Target is the latest big retailer to tout both ad sales growth and high profitability from its retail media network, which the company calls Roundel.

What stood out this most recent quarter was how much credit Target execs gave to the company’s membership program, Target Circle, in both driving more purchases and helping to build up its ad intelligence.

From the earnings call:

Roundel continued to experience rapid growth. based on the joint value it creates for both our guests and our vendors. In the second quarter, Roundel delivered double-digit growth to the benefit of both gross margin and the other revenue line of our P&L.

For the full year, Roundel is expected to grow in the high teens on top of more than 20% growth in 2023.

“Target Circle also helps us gain deep consumer insights, allowing us to extend more personal, customized offers through our Roundel advertising business.”

Target says its Circle platform (which is free) has 100 million members. Walmart has reported nearly 30 million members for Walmart Plus, which costs consumers about a hundred bucks a year. And we know how big, and how crucial Amazon Prime membership is in feeding its ad and media business.

My question is, long term, how are the hundreds of upstart retail media networks going to compete with companies that have such large, data-rich membership offerings – particularly for product categories that don’t lend themselves to such loyalty or purchase frequency?

That could be the key differentiator long term in this rapidly evolving category.

More stories from this week:

• How Walmart Became and Advertising Powerhouse - Gregory Meyer [Financial Times]

• As retail media networks widen their scope, is a reckoning inbound? - Peter Adams [Marketing Dive]

• Criteo: Riding Retail Media Advertising Tailwinds - Sandeep Nital David [Seeking Alpha]

• Criteo is holding M&A discussions with Skai to bolster its retail media play - Ronan Shields & Kayleigh Barber [Digiday]

• A field guide to the Google antitrust trial - Ari Paparo [Marketecture]