While 200+ retail media networks compete for scraps of advertiser attention, three companies are proving that surprise and delight isn’t just good customer experience; it’s a viable revenue stream.
More than 200 retail media networks now compete for advertiser attention while brands struggle to manage relationships with an average of five to seven platforms. And there’s a serious ‘fat head’ when it comes to distribution of retail media spend: Amazon commands 75% of US retail media spend, Walmart takes another 7%, leaving 16% for 200-odd retailers to fight over.
But while most retailers fixate on replicating Amazon’s playbook with sponsored product listings and off-site audience extension, a handful of companies have identified white space in moments that feel less like advertising and more like value creation. They’re helping retailers to monetize the transaction moment, the product discovery moment and the post-purchase moment in ways that surprise and delight consumers in ways that feel less like advertising and more like adding value.
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PayPal is the latest partner for adtech provider Rokt, signaling that post-purchase advertising has arrived as a mainstream channel. Rokt populates ads after peer-to-peer transactions on PayPal and Venmo ‘thank you’ pages, plus merchant confirmations through Honey.
Research from Rokt and The Harris Poll shows 56% of shoppers are most excited while completing a purchase, with excitement peaking at confirmation. Here’s the kicker: 62% would rather abandon their cart than deal with irrelevant offers during checkout, yet 70% want shopping experiences that surprise and delight them. The gap between those numbers represents an opportunity.
Rokt’s machine learning evaluates behavioral, transactional and contextual signals in real time. The network will power 7.5bn transactions in 2025, with revenues growing 40% year-over-year to $600m in 2024. “Advertisers are looking for the next signal, and it’s clear that the strongest signals are now real transactions tied to identity,” said Mark Grether, senior vice-president of PayPal Ads.
BJ’s Wholesale Club achieved 300% year-over-year growth in member acquisition through Rokt while maintaining cost per acquisition – capturing members averaging 10 years younger than existing customers.
“When someone’s just completed a purchase, they’re open, excited – it’s a little dopamine rush,” said Dani Kelley, director of member acquisition at BJ’s. “That energy translates into higher intent.”
Swish takes a completely different approach: programmatic product trial. The platform adds full-size products to online grocery orders, funded by CPG brands, targeting households based on purchase behavior.
“Ultimately, brands want customers to try and then buy their products,” said Adam Stave, founder and chief executive of Swish, who previously held roles at Triad Retail Media and eBay Advertising. “Demos and mailers are expensive and hard to measure, while digital media continues to fall short. Swish treats the product itself as media – placed directly into baskets, at the right time, for the right people.”
Swish launched with Stater Brothers Markets in September 2025 and just closed a seed round led by BD Ventures.
“Product trial is the fundamental goal of all consumer-packaged goods marketing,” said Jonathan Opdyke, managing partner of BD Ventures and co-founder of HookLogic, which pioneered retail media’s sponsored products platform. “Shoppers don’t truly become customers until they actually consume or use the product and decide to buy again. We believe this could fundamentally change how CPG brands go to market.”
For emerging brands struggling to justify shelf space or established brands launching innovations, Swish solves the cold-start problem by removing the friction of choice entirely. Every trial counts as a full sale for the retailer and enters shopper history – driving ‘buy again’ behavior while strengthening retail media algorithms.
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Nift takes a third approach, partnering with consumer platforms to offer personalized ‘thank you’ gifts that introduce shoppers to new brands. Unlike Rokt’s post-purchase offers or Swish’s in-basket products, Nift’s AI-powered platform can present gifts at any moment in the customer journey – after leaving a review, making a payment, transferring loyalty points or downloading an app.
Klarna reported a 30% click-through rate and 40% gift activation rate in the US, with consumers discovering products from Chewy, Fabletics, HelloFresh and SiriusXM through Nift’s ecosystem of 12,000+ merchants.
“We constantly look for innovative ways to elevate our customer experience by making shopping with Klarna more personal, pleasant and rewarding,” said David Sandström, chief marketing officer of Klarna. “By partnering with Nift, we’re able to thank our customers for making a purchase with surprise, high-value gifts.”
Nift data shows 88% of gift recipients rate their gift positively, 72% like the company more after receiving one and 70% plan to use the brand again. That last stat connects back to the Harris Poll finding: 41% of shoppers want to shop again with brands that delivered delightful checkout experiences.
These three companies are getting traction by solving a problem I’ve been writing about all year: in an industry drowning in sameness, advertisers can’t tell one retail media network from another. Standard display and search inventory has become table stakes and retailers struggle to differentiate their offerings beyond audience size and pricing.
Rokt, Swish and Nift offer new value exchanges, not just new formats. They monetize receptive moments, create experiences that feel like perks and deliver metrics that matter: customer acquisition, lifetime value, behavior change.
The stakes just got higher. The growth in retail media ad spend is decelerating to 15.6% in 2025 from 25.1% in 2024, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau. Brands are scrutinizing every retail media dollar. For networks outside the top tier, proving clear value isn’t optional – it’s survival.
These surprise-and-delight approaches may offer mid-tier networks a way out of what I’ve called the ‘doom loop’ – the vicious cycle where retailers launch with sky-high profit expectations, grab some quick wins by repackaging trade dollars as ‘retail media’ then stall out when that easy money runs dry. Without revenue growth, they can’t justify investing in better tech and talent. Without better tech and talent, they can’t attract new budgets. The loop tightens.
Instead of trying to match Amazon and Walmart on sponsored search capabilities, retailers can create unique, high-value moments that leverage their specific customer relationships and transaction data. Given the fragmentation, lack of standards and intense competition for budgets, differentiation isn’t optional any more.
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