Retail media refers to the set of promotional activities that take place within the sales channels managed directly by brands. A way of speaking directly to shoppers.
Over the past three decades, the Italian wine industry has invested decisively in quality, traceability, and territorial identity. It has made a productive, oenological and – in part – cultural leap. But it has remained without real access to large-scale communication.
Italian wine today does not have an effective channel to tell its story at the place and time it is purchased. Classical advertising is expensive and inefficient, trade fairs speak to an already engaged audience, social is not enough. And meanwhile, in GDO – where more than 70 percent of sales pass – wine remains a product little visible, little told, little activated.
From this point of view, the retail media represents a radical opportunity for the supply chain. New, as yet unexplored ground that can be decisive in overcoming the impasse communication in which the category has been in for some time.
A silent but structural change
With retail media refers to all advertising and communication activities that take place within the sales channels managed directly by the signs: banners on sites and apps, sponsored content, QR codes, targeted newsletters, in-store digital displays, and in-store audio and video.
The phenomenon, already established in markets such as the United States, UK and France, is beginning to structure itself in Italy as well. Selex was the first central to launch an organic project, through its new unit Selex Media, with more than 5,000 in-store screens planned and coverage of 15.5 million households. Other brands will follow: retail media is now considered one of the three pillars of future retail, alongside omnichannel and artificial intelligence.
For Italian wine, which has always had to chase the consumer’s attention, the opportunity is now opening up to speak directly to the customer, in the buying context, with profiled, narrative, measurable content.
Because it is an (almost unrepeatable) opportunity.
Retail media can offer the wine supply chain what has so far been lacking: a narrative space.
Not a promotional showcase tied to price, but a coherent system for telling:
- where a wine comes from
- who produces it
- how to distinguish
- how you can match
- because it’s worth what it costs.
It is, in summary, an opportunity to turn wine into content, going beyond the logic of mere display or aggressive discounting.
The benefit is twofold:
- for producers, who can enhance the value of their narrative assets
- for distributors, who can make more relevant a category that is today flat and poorly driven.
A strategic lever to overcome competitive gridlock
In recent years, wine in GDO has seen volumes decline (-3.4% in 2023, -1.3% in 2024) and average value increase, but unevenly and fragile. Value perception is the real battleground today. E communication at the point of sale is decisive.
Retail media can:
- Differentiate labels narratively, not just visually;
- Support quality MDDs with content and digital campaigns that can be integrated;
- Promote the rotation of local wines, which are often invisible today;
- Activate customized promotions, not just linear ones;
- educate the end customer even in a few seconds of video or newsletter.
What the supply chain needs to seize this opportunity
Retail media does not activate itself. It needs cultural and operational change.
Need:
- Ready-to-use content.: high quality images, short videos, descriptive texts, narrative cuts;
- Basic digital skills: Know what it means to place on a banner, in a push campaign, in a profiled ad;
- Collaboration between supply chain and distribution: to define formats, languages and enhancement criteria;
- A medium-term strategic vision.: not a spot campaign, but a new communication infrastructure.
Conclusion
The Italian wine industry now has the opportunity to access-perhaps for the first time-a native, profiled, measurable, scalable communication space..
It is a silent revolution, one that will not come through trade shows or social media, but through point-of-sale screens, a newsletter, an app that suggests a pairing. It is in these places that the commercial future of wine will be decided, increasingly.
Those who can equip themselves, communicate, cooperate and invest in this direction will be able to transform a static market into a living narrative ecosystem. The others will remain on the shelf. And this time not for lack of quality, but for absence of voice.
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