Carrefour Links retail media network: how Carrefour ads are sold through Unlimitail

Carrefour chose to share. Most big grocers keep their media business in-house or rent a vendor's software. In 2023 Carrefour and Publicis instead launched Unlimitail, a joint venture that sells Carrefour's media and signs up other retailers. Coopérative U, France's fourth-largest grocer, will sell through it from January 2027 (Unlimitail, October 2026). For a brand, one team and one measurement method then covers several French grocers. The retail media consolidation tracker follows this model.

The owner is also unusually frank about scale. When Carrefour presented its 2030 plan in February 2026, management called the retail media business "fairly limited" and set a goal to double Unlimitail revenue by 2028 (PPC Land, 6 April 2026). PPC Land reports that management itself called the goal a "modest ambition". Buyers can read it as a plan for steady expansion rather than a sudden jump in inventory.

The third difference is the store itself. Carrefour plans to fit Vusion electronic shelf labels in all its French hypermarkets and supermarkets by 2030, an investment of more than 150 million euros (PPC Land, 6 April 2026). JCDecaux will also develop retail media at Carrefour and Carmila sites in France and Spain, after a tender run by Unlimitail (Distribuzione Moderna, 15 December 2025). Shelves and malls could become sellable surfaces tied to the same loyalty data.

Onsite. At launch, sponsored products and native formats ran on Criteo's platform across Carrefour sites in nine countries (PPC Land, 22 June 2021). Unlimitail now describes its onsite offer as sponsored products, banners and videos. Carrefour.fr drew close to 17 million unique monthly visitors in February 2025 (Médiamétrie, cited by Retail Technology Innovation Hub, 23 July 2025).

Offsite. Unlimitail sells Carrefour audiences on the open web, YouTube through Google DV360, and social platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat and TikTok (The Media Leader FR, 29 February 2024). Since September 2026, advertisers can also pick more than 80 ready-made Carrefour segments inside The Trade Desk. The offsite retail media explainer covers how such segments are built.

In-store. Mall and store screens come through the JCDecaux agreement. Shelf-edge media through Vusion is planned, not yet sold as a public product.

Targeting rests on purchase history from Carrefour loyalty cards, online and in stores. Unlimitail builds segments from aggregated, anonymised transaction data and packages them for advertisers (Unlimitail, September 2026). Advertisers do not receive raw shopper records.

In June 2026 Unlimitail chose Snowflake to build a Global Retail Media Data Hub on Snowflake Data Clean Rooms. Each retailer's data is meant to stay in its own environment while brands analyse shared audiences (Unlimitail, 18 June 2026). Unlimitail said the hub would launch later in 2026; we found no launch notice by 9 November.

Unlimitail says it measures campaigns at the individual level, from awareness metrics to sales uplift, with unified KPIs across onsite and offsite. Its pitch is closed-loop measurement to the checkout, including store sales. In one YouTube test for a fruit-yoghurt brand, Unlimitail said it matched about 1.2 million brand buyers and reached 42% of them (company claim, The Media Leader FR, 29 February 2024).

We found no IAB Europe certification or third-party audit for Carrefour's network. The grocery retail media comparison shows which European grocers have certified their metrics.

1. Contact Unlimitail. Carrefour media is sold by Unlimitail's teams, not by Carrefour directly. Use the contact page on unlimitail.com.
2. Choose managed or self-service. Bespoke data and measurement stay with Unlimitail. Ready-made segments are self-service in The Trade Desk; onsite campaigns can also run through Pacvue in France.
3. Start onsite. Sponsored products on Carrefour sites reach shoppers closest to purchase.
4. Add offsite reach. Activate Carrefour audiences on YouTube, social or the open web if those are already in your plan.
5. Agree the sales read. Confirm which stores and countries count, the attribution window and how store sales are matched.

It suits:

• FMCG brands with wide distribution in Carrefour France, Spain or Brazil;
• advertisers who want one buy across several French grocers from 2027;
• agencies already using The Trade Desk, DV360 or Pacvue.

It suits less:

• brands that need accredited or audited metrics before buying;
• advertisers who want to buy Carrefour inventory without an intermediary;
• buyers focused only on markets where Carrefour runs franchises rather than its own stores.

• Carrefour or Unlimitail retail media revenue for any year.
• The current onsite ad server on Carrefour sites. Criteo's 2021 deal ran for three years; Unlimitail now offers Epsilon Retail Media to retailers.
• The shareholding split between Carrefour and Publicis.
• Whether "Carrefour Links" remains in use as a brand for data and insights.
• Minimum spend and rate cards.

1. Criteo, "Criteo announces international partnership with Carrefour Group" (16 June 2021). https://www.criteo.com/news/press-releases/2021/06/criteo-announces-international-partnership-with-carrefour-group/
2. PPC Land, "Carrefour introduces ads in their websites and apps in 9 countries" (22 June 2021). https://ppc.land/carrefour-introduces-ads-in-their-websites-and-apps-in-9-countries/
3. Carrefour Group, "Le Groupe Carrefour et Publicis Groupe lancent Unlimitail" (2023). https://www.carrefour.com/fr/news/2023/le-groupe-carrefour-et-publicis-groupe-lancent-unlimitail
4. Unlimitail, "The Trade Desk and Unlimitail bring self-service access to Carrefour retail data across France, Spain and Brazil" (9 September 2026). https://www.unlimitail.com/news/the-trade-desk-and-unlimitail-bring-self-service-access-to-carrefour-retail-data-across-france-spain-and-brazil
5. Unlimitail, "Coopérative U chooses Unlimitail, France's leading omnichannel retail media player" (October 2026). https://www.unlimitail.com/news/cooperative-u-chooses-unlimitail-frances-leading-omnichannel-retail-media-player
6. Unlimitail and Snowflake, "Unlimitail Chooses Snowflake to Power Privacy-Preserving Retail Media Across Europe and Latin America" (18 June 2026). https://www.unlimitail.com/news/unlimitail-chooses-snowflake-to-power-privacy-preserving-retail-media-across-europe-and-latin-america
7. PPC Land, "Carrefour bets on AI, ChatGPT and smart shelves to win European retail" (6 April 2026). https://ppc.land/carrefour-bets-on-ai-chatgpt-and-smart-shelves-to-win-european-retail/
8. Retail Technology Innovation Hub, "Carrefour up first as Pacvue announces European tie up with retail media platform Unlimitail" (23 July 2025). https://retailtechinnovationhub.com/home/2025/7/23/carrefour-up-first-as-pacvue-announces-european-partnership-with-retail-media-platform-unlimitail
9. The Media Leader FR, "Unlimitail active la data shopper Carrefour sur YouTube" (29 February 2024). https://fr.themedialeader.com/?p=79030
10. Distribuzione Moderna, "Carrefour and Carmila: JCDecaux develops retail media in over 250 shopping centres" (15 December 2025). https://distribuzionemoderna.info/en/international/carrefour-and-carmila-jcdecaux-develops-retail-media-in-over-250-shopping-centres