What do Australian retail media networks actually sell?
Australian retail media networks sell access to loyalty-linked purchase data first and ad placements second, so compare them on data, measurement and buying path before reach.
This is for brand and trade marketing leads placing retail media budget in Australia, including from Singapore, Malaysia, the US or Canada. By the end you can name the network that answers your question. For planning and measurement across networks, see our retail media services.
Cartology, Woolworths' media business, states 82.7 million monthly Woolworths transactions. Woolworths Group's F26 results, published 26 August 2026, put Everyday Rewards at 10.8 million members. Coles Group's FY26 results, a day earlier, put Flybuys at 10.3 million active members. Coles reports a 50% share of Flybuys' net result, and the two counts define active differently. The same results say Coles 360 retail media income grew 10% and Cartology revenue 7.8%: different measures, so we do not rank them.
With bases that close, data access, who grades the result and the buying path settle the choice. We treat retail media as part of ecommerce and retail marketing, next to your trade terms.
Our thesis: pick the network by the question you need answered. Reach is the tiebreaker. That decides where the incremental test budget goes: in our reading, most of a year's Woolworths and Coles spend is already committed through trade terms. Bunnings and Amazon bend the data-first rule.
Australian retail media networks compared side by side
Five Australian retail media networks matter for most consumer brands and have a primary page we could read: Cartology, Coles 360, MixIn by Endeavour, Bunnings' Hammer Media and Amazon Ads.
Trade press also lists networks at Priceline, Officeworks, JB Hi-Fi and Metcash; we did not assess them. We left out Chemist Warehouse because no primary page we read describes a buyable offer. "Not readable to us" means the owner's page returned an error or nothing, which says nothing about the network.
| Network (owner) | Data asset | Where ads run | Self-serve path | Measurement stated | Last verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cartology (Woolworths Group: Woolworths, Metro, BIG W) | Everyday Rewards, 10.8 million members (F26 results); homepage 11 million, solutions page 10.4 million | In-store, online, off-network, retail out-of-home (3,600+ screens on the homepage, over 3,300 on the solutions page); completing the aisle-entry screen rollout in Woolworths Supermarkets | Cartology Ads Manager; F26 results cite "accelerating the self-service functionality" | "Closed loop reporting" | 27 Oct 2026 |
| Coles 360 (Coles Group: supermarkets and liquor) | Flybuys, 10.3 million active members (FY26 results, 25 August 2026); Coles holds 50% of Flybuys | Web, app and in-store; digital screens in almost 300 liquor stores and in-store audio (FY25) | FY26 investment "focused on enabling self-service" | Closed loop reporting, announced with IRI on 27 October 2022; later changes not readable to us | Results 25 Aug 2026; 2022 release read 27 Oct 2026 |
| MixIn by Endeavour (Dan Murphy's, BWS, hotels) | My Dan's, 5.6 million active members (H1 F26) | In-store screens and radio, tastings, sponsored listings, site and app display (as launched in 2022) | Self-service platform for digital campaigns (at launch) | Measurement tools; impact tracked on sales, intent and awareness (8 September 2022 release); closed loop not stated | 27 Oct 2026 |
| Hammer Media (Bunnings) | More than 14 million monthly website visitors | Social, website, in-store radio, eDMs, screens; 300 screens in 150 stores at launch | Not readable to us on 27 October 2026; ask the network | Not readable to us on 27 October 2026; ask the network | 27 Oct 2026 |
| Amazon Ads Australia | Amazon shopping signals; Prime Video ad-supported reach above 5.5 million a month (Amazon internal data, 2026) | Sponsored ads, Amazon DSP across Amazon and the open internet, Prime Video | Self-service and managed-service options | Amazon Marketing Cloud; launch notice set Prime Video signals in open beta in Australia from 11 November 2025, status unconfirmed | 27 Oct 2026 |
Read the data column first. Three of the five publish a loyalty base, and the chart shows how unequal they are.
Amazon sits outside that loyalty logic. Its pitch is breadth: sponsored ads for sellers, Amazon DSP for the open internet, and Prime Video, which Amazon's internal 2026 data puts at more than 5.5 million monthly ad-supported viewers in Australia. Its 23 September 2026 Upfront release says a brand can now reach audiences across Amazon and the open internet whether or not it sells there. Amazon's DSP page, now retitled to say the DSP has evolved into Amazon Ads Agent, described the DSP as open to sellers and non-sellers.
"...a promise to Australian advertisers: full-funnel advertising, for everyone."
Willie Pang, Managing Director, Amazon Ads ANZ, restating the previous year's promise at the Amazon Ads 2026 Australian Upfront, 23 September 2026.
The grocery networks sell suppliers a closer look at their own shoppers; Amazon sells any brand a way in, which is why it belongs in the programmatic buying plan as much as the trade plan.
Which Australian retail media network has the best ROAS?
None of the pages we read publishes a comparable ROAS, and each network grades its own campaigns, so a "highest ROAS" ranking would compare self-reported numbers from different methods.
Retailer ROAS (return on ad spend) is a closed-loop figure: both exposure and purchase carry the same loyalty ID. Cartology describes its offer as "Powerful first party insights enabling more precise targeting and closed loop reporting" on its retail media explainer. Coles 360 announced closed loop reporting with IRI on 27 October 2022; later changes are not readable to us.
