Master Retail Media Measurement

Retail media has become a powerful solution for brands seeking precise measurement and attribution. As third-party identifiers – the traditional foundation of digital media measurement – continue to fade due to privacy concerns and potential cookie deprecation, retail media networks offer something invaluable: a closed-loop measurement capability that gives brands unprecedented visibility into their media's performance.

Yet as many marketers have discovered, the promise of "accurate measurement" in retail media isn't as straightforward as it might seem. Measuring retail media success requires understanding various factors and conditions influencing your outcomes and impact.

Recognizing the Complexity of "Accurate" Measurement

What does "accurate" really mean when it comes to retail media measurement? The answer varies significantly depending on whom you ask. Brands approach retail media with diverse objectives – some seek to expand market share, others focus on driving pure volume, while still others prioritize new-to-brand customer acquisition. Even within these objectives, definitions can differ dramatically. For instance, what constitutes a "new-to-brand" customer? For some brands, it's someone who hasn't made a purchase in six months; for others, the lookback window extends to two years or more.

Retailers, meanwhile, view measurement through their own unique lens, shaped by their business model and customer base. A grocery retailer's measurement best practices differ markedly from those of a convenience store chain or an electronics retailer. Multiple factors influence how retailers approach measurement such as the following:

• Average purchase size

• Category purchase cycles

• Customer self-identification rates

• Shopping trip frequency

• E-commerce and BOPIS (buy online, pick up in-store) penetration

• Mobile app adoption and usage
  

Add to this mix the organizational dynamics within both brands and retailers, where strong opinions about "the right way" to measure can create friction and complexity. If there truly were a single "right way" to measure retail media success, we wouldn't see such passionate debate about methodology.

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Progressing Toward Industry Standards

While measurement approaches in retail media remain diverse, significant progress is being made toward standardization. The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), in collaboration with the Media Rating Council (MRC), has developed comprehensive retail media measurement guidelines. These guidelines represent a crucial step toward creating common ground in how the industry approaches measurement.

The IAB's work is particularly valuable in establishing this:

• Common definitions for key metrics

• Standard measurement methodologies

• Guidelines for data quality and validation

• Requirements for transparency in measurement practices
  

While complete standardization may take time, these guidelines provide a foundation for more consistent measurement practices across the industry. They help create a common language for brands and retailers to discuss performance, while still allowing for the innovation and customization necessary to meet specific business needs.

Embracing the Retail Media Evolution

Rather than viewing the current state of measurement as a limitation, forward-thinking brands and retailers are embracing this period of transformation as an opportunity for innovation and competitive advantage.

The current state of retail media measurement mirrors the early days of digital advertising – a time of rapid iteration, experimentation, and innovation. While these innovations may create only short-term competitive advantages before being widely adopted, they drive the industry forward and create value for all participants.

This is where G-Comm, Goodway Group's retail media accelerator, enters the picture. We've developed a comprehensive approach that acknowledges the complexity of retail media measurement while providing a clear pathway forward.

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Transforming Complexity Into Clarity: The G-Comm Approach

Our Outcome Engineering™ philosophy combines data-driven insights from multiple sources to refine tactics for more predictable, repeatable business outcomes:

• Discover: Explore the brand opportunity through media mix modeling (MMM).

• Design: Determine the optimal strategy, channel mix, and allocations.

• Deliver: Execute flawlessly with agile optimization and continuous measurement.

Understanding that successful retail media measurement requires a holistic view of the customer journey, G-Comm has developed TriangulateLift™, a unified framework that combines multiple measurement approaches to provide a comprehensive view of performance.

Our approach begins with foundational data, standardizing reporting across RMN partners while tracking essential brand health metrics. We then layer in advanced analytics, including identity attribution, media mix modeling (MMM), and incremental lift analysis. This creates a continuous optimization cycle of measurement, testing, and refinement that drives sustainable growth.

What sets this approach apart is its ability to capture insights at every stage of the customer journey:

• At the awareness stage, we track brand lift and message association, providing visibility into how retail media impacts brand perception.

• During the consideration phase, we measure increases in site visits and brand searches, offering insight into mid-funnel impact.

• At the conversion stage, we monitor sales lift and ROAS, delivering the hard metrics that justify investment.

• Finally, in the loyalty phase, we analyze repeat purchases and customer lifetime value, helping brands understand the long-term impact of their retail media investments.
  

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Meeting Brands Where They Are

One of the most important principles in G-Comm’s approach to retail media measurement is meeting brands where they are in their journey. We recognize not every brand is ready for the most sophisticated measurement approaches nor does every brand need them. That's why we've developed a staged approach that allows brands to build their measurement capabilities over time.

• The journey begins at the "Crawl" stage, where we focus on integrating data and building cross-channel models.  

• As brands become more comfortable with these foundational elements, they can progress to the "Walk" stage, incorporating brand health and lift metrics.  

