Julian Sneeuwjagt

Most retail media networks don’t fail. They get trapped. They launch on managed platforms because it’s fast. They grow because the supplier demand is real. And then they hit a ceiling, where the platform that enabled the growth starts constraining it. I’ve seen this pattern from both sides. I built and scaled my own e-commerce business, and I lived the moment where the infrastructure that helped me grow became the infrastructure that held me back. Now I help commerce media networks navigate that transition, from rented platforms to owned infrastructure. At Kevel, I work with retailers, marketplaces, and fintech platforms across the UK and EMEA who are building or scaling their own advertising networks. The ones who get the infrastructure decision right build media businesses with compounding margins. The ones who don’t build media departments inside someone else’s business. I write about the structural shifts in retail media: the maturity stages networks go through, the margin economics of infrastructure ownership, and the decisions that separate the networks that scale from the ones that stall. If your network is growing and you’re starting to feel the friction, I’d welcome the conversation. jsneeuwjagt@kevel.com