The loop is powerful and self-graded. A ROAS figure can count every sale from an exposed shopper, including weekly buyers who would have bought anyway. An incremental figure counts only sales above a matched group that saw no ad. The two can sit far apart.
Before you compare any two Australian networks, get written answers on:
- whether the figure is incremental against a control group;
- the attribution window, in days;
- whether halo sales of other products in your range are counted.
Without those answers, two ROAS numbers are not the same unit. Our closed-loop retail media and CTV analysis covers the same trap on a TV screen.
Which retail media network answers which question?
Match the network to the business question: grocery share to Cartology or Coles 360, liquor to MixIn, home improvement to Bunnings, reach beyond your stockists to Amazon.
| Your question | Start with | Why | Ask before booking |
|---|---|---|---|
| Are we winning new-to-brand buyers in grocery? | Cartology and Coles 360, both | Loyalty bases of 10.8 and 10.3 million; one leaves the other chain's shoppers unmeasured | How "new to brand" is defined, and over how many weeks |
| Did in-store media lift sales in the aisle? | Cartology for supermarket screens; Bunnings for home improvement | Woolworths says it is completing the rollout of aisle-entry screens across Woolworths Supermarkets; Hammer Media launched with 300 screens in 150 stores | Store test and control, or shopper matching |
| Which loyalty segment buys our liquor brand? | MixIn by Endeavour, then Coles 360 | My Dan's has 5.6 million active members; Coles 360 income covers liquor banners | Whether segment data can leave the clean room |
| Can we reach buyers who never visit our stockists? | Amazon Ads (Amazon DSP, Prime Video) | Amazon's Upfront release says brands can reach audiences across Amazon and the open internet whether or not they sell on Amazon | What Amazon Marketing Cloud can join to your own data |
| Can our team run it daily without a rep? | Amazon sponsored ads, Cartology Ads Manager | Both publish a self-service path | Which formats are self-serve |
The rules are ours. They will not fit every brand: a pharmacy brand will find no pharmacy network here.
If two networks each report a strong ROAS and you cannot tell which to believe, the method behind each figure is the problem to solve first. We give back a network map for your category, showing which question each network can answer and how each result was measured: ask for a network map.
What are the minimum spend requirements for Cartology campaigns?
Cartology's media kits page publishes no minimum spend and routes buyers to an enquiry form, so any minimum is set in your proposal; the linked PDF kits were not read.
We found no published minimum on any network page we could read on 27 October 2026, except Amazon's: its DSP page says "Sponsored ads remain cost-per-click with no minimum spend."
In our reading, minimums in Australian retail media come in three structures, and it pays to ask which one you are being quoted.
- Managed campaigns: scoped by the network's team, with a floor written into the proposal.
- Self-serve tools such as Cartology Ads Manager or Amazon sponsored ads: you set a campaign or daily budget in the tool.
- Sponsorships and tentpole packages: a fixed bundle across screens, catalogue, digital and events.
Delivery guarantees (impressions or screen plays) are a reasonable ask on managed and sponsorship buys. Treat a sales guarantee as a discount with conditions attached.
Retail media is often funded from the same supplier trading terms as promotions and ranging. Confirm with your trade team which commitments are tied to a retailer this year; that money is not free to move.
The retail media network buyer's guide covers fees, data access and contract terms in any market. Teams weighing social commerce should note that our TikTok Shop market list showed no Australian storefronts as of October 2026.
Network fit scorer for Australian retail media
The scorer ranks five networks for one brief by adding category, objective and data-need fit, so the shortlist ignores reach.
Formula: score = category fit (0 to 3) + objective fit (0 to 2) + data-need fit (0 to 2), maximum 7. If category fit is 0 the network is left out. Points reflect where each owner's banners sell the category and what each network publishes, as read on 27 October 2026. Where a data-need point rests on a page we could not read, the cell is unscored and the network is listed apart.
Shortlist: Cartology 7 of 7, Coles 360 7 of 7, Amazon Ads 5 of 7. A tie at the top means buy both and compare their methods.
Scores reflect what network pages said, nothing about campaign performance.
Static version: the points behind every score
| Criterion | Cartology | Coles 360 | MixIn | Hammer Media | Amazon Ads |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grocery and household | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Liquor | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 |
| Home improvement and garden | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 |
| Health and beauty | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| General merchandise | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| New-to-brand buyers | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| In-store sales lift | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Loyalty segment insight | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Reach beyond stockists | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Published closed-loop reporting | 2 | 2 | unscored | unscored | 2 |
| Self-serve buying | 2 | 1 | 1 | unscored | 2 |
| Buy without being ranged there | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
Illustrative example: a liquor brand after loyalty segment insight with self-serve buying scores Coles 360 6 and MixIn 6, with Amazon Ads on 4; Cartology is left out because its category fit for liquor is 0. The tie says to test both liquor networks on the same question before committing a year's trade terms.
Do this before your next retail media booking
Write the one question your next retail media booking must answer, then send it to two networks and ask each for its measurement method before any proposal.
Put the replies side by side: incremental or not, attribution window, control group, halo sales in or out. The method that answers your question wins the first test budget, even if the other network offers more screens.
Leapbuzz plans and audits retail media inside its media integration work from Singapore, for brands buying across five markets.
Today: pull last year's results from every Australian network you used and mark which figures are incremental. Unmarked figures get no weight in next year's split.