ater, it lands on the shelf. This is exactly the pattern we’ve seen globally. Inflation becomes the dominant retail conversation, with food prices front and centre. And importantly, once those costs land, they rarely unwind quickly. Which means this isn’t a spike. It’s a reset. We don’t need to guess what shoppers will do. We’ve already seen it. When the cost of living bites, behaviour changes fast – and it changes structurally. Basket shrink is the silent killer. This is the one retailers feel most. Shoppers don’t just switch brands. They remove items entirely. Fewer impulse purchases. Fewer adjacent categories. The perimeter holds. The middle collapses. But retailers have something at their disposal that can help mitigate the damage: retail media assets. Flipping the brief Retail media has largely been built in a growth environment – incremental budgets, brand storytelling, upper-funnel influence. An energy shock flips the brief. Retailers need to shift their thinking from growth to conversion and defence. In-store has become the battleground. When shoppers are more deliberate, the last moment matters more. In-store screens, displays, shelves and point-of-sale become less about awareness and more about decision interception. As stores evolve further into media environments, every touchpoint becomes a communication opportunity. Retailers should invest more heavily in category entry-point messaging, install more price-led creative at shelf, and charge more for premium in-aisle placements. The shift from storytelling to justification In inflationary environments, the shopper’s question changes from “Why this brand?” to “Why is this worth it?” Retail media needs to answer that instantly. To do this, focus on functional benefits over lifestyle. Provide clear value articulation – size, usage, longevity. And think comparative messaging versus private label. Promotions become primary, not tactical. In inflationary markets, promotions aren’t just sales drivers. They are behaviour drivers. Retailers with strong promotional vehicles win a disproportionate share because they give shoppers a reason to act. Tighten the loop between media and price In this climate, the most powerful combination becomes: retail media x promotion x placement. Not in isolation, but orchestrated. Retailers need to move from fragmented execution to retail operating systems with sponsored products reinforcing promotion mechanics, in-store screens amplifying price events and loyalty data targeting high-value shoppers with personalised offers. In a margin-compressed environment, “nice to have” media disappears. Retailers and brands alike require clear incrementality, an overview of basket impact, not just ROAS and insight into category growth – not just brand shift. This is an opportunity for retail media to accelerate its influence and mature. Bottom line, energy shocks don’t just increase costs. They simplify retail. They strip away excess and expose what really drives behaviour. To the consumer, price matters more, value needs to be clearer, and decisions happen faster, closer to the shelf. This is a familiar cycle for retailers. But each time, it sharpens. For brands, the implication is even clearer: If you can’t justify your place in the basket in under three seconds, you won’t be in it at all. Now is the time to put those in-store media assets to work. Simon Porter leads retail consultancy RX Worldwide and is head of retail at media agency Hatched. Further reading: How can retailers strengthen supply chains in 2026?