• The "Run" stage introduces incremental lift measurement.

• The "Jump" stage brings in media mix and scenario models.  

• At the "Fly" stage, brands can achieve ID attribution and a full customer view.

This staged approach ensures that brands can build their measurement capabilities in a sustainable way, avoiding the pitfalls of trying to do too much too soon.

Overcoming Common Retail Media Measurement Challenges

In G-Comm’s work with brands across various categories, we've identified several common challenges in retail media measurement. Here's how we address them:

Data Fragmentation

Data fragmentation remains one of the most significant hurdles in retail media measurement. Brands typically work with multiple retail media networks, each with its own reporting structure, metrics, and methodologies. This fragmentation makes it difficult to accomplish these tasks:

• Compare performance across different retail media networks

• Understand the true impact of cross-channel campaigns

• Identify synergies between different retail media investments

• Make informed decisions about budget allocation

G-Comm addresses these challenges through a comprehensive data integration strategy.  We begin by standardizing data formats and metrics across networks, creating a unified measurement framework that allows for true apples-to-apples comparisons. Our platform automatically normalizes data from different sources, accounting for variations in reporting methodologies and measurement approaches.

We also implement advanced data visualization tools such as custom dashboards that allow brands to see their entire retail media ecosystem in one view, making it easier to identify patterns, trends, and opportunities for optimization. This integrated approach helps brands make more informed decisions about their retail media investments and better understand the relationships between different channels and campaigns.

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Measurement Confidence

Building confidence in measurement approaches requires more than just collecting data – it demands the right tech and a sophisticated understanding of what the data means and how it can be used to drive better decisions. At G-Comm, we regularly see these common problems:

• Uncertainty about which metrics truly matter for business outcomes

• Difficulty in establishing causation versus correlation

• Questions about the validity of different measurement methodologies

• Concerns about data quality and completeness
  

Our TriangulateLift framework addresses these challenges by combining multiple measurement approaches to create a full and more accurate picture of performance:

• Multi-touch attribution to understand the customer journey

• Incrementality testing to isolate the true impact of retail media investments

• Media mix modeling to understand the relationship between different channels

• A/B testing to validate hypotheses and optimize campaigns

• Advanced statistical analysis to ensure confidence in our findings
  

This multifaceted framework helps brands build confidence in their measurement practices while providing actionable insights for optimization.

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Optimization Precision

Effective optimization requires both strategic insight and tactical precision. These are the problems brands typically face:

• Determining optimal budget allocation across channels

• Understanding the impact of different creative approaches

• Identifying the right timing for different campaign elements

• Balancing short-term performance with long-term brand building
  

Our scenario modeling tools go beyond basic optimization to provide sophisticated analysis of different investment scenarios. We use advanced machine-learning algorithms to help us:

• Predict the impact of different budget allocations

• Model the expected outcomes of various tactical approaches

• Identify opportunities for improvement in current campaigns

• Forecast the long-term impact of different strategic choices
  

This approach allows brands to make data-driven decisions about their retail media investments while maintaining flexibility to easily adjust as market conditions change.

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Gearing Retail Media for the Future

As the digital advertising landscape evolves, brands need measurement approaches that will remain viable in a privacy-first world and solve for this:

• Increasing privacy regulations and consumer expectations

• The need for more sophisticated first-party data strategies

• The evolution of retail media platforms and capabilities

• The deprecation of third-party cookies and other identifiers

G-Comm's future-proof measurement framework is designed to emphasize the following:  

• First-party data integration and activation

• Privacy-compliant measurement methodologies

• Alternative identification approaches

• Flexible architecture that can adapt to new measurement solutions
  

Our forward-looking plan helps brands build measurement capabilities that will continue to deliver value even as the industry shifts.

Preparing for the Retail Media Path Forward

While retail media measurement is complex, it also offers unprecedented opportunities for brands willing to approach it strategically. Embracing a comprehensive measurement approach that combines multiple methodologies, brands can gain the insights they need to optimize their investments and drive business growth. The keys are starting with clear objectives, building measurement capabilities systematically, and remaining flexible as the landscape changes. Working with a partner who understands both the technical and strategic aspects of retail media measurement can help brands navigate this journey more effectively.  

Ready to dive deeper into retail media? Contact us or download our "Navigating Retail Media's Open Waters" white paper for more information and insights on how to realize retail media's full potential and maximize your success with this increasingly dominant force in the advertising landscape.  

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Angela Myers, currently serving as SVP of Retail Media for G-Comm, a division of Goodway Group, brings over 20 years of experience across retail and ad tech with former leadership roles at Oracle, Datalogix, and A&P. With a strong background in insights, analytics, data monetization, and retail media coupled with a customer-first approach, Myers now leads G-Comm, Goodway Group's retail media accelerator, expertly navigating brand marketers and retailers through the evolving retail media landscape.  

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