Pays twice: Grocery retailers have earned billions from advertising
Retailers have found a new way to make money from the millions of customers who visit their stores every day. "Magnit"'s advertising revenue increased by 36% in the first half of 2026, X5's by 50%, and "Lenta"'s by 2.6 times. These rates significantly outstrip the growth of the main revenue of companies, "Izvestia" found out. Grocery stores remain the third most popular place to visit after home and work. Therefore, retail chains are looking for additional ways to monetize customer traffic, including through the sale of advertising. At the same time, retail media is gradually gaining a share from traditional marketing channels. Whether this business will eventually become as significant a source of income for networks as the trade itself is discussed in the "Izvestia" article.
How much did the largest retail chains gain from advertising sales
In January–June 2026, "Magnit"'s advertising revenues reached 12.1 billion rubles, an increase of 36% year-on-year. """X5" ""Pyaterochka", "Perekrestok", "Chizhik"), this figure increased 1.5 times to 17.3 billion, and "Tape" — 2.6 times, to 404 million. This follows from the companies' IFRS statements. These amounts include not only advertising in stores, but also other marketing services, including in mobile applications, on websites and other digital platforms.
At the same time, the advertising sector is developing much faster than the main business of retailers. X5's revenue for six months increased by 10.5% year-on-year, to 2.48 trillion rubles. "Magnit" increased by 12.8%, to 1.89 trillion, and "Lenta" — by 26.2%, to 648.5 billion.
The Globus hypermarket chain is also recording an increase in advertising revenue, its representative said. He did not disclose the volume and dynamics of revenue, noting only that it was "positive." In Metro, such revenues doubled over the year, a network representative said, without specifying the absolute values.
In the first six months, about 6.5 thousand campaigns passed through the "Magnit" platform, a company representative said. The number of suppliers using the network's capabilities increased by 72% year—on-year, while the number of advertisers who are not its suppliers increased by 148%. At the same time, the main part of the campaigns so far falls on manufacturers of goods presented in the chain's stores, the source noted.
""Izvestia" sent a request to the representative of "Lenta".
How Grocery Retailers are looking for New growth points in advertising
Several years ago, advertising in retail chains became an independent direction — retail media, recalled the chairman of the Association of Omnichannel Retail Companies (ACORT). Stanislav Bogdanov. According to him, this source of income helps networks to increase business efficiency against the background of increased competition and rising costs. The Globus representative agrees that advertising has become an additional source of income from the commercial partners of the networks. "Magnit", for example, accounts for about 45% of the "other income" item, as follows from the company's IFRS statements.
The growth of retail media is related to the peculiarities of the grocery retail economy, experts say. The main business of the companies is characterized by high revenue and relatively low operating profitability, said a top manager of a large retail chain. According to him, the sale of advertising allows you to earn additional income due to the already formed flow of customers, space and loyalty programs without a comparable increase in inventory and logistics costs. According to McKinsey, in developed countries, retail media accounts for about 3-10% of the total profits of networks.
Against this background, retailers are expanding the number of advertising surfaces and formats. """"Pyaterochka", "Crossroads" and "Chizhik" stores have more than 86 thousand digital platforms covering more than 30 thousand outlets," said a representative of X5. "Magnit" has more than 70 thousand such displays in 30 thousand stores, its representative said. X5 estimates the reach of its advertising channels at 83.9 million users, while "Magnit" estimates it at 96 million.
Grocery stores remain the third most popular place after home and work. This is partly due to the desire of customers to personally see and touch the product, X5 noted. According to the Globus representative, hypermarkets also allow visitors to solve several tasks at once: to receive offers from different product categories and service sectors. As a result, the store becomes an additional channel for brands to communicate with customers. According to "X5 Media", almost every third visitor to the company's retail chains makes a purchase under the influence of advertising in the hall.
The Russian retail media market is still at an early stage of development, experts say. Abroad, this model has already become a significant source of income for retail companies. Walmart's advertising business grew by 27% to $4.4 billion in fiscal year 2024/25, while Kroger's grew by 20% with comparable sales growing by only 1%. In 2024, British Tesco told its partners that video screens in supermarkets would "overtake television."
At the same time, retail media is already competing for budgets with traditional marketing channels. According to the International Bureau of Interactive Advertising (IAB), 36% of buyers who increase their spending in this segment are reallocating funds from traditional types of advertising, including outdoor advertising.
In general, retail media is becoming a universal promotion tool for brands from various industries, the X5 representative noted. In "Magnet", manufacturers of beauty and care products, confectionery, pet supplies, frozen foods and meat gastronomy most often advertise. The platforms of retail chains are also actively used by companies in the financial sector and the entertainment industry, Stanislav Bogdanov added.
Metro plans to expand its advertising inventory and communication capabilities with both retail and corporate clients, a company representative said. At the same time, the direction should not replace the main activity of the networks, the Globus representative is convinced. According to him, the goal is to complement the business model and create additional value for partners and customers.
In the first quarter of 2026, the Russian advertising market grew by only 5%, to 220-222 billion rubles, according to an estimate by the Association of Communication Agencies of Russia (ACAR). The growth rate has noticeably slowed down: in 2025, the market increased by 8.5%, and in 2024 — by 24%. According to experts, by the end of the year, the market volume will increase by 6-15%, to 1-1.4 trillion rubles. However, taking into account the e-commerce and retail media segments, the total volume of marketing communications may exceed 2 trillion rubles, and the total growth will be about 24%.
According to the World Advertising Research Center (WARC), by 2027, the global retail media segment will reach $223.4 billion, an increase of 13.6%. This will amount to 15.2% of the total advertising market.
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