Retail Media Breakfast Club

There’s a lot of talk in retail media about better measurement, incrementality, and finding the one metric that finally tells us what’s really working. But sometimes the metrics we’re using are… well, bulldust. In this episode, I dig into why measurement looks so different depending on which side of the table you’re sitting on, and why retailers and brands can both feel like they’re doing the right thing while talking completely past each other.

I also revisit the question of why ROAS refuses to die. Is it actually a useless metric, or does it persist because brands genuinely need a common currency and early signals to guide media planning? I look at sales lift, incrementality, MTA, basket lift and other signals — and why the real challenge may be less about finding a perfect metric and more about getting both sides to agree on what they’re actually trying to measure.

This episode is sponsored by GrowthLoop

Timeline

[00:00] - Why “purchase intent velocity” is the perfect example of a bullshit retail media metric

[01:00] - Why retailers and brands see measurement gaps very differently

[02:16] - How methodological choices can dramatically change incremental ROAS

[03:22] - Why sales lift may be the closest thing retail media has to a standardized measurement currency

[04:30] - The media-planning problem that makes ROAS so difficult to replace

[06:33] - Why ROAS persists, and the case for using it with much more context

[09:55] - Why retail media measurement ultimately comes down to incentives

Links & Resources

• Check out my latest skit video for the Basket Case podcast from The Drum & QSIC featuring a brand CMO with main-character energy who is quite pleased with herself for inventing a new performance metric! Watch here
• Albertson's and Ovative group's recent iROAS Demystified white paper found that  methodological choices alone can swing incremental ROAS by 6.5x
• See the full range of comments under my Why ROAS Refuses To Die post on LinkedIn
• Read my related articles:
  • iROAS results can be easily gamed. But we shouldn't just throw it away
  • RMNs Are Launching MTA. Do Brands Want It? [Part 1]
  • Why ROAS Refuses To Die
• Check out Basket Case, a project I’m part of with The Drum and QSIC, an irreverent and lively podcast series where we talk shop.
• I'm sharing comedy skits on Instagram about retail media! Follow along: @retailmediabreakfastclub
• Subscribe to Retail Media Breakfast Club's daily newsletter
• Follow Kiri Masters on LinkedIn

I recently took a closer look at what Best Buy Ads is building, and what it tells us about where retail media is heading. Best Buy was one of the early retailers to launch sponsored product ads, but at its latest showcase, that familiar ad format was barely part of the conversation. Instead, the spotlight was on connected TV, creators, TikTok