour distribution in target European markets, focus on grocery and household categories, willing to commit to 30+ day campaign cycles. Annual European marketing budget of €1M+ typically justifies Carrefour Links presence at meaningful scale.
AOV and category dynamics by market:
- Carrefour France grocery basket: typical AOV €55-110 per Carrefour purchase
- Carrefour Spain: typical AOV €40-85
- Carrefour Italy: typical AOV €45-90
- Mass CPG categories (food, beverages, household) drive bulk of advertising opportunity
- Premium CPG categories see increasing investment as Carrefour Links capabilities mature
Typical CPM and ROAS benchmarks (2026, EU):
- Carrefour Links sponsored products: €0.30-€2.00 CPC
- Carrefour Links display: €5-20 CPM
- Premium Carrefour homepage placements: significantly higher CPMs
- ROAS for established CPG: 5-9x typical for sponsored products; 3-6x for display
Other European grocery retail media to consider:
- Tesco Media & Insight Platform (UK) — Tesco's own retail media program, comparable to Carrefour Links in capabilities
- Sainsbury's Nectar360 (UK) — leverages Nectar loyalty program data
- REWE Group programs (Germany, Austria) — direct retailer programs at REWE and EDEKA
- Various other European retailer-specific programs — Coop Italia, Ahold Delhaize across multiple markets, etc.
The European retail media landscape is structurally more fragmented than US — multiple country-specific retailer programs require brand-specific allocation rather than single dominant platforms.
Comparative platform economics and CPMs
The structured comparison across these platforms helps clarify allocation decisions for CPG brands.
Reading the CPM and ROAS table correctly:
- CPMs vary 2-3x within stated ranges based on category, audience precision, and seasonality
- ROAS depends heavily on category fit, retailer distribution, and creative quality
- The platform with highest stated ROAS isn't necessarily best for your brand — it's best for brands that fit its category and retailer match
- Cross-platform ROAS comparison requires careful attribution methodology — each platform's attribution methodology has biases
Total cost stack considerations beyond CPMs:
- Platform fees: most platforms don't charge explicit platform fees but agency markups (15-25%) apply
- Operational overhead: managing multiple platforms multiplies operational complexity
- Creative production: each platform has format requirements that may require incremental creative work
- Measurement infrastructure: cross-platform measurement requires MMM investment for accuracy at scale
The honest economics framework:
- Below €25k/month total retail media budget: concentrate on 1-2 platforms (typically Amazon + one other)
- €25-100k/month: 3-4 platforms is sustainable with focus
- €100k+/month: full multi-platform strategy with clear allocation logic per category and retailer
- Above €500k/month: dedicated retail media team and MMM infrastructure justified
Brand category fit by platform
Brand category and product attributes determine which platforms deliver best return.
Walmart Connect best fit:
- Mass CPG categories (food, beverages, household, baby, beauty mainstream)
- Brands with broad Walmart distribution and competitive shelf presence
- Brands targeting price-conscious and mainstream demographics
- Brands wanting in-store sales attribution capability
- Examples: P&G categories, Unilever brands, mass beauty, baby and family products
Walmart Connect lower fit:
- Premium/aspirational brands (Walmart demographic skews mass-market)
- Brands without Walmart distribution
- Categories where Amazon dominates shopper journey (electronics, books, general merchandise discovery)
- Pure e-commerce or DTC brands
Instacart Ads best fit:
- High-velocity grocery CPG with replenishment dynamics (cereals, beverages, household supplies, frozen foods)
- Brands targeting urban and higher-income grocery delivery users
- Brands wanting multi-retailer grocery reach via single platform
- Categories where basket-level attribution matters (cross-sell, basket-building)
Instacart Ads lower fit:
- Non-grocery categories (general merchandise, electronics, apparel)
- Premium or specialty categories with low Instacart shopping share
- Brands targeting rural and lower-income demographics
- Pure brand-building campaigns (Instacart inventory is performance-oriented)
Carrefour Links best fit:
- CPG brands with strong French, Spanish, or Italian Carrefour distribution
- Mass grocery categories (food, beverages, household)
- Premium grocery categories (Carrefour skews slightly upmarket vs hard discounters)
- Pan-European brand campaigns leveraging Carrefour's multi-market presence
Carrefour Links lower fit:
- Brands without Carrefour distribution in target markets
- US-focused brands (Carrefour exited US in 1993)
- General merchandise categories with limited Carrefour share
- Premium DTC brands without Carrefour partnership
Multi-platform allocation by brand profile:
US mass CPG brand (food/household), €500k+ annual retail media budget:
- 30-40% Walmart Connect
- 25-35% Amazon Ads
- 15-25% Instacart Ads
- 10-20% Target Roundel + Kroger Precision Marketing
- 5-10% test budget for emerging platforms
EU mass CPG brand (food/household), €500k+ annual retail media budget:
- 35-45% Carrefour Links (across markets)
- 20-30% Amazon Ads (EU marketplaces)
- 10-20% Criteo Retail Media for additional retailer reach
- 10-20% direct retailer programs (Tesco, REWE, etc. by market)
- 5-10% test budget
Premium beauty brand, €500k+ annual retail media budget:
- 30-40% Amazon Ads
- 15-25% Walmart Connect (US mass beauty)
- 20-30% direct retailer programs (Sephora, Ulta, Boots, etc.)
