Retailers are great at selling products. But when it comes to advertising, they often miss the mark. Their job is to maximize sales for the whole platform, not to grow your brand. For many e-commerce companies, that’s a problem.

Why retailers often fail at advertising

Retailers design their ad platforms to drive overall revenue. That means ads are optimized for clicks and profit across every product on the shelf. Not for your long-term brand performance.

The result?

• You’re competing in crowded auctions against dozens of similar brands.

• Campaigns are broad, generic, and not informed by your customer insights.

• Ads serve the retailer’s margins first, not your growth goals.

This leaves brands fighting for visibility in an environment where the odds are stacked against them.

The hidden cost for brands

When retail advertising underperforms, the damage goes beyond wasted spend.

• ROI drops, and you have little visibility into why.

• Without strong signal feedback, ad platforms like Meta or TikTok can’t optimize your campaigns.

• Retail sell-through slows, making reorders from distributors less frequent.

In other words, relying on retailers to handle your advertising puts your growth in someone else’s hands.

Why brands must take control

You know your audience better than anyone else. You know what hooks work, which creatives spark attention, and what drives repeat buyers.

By taking control of demand creation:

• You position your brand as the growth engine (not the retailer)

• You prove sell-through with stronger numbers, giving you leverage for more shelf space.

• You capture attention outside the retailer’s walls, reaching consumers earlier in the journey.

Instead of being dependent on the retailer’s system, you become the one pushing the demand.

How brands can take back control

Taking control doesn’t mean abandoning retailers. It means using smarter strategies to bridge your advertising with their checkout.

• Create landing pages that connect traffic from advertising platforms to your website and then to retailer’s PDP.

• Add “Buy on [Retailer]” buttons that guide shoppers while capturing intent.

• Feed these purchase intent signals back into ad platforms so their algorithms can optimize campaigns in your favor.

Forward-thinking brands already use this approach to boost retail sell-through and secure stronger partnerships with distributors.

Conclusion

Retailer ads are designed for the retailer, not for your brand. That’s why brands that succeed are the ones that take control of their advertising. By creating your own demand and connecting it to retail checkouts, you ensure that growth happens on your terms. Not theirs.