ZetaDisplay buys retailmediatools in retail media push

ZetaDisplay, the Malmö-based digital signage solutions provider, has acquired retailmediatools, a Berlin-founded retail media infrastructure-as-a-service platform. The deal brings together ZetaDisplay's network of more than 125,000 managed digital screens with retailmediatools' modular, API-first SaaS platform, creating what the company describes as an integrated retail media stack covering ad serving, campaign management, first-party audience building and in-store execution.

Financial terms were not disclosed. retailmediatools, founded in 2021 and built on MACH principles (Microservices-based, API-first, Cloud Native SaaS and Headless), will continue to operate under its existing brand and product roadmap. Its customer base includes Finnish retail group SOK, drugstore chain Rossmann, Flink, Thalia and Fressnapf, spanning Europe and Latin America.

The deal

Daniel Nergård, chief executive of ZetaDisplay, framed the acquisition as a commercial transformation rather than a technology add-on. "Retail media represents one of the greatest opportunities for physical retailers to transform existing assets into high-margin, scalable revenue streams," he said. "Together we can help retailers build, operate and monetize world-class retail media networks that connect online and in-store experiences."

Magnus Aufschild, founder and chief product officer of retailmediatools, pointed to fragmentation as the problem the combined entity is positioned to solve. He argued that hardware, campaign management, content, audience data and commercial performance have historically sat in separate systems, making retail media unnecessarily complex for bricks-and-mortar operators. The merged platform is intended to address that by giving retailers a single partner for campaign creation, in-store execution and measurement.

Market context

Retail media has been one of the fastest-growing segments in digital advertising, driven by the success of closed-loop measurement offered by grocery and general merchandise retailers with large first-party datasets. Amazon Advertising and Walmart Connect established the category at scale; a wave of European retailers has since sought to build comparable networks, often working with specialist technology vendors to avoid dependency on third-party advertising platforms.

ZetaDisplay's move reflects a broader consolidation trend in the space. Pure-play retail media technology vendors, including those offering demand-side platform integrations, self-service campaign tooling and in-store screen inventory management, have attracted significant M&A interest as major retailers look to own the full stack rather than stitch together point solutions. The combination of physical screen infrastructure with an API-first ad-serving and audience platform is a credible response to that demand, though the competitive field is active: players ranging from specialist screen-network operators to large marketing cloud vendors are pursuing similar omnichannel propositions.

For ZetaDisplay, which already counts Coop Norge, Spar Austria Group and Greggs among its customers, the acquisition extends its addressable market beyond managed digital signage into the higher-margin media and advertising revenue layer. Investors will look for evidence that the combined platform can accelerate retailmediatools' geographic expansion and convert ZetaDisplay's existing screen estate into active media inventory under a unified commercial model.

Regulatory exposure is limited relative to other adtech deals. Because retailmediatools is built around retailer-owned first-party data rather than third-party cookie-based targeting, the combined stack is structurally aligned with GDPR requirements and the broader industry shift away from cross-site tracking. That positioning may also prove commercially durable as EU enforcement of ePrivacy rules continues to tighten around behavioural advertising.