As competitors go to market claiming superior tech, Komasinski insists Criteo’s value prop is more than fancy features.

“We’re not just an ad server—we really bring demand and real revenue,” he said. “When our clients are making the decision to stand up a retail media network, it’s a holistic business plan, and we’re the partner that can put revenue on the top line, not just a cost item that does ad serving.”

Those wide-ranging capabilities set Criteo’s platform apart, said Melissa Burdick, co-founder and president of adtech firm Pacvue.

Many of the newer upstarts require retailers to piece together a tech stack through multiple partnership deals, something that can be daunting for small- or mid-sized retailers, she said.

“Criteo is an attractive partner for many retailers because of how plug-and-play their solution is,” Burdick explained. “For retailers looking to quickly stand up a retail media network, Criteo’s turnkey infrastructure makes it easy to get started and scale.”

The process of switching out Criteo’s tech for a competitor can also be long and laborious.

“Sometimes, the incumbent wins because they’re incumbent,” another source said.

Even as competition against Criteo steps up, the growth of retail media means that for now, there’s plenty of spend for multiple vendors.

“Conventional business strategy would suggest that eventually there is consolidation, but the business is still growing so much that there is no need for that currently,” one source told ADWEEK. “It’s competitive, but it’s not brutally competitive. Everyone’s winning [new business] and still being profitable.”

There are multiple RFPs from retailers that will wrap up in the coming months, several industry sources said. When that happens, there will be a clearer picture of Criteo’s position within the competitive landscape.

And when retail media’s exponential growth inevitably slows, winners and losers across retail media buying and selling will emerge.

“The market will eventually need to consolidate with a relatively finite number of RMNs as potential end-users of the technology,” Lipsman said.

Criteo is against more than just legacy ad tech at this point, said Sarah Marzano, retail media analyst at Emarketer. Many of its new rivals were built specifically for retail media.

“As we move out of the ‘land-grab phase’ for platforms like Criteo, winning will mean enabling real differentiation, creatively solving for fragmentation and advertiser fatigue, and looking beyond on-site tactics.”