Are Standardized Metrics What Retail Media Needs?

Albertsons Media Collective, Albertsons’ retail media arm, unveiled a preliminary framework last week at The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in France to help standardize specifications and methodologies across retail media networks to maximize the emerging medium’s potential. The first version of the framework, available in a new whitepaper, concentrated on four areas: product characteristics, performance measurement, third-party verification and capabilities. Kristi Argyilan, SVP of retail media for Albertsons, in a column for Adweek, wrote that as networks are launched and methodologies built out, retailers must consider:

• Should online sales be solely tied to media performance, or should the complexity of in-store sales also be added?
• Should channels be measured separately or can multi-touch attribution be used?
• What attribution window should be used?
• Should match rates of customers be used to extrapolate data?
• What methodology should be used for incrementality?

“Each of these questions is crucial for a retail media network setting up its overarching measurement strategy, but these decisions are often made in a vacuum and are limited based on the retailer’s technical capabilities,” she said. Ms. Argyilan added that with differing “proprietary” methodologies across networks, advertisers are experiencing difficulties in cross-platform comparison, limited transparency and inconsistent reporting. Internal measurement models, according to Ms. Argyilan, “are often hampered by the respective retail media network’s ability to provide consistent, granular data quickly. Additionally, as self-service options in the industry are finite, the ability to act on these measurement solutions can also be limited.” She told adexchanger.com that programmatic advertising went through the same phase in the nineties and organizations like the IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) were formed to set standards for online ads. Guided by an advisory group, the framework is expected to evolve further to support key initiatives by the IAB. Aaron Sobol, head of US Media Investment and Partnerships, Unilever and an advisory group member, said, "At Unilever, we are supportive of this workstream as we believe it’s essential for the industry to come together to tackle standardization when it comes to attribution, measurement, frequency of reporting and transparency. We continue to be an advocate for industry-wide solutions.”