Checkout Is the New Click: Fluent’s PJ Triboletti on Why the POS Screen Is Commerce Media’s Next Frontier
CANNES, France – What’s the most valuable moment in retail? Increasingly, some think it’s the split second after they’ve decided to buy something and are standing at the register.
That’s why some in commerce media are making the argument for embedding media directly into the point-of-sale experience, tied to loyalty data and capable of tracking a consumer from impression through to conversion.
“The checkout is the next frontier of commerce media because it’s something that the consumer is engaging with and has already made a decision on what they are going to buy,” said PJ Triboletti, SVP of revenue at Fluent, in a video interview with Beet.TV at the Beet.TV Leadership Sessions at Cannes Lions 2026.
Bringing the digital funnel in-store
The measurement problem has long haunted in-store media. Traditional retail screens generate impressions, but connecting those impressions to actual purchases has required stitching together foot traffic data, sales velocity figures, and a series of educated guesses. It’s a far cry from the clean, attributable loop that digital advertising has spent two decades perfecting.
Fluent is a commerce media solutions provider connecting top-tier brands with highly engaged consumers. Leveraging exclusive ad inventory, robust first-party data, privacy-first infrastructure, and proprietary machine learning, Fluent unlocks additional revenue streams for partners and empowers advertisers to acquire their most valuable customers at scale.
Triboletti argued that the checkout screen changes that calculus entirely. “You’re bringing the online experience of traditional measurement from impression to click to conversion, full funnel on a screen inside of a physical retail environment for the first time ever,” he said. The mechanism he described allows consumers to opt in to receive an offer via email or SMS at the moment of transaction, carrying that offer with them after they leave the store.
“The powerful piece here from a measurement perspective is one, you’re getting brand visibility for a consumer who’s in a purchase mindset and has actually just completed a transaction,” Triboletti said. “And then you can follow them and be in their inbox or be in their SMS on their phone when they are ready to convert for that offer.”
The hardware payback argument
Is it worth upgrading old sale terminals? The old pin-pad terminals, Triboletti noted, resemble “a Texas Instrument calculator at checkout” and are long overdue for replacement. But beyond aesthetics, he argued the software layer on modernized hardware should be doing considerably more than processing transactions.
“The software behind it needs to be really engaging for the consumer, opting into the loyalty program, driving higher authentication of every single customer transaction, which is really powerful data for the retailer,” he said. The revenue generated from commerce media on those screens, he suggested, could dramatically compress the payback window on the hardware investment itself.
“Based on the size of each store and how many transactions they’re doing annually, you’re looking at an accelerated payback window of that capex to be from five to 10 years to under six months,” Triboletti said. “CFOs and all of the retailers will love this opportunity to really let the monetization be that accelerant from a payback for the investment of that hardware.” It’s a pitch designed to move the conversation from the marketing department straight to the finance suite.
Trust before dollars
Projection for global retail media ad spending are pointing toward $100 billion by 2026, according to eMarketer estimates, as retailers increasingly seek to monetize first-party data across every touchpoint in the customer journey.
Fluent’s own trajectory tracks that growth. At Cannes, the company used its time on the Beet.TV stage to announce a new commerce media partnership with CVS — deepening its footprint inside traditional retail, even as it pushes past it. A recent deal with Wyndham Hotels & Resorts extends that same model into hospitality and travel, proof that the post-transaction moment travels well beyond the checkout aisle.
But Triboletti was measured about the preconditions for that growth to materialize at the checkout. Before ad dollars flow reliably, he said, the ecosystem needs to earn something harder to manufacture than reach or scale. “It has to be trust. You have to get the trust from the retailer, you have to get the trust from the consumer, and that you’re showing them the right offer that they opt in,” he said.
“If we don’t deliver the personalization and the trust that the users will engage or the customers will engage, that has to happen first for this to really be a true success,” he said.
You’re watching The Beet.TV Leadership Sessions at Cannes Lions 2026, presented by Fluent. For more videos from this series, please visit this page. You can find all of our coverage from Cannes Lions 2026 here.
