# Retail media platforms for small business buyers: what AI models recommend, November 2026

Gane Index, November 2026 Edition. Asked as "retail media advertising platform" and as "platform to run and manage retail media ads", six framings each, to fourteen models with search on, on behalf of a small B2B company. Added to the November 2026 Edition. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/marketing/retail-media-platforms/2026-11/smb

**Standing:** Amazon Ads leads with 51% of first choices; verdict clear leader. 47 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [Amazon Ads](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/amazon-ads/index.md) | 51% | 10% | 52 |
| 2 | [Walmart Connect](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/walmart-connect/index.md) | 13% | 16% | 57 |
| 3 | [LinkedIn Campaign Manager](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/linkedin-campaign-manager/index.md) | 6% | 0% | 10 |
| 4 | [Quartile](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/quartile/index.md) | 4% | 12% | 17 |
| 5 | [AdLib](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/adlib/index.md) | 4% | 27% | 11 |
| 6 | [Perpetua](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/perpetua/index.md) | 2% | 17% | 12 |
| 15 | [Amazon Advertising](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/amazon-advertising/index.md) | 2% | 64% | 11 |
| 16 | [Instacart Ads](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/instacart-ads/index.md) | 0% | 18% | 33 |
| 104 | [Pacvue](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/pacvue/index.md) | 0% | 55% | 20 |
| 105 | [Kroger](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/kroger/index.md) | 0% | 70% | 10 |
| 106 | [Kroger Precision Marketing](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/kroger-precision-marketing/index.md) | 0% | 57% | 21 |
| 107 | [Target Roundel](https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/vendors/target-roundel/index.md) | 0% | 61% | 36 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 107 products named; products with the same share are tied, and the order among them carries no meaning. The table lists those with at least 10 labels.

## Each model's first choice on the direct prompt

- Claude Haiku 4.5: Demandbase; alternatives AdRoll, Amazon Advertising Solutions, Brandzooka, Walmart Connect
- GPT-5.4 mini: Amazon Ads; alternatives Walmart Connect
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: Amazon Ads; alternatives Alibaba.com, Lowe’s One Digital, Orange Apron Media, Staples or Office Depot Network
- Perplexity Sonar: LinkedIn Campaign Manager; alternatives AdRoll ABM, Google Ads
- Grok 4.20: Amazon Ads; alternatives Intentwise, Pacvue, Teikametrics, Walmart Connect
- Mistral Small: AdLib; alternatives Ad Badger, Adtomic, Amazon Ads, Scale Insights
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: Amazon Ads; alternatives Criteo, LinkedIn Campaign Manager, Mirakl Ads, Quartile
- Llama 4 Maverick: Quartile; alternatives RMIQ, Topsort
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: Amazon Ads; alternatives Ad Badger, Perpetua, Teikametrics, Walmart Connect
- Kimi K2: Amazon Ads; alternatives Google Ads, LinkedIn Campaign Manager, Mirakl Ads, Topsort
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: Walmart Connect; alternatives AdLib, Amazon Ads, Criteo Commerce Max
- MiniMax M2.5: Amazon Advertising; alternatives Koddi Ads, Quartile, Staples Connect
- GPT-6 Luna: Amazon Ads
- Muse Glimmer 30B: Amazon Ads; alternatives Quartile, Walmart Connect

## Sources the answers cite

75 of 84 answers came back with a source list, from 14 of 14 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- marketplaceadpros.com: 40 answers, 55 citations
- fitsmallbusiness.com: 33 answers, 34 citations
- g2.com: 31 answers, 46 citations
- getadlib.com: 26 answers, 27 citations
- guideflow.com: 23 answers, 23 citations
- gane.ai/index: 18 answers, 22 citations
- stellarising.com: 16 answers, 16 citations
- advertising.amazon.com: 14 answers, 36 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://fitsmallbusiness.com/guide-to-retail-media-for-smbs (33 answers)
- https://marketplaceadpros.com/guides/best-retail-media-platforms-small-brands-2026 (33 answers)
- https://g2.com/categories/retail-media-advertising-platforms/small-business (28 answers)
- https://getadlib.com/blog/best-retail-media-advertising-platforms (26 answers)
- https://guideflow.com/blog/retail-media-platforms (23 answers)
- https://marketplaceadpros.com/guides/retail-media-networks-beyond-amazon-2026 (22 answers)
- https://gane.ai/index/gtm/marketing/retail-media-platforms/smb (17 answers)
- https://stellarising.com/blog/retail-media-networks-guide (16 answers)
- https://underconstructionpage.com/retail-media-101-for-brands-under-10m (13 answers)
- https://shopify.com/blog/retail-media (11 answers)

## Warned against

- Target Roundel: 22 of 36 labels negative. "Avoid or use only with extreme caution platforms that require high budgets, agency partnerships, or have opaque eligibility rules, such as Target Roundel" (GLM 4.7 FlashX, negative prompt)
- Kroger Precision Marketing: 12 of 21 labels negative. "The platforms to be most cautious about are Target Roundel and Kroger Precision Marketing (both have minimums that are unrealistic for small budgets)" (DeepSeek V4 Flash, negative prompt)
- Walmart Connect: 9 of 57 labels negative. "Large, Established Retailer "Hosted" Media Networks (e.g., Walmart Connect, Amazon Ads, Target Roundel): ... can be extremely competitive and expensive" (MiniMax M2.5, negative prompt)
- Pacvue: 11 of 20 labels negative. "You don't need a third-party optimization platform (like Pacvue, Perpetua, or Quartile) until your spend justifies the cost." (DeepSeek V4 Flash, budget prompt)

## Movement since October 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: Amazon Ads at 51%.

- Amazon Advertising: 29% to 2%, −27. Cleared the floor by 16 points · rank 2 → 15 of 107.
- Amazon Ads: 38% to 51%, +13. Cleared the floor by 2 points · rank 1 of 107, unchanged.
- Quartile: 0% to 4%, +4. Inside the floor by 7 points · rank 18 → 4 of 107.
- AdLib: 0% to 4%, +4. Inside the floor by 7 points · rank 30 → 5 of 107.
- Walmart Connect: 10% to 13%, +3. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 3 → 2 of 107.
- LinkedIn Campaign Manager: 4% to 6%, +2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 4 → 3 of 107.
- Criteo: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 11 → 38 of 107.
- Perpetua: 2% to 2%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 6 of 107, unchanged.
- Instacart Ads: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 14 → 16 of 107.
- Teikametrics: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 15 → 17 of 107.
- Pacvue: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 27 → 104 of 107.
- Kroger: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 95 → 105 of 107.

## Record

- Method: https://www.gane.ai/index/gtm/methodology
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as Gane Index, November 2026 Edition, www.gane.ai/index/gtm.