How and why retailers should be monetizing their data

Data has become one of the most valuable assets a retail business can hold. Retailers are sitting on vast amounts of information—from transactional and loyalty data to location insights and customer behavior patterns. Leveraging this data effectively can unlock new revenue streams, improve customer experiences, and provide a long-term competitive advantage.

The timing has never been more urgent. As third-party cookies continue to decay, brands are losing access to many of the external data sources they relied on to understand how customers interact across digital touchpoints. 

According to eMarketer, the global retail media market is projected to exceed $100 billion by 2027, underlining how central retail data monetization has become to both retailers and their brand partners. At the same time, PwC estimates that retailers who leverage first-party data report ROI improvements of 10–20% compared to traditional targeting approaches.

In this article, we’ll explore the challenges retailers face, the actionable opportunities available, real-world use cases, strategies to overcome barriers, and emerging trends in retail data monetization. By the end, you’ll have a clear roadmap to monetize your retail data securely and effectively.

Challenges retailers face in monetizing data

Retailers face several significant hurdles when attempting to unlock the value of their data. 

• Data governance and compliance → as privacy regulations tighten and customers expect transparency about how their data is used.
  
• Difficulty unifying insights → they are often scattered across loyalty programs, point-of-sale systems, e-commerce platforms, and mobile apps.
  
• Lacking technical capabilities → from infrastructure to AI-driven analytics, retailers may lack the ability to turn raw data into actionable insights.
  
• Customer trust remains fragile → if shoppers perceive that their data is being misused or sold without their knowledge, loyalty and engagement can erode quickly.
  

Why retailers need to act now

The shift to first-party data strategies isn’t just a long-term trend; it’s an immediate business priority. With cookie decay reducing the effectiveness of third-party targeting, advertisers are turning to retailers as the new data providers. 

Meanwhile, customer expectations for personalized shopping experiences are higher than ever. If retailers fail to move quickly, they risk leaving value on the table and ceding competitive advantage to peers who are faster to embrace data monetization opportunities.

Data monetization opportunities for retailers

Retailers have multiple avenues to turn data into insights and revenue.

Retail media networks 

Retail media networks are one of the most visible methods for retailers to monetize data. By selling advertising space on their digital platforms and enhancing it with first-party data insights, retailers enable brands to target customers with precision. 

This doesn’t just improve advertiser ROI; it also creates a high-margin revenue stream for retailers themselves. For example, sponsored product placements informed by purchase history often outperform generic ads, making retail media offerings an increasingly attractive proposition.

Supplier and brand partnerships 

Brand partnerships are another powerful strategy. Instead of simply selling raw data, retailers can share aggregated, privacy-compliant insights that help partners to:

• Refine product launches
• Optimize shelf placement
• Craft more effective marketing campaigns

When done transparently, this creates mutual value: suppliers gain valuable information to power their data-driven strategies, and retailers unlock a recurring revenue channel.

Supply chain optimization 

Supply chain optimization offers a more inward-facing but equally valuable benefit. By analyzing sales data, transactional data, and demand planning patterns, retailers can cut operational costs, reduce waste, and improve on-shelf availability. 

Imagine a grocery chain using predictive analytics to adjust orders and avoid spoilage—this not only saves money but also improves customer satisfaction by ensuring products are consistently available.

New business models

Some retailers are experimenting with subscription-based access to curated dashboards, while others are launching co-branded initiatives with consumer goods companies to test new products based on real-time shopper data.

Improving customer experiences 

These efforts remain at the heart of retail data monetization. Loyalty programs, mobile apps, and personalized marketing strategies all thrive on high-quality data. By tailoring rewards, recommendations, and content, retailers can enhance customer engagement, boost conversion rates, and strengthen long-term loyalty—all while creating differentiation in a crowded market.

Retail media is evolving rapidly, and the next wave is retailers building their own media businesses. Whether you’re looking to create ad products, reach audiences onsite and offsite, or measure full-funnel campaign performance, our guide provides the foundations you need. Unlock practical strategies, key considerations, and actionable insights to turn your first-party data into a scalable retail media network.

Download your guide to building a retail media network

Retail data monetization use cases

The theory becomes clearer when looking at real-world applications. Examples include:

• Retail media offerings driving advertiser ROI, where brands use anonymized first-party data to target campaigns more effectively. A leading European retailer, for instance, reported double-digit increases in click-through rates when advertisers tapped into its media network.
  
  
• Loyalty data enabling personalized promotions, such as supermarkets tailoring discounts to individual purchase histories, which increases both basket size and customer satisfaction.
  
  
• Operational data improving inventory management, helping retailers avoid overstocks and shortages while reducing waste. One global retailer used point-of-sale data to cut fresh produce waste by 15% in a single year.
  
  
• Transactional data supporting demand forecasting, which enables better planning and more strategic decision-making. A fashion retailer, for example, leveraged predictive analytics to align stock levels with seasonal demand, reducing markdowns and improving margins.
  
  
• Location data shaping marketing strategies, such as using footfall analysis to determine the most effective store layouts or to target mobile app offers when customers are near a physical location.
  
  

These examples highlight the variety of ways retailers can monetize data—not just to generate new revenue, but also to create efficiencies and deliver valuable insights to partners and customers.

How retailers can overcome data monetization challenges

Overcoming challenges requires leadership commitment and strategic choices rather than piecemeal fixes. 

• Investing in secure infrastructure and robust data governance → to ensure compliance and mitigate risks.
  
• Cross-functional collaboration → marketing, operations, and analytics teams need to work together rather than in silos if the organization is to extract real value from its data.
  
• Making the most of first-part data → rather than relying on selling raw data, which can damage customer trust.
  
• Focus on retail insights monetization → retailers can generate value both for themselves and their partners while maintaining a customer-first mindset.
  
• Be transparent about data usage → this will build stronger relationships with customers.
  
• Partnering with data clean room providers → which enable secure and compliant collaboration with brands and suppliers while protecting customer privacy.

Future trends in retail data monetization

Several market trends are shaping the future of retail data:

• AI-driven predictive analytics will allow retailers to anticipate consumer behavior, forecast demand, and deliver more personalized marketing strategies. This will make it easier to align supply chains with actual customer needs, reducing costs and improving satisfaction.
  
• Growth of the retail media market will expand opportunities for access monetization and create a central role for retailers in the advertising ecosystem. With global spend increasing year on year, this is fast becoming one of the most lucrative revenue streams in retail.
  
• Rising regulatory requirements will make strong data governance not only a necessity but also a competitive differentiator. Retailers that demonstrate compliance and ethical use can win greater trust from both consumers and brand partners.
  
• New business models will continue to emerge, from subscription-based insights platforms to collaborative ecosystems where multiple retailers and suppliers share operational data securely.
  
• Data clean rooms and secure collaboration will become the standard approach to monetization, providing a compliant, scalable way to share data with partners without exposing personally identifiable information.
  

Retailers who embrace these trends early will gain a durable competitive advantage by embedding secure and ethical data practices into their business models.

Monetize your retail data while staying compliant today

Unlocking the value of your retail data doesn’t have to compromise compliance or trust. By strategically leveraging first-party data, adopting secure collaboration technologies, and focusing on ethical monetization practices, retailers can generate new revenue streams while enhancing customer experiences. 

Discover how Decentriq helps retailers unlock data monetization opportunities securely today! Explore our data clean room solutions for retailers.