Our founder, Alex Tait, asked a Commerce Media panel at an industry event the other day whether they’d steal a march on their Retail Media counterparts by embracing a more transparent approach to data.
He wasn’t knocked off his seat by the enthusiastic response. We can understand the reticence in a public forum to make such a declaration without having “aligned” with their internal teams. And to be fair to the panellists, one of them promised afterwards privately to come back with some considered thoughts on how feasible that would be for their proposition.
However, the opportunity for them (as well as retail media networks more generally) is real we think.
There are various reasons why some retail media providers don’t share performance data or data that can be used in a marketing mix model (MMM) to measure the true incremental impact of brands’ spend. It might impact a wider relationship (or Joint Business Plan as FMCGs call their commercial relationship with retailers). It has long been a grumble that FMCG eCommerce teams have had over the years about the lack of transparency in some aspects of those relationships.
Yet the largest retail media provider by spend, Amazon, has been leading the way in terms of MMM by providing access to its MMM feed for marketing mix modelling.
Retail media is forecast to reach £4-5bn in the UK by 2025, putting it on par with TV advertising spend. But the measurement infrastructure hasn’t kept pace with this rapid expansion.
If you’ve worked with retail media measurement, you’ve experienced this challenge: each platform provides different attribution windows, varying audience definitions, and methodologies that often lack transparency. Unlike traditional media buys, retail media investments can also be bundled into broader commercial relationships – you’re evaluating advertising effectiveness that’s intertwined with trade partnerships and supplier agreements.
This complexity doesn’t eliminate the need for rigorous measurement – it makes transparent, consistent metrics even more essential. Marketing teams still need to demonstrate incremental impact. Finance teams still require comparable return on spend calculations. The fact that retail media operates within commercial partnerships shouldn’t exempt it from the same measurement standards applied to other media channels.
The transparency gaps that matter most:
- Varying measurement windows creating false performance differences
- Attribution methodology opacity
- No visibility into baseline vs incremental impact
- Inconsistent audience definitions across platforms
When the recent ISBA Digital Retail Media Study asked advertisers about their preparedness for these challenges, all responded “somewhat prepared.” That reflects the systematic data transparency issue we’re facing.
The solution isn’t forcing platform uniformity – it’s establishing consistent standards that enable meaningful comparison and strategic integration. This means methodology documentation, standardised core metrics, attribution window transparency, and independent verification access.
Amazon has shown what this gold standard looks like. At Entropy, we were one of the first suppliers to set up Amazon’s MMM data feed in the UK and offer this to clients. This approach enables independent measurement of incrementality rather than relying on platform-reported attribution alone. It should become the industry benchmark.
Retail media networks that embrace measurement transparency won’t disadvantage themselves – they’ll position for sustainable growth. As CFO scrutiny intensifies, platforms demonstrating clear, verifiable incremental impact will win budget allocation.
The goal is measurement consistency that enables retail media to be evaluated as part of an integrated marketing strategy, with the same rigour expected from any other media channel.