- 10-20% Instacart (grocery beauty)
- 5-15% test budget
For broader context on how retail media allocation interacts with brand-building budgets, see our Netflix and Prime Video ad-tier strategy guide.
Attribution and measurement across networks
Cross-platform retail media measurement is structurally harder than within-platform measurement. Each platform has strong within-ecosystem attribution; cross-platform attribution requires additional infrastructure.
Platform-level attribution by platform:
Walmart Connect attribution:
- Online sales attribution: clean from ad exposure to Walmart.com purchase
- In-store sales lift: linked via Walmart+ and payment data (gold standard)
- Cross-device attribution: maturing
- Brand lift studies: available for upper-funnel campaigns including Vizio CTV
- Attribution windows: configurable, typically 14-30 days for performance
Instacart Ads attribution:
- Sales attribution within Instacart ecosystem: clean
- Cross-retailer attribution within Instacart: unified across retailers shopper uses
- New-to-brand identification: available
- Brand lift studies: emerging capability
- Attribution windows: typically 14-30 days
Carrefour Links attribution:
- In-store sales lift via loyalty card: strong where loyalty card adoption is high (France particularly strong)
- Online sales attribution: clean from ad exposure to Carrefour.fr/.es/.it purchase
- Cross-format attribution: link display to sponsored product to final purchase
- Attribution windows: configurable
Cross-platform measurement reality:
Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM):
- The only methodologically rigorous approach to cross-platform incrementality
- Requires 18-24 months of clean spend and outcome data
- Budget €50-200k annually for MMM infrastructure for serious cross-platform measurement
- Vendors: Nielsen, Circana, IRI, custom MMM via data science teams
Geo-holdout testing across platforms:
- Possible but operationally complex
- Pause one platform in matched geos; measure aggregate sales lift in test vs control
- Best executed quarterly with rotating platform under test
- Provides directional incrementality reads without MMM investment
Brand lift studies layered across platforms:
- Each platform offers brand lift methodology with different rigor
- Cross-platform brand lift comparison requires consistent methodology — harder than within-platform
- Useful directionally but not for precise cross-platform allocation
The honest measurement framework:
- Within-platform attribution: use platform-reported with awareness of biases
- Cross-platform comparison: use MMM if budget supports; directional comparisons otherwise
- Test incrementality quarterly via geo-holdout to validate within-platform attribution
- Build allocation decisions on directional confidence, not falsely precise attribution
Common attribution mistakes to avoid:
- Comparing within-platform attributed ROAS across platforms (the methodologies aren't comparable)
- Ignoring channel overlap (the same shopper sees ads on multiple platforms)
- Over-attributing to retail media when traditional channels drove the brand demand
- Setting allocation based on platform-reported ROAS without incrementality validation
30-day allocation and pilot framework
The HowTo schema above details the day-by-day. Strategic framing for the 30-day plan:
Week 1 — Audit current state and identify gaps. Pull current retail media spend by platform, map against retailer revenue distribution, identify where platform presence doesn't match retailer revenue. The gap analysis surfaces the platform opportunities to evaluate. Most CPG brands find that retail media spend is over-concentrated on Amazon relative to actual retailer revenue distribution; the gap analysis quantifies how much.