CANNES, France – What’s the most valuable moment in retail? Increasingly, some think it’s the split second after they’ve decided to buy something and are standing at the register.
That’s why some in commerce media are making the argument for embedding media directly into the point-of-sale experience, tied to loyalty data and capable of tracking a consumer from impression through to conversion.
“The checkout is the next frontier of commerce media because it’s something that the consumer is engaging with and has already made a decision on what they are going to buy,” said PJ Triboletti, SVP of revenue at Fluent, in a video interview with Beet.TV at the Beet.TV Leadership Sessions at Cannes Lions 2026.
Bringing the digital funnel in-store
The measurement problem has long haunted in-store media. Traditional retail screens generate impressions, but connecting those impressions to actual purchases has required stitching together foot traffic data, sales velocity figures, and a series of educated guesses. It’s a far cry from the clean, attributable loop that digital advertising has spent two decades perfecting.
Fluent is a commerce media solutions provider connecting top-tier brands with highly engaged consumers. Leveraging exclusive ad inventory, robust first-party data, privacy-first infrastructure, and proprietary machine learning, Fluent unlocks additional revenue streams for partners and empowers advertisers to acquire their most valuable customers at scale.
Triboletti argued that the checkout screen changes that calculus entirely. “You’re bringing the online experience of traditional measurement from impression to click to conversion, full funnel on a screen inside of a physical retail environment for the first time ever,” he said. The mechanism he described allows consumers to opt in to receive an offer via email or SMS at the moment of transaction, carrying that offer with them after they leave the store.
“The powerful piece here from a measurement perspective is one, you’re getting brand visibility for a consumer who’s in a purchase mindset and has actually just completed a transaction,” Triboletti said. “And then you can follow them and be in their inbox or be in their SMS on their phone when they are ready to convert for that offer.”
The hardware payback argument
Is it worth upgrading old sale terminals? The old pin-pad terminals, Triboletti noted, resemble “a Texas Instrument calculator at checkout” and are long overdue for replacement. But beyond aesthetics, he argued the software layer on modernized hardware should be doing considerably more than processing transactions.
“The software behind it needs to be really engaging for the consumer, opting into the loyalty program, driving higher authentication of every single customer transaction, which is really powerful data for the retailer,” he said. The revenue generated from commerce media on those screens, he suggested, could dramatically compress the payback window on the hardware investment itself.
“Based on the size of each store and how many transactions they’re doing annually, you’re looking at an accelerated payback window of that capex to be from five to 10 years to under six months,” Triboletti said. “CFOs and all of the retailers will love this opportunity to really let the monetization be that accelerant from a payback for the investment of that hardware.” It’s a pitch designed to move the conversation from the marketing department straight to the finance suite.
Trust before dollars
Projection for global retail media ad spending are pointing toward $100 billion by 2026, according to eMarketer estimates, as retailers increasingly seek to monetize first-party data across every touchpoint in the customer journey.
Fluent’s own trajectory tracks that growth. At Cannes, the company used its time on the Beet.TV stage to announce a new commerce media partnership with CVS — deepening its footprint inside traditional retail, even as it pushes past it. A recent deal with Wyndham Hotels & Resorts extends that same model into hospitality and travel, proof that the post-transaction moment travels well beyond the checkout aisle.
But Triboletti was measured about the preconditions for that growth to materialize at the checkout. Before ad dollars flow reliably, he said, the ecosystem needs to earn something harder to manufacture than reach or scale. “It has to be trust. You have to get the trust from the retailer, you have to get the trust from the consumer, and that you’re showing them the right offer that they opt in,” he said.
“If we don’t deliver the personalization and the trust that the users will engage or the customers will engage, that has to happen first for this to really be a true success,” he said.
You’re watching The Beet.TV Leadership Sessions at Cannes Lions 2026, presented by Fluent. For more videos from this series, please visit this page. You can find all of our coverage from Cannes Lions 2026 here.
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