Retail media’s turning point: Why data harmonization is now the commercial backbone of measurement

Retail media has become one of the most influential channels in global advertising, with brands now investing over $150 billion annually while still struggling to answer a fundamental question: is it actually working? What began as a tactical experiment has rapidly evolved into a core growth lever, and industry analysts forecast that retail media will surpass television advertising spend within the next few years. For CPG and Consumer Healthcare manufacturers, retail media is no longer a nice-to-have optional budget line; it has become a strategic lever, influencing portfolio visibility, price negotiations, and even SKU survival on retailer platforms. 

But while investment has scaled rapidly, the industry has encountered a familiar obstacle: advertising is growing faster than its measurement. Retail media has the potential to link advertising to actual purchase behavior more precisely than any channel before it — but only if the underlying data can be trusted, compared, and integrated. 

The issue is not a lack of data. It is a lack of harmonization. 

The Fragmentation Problem: Abundant Data, Limited Insight

Retail media generates more granular data than any other advertising channel. It spans:

• sponsored search
• display and video units
• loyalty-driven offers
• offsite targeting through retailer data
• programmatic powered by first-party audiences
• in-store media, including digital screens and retail networks
• digital shelf impressions, conversion, and sentiment

Yet every retailer reports performance differently. One network counts “sales attributed to impressions”; another uses a click-based attribution model; some others apply a loyalty viewback window; further ones only count sales within online channels. Two identical products, on two similar campaigns, may appear to perform radically differently in retailer reports — even if the commercial outcome is the same or better in the channel that appears “weaker.”

According to IAB Europe, the lack of standardized measurement frameworks across retail media networks makes it nearly impossible for brands to evaluate performance objectively or optimize investment across retailers. As budgets grow, this fragmentation creates risk: brands are increasingly asked to justify spend with incomplete or incomparable data.

Without harmonization, retail media remains measurable only within individual networks, rather than as a commercial lever in the broader marketplace.

Where Commercial Consequences Show Up 

Retail media’s measurement problem is not merely analytical; it is commercial. Poor or inconsistent data impacts:

1.Pricing and promotions

Retail media influences price perception and promo performance — but if sales uplift is measured differently per retailer, brands can over- or under-invest, or fail to scale a strategy that works elsewhere.

2.Assortment and portfolio decisions

Digital visibility affects product survivability. If measurement cannot show whether spend protects or accelerates distribution, teams cannot evaluate which SKUs to support, launch, or delist.

3.Joint business plans

Retail media is now part of negotiations. But if commercial teams must rely on retailer-owned measurement alone, brands face asymmetric information during contract planning. 

4.Media optimization

Teams cannot shift budget across networks or channels without a unified view. Even when performance looks strong in one network, it may simply be using more generous attribution rules than another. 

The commercial cost of fragmentation is not inefficiency. It is misguided decisions at the heart of brand competitiveness. 

Closed-Loop Measurement: The Promise of Retail Media

The unique value of retail media is its access to first-party shopper behavior. Unlike traditional advertising platforms where performance is inferred from proxies (clicks, impressions, modeledmodelled conversions), retail media can connect directly to:

• electronic point-of-sale (EPOS) data
• loyalty transactions
• in-store and e-commerce baskets
• repeat purchase and shopper lifetime value
• digital shelf traffic, share of search, and conversion

Boston Consulting Group describes closed-loop attribution — linking ads directly to sales — as the “holy grail” for advertisers. This is the promise of retail media: not merely optimizing campaigns, but informing category strategy, revenue growth management, and shopper targeting.

But this promise depends on a critical prerequisite: data must be harmonized across retailers, channels, formats, markets, and commercial metrics.

Without harmonized data, even the most sophisticated closed-loop attribution tells only part of the story — and cannot be compared across retailers.

Why Data Harmonization Is the Enabler

Harmonization ensures that different datasets can be integrated, compared, and evaluated using a consistent framework. In retail media, this means:

• shared definitions (e.g., what counts as attributed sales)
• standardized taxonomy (product, category, brand, retailer rules)
• consistent attribution windows
• unified KPI frameworks across markets and networks
• integration of media, EPOS, loyalty, and digital shelf signals
• data governance and stewardship to sustain quality over time

With harmonization, retail media can be evaluated using the same commercial language that drives pricing, promotion, assortment, and retailer negotiations. It becomes measurable not as an ad channel, but as a commercial growth tool.

Without Harmonization                          With Harmonization 

How Harmonization Transforms Retail Media Value

It unlocks true incrementality

Instead of reporting efficiency (ROAS), teams can measure whether campaigns drove net new growth rather than shifting demand within the portfolio. 

It protects distribution

When sales uplift is measured consistently, spend can be directed strategically toward under-pressure SKUs or at-risk listings. 

It improves revenue growth management

Media signals inform pricing elasticity, promo depth decisions, and category cannibalization risks. 

It aligns eCommerce, sales, marketing, and category teams

Shared data eliminates debates over whose data is correct. Decision-making accelerates, grounded in one version of truth. 

It creates win–win retailer partnerships

When data is shared on neutral terms, retailers and brands can jointly pursue category growth rather than negotiate from asymmetric data positions. 

A Roadmap for Retail Media Maturity

Organizations that want to scale retail media as a commercial growth lever should prioritize: 

1.Standardized KPI and attribution frameworks

Consistent windows, attribution definitions, and incrementality rules across retailers and markets. 

2.Unified product and category taxonomy

Global mapping of SKUs, variants, pack sizes, channels, and retailer-specific IDs. 

3.Integration of core commercial data

EPOS, loyalty, digital shelf, panel, and retailer-direct signals unified into one foundation. 

4.Data governance and stewardship

Defined ownership, quality checks, source validation, and audit layers to maintain trust. 

5.Commercial enablement

Training category, marketing, and commercial teams to use harmonized insights to shape negotiation, pricing, and investment decisions. 

When these foundations are in place, technology such as AI-driven optimization, bid automation, and predictive modeling actually becomes reliable — because the underlying data is coherent. 

Conclusion: Retail Media’s Next Era Is Commercial, Not Technical

The future of retail media will not be defined by the next ad format, algorithm, or dashboard. It will be defined by whether brands and retailers can evaluate its impact in commercial terms. 

When EPOS, loyalty, digital shelf data, and media signals speak the same language, brands can: 

• justify investment with confidence 
• optimize based on incrementality, not impressions 
• negotiate using evidence grounded in market performance 
• grow category value collaboratively with retailers 

Data harmonization is not a technical upgrade. It is the commercial backbone that determines whether retail media becomes a scalable growth engine or remains a fragmented cost of doing business.