Week 2 — Platform engagement and assessment. Engage Walmart Connect, Instacart, Carrefour Links (or other priority platforms based on your distribution) with specific briefs. Request capability documentation, expected ROAS benchmarks, inventory specifications, minimum commitments. Build comparative assessment matrix that informs which platforms to pilot.
Week 3 — Pilot setup. Launch pilots on 1-2 priority platforms with €10-25k spend per platform over 30-45 days. Match products, targeting, and objectives across platforms where possible. Set up measurement infrastructure with attribution tracking, brand-lift measurement if applicable, in-store sales lift measurement where retailer data supports.
Week 4 — Monitor and learn. Track campaign delivery, audience response, and early signals. Focus on operational learning: what creative formats work, which audiences perform, where platform UI/UX strengths and weaknesses lie. Don't make scale-up decisions based on first 14 days of data.
Beyond the 30-day initial plan, the 45-90 day evaluation framework: build comparative platform assessment, decide allocation framework with clear logic, scale platforms that demonstrate ROAS at parity-or-better with Amazon for affected categories.
The 2026 long-term posture for CPG retail media:
- Multi-platform strategy is now standard for brands above €500k annual retail media budget
- Single-platform concentration (pure Amazon or pure Walmart) increasingly leaves performance on the table
- Quarterly rebalancing based on incrementality testing and category dynamics
- Annual strategic review of platform allocation as ecosystems evolve
If you'd like AI-driven optimization for the Google Ads and Microsoft Ads side of your stack so your team can focus on retail media strategy, SteerAds runs a free 14-day audit on your Google + Microsoft Ads accounts.
Sources
Official and third-party sources consulted for this guide:
-
walmartconnect.com
— Walmart Connect platform documentation and capabilities -
instacart.com/ads
— Instacart Ads platform overview and capabilities -
carrefour.com/en/links
— Carrefour Links retail media platform documentation -
emarketer.com
— 2026 retail media network spending forecasts and benchmarks -
iab.com
— IAB Retail Media Buyer's Guide 2026 with platform-by-platform analysis
Related reading: AI Creative with Veo 3, Runway & Flux for Google Ads 2026 · Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) for SaaS Vendors 2026 · CTV / Connected TV Ads: SMB Buyer's Guide 2026 · DV360 Setup Checklist: First 90 Days 2026 · GA4 Explorations: Cohort Analysis for Paid Acquisition 2026 · GTM Server Container on Cloud Run: Setup & Cost 2026
FAQ
Is Walmart Connect really competitive with Amazon Ads in 2026?
Yes, in the US market and for specific categories. Walmart's US retail share — including grocery, household goods, general merchandise — gives Walmart Connect access to shopper data on segments that Amazon underweights. For brands with strong Walmart distribution and category presence, Walmart Connect's omnichannel attribution (linking digital ads to in-store sales via loyalty data) provides measurement clarity that Amazon cannot match for in-store purchases. Walmart Connect grew from approximately €2B in advertising revenue in 2022 to over €4B by 2025; the trajectory suggests it will continue closing the gap with Amazon Ads in US CPG categories through 2026-2028. For non-US markets, Walmart Connect is much less relevant — concentration on Amazon, Criteo, and direct-retailer programs makes more sense.
Should DTC brands without physical retail distribution use Walmart Connect or Instacart?
Generally no. Both platforms are designed primarily for brands with established retail distribution at Walmart or Instacart's retailer partners (Kroger, Aldi, Costco, Wegmans, etc.). Pure DTC brands without physical retail presence don't have the in-store sales attribution piece that makes these platforms uniquely valuable. The exception: DTC brands testing into physical retail distribution can use Walmart Connect or Instacart Ads to validate demand before broader retail expansion. For pure-DTC brands, Amazon Ads + standard digital channels (Meta, Google, CTV) typically deliver better ROI. See our [Meta Ads vs Google Ads budget allocation guide](/blog/meta-ads-vs-google-ads-budget-allocation-saas) for DTC-appropriate allocation frameworks.
How does Instacart Ads compare to running ads on individual retailer sites?
