CANNES, France — Retail media has crossed a threshold, shifting from trade marketing budgets toward media buying frameworks that demand publisher-grade capabilities from retailers — a transformation that is redefining how the entire ecosystem operates. And that is an important distinction because when you are thinking more about media, you’re thinking more about how an advertiser wants to buy? How does an agency want to buy?”Sherry Smith, president, retail media at Criteo, told Beet. “What do I need within my own organization to make that easy and efficient, not just across my trade, but across media in general?”This evolution accelerated dramatically in 2020 and continues reshaping retailer operating models as AI-driven discovery fundamentally changes how consumers arrive at purchase decisions. Conversational discovery replaces keyword searchConsumer shopping behavior is shifting from specific keyword searches toward intent-rich conversational queries that require retailers to serve up organic and paid media responses that address complex, multi-part requests.