Retail media is predicated on delivering highly targeted and ultra-relevant messages to users at the decision point of the sales funnel. Imagine being able to do that on a near individual, personalised basis direct to someone’s handset?
That is the promise of rich communications services (RCS), the Google-developed ‘replacement’ for SMS that, now that Apple is onboard with accepting it, is becoming an interesting – and oft overlooked – retail media marketing channel.
RCS in retail media
So, what is RCS? Developed by Google more than a decade ago, this rich form of messaging allows not only text, but images, links and even direct payments all displayed in the messaging apps on all phones. This allows retailers and brands to branded messages with logos, colours, and rich visuals — letting campaigns function more like mobile ads inside the messaging inbox rather than plain text alerts. This turns one-to-many notifications into mini retail media touchpoints.
Rather than generic blasts, RCS allows tailored product recommendations based on a user’s past purchases or browsing behaviour — effectively a personalised retail ad delivered through messaging. For example, experiences can include product carousels with “Buy Now” buttons or seasonal offer cards that function like mobile ads but within the messaging channel.
Unlike email or SMS broadcast, RCS supports rich two-way interactions — customers can respond, select options, or engage with quick actions without leaving the message thread, boosting engagement and click-through rates.
RCS also supports dynamic campaign timing — such as flash sales, new product launches, limited-time offers — with rich visuals and interactive engagement right in the messaging app.
As a result, RCS can be used for cart recovery messages that include images of items left behind plus direct purchase links or buttons, making it far more effective than plain SMS reminders. This directly ties messaging to conversion — a key objective of retail media.
Already winning with RCS
While RCS has been around for more than 10 years, it is only in the last five that it has started to see any traction and with Apple finally allowing it on iOS in late 2024 it has achieved ubiquity.
And a number of retailers are already using it with increasing levels of success. FragranceNet.com has used branded RCS messages with image carousels to boost click-through (106%), conversion rate (50%), and revenue per send compared to plain SMS. Spanx tested RCS campaigns to re-engage dormant subscribers, achieving material lifts in revenue per message, the company says and demonstrating how interactive retail messaging can revive audience segments that might otherwise be unresponsive via traditional channels.
Urban Outfitters uses RCS to send personalised and contextually relevant messages, boosting engagement and conversions. By segmenting its audience – typically by gender and/or activity level – UO sends tailored offers and content, which has led to significant results, the company says.
Using it retail media data to determine when a specific user is most likely to engage with a message, it has seenopen rates up by more than 100%, while leveraging mobile location data to send geographically relevant messages, such as advertising winter arrivals in colder states in the US, has increased revenue by 146%.
How to integrate RCS into an existing retail media strategy
While much of retail media is focussed on on- and offsite and OOH, using messaging, particularly the richness and personalisation of RCS is going to start to grab marketers attention in 2026.
So, how do you incorporate RCS into your existing retail media strategy?
Step 1) Map where RCS fits in your retail media portfolio
Decide if RCS is a new owned-and-operated retail media placement (sold to brands), a retailer-owned CRM channel (used to grow GMV/margin), or a hybrid where brands sponsor segments and retailer controls experience.
Step 2) Pick two launch use cases that match retail media economics
Start with use cases that have clear measurement and monetisation paths, for example:
- Sponsored product recommendations (carousel + “Shop now”)
- Back-in-stock / price-drop alerts (brand-funded)
- Cart/browse abandonment with brand-funded offers
- Store events / local promotions (great for omnichannel)
RCS supports interactive components like carousels, action buttons, suggested replies – these map nicely to “ad unit” thinking.
Step 3) Get your data and consent foundation right
Always confirm opt-in language covers rich messaging and promotional content while maintaining a suppression/opt-out list and preference centre. It is also important to define identity resolution. Again rich business messaging (RBM) guidance stresses respecting preferences and avoiding duplicates – which is increasingly operationally crucial.
Step 4) Choose your delivery architecture
Most retailers do one or other of CPaaS/RCS provider (faster to launch; bundles routing and analytics), or direct RBM integration via Google Business Communications stack (more control). Either way, ensure you can capture message_id, delivery/read status, interaction events, link clicks.
Step 5) Design ‘retail media ad units’ for RCS
Create reusable templates that offer single rich card (hero image + offer + CTA), multi-product carousel (sponsored SKUs) and conversational flow (guided shopping: “what size?” “which style?”). Around this, tie every unit to a landing destination (PDP/PLP/app screen), a measurement plan (UTM + event schema), and a brand safety/compliance checklist.
Step 6) Build targeting that brands will pay for
Package audiences similarly to onsite/offsite retail media:
- Category intenders (recent browse/search)
- High LTV / loyalty tiers
- Lapsed buyers
- Store-proximity segments
- New-to-brand / conquest segments (where allowed)
Step 7) Set up incrementality testing as default
Before you ‘sell’ RCS as retail media, bake in always-on holdout (small %) and standard lift readout (sales, margin, basket, store visits). This becomes your proof for brands and your internal scaling decision.
Step 8) Launch a pilot with just a few brands – and a retailer-owned control
Run brand-sponsored campaign(s) to prove retail media value and a retailer-owned campaign to benchmark against email/SMS/push. Use benchmark expectations only as directional – your baselines matter most.
Step 9) Operationalise: pricing, frequency, governance
- Pricing models: CPM (reach), CPC (interaction), CPA (incremental sale), or “sponsored segment” flat fees
- Frequency caps: protect trust and reduce opt-outs (GSMA good practices emphasize responsible communication volume)
- Creative approval and QA: rendering across devices/carriers.
Step 10) Scale with automation and optimisation loops
As you expand, look at trigger-based journeys (browse/cart/back-in-stock), creative optimisation based on button-level CTR and conversion paths and expand inventory such as seasonal moments, store openings, services, subscriptions.
