Amazon’s growing dominance will reshape retail media in Australia

Retail media is booming, but the easy wins are fading for retailers. Sonder estimates that the total market value in Australia reached $2.6bn in 2024 and is forecast to grow by 10-15% in 2025. But whilst the market continues to see growth behind the headlines, there’s pressure for brand and sales leaders and retailers alike. As retailers seek greater investment from brands, brands are increasingly demanding greater visibility and transparency around performance – the trouble is, many are still building capability and muscle in measurement and attribution and having to do so whilst flying the plane.  

Whilst retailers are in an arms race to grow and mature to maximise sales and share, the increasing influence of Amazon in the Australian market is also being felt in the retail media space.  

The growing dominance of Amazon Ads locally 

According to Mi-3, Amazon’s Australian advertising arm generated $242.5 million in net sales in 2024 - a 58% year-on-year lift. 

For a marketplace that only set up shop locally in 2017, Amazon has wasted no time in building a formidable ads business. The speed - and scale - of growth is one many local retailers would envy. 

Our 2025 Digital, Marketing & eComm in Focus study highlights the quiet force behind this momentum: one in three Australian CPG and FMCG brands are already using Amazon Ads. Coupled with the migration of brands selling on the platform, it points to even stronger growth ahead. 

In fact, six in ten CPG and FMCG brands now see Amazon as a key go-to-market channel. And across categories from beauty to baby to cleaning, we’re hearing more reports of Amazon cementing itself as a top two sales channel in Australia - outperforming some of the country’s biggest grocery retailers.  

Looking ahead, while Amazon’s share of local eCommerce sales remains modest compared to its global footprint, currently around 8–10% of Australia’s total online retail, the trajectory is clear. Within the next three years, I believe Amazon could command 20–30% of retail eCommerce sales. 

That kind of shift would mark a tipping point: transforming Amazon from a fast-growing challenger into a dominant force and giving its ad network the leverage to capture a much greater share of retail media investment in this market. 

Amazon delivers what many others can’t 

In a crowded field of retail media solutions - and with retailers under pressure to grow network sales - Amazon Ads holds one decisive advantage: a mature, robust reporting and attribution framework. 

From new-to-brand tracking and the flexibility of reviewing performance across multiple attribution windows, through to APIs to share data with third party tools, Amazon offers the very insights and access to data that brands are crying out for. And the chorus is only getting louder. 

This is in stark contrast to the reality of many retailers offering today – with Sonder’s research showing that retailers still struggle to provide the closed-loop measurement and audience sophistication brands want.  

The 2025 Digital, Marketing & eCommerce in Focus study also found that 96% of brands struggle to quantify ROI on retail media, while more than 80% rate current reporting and insights from retail media networks are “emerging at best.” This is where Amazon’s edge is most visible. With an ad offering in market since 2012, it has had a significant head start on local rivals to refine the tools and democratise insights that fuel smarter ad decisions. 

While many retailers are still debating how much data to share, Amazon leans in - offering more transparency than most, delivering value to advertisers, and enhancing the broader Amazon shopping experience in the process. 

Amazon’s puts another feather in its cap – upping the game 

But it isn’t just measurement and reporting that is creating competitive pressure. As retailers strive to tap into brand budgets, Amazon Ads latest announcements bring new and interesting challenges to its competitors. With its Netflix partnership slated for Q4 2025, advertisers using Amazon DSP will gain direct programmatic access to Netflix’s premium ad inventory - including Australian audiences.   

Paul Kotas, SVP Amazon Ads, said: “We’re delighted to enter this partnership with Netflix, enabling brands to reach their subscribers and extensive library of premium content with Amazon DSP. We’re making it simple to manage all of their TV planning and buying with Amazon Ads.” Netflix’s President of Advertising Amy Reinhard echoed the strategic alignment: “This partnership with Amazon perfectly aligns with our commitment of bringing advertisers even greater flexibility in their buys to achieve their marketing goals.  

The implications for Australian retail media can’t be overstated. Streaming inventory at Netflix scale, paired with Amazon’s first-party shopping insights and clean-room measurement via Amazon Marketing Cloud, is a potent combination. It’s not just about adding TV reach; it’s about linking brand storytelling to actual purchase behaviour in a way many local RMNs simply can’t match yet. 

More than ever – retailers need to play to their strengths and differentiate 

Competitive pressure is intensifying, but retailers still hold unique cards to play. Unmatched in-store experiences, physical shelf presence, and long-standing brand relationships are all distinct advantages. Yet, on their own, they won’t be enough. The retailers that thrive will be those that double down on measurement, democratise access to performance data, and operate with transparency that gives brands the confidence to invest. 

The Australian retail media market is at an inflection point. Global platforms aren’t just competing for ad dollars — they’re building integrated measurement and media stacks that connect storytelling to purchase behaviour in ways most local networks can’t yet replicate. That matters because brands place budgets where they can prove and defend outcomes. 

This dynamic creates both risk and opportunity. The risk: local players that fail to quickly lift their reporting, targeting, and creative capabilities will cede ad spend to platforms that combine rich shopper signals with premium inventory. The opportunity: those who invest now in transparent measurement, commerce-linked creative formats, and partner-friendly APIs can lock in greater long-term value. 

Those who hesitate risk watching budgets migrate - and may find the path back much harder to reclaim. 

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 Arktic Fox is partnering with retailers and brands to establish and optimise their retail media strategies. Find out how we can help your organisation leverage the retail media opportunity.