Retail media networks face a growing education and alignment gap

Rising retail media investment is exposing gaps in industry knowledge, measurement and collaboration, making it harder for retailers, brands and agencies to maximise commercial returns.

Retail media networks (RMNs) are becoming an increasingly important advertising channel for retailers and brands. By combining shopper data with advertising opportunities across websites, apps and physical stores, they offer manufacturers new ways to reach consumers and retailers an additional source of revenue.

However, the rapid growth of retail media has exposed a significant challenge: the businesses involved do not always understand one another’s objectives, capabilities or performance measures.

Retailers, brands, media agencies and advertising technology (AdTech) providers often approach the channel from different commercial and technical perspectives. The result can be fragmented campaign planning, inconsistent reporting and advertising budgets that are not fully aligned with wider business objectives.

Closing this education and alignment gap is becoming essential as retailers seek to develop their advertising businesses and brands demand clearer evidence of the value generated by their investments.

Why retail media’s rapid growth has created a knowledge gap

Retail media networks allow retailers to sell advertising space across their digital platforms and physical stores, using shopper data to help brands reach relevant audiences. Advertising opportunities range from sponsored product listings and search placements to display advertising, video and in-store digital screens.

The model brings together businesses that have traditionally operated in different parts of the retail and advertising industries.

Retailers want to increase advertising revenue, protect profitability and strengthen supplier relationships. Brands aim to improve product visibility, attract customers and generate sales. Media agencies must evaluate retail media alongside other advertising channels, while AdTech providers supply the technology used for campaign delivery, audience targeting and measurement.

Although these interests overlap, they do not always translate into shared objectives.

A retailer might assess a campaign through advertising revenue and attributed product sales. A manufacturer may be more concerned with category growth, new customer acquisition or whether the campaign generated additional purchases. An agency must also determine whether the investment delivers better value than alternative marketing channels.

Without agreement on these priorities, the same campaign results can produce different interpretations of success.

Research from IAB Europe highlights the scale of the challenge. Its 2025 Attitudes to Retail Media report, based on responses from more than 180 industry professionals across 31 markets, identified network fragmentation and a lack of standardisation as significant barriers to investment.

The issue is not simply the growing number of advertising platforms. It is the difficulty of understanding their capabilities, comparing their performance and incorporating them into a consistent commercial strategy.

Why retail media measurement creates confusion

Measurement remains one of the main obstacles to closer cooperation between retail media participants.

Retailers have access to valuable first-party information about shopping behaviour and transactions. Where data access and matching capabilities allow, this information can help advertisers connect campaign exposure with subsequent purchases.

Known as closed-loop measurement, this ability to link advertising activity with sales is one of retail media’s principal attractions. However, it does not automatically prove that advertising generated additional purchases.

Return on advertising spend (ROAS) is a widely used performance measure. It compares the revenue attributed to an advertising campaign with the amount spent on it.

Although useful, ROAS does not necessarily show how much additional revenue the campaign generated. A consumer who clicks on a sponsored product listing may already have intended to purchase the item. The resulting sale could be attributed to advertising even if the purchase would have happened anyway.

Incrementality provides a different perspective. It measures the additional sales or other outcomes generated by advertising compared with what would probably have happened without the campaign.

The distinction is important because attributed revenue and incremental revenue can lead to very different investment decisions.

Other indicators, including reach, impressions, conversion rates, new-to-brand customers and sales uplift, offer further insight. Their value depends on the campaign’s objectives and the consistency of the underlying definitions.

Differences in attribution windows, sales reporting, data coverage and measurement methods can make comparisons between retail media networks particularly difficult.

The problem is becoming more pressing as advertisers seek stronger evidence of campaign effectiveness. IAB Europe’s 2026 Attitudes to Retail Media report found that 61% of European buyers identified inadequate measurement and reporting as a leading barrier to investment. It also highlighted growing interest in incrementality, new-to-brand measurement and unified online and offline reporting.

For advertisers, the challenge is therefore not simply to understand individual metrics, but to establish what they reveal about actual business performance.

Fragmented networks complicate advertising planning

The proliferation of retail media networks has created more opportunities for advertisers, but it has also increased the complexity of campaign management.

Retailers offer different advertising formats, buying systems, audience targeting capabilities and reporting tools. Their commercial arrangements and approaches to data access can vary considerably.

For an international brand working with several retail partners, these differences can make it difficult to manage campaigns consistently across markets.

Agencies may need to navigate multiple buying platforms, adapt creative material to different technical requirements and reconcile performance reports based on different definitions.

This administrative burden can divert resources from strategic planning and campaign optimisation.

Smaller brands face particular difficulties because they may not have dedicated retail media specialists or the technical resources needed to assess numerous platforms.

Fragmentation also makes it harder to compare retail media with other advertising channels. Where results cannot be evaluated consistently, advertisers risk allocating budgets according to platform familiarity, retailer relationships or available reporting rather than evidence of incremental business value.

Common definitions, transparent measurement methods and more compatible technology can help address these problems without requiring every retail media network to offer identical services.

Why retail media must connect marketing and commercial teams

The alignment problem is not limited to relationships between separate businesses. It also exists within retailers and brands.

Retail media sits at the intersection of marketing, sales, e-commerce, merchandising and commercial operations. Each function contributes to campaign performance, but their priorities and measures of success may differ.

Marketing departments typically focus on reach, brand awareness and advertising efficiency. Sales teams concentrate on retailer relationships, distribution, pricing and promotional commitments. E-commerce teams manage product visibility, online listings and conversion rates.

When these functions work independently, advertising can become disconnected from the commercial conditions that influence purchasing decisions.

For example, a brand might invest in promoting a product that is unavailable in certain stores, inadequately stocked or competitively priced in only selected markets.

Similarly, a campaign supporting a new product launch may underperform if online listings, product imagery or promotional arrangements are not ready.

These situations demonstrate why retail media performance cannot be assessed through advertising metrics alone.

Retailers must also balance their advertising objectives with merchandising priorities and the customer experience. Maximising advertising revenue in isolation does not necessarily support wider retail performance.

A more integrated approach requires shared objectives before campaigns begin and a clear understanding of how advertising contributes to wider business outcomes.

For brands, this means bringing marketing, sales and e-commerce teams into the same planning process. Retailers can benefit from closer coordination between retail media operations, category management, merchandising and supplier teams.

Agencies and AdTech providers can support this process by connecting media planning and reporting with the commercial information needed to interpret results.

The role of education and industry standards

Technology can make retail media operations more efficient, but it cannot resolve knowledge gaps or conflicting commercial expectations on its own.

Industry participants need a common understanding of advertising formats, data capabilities, campaign objectives and measurement principles.

Retailers can help by explaining their advertising products, reporting methods and available data more clearly. They should also distinguish between what their platforms can measure directly and what requires further analysis.

Brands need to ensure that employees responsible for advertising investment understand retail economics, product availability and the relationship between media activity and commercial performance.

Agencies require expertise spanning media planning, retail operations and performance measurement. AdTech providers, meanwhile, can make technical capabilities more accessible through clear documentation, consistent terminology and reporting tools that connect campaign data with business objectives.

Industry standards provide an important foundation for this work.

In January 2026, IAB Europe published updated Commerce (Including Retail) Media Measurement Standards, covering sales definitions, incrementality, new-to-brand measurement and reporting consistency. Its retail media certification programme is intended to help advertisers assess whether networks follow recognised measurement practices.

Such initiatives can establish a more consistent measurement language, although their effectiveness depends on widespread adoption and practical implementation.

Standards must also be supported by education. A shared definition of incrementality, for example, has limited value if campaign planners cannot distinguish between experimental measurement, statistical estimates and conventional attribution.

Training should therefore extend beyond platform operation to cover the commercial and analytical principles underpinning retail media investment.

Building a more integrated retail media strategy

Closing the alignment gap requires changes to how campaigns are planned, executed and evaluated.

Several priorities can help organisations develop a more coordinated approach:

Establish shared commercial objectives. Retailers, brands and agencies should agree on what each campaign is intended to achieve. Priorities may include incremental sales, customer acquisition, product discovery, category growth or brand awareness.

Define measurement before investment. Campaign partners should agree on relevant performance indicators, attribution methods, reporting periods and sales definitions before advertising begins. They should also identify any limitations that could affect the interpretation of results.

Improve data transparency. Retailers and technology providers should explain the scope, quality and limitations of available data, while complying with applicable privacy and data protection requirements.

Connect advertising with retail operations. Campaign planning should account for product availability, pricing, promotions, merchandising and online product readiness.

Develop cross-functional knowledge. Training should help marketing, sales, retail media and technology teams understand one another’s objectives and responsibilities.

Encourage consistent reporting and collaboration. Shared reporting frameworks and regular performance reviews can help participants identify problems, assess investment decisions and improve subsequent campaigns.

These measures do not require retail media networks to abandon their individual business models. They provide a stronger basis for managing differences between platforms and evaluating their contribution to commercial performance.

Greater alignment will shape retail media’s future

Retail media is expanding beyond sponsored product listings and retailer-owned digital platforms. Its growing combination of on-site, off-site and in-store advertising is increasing the importance of coordination between retailer data, advertising technology, physical retail operations and brand strategy.

As more advertising opportunities become available, demonstrating commercial value will become increasingly important.

Automation and more sophisticated campaign management tools may reduce operational complexity, but they also increase the need for participants to understand the data, assumptions and objectives informing investment decisions.

Retail media networks that provide transparent measurement, accessible reporting and clear commercial propositions will be better placed to build lasting relationships with advertisers.

Brands and agencies, meanwhile, need the expertise to evaluate retail media alongside other marketing investments rather than treating it as an isolated budget category.

The industry’s central challenge is therefore not simply to expand advertising inventory or introduce new technology. It is to establish a shared understanding of how retail media creates value across the retail ecosystem.

For retailers, brands, agencies and AdTech providers, closing the education and alignment gap is essential to moving beyond fragmented campaign execution towards more integrated commercial decision-making.

Ultimately, retail media’s long-term success will depend not only on the advertising investment it attracts, but on how effectively that investment is coordinated, measured and translated into sustainable business growth.