CVS’s retail media boss wants to turn 9,000 stores into a data-driven media giant

Dhariwal knows a thing or two about momentum. Born in Nuneaton, a manufacturing town in the West Midlands, to Indian parents who emigrated to the UK in the 60s, he’s carved out a career spanning B2B publishing, CNet, Spotify and Walmart. Now, at CVS, he’s at the helm of a media network built on 9,000 stores, 90 million loyalty members and a growing army of in-store screens.

And if he gets his way, those screens – from the pharmacy waiting areas to the aisle-end trend caps – will become some of the most powerful and measurable ad placements in US retail. Not bad for a bloke from Nunny.

“There are two CVS stores between my hotel and the conference centre. It’s only a two-mile walk,” he says, “Look, CVS is massive, 300,000-plus employees, $370bn in revenue. I didn’t realize what a phenomenal business it was until I joined.”

What sets CMX apart, he says, is its focus on the entire retail ecosystem – not just digital ads and off-site targeting, but everything that happens in-store, in the aisle and on the screen.

Media that lives in the aisle

Dhariwal lights up when talking about in-store screens – not the futuristic kind, but real hardware deployed across thousands of branches. CVS now has around 1,900 pharmacy waiting area screens and 2,200 “trend cap” screens at aisle ends – “like out-of-home media,” as Dhariwal puts it, “but with real-time, closed-loop measurement.”

It’s an area many networks still treat as a nice-to-have. For Dhariwal, it’s core to the business. “Retail media networks talk a lot about digital. But our biggest channel – our most important one – is still in-store. That’s where the action is. That’s where our customers are.”

To prove it, CVS has built out an attribution model that ties ExtraCare loyalty swipes to on-screen exposures. No eye-tracking, no sci-fi surveillance – just timestamped messaging and reliable sales data. “We know the average time a customer is in-store. We know when they’ve seen a message. And we can link that to purchase. It’s not rocket science – but it is effective.”

Personalization at scale – for snacks and statins

Unlike the UK, US pharmacies are full-blown convenience stores. You can pick up shampoo, cereal, cold drinks, beauty products and birthday cards on your way to collect your prescription, which means customer journeys are wildly diverse.

Dhariwal’s team is using that to its advantage, merging local insights with centralized planning. “The beach stores in Miami will obviously have more sun cream and cold drinks. In Times Square, it’s a different basket. In Brooklyn, another again. We’re working on more granular merchandising powered by data. It’s a front-store initiative – it’s happening now.”

The ExtraCare loyalty programme, which boasts a whopping 90 million addressable members, is key to this. “54% of our customers start in the app and then go to a store to complete the purchase. That gives us a clear through-line from digital to physical.”

And that digital-physical handshake doesn’t just improve sales – it powers the flywheel of retail media. “It’s not about blasting ads. It’s about being relevant – showing up with the right message, in the right store, at the right moment.”

From measurement pain to performance gain

Measurement, naturally, is a hot topic. And CMX is leaning in. “We were the first health and wellness retail media network to adopt the IAB’s measurement standards – both digital and in-store,” says Dhariwal. “But we’ve gone beyond that. We use RCT methodology with holdout groups to prove incrementality. That’s the gold standard. Without that, why would advertisers come back?”

It’s a strong pitch and a necessary one. With CTV, social and the rest of the media pack jostling for share of wallet, retail media has to prove it can do more than just capture impulse buys.

For now, CVS is staying focused on endemic categories – beauty, health, wellness, OTC meds – and refining its offer before wading into non-endemic waters. “You can’t just slap any old brand in a store and call it a strategy,” he says. “There has to be value for the customer. Friction is fine, as long as it’s the right kind.”

From Spotify playlists to six-minute shopping trips

It’s hard not to be impressed by the scale and speed of Dhariwal’s operation. He’s deployed more than 4,000 screens, launched programmatic audio across every store and is preparing to install another 500 front-door stanchions by year-end. “I know I can go to a CVS, get what I need and be out in six minutes. That’s the proposition. That’s the value.”

CMX turns five this August – still young in network terms – but Dhariwal’s focus is clear: tighten the data, prove the performance and keep the customer at the center. “We’re not trying to do everything. We’re doing what matters – and doing it properly.”

So, how big could it all get? “Retail media’s not going away,” he says. “It’s one of the few sectors still heading up and to the right. And when you’ve got the footprint, the data and the trust – well, that’s a bright spot in anyone’s media plan.”