Different layer of the same ecosystem. Individual retailer sites (Kroger.com, Wegmans.com, Costco.com) have their own retail media offerings, often via Criteo Retail Media or direct programs. Instacart Ads operates as a layer on top of those retailers — Instacart is the delivery layer connecting shoppers to multiple grocery retailers, with its own ad inventory and shopper data. For brands wanting reach across multiple grocery retailer ecosystems via single buying interface (similar to Criteo but specifically grocery-delivery-focused), Instacart Ads is the simpler path. For brands with strong specific retailer distribution wanting deepest possible integration with that retailer's data, direct retailer programs (or Criteo where applicable) often deliver more granular targeting. Most established CPG brands run both.
What's the realistic CPM range for these platforms in 2026?
Walmart Connect: display CPMs €5-25 depending on placement premium and audience; sponsored product CPCs €0.30-€2.50; Walmart Streaming TV (via Vizio Ads partnership) CPMs €18-35. Instacart Ads: sponsored product CPCs €0.40-€3.00; display CPMs €6-22; emerging Instacart video CPMs €15-30. Carrefour Links: sponsored product placements €0.30-€2.00 CPC; display CPMs €5-20 depending on placement; premium Carrefour homepage placements significantly higher. CPMs across all three vary 2-3x based on category competitiveness, audience precision, and seasonality. The ROAS that these CPMs translate to depends heavily on category and basket size — pure CPM comparison doesn't capture economic value.
Can I run brand-building campaigns on these platforms or are they pure performance?
Increasingly both, though performance remains stronger. Walmart Connect expanded brand-building inventory through Vizio Ads partnership (acquired 2024) — Vizio's connected TV inventory is now accessible through Walmart Connect with shopper-data targeting. This is genuine brand-building inventory with retail media attribution. Instacart added display and video formats designed for upper-funnel reach in late 2024-2025. Carrefour offers some brand-building placements on premium homepage real estate. For pure brand-building budgets, traditional channels (Netflix, Prime Video, CTV, social) still deliver superior reach and impression quality at typically lower CPMs. Use retail media brand-building inventory as a complement, not a replacement, for traditional brand investments. See our [Netflix and Prime Video ad-tier guide](/blog/netflix-prime-video-ad-tier-strategy-2026) for premium streaming context.
What's the actual difference between Walmart Connect and Walmart's Criteo partnership?
Walmart Connect is Walmart's own retail media platform — directly operated by Walmart with full access to Walmart's shopper data, inventory, and in-store attribution. The Criteo partnership covers specific inventory types (primarily off-Walmart retargeting and some on-site capabilities) where Walmart leverages Criteo's technology rather than building it natively. For most brands, Walmart Connect direct is the primary path; the Criteo path applies to specific use cases (multi-retailer campaigns including Walmart, certain off-Walmart targeting). Don't try to choose between them — they're complementary, with Walmart Connect being the foundation and Criteo-mediated capabilities being layered tools for specific use cases.
What's the right way to allocate budget across these platforms for a US-based CPG brand?
For US CPG with broad retail distribution including Walmart, Kroger, Costco, and other major chains: typical mature allocation is 30-40% Walmart Connect direct, 25-35% Amazon Ads, 15-25% Instacart Ads, 10-20% direct retailer programs (Target, Kroger, etc.), 5-15% Criteo for multi-retailer reach. The exact mix depends on category — grocery skews more toward Instacart and Walmart; household goods skews more toward Amazon and Target direct; beauty skews more toward Amazon and category retailers (Ulta, Sephora). The allocation grew significantly from 2022 baselines when Amazon was 60-70% of CPG retail media budget — platform diversification accelerated through 2024-2026.
How long does it take to see meaningful results on a new retail media platform?
Typically 45-90 days for performance campaigns to demonstrate clear ROAS signal at meaningful scale. The phases: weeks 1-2 are campaign setup, learning phase, and initial creative testing; weeks 3-6 see initial performance stabilization but with high variance; weeks 6-12 are when ROAS benchmarks become reliable and optimization decisions can be data-driven. Brand-building campaigns require longer windows — 90-180 days for brand lift signals to become measurable. Don't make scale-up or pull-back decisions based on first-30-day data; the variance is too high. Budget enough patience and budget that you can absorb the learning phase without panicking when initial weeks don't immediately match Amazon Ads' more mature performance.