Retail Media Is Booming — and Bringing an Operational Surge With It
Retail media has become one of the fastest-growing segments in digital advertising. eMarketer projects that U.S. retail media ad spend will exceed $54 billion by 2026, driven by brands seeking to reach consumers at the point of purchase across retail networks like Amazon, Walmart Connect, Kroger Precision Marketing, and a growing roster of emerging platforms.
For the technology companies building and operating these retail media platforms, this growth surge is creating a significant operational challenge: how do you onboard, activate, and support a rapidly growing advertiser base without building an equally large internal team?
Virtual assistants are emerging as a critical part of the answer.
The Operational Demands of Retail Media Platforms
Retail media platforms operate at the intersection of advertising technology and retail data — a combination that creates complex, multi-step operational workflows for every advertiser they serve.
Onboarding a new advertiser involves collecting business documentation, configuring targeting parameters, setting up billing, reviewing creative assets for policy compliance, and activating campaigns within platform systems. Ongoing management involves campaign performance monitoring, reporting preparation, budget pacing reviews, and advertiser communication.
As platforms scale to serve hundreds or thousands of brands simultaneously, these workflows can quickly overwhelm in-house teams without structured delegation.
Where VAs Are Creating Leverage in Retail Media Operations
Advertiser Onboarding — VAs manage the documentation and configuration steps required to activate a new advertiser, including business verification, category setup, payment method collection, and initial campaign structure creation within the platform. This accelerates time-to-first-campaign and reduces onboarding delays caused by documentation bottlenecks.
Campaign Performance Reporting — Advertisers require regular performance updates: impressions, clicks, conversion rates, return on ad spend, and share of voice metrics. VAs compile weekly and monthly reports using platform dashboards and templated formats, delivering polished outputs that account managers can review and contextualize before client delivery.
Creative Asset Management — Retail media campaigns require brand-compliant creative assets sized for specific ad placements. VAs manage the asset collection, labeling, organization, and upload process, ensuring creative libraries stay current and campaigns launch without asset delays.
Budget and Pacing Coordination — Keeping campaigns within budget while maintaining delivery targets requires daily monitoring. VAs perform routine budget pacing checks, flag under- or over-delivery situations, and notify account managers when adjustments are needed — all without requiring analyst-level advertising expertise.
Competitive and Category Research — Retail media platforms benefit from category-specific insights that inform advertiser recommendations. VAs conduct structured research on category trends, competitor promotional activity, and seasonal demand patterns, producing briefings that sales and account management teams can use in advertiser conversations.
Market Data Supporting the VA Model
The financial case for VA deployment in retail media operations is supported by multiple recent analyses. A 2025 study from the Interactive Advertising Bureau found that digital advertising companies that leverage operational VA support handle an average of 40% more advertiser accounts per account manager than those relying solely on in-house support staff.
That efficiency gain matters in a market where advertiser relationships are the primary revenue driver. For retail media platform companies growing fast, the ability to serve more advertisers with the same account management headcount is a direct competitive advantage.
Cost comparisons reinforce the model. A full-time advertising operations specialist in a major U.S. market earns between $55,000 and $70,000 annually. A VA covering campaign coordination, reporting, and asset management functions can be engaged for $1,500 to $2,800 monthly — delivering comparable operational output at roughly 35% of the cost.
Michael Torres, VP of advertiser success at a regional retail media technology company, offered this perspective: "The retail media market is moving fast and brands want activation within days of signing. Our VAs handle all the onboarding and reporting logistics so our account managers can focus on strategy and relationship management. We cut our average campaign activation time from 12 days to 4."
Building the Right VA Team for Retail Media
Retail media platforms should prioritize VAs with backgrounds in digital advertising operations, specifically those familiar with:
- Ad campaign management workflows (Google Ads, Meta Ads, or equivalent platforms)
- Digital advertising terminology (CPM, CPC, ROAS, frequency capping)
- Spreadsheet-based reporting and data formatting
- Asset management and creative versioning workflows
- B2B client communication standards
Scaling Advertiser Success Without Scaling Headcount
Retail media platform companies entering their next growth phase can achieve meaningful scale in advertiser operations by deploying a structured VA model alongside their account management teams. The key is starting with clearly defined workflows — onboarding checklists and report templates — and expanding VA scope as the model proves out.
For retail media companies exploring experienced VA solutions, Stealth Agents provides dedicated virtual assistants with digital advertising and technology operations backgrounds.
Sources
- eMarketer, "U.S. Retail Media Ad Spend Forecast," 2025
- Interactive Advertising Bureau, "Advertising Operations Efficiency Study," 2025
- Virtual Assistant Industry Report, Primary Interviews, Q1 2026