Macy's integrates Amazon's retail advertising technology for sponsored products

Macy's Media Network has integrated Amazon Retail Ad Service to enable advertisers to create sponsored product campaigns that appear on Macys.com and the Macy's mobile application. The partnership, which Amazon announced in early November 2025, represents the first major department store to adopt Amazon's retail advertising technology since its January 2025 launch.

According to Amazon Ads, advertisers can now connect with millions of Macy's shoppers through sponsored products ads created using Amazon's campaign management tools. The integration gives advertising partners who already use Amazon Ads a streamlined method to engage Macy's digital audience without building separate campaign infrastructure or learning new platforms.

Advertisers can manage their Sponsored Products campaigns for Macy's alongside other retail media investments through workflows already established within the Amazon Ads console and APIs. The consolidated approach provides consistent reporting and measurement tools across multiple retail environments, according to documentation from Macy's Media Network. Brands can scale their reach to Macy's highly engaged audience seamlessly through existing Amazon Ads relationships.

The service operates by processing sophisticated models that incorporate real-time product availability, pricing information, and contextual signals such as search queries and browsing behavior. This technical architecture enables contextually relevant advertising that adapts to shopping conditions as they change. When shoppers click these advertisements on Macy's digital properties, transactions complete within the retailer's online store rather than redirecting to Amazon or other destinations.

Macy's had announced earlier this fall plans to work with Amazon Retail Ad Service, though the partnership formalization arrives several months after initial discussions. The timing aligns with the critical fourth quarter shopping period when advertising demand reaches annual peaks across retail media networks.

Amazon introduced Retail Ad Service on January 9, 2025, at CES as a cloud-based advertising technology service built on Amazon Web Services infrastructure. The platform allows retailers to implement sponsored product advertisements on their websites and applications while maintaining control over ad placements, creative formats, and frequency. Several retailers joined the beta program including iHerb, Oriental Trading Company, and Weee!, with Macy's representing the largest retail partner to date based on annual revenue and store footprint.

Macy's operates 508 stores across the United States with $25.3 billion in annual revenue as of January 2023. The department store chain's retail media network offers 60-plus ad placements across Macy's and Bloomingdale's properties, according to company materials. The network's closed-loop reporting tracks both online and in-store conversion activity along with new buyer acquisition rates, providing advertisers with performance-driven measurement capabilities.

The integration complements Macy's existing advertising partnerships and technology stack, supporting what the retailer describes as its vision to simplify advertiser access to its online shopper base. This technical collaboration maintains separation between Macy's and Amazon's core businesses through dedicated systems with stringent access controls designed to keep business information secure and separate, according to Macy's documentation.

Amazon maintains the service operates on AWS infrastructure with strict data separation protocols. Ad measurement takes place within AWS Clean Rooms, facilitating what Amazon describes as privacy-enhancing collaboration to generate aggregated, anonymized reports. Retailers maintain full control over their advertising experience including creative formats, ad placements, and frequency parameters.

The broader retail media landscape has experienced significant consolidation throughout 2025, with technology providers establishing partnerships to address fragmentation challenges that limit advertiser reach. Commerce media revenues rose 23% to $53.7 billion in 2024, according to industry data, reflecting growing advertiser interest in leveraging retailer data for privacy-compliant audience targeting as third-party cookies phase out.

Advertising partners benefit from Amazon's machine learning models trained on shopping signals across its retail ecosystem. The technology processes contextual information to serve relevant advertisements across search results pages, product detail pages, and browsing pages within Macy's digital properties. Real-time data about product availability and pricing combines with contextual signals to determine which advertisements appear for specific shoppers at specific moments.

The sponsored product format represents the central growth driver within retail media, with 67% of brands and agencies redirecting performance advertising budgets toward retail media investments according to 2024 industry research. Brands working with four to six retail media networks doubled in 2025, signaling diversification strategies among advertisers who seek access to multiple retailer audiences rather than concentrating spend with single platforms.

For advertising partners already managing campaigns through Amazon Ads, the Macy's integration provides an additional retail environment to reach shoppers without operational complexity. Campaign creation follows familiar processes established for Amazon's own marketplace, though the advertised products come from Macy's catalog rather than Amazon's inventory. Advertisers discover Macy's as an available retail destination during campaign setup, then select products they want to promote from Macy's catalog.

Paula Despins, Vice President of Ads Measurement at Amazon, stated in January that Amazon Retail Ad Service helps retailers enhance their shopping experience with highly relevant advertising that guides customers through the shopping journey, helping shoppers with product discovery and making informed purchase decisions. The service aims to streamline operations for brands while expanding reach to engaged retail audiences beyond Amazon's own properties.

Amazon's advertising technology expansion has accelerated significantly throughout 2025, with the company establishing its cloud infrastructure as foundational technology for multiple aspects of digital advertising beyond its own marketplace. AWS RTB Fabric launched in October 2025 to provide specialized infrastructure for real-time bidding systems, while Amazon Marketing Cloud became directly accessible to sponsored ads advertisers in September 2025.

The retail media sector projects growth exceeding $300 billion by 2030, representing approximately 20% of total global advertising revenue according to research firm Omdia. This expansion relies heavily on first-party data and closed-loop measurement rather than traditional real-time bidding mechanisms that dominated earlier programmatic advertising approaches. Retail media platforms require substantial infrastructure to process transactions, store data, and serve advertisements—functions that AWS provides through multiple services.

Macy's Media Network emphasizes that the Amazon Retail Ad Service collaboration operates as one component within a broader advertising technology strategy. The retailer maintains existing relationships with partners including Criteo for other advertising capabilities, positioning the Amazon integration as complementary rather than exclusive. This multi-partner approach reflects industry trends where retailers avoid dependency on single technology providers.

The department store sector faces ongoing digital transformation challenges as consumer shopping patterns shift toward online channels and specialty retailers. Retail media networks represent growing revenue streams that help offset pressures on traditional department store economics. Macy's reported delivering eight times return on ad spend and 89% new customer acquisition rates through its media network, according to company materials citing previous campaign performance.

Advertisers using the new capability can start planning holiday campaigns by allocating budgets and reaching out to Amazon teams for implementation support. The early fourth quarter timing positions the integration to capture significant seasonal advertising demand during November and December shopping periods when retail advertising spending reaches annual peaks.

Pacvue, an advertising technology platform specializing in retail media, indicated that the combination of Macy's engaged shoppers—who move seamlessly between online and in-store channels—and Amazon's advertising technology allows brands to engage with relevant advertising at critical points in the shopping journey. Melissa Burdick, President of Pacvue, described the development as marking "a pivotal shift in retail media" with advertisers soon benefiting from unified platform capabilities to drive immediate scale, performance, and efficiency.

The partnership addresses fundamental challenges within retail media by eliminating barriers that previously required brands to interact with separate sales representatives and learn distinct campaign management systems for each retail partner. Unified access through Amazon Ads enables brands to discover advertising opportunities across multiple retailers while managing everything through familiar interfaces and APIs.

Major retailers including Best Buy have similarly established partnerships with advertising technology providers to scale their retail media capabilities throughout 2025. The trend reflects broader industry movement toward specialized technology partnerships rather than proprietary development, particularly for mid-market retailers lacking Amazon's engineering resources and technical infrastructure.

Macy's integration follows patterns established by other commerce media networks that leverage external technology partnerships to accelerate capabilities. RE/MAX expanded its commerce media network through LiveRamp and Magnite partnerships in 2025, while Mastercard launched its commerce media network in October 2025 leveraging transaction data from 160 billion annual payments.

The sponsored product format specifically addresses onsite retail media advertising where ads appear directly within retailer shopping environments rather than external websites or applications. This placement provides high relevance for shoppers actively browsing and considering purchases, differentiating onsite retail media from offsite display advertising that reaches audiences away from retail properties.

For Macy's Media Network, the Amazon Retail Ad Service integration expands available advertiser demand by tapping into Amazon's extensive network of brands and agencies already managing campaigns through its platform. The retailer gains access to advertising budgets that might not otherwise reach Macy's properties due to operational barriers or limited awareness of advertising opportunities within the department store's digital ecosystem.

Technical implementation details indicate that advertisers require an Amazon Ads account to launch campaigns across participating retailers. Those without existing Amazon Ads access can establish accounts through standard registration processes. Campaign setup involves selecting Macy's as the target retailer, choosing products from Macy's catalog, and defining targeting parameters, keywords, and bidding strategies using tools familiar to Amazon Ads users.

The system supports both automatic and manual targeting approaches. Automatic targeting uses machine learning to select keywords based on shopper searches related to product information, providing quick campaign activation for advertisers seeking streamlined setup. Manual targeting enables more precise control through specific keyword selection and bid management along with negative keyword exclusions to prevent ads from appearing for irrelevant searches.

Amazon provides search term reporting to gauge keyword performance, enabling ongoing optimization based on actual shopper query patterns observed within Macy's digital properties. This measurement capability supports performance improvement over time as advertisers identify high-performing terms and adjust strategies accordingly.

Timeline

• January 9, 2025: Amazon launches Retail Ad Service at CES, introducing cloud-based advertising technology enabling retailers to implement sponsored products
• January 2025: Amazon consolidates first-party ad inventory across owned properties including Amazon.com, Fire TV, Alexa, IMDb, and Twitch
• July 24, 2025: Pentaleap and Teads announce first RTB solution for onsite sponsored products across retail networks
• September 2, 2025: Macy's announces strategic partnership with Amazon Retail Ad Service as first major retailer collaboration
• October 1, 2025: Mastercard launches commerce media network targeting $100 billion market potential by 2028
• October 9, 2025: The Trade Desk enables programmatic retail media buying through Koddi partnership for onsite retail placements
• October 23, 2025: AWS announces RTB Fabric with specialized infrastructure for programmatic advertising technology
• October 23, 2025: LiveRamp expands measurement capabilities allowing retail media networks to analyze Meta advertising performance
• Early November 2025: Amazon Ads announces Macy's sponsored products availability through Amazon Retail Ad Service

Summary

Who: Amazon Ads and Macy's Media Network established the partnership enabling advertisers to purchase sponsored product placements on Macy's digital properties through Amazon's advertising platform.

What: The integration allows advertisers to create and manage sponsored product campaigns appearing on Macys.com and the Macy's mobile app using Amazon Ads console and APIs. The system provides unified campaign management, consistent reporting, and measurement tools for advertisers working across multiple retail media networks. Macy's maintains control over ad placements and creative formats while leveraging Amazon's machine learning technology for contextual advertising.

When: Amazon announced the Macy's sponsored products availability in early November 2025, following Macy's September 2025 announcement of strategic partnership plans with Amazon Retail Ad Service. The integration arrives during the critical fourth quarter shopping period.

Where: Sponsored product advertisements appear within Macy's website and mobile application properties, including search results pages, product detail pages, and browsing pages. Advertisers manage campaigns through the Amazon Ads platform accessible globally, though initial Macy's campaigns target the United States market where the department store operates 508 locations.

Why: The partnership addresses advertiser demand for simplified purchasing workflows and unified campaign management across multiple retail media networks. For Macy's, the integration expands available advertiser demand by accessing Amazon's extensive network of brands and agencies. For Amazon, the partnership validates its Retail Ad Service technology and extends its advertising reach beyond its own marketplace properties into traditional retail environments.