Circana, Best Buy Ads Released Marketing Study

New research shows the significant sales and brand impact of retail media beyond individual store ecosystems.

Updated on Oct. 7, 2026 in Advertising

Isometric editorial illustration showing interconnected metallic boxes linked by thin threads, representing the reach of retail media advertising. — Circana and Best Buy Ads released a marketing study demonstrating that retail media advertising reaches far beyond individual store ecosystems. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

Live Poll

Do you trust retail media advertisements to provide accurate information about product availability across different stores?

Circana and Best Buy Ads have released a marketing mix modeling study analyzing the influence of retail media on consumer electronics and appliances. The research quantifies how these investments affect brand equity and sales across the broader retail marketplace.

Why it matters

The study was conducted to demonstrate the full-funnel impact of retail media investments, revealing that advertising reach often extends well beyond a single retailer's internal ecosystem.

Best Buy Ads delivered a return on ad spend 79 percent higher than other media channels and contributed nearly 10 percent of measured brand equity value. Additionally, 16 percent of media-driven sales occurred at competing retail locations.

The players

Circana

Circana is a data and market research firm that provides analytics to help companies understand consumer behavior and retail trends.

Best Buy Ads

Best Buy Ads is the retail media network operated by the consumer electronics retailer Best Buy.

The details

The research utilized marketing mix modeling to evaluate short-term sales, cross-retailer halo effects, and long-term brand equity within a single comprehensive framework. By analyzing the consumer electronics and appliances sectors, the report highlights the interconnected nature of modern retail advertising.

October 7, 2026: Circana and Best Buy Ads released the study findings.

Market Landscape

This study aligns with the broader industry transition toward the rise of retail media networks as primary advertising vehicles. It illustrates how retail platforms now compete with traditional media by effectively capturing the full customer journey across multiple retailers.

Shoppers may notice more targeted advertising for electronics and appliances as brands leverage retail media to influence decisions both in-store and online. These insights suggest that ad spending is increasingly focused on where consumers make final purchases rather than just where they browse.

The takeaway

Retail media investments are significantly more influential than traditional media models when considering cross-retailer sales impacts. Businesses should account for this 'halo effect' when allocating their marketing budgets across competitive retail landscapes.