The mall in your pocket—that's the final goal
In Barcelona this spring, a quiet but consequential shift in the architecture of commerce was put on display: the same platforms that learned to deliver groceries in minutes are now learning to deliver attention. Glovo's Retail Media Day gathered executives and strategists to argue that quick commerce has matured beyond logistics into a new kind of advertising medium — one that meets consumers precisely at the moment of intent. As IAB Europe signals 2026 as a turning point for retail media investment across the continent, the question is no longer whether these platforms can sell goods, but whether they can sell the act of selling itself.
- Retail media is no longer a peripheral experiment — brands like Heineken, PepsiCo, and Revolut are already generating measurable sales through ads placed inside and outside the Glovo app.
- The urgency is structural: AI-enhanced targeting is sharpening fast, and companies that fail to establish presence on purchase-intent platforms risk ceding ground to competitors who move first.
- Glovo answered with four new advertising tools — audience segmentation, direct product links, video stories, and cross-sell recommendations — designed to close the gap between a customer's impulse and a brand's message.
- Industry voices warn that scaling these platforms demands discipline, but also identify a genuine opening: most advertising still misses audiences who are actively ready to buy.
- The trajectory points toward a striking possibility — that retail media revenue could eventually rival food delivery, the very engine that built Glovo into what it is today.
At a spring gathering in Barcelona, Glovo and a constellation of industry strategists made a collective argument: quick commerce has outgrown its origins. What began as a logistics solution — order from local stores, receive goods in minutes — has become something more ambitious: an advertising platform that captures consumers at the precise moment they intend to spend.
The occasion was Glovo's annual Retail Media Day, timed to coincide with what IAB Europe's Retail & Commerce Media Committee describes as a watershed year for retail advertising in Europe. Investment is accelerating, AI is sharpening targeting, and brands are pressing for clearer measurement of what their spending actually achieves.
Glovo co-founder Sacha Michaud framed the shift plainly: retail media has moved from the margins to the center of how brands think about reaching customers. The logic is intuitive — someone opening the app to buy groceries is already in a purchasing mindset. An ad there is not an interruption; it is a meeting at the right moment.
To act on this, Glovo unveiled four new tools: audience segmentation, direct links to product pages, video stories borrowed from social media formats, and a cross-sell feature for complementary products. The team behind them — Connie Kwok, Alex Menal, and Victor Roca — framed each as a solution to a single challenge: reaching the right person, with the right message, at the right time. Kwok's stated ambition was to place "the mall in your pocket." Menal went further, suggesting quick commerce could eventually match food delivery in revenue — a striking claim, but one the growth data does not dismiss.
Advertising strategist Andrea Di Fonzo, formerly of Publicis Group, offered an outside view: most advertising still reaches people in familiar, already-crowded channels, leaving vast audiences untouched. Platforms like Glovo, he argued, offer brands something rarer — a virtual space filled with customers who are already ready to purchase.
The results cited were concrete. Major brands have already expanded reach and sales through Glovo's retail media infrastructure. What the Barcelona gathering ultimately portrayed was an industry at an inflection point — one that has solved the delivery problem and is now turning its full attention to the advertising one.
In Barcelona this spring, executives from Glovo and a roster of industry strategists gathered to make a case about the future of shopping. The message was straightforward: quick commerce—the ability to order from neighborhood stores and have goods arrive in minutes—has become a platform for something larger than logistics. It has become a place where brands advertise.
The occasion was Glovo's annual Retail Media Day, and the timing felt deliberate. According to research from IAB Europe's Retail & Commerce Media Committee, 2026 is shaping up as a watershed moment for retail advertising across the continent. Investment is flowing in. Artificial intelligence is making ad targeting sharper. And companies are finally demanding better ways to measure whether their spending actually works.
Sacha Michaud, who co-founded Glovo, framed the shift in simple terms. Retail media, he explained, is no longer a side project for digital advertising. It has become central to how brands think about reaching customers. The logic is almost self-evident: if someone opens the Glovo app to buy groceries or household goods, they are already in a purchasing mindset. An ad placed there is not interrupting their day—it is meeting them at the moment they are most likely to act. "People realize that they can order from local stores through Glovo, a snowball effect will happen: we will become top of mind," Michaud said.
To capitalize on this shift, Glovo unveiled four new advertising tools. The company introduced segmentation capabilities, allowing brands to target specific customer groups. It added direct links that take users straight to product pages. It launched video stories, a format borrowed from social media. And it created a product cross-sell feature, enabling brands to recommend complementary items. The trio presenting these features—Connie Kwok, who oversees quick commerce; Alex Menal, leading marketing; and Victor Roca, directing ads and retail media—positioned them as answers to a single problem: how do you help brands reach the right person, with the right message, at the right moment.
Kwok articulated Glovo's ambition plainly. The goal is to put "the mall in your pocket"—to make the app so comprehensive and convenient that customers think of it first when they need something. Menal went further, sketching a vision in which quick commerce could eventually generate as much revenue for Glovo as food delivery does now. That is a striking claim, given that food delivery built the company. But the growth trajectory and the emerging possibilities with artificial intelligence suggest it is not fantasy.
Andrea Di Fonzo, founder of Adcelerator and former CEO of Publicis Group, offered a perspective from the advertising side. Scaling complex service platforms requires experience and discipline, he said. But he also identified an opening for brands. Most advertising reaches people in familiar places—the channels and platforms they already know. That leaves entire audiences untouched. Platforms like Glovo, by contrast, capture customers in a moment of genuine intent. "Brands can rent a virtual space with millions of customers looking in the right place, at exactly the right time: when customers are ready to purchase," Di Fonzo observed.
The closing remarks highlighted concrete results. Glovo's retail media capabilities have already helped major brands—Heineken, PepsiCo, Revolut—expand their reach and sales through carefully placed ads both inside and outside the app. The implication was clear: this is not theoretical. It is working now, and the infrastructure is only getting better.
What emerges from the Barcelona gathering is a portrait of an industry at an inflection point. Quick commerce platforms have solved the logistics problem—getting goods to people fast. Now they are solving the advertising problem—connecting brands with customers at the moment of purchase. Whether that becomes as valuable as the delivery business itself remains to be seen. But the momentum, the investment, and the tools are all pointing in that direction.
Notable Quotes
People realize that they can order from local stores through Glovo, a snowball effect will happen: we will become top of mind— Sacha Michaud, Glovo co-founder
Brands can rent a virtual space with millions of customers looking in the right place, at exactly the right time: when customers are ready to purchase— Andrea Di Fonzo, founder of Adcelerator and former CEO of Publicis Group
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does it matter that Glovo is adding advertising tools? Isn't that just another platform trying to make money from ads?
It matters because of the timing. When someone opens Glovo, they're not browsing for entertainment—they're about to buy something. That's different from Facebook or Instagram, where ads interrupt what you're doing. Here, the ad is part of the transaction itself.
So it's about intent.
Exactly. A brand can reach someone who has already decided to shop, in the category they're shopping in, at the moment they're making a choice. That's powerful for advertisers.
The article mentions AI and personalization. What does that actually mean in practice?
It means Glovo can segment customers—show different ads to different groups based on what they buy, where they live, what they've purchased before. The AI learns which ads work and optimizes in real time. A brand selling premium coffee doesn't waste money reaching people who only buy budget options.
And the four new tools—segmentation, direct links, video stories, cross-sell—are those really new, or is Glovo just copying what other platforms do?
They're not revolutionary individually. But together, they're building a complete advertising ecosystem within a shopping app. The cross-sell feature is interesting because it's not just about external brands—it's about selling complementary products within the same transaction.
The article says quick commerce could eventually match food delivery revenue. That seems ambitious.
It does, but consider the market. Food delivery is already massive. If quick commerce—groceries, household goods, pharmacy items—grows to that scale, and advertising becomes embedded in it the way it is in food, the revenue potential is genuinely large. The question is whether customers will tolerate ads in an app they use for essentials.