Today, retail media is not only a rapidly growing channel in digital advertising. It’s actually predicted to be a $175 billion global industry in 2026. However, it’s also one of the most complex channels. In fact, at all the conferences we attended, retail media was always a hot topic, drawing strong interest from attendees and sparking interesting conversations not only about its potential but also about the challenges it comes with.
That ability to link media to outcomes is what makes retail media so powerful, and why investment continues to accelerate. But with that growth comes complexity.— Tanya Sarakinis, Business Development Director at Redslim
But while everyone is talking about the digital world with sponsored products, display banners, onsite search, a significant share of retail sales still happens in physical stores. However, it’s also the point where most brands lose visibility.
Offline retail media, such as in-store screens, shelf-edge displays, point-of-sale signage or digital fixtures is where the moment of truth actually happens. And what makes it so powerful is the context.
You’re reaching shoppers in the store, at the shelf, in the exact moment they’re making a purchase decision, and it’s arguably the most valuable moment in the entire customer journey.
— Tanya Sarakinis
But without integrating online and offline behaviour, you can’t see the whole picture. And it’s also where ROI quietly goes missing.
In our recent webinar Tanya Sarakinis and Nils Thott shared their insights on the changing retail media landscape with a particular focus on offline retail media measurement.
Walk into many major European supermarkets and you’ll find in-store TV screens running multi product promotions. But sometimes the display next to them holds completely different products. There might also be some branded campaigns for new product launches, leaflets from different retailers with different pricing. But how do you know which ad space is driving revenue?
After the promotion is over, you receive the report from the retailers which includes different metrics from reach to awareness and sales uplift. But compared to what? The retailer sold you the space, controls the data and produces the measurement. But the question is:
How can we ensure that we can trust the reports and analysis from retailers? Because they might be biased to tell that your return on ad spend or your sales uplift was very positive, and this is why you should invest more in the retail media.
— Nils Thott, Global Commercial Director at Redslim
The information needed to answer these questions is already out there. Retailer POS data, retail media reports, field sales CRM, trade promotion management systems, loyalty card data, market research…they all exist. The problem is that most brands look at each source in isolation and end up with conclusions that don’t hold up when you see the full picture.
We need to take all of this and combine it into one place. Get hold of all that data, take ownership as suppliers, because the information is out there.
— Nils Thott
Getting granular data matters as well because aggregated KPIs hide the patterns. Store-level, SKU-level, daily data is what reveals why one campaign outperformed another, and whether it was the retail media, the field sales activation, the display, or the competitor promotion next door doing the heavy lifting.
The goal isn’t getting super complex analytics that you don’t know what to do with. Instead, what matters to key account managers, brand managers and field teams is to make faster, clearer and reliable decisions.
Democratize insights out in the organization, because that’s where decisions happen. It’s not about making reports heavy in analytics. It’s about what does a brand manager need to know, what does a field sales manager need to know.
— Nils Thott
That means connected reporting that integrates online and offline data, your own internal data and retailer data, and surfaces what a good promotion looks like versus a bad one, depending on the KPIs that actually matter to your business.
Retailers are doubling down on retail media, and they will keep coming to brands for more investment. The question isn’t whether to participate. It’s whether you’re measuring it on your terms or theirs.
At Redslim, we help brands take ownership of their retail media analysis by connecting POS data, field execution, loyalty insights and both online and offline media into reporting built for business users. We’d love to hear where you are on that journey and explain how we can support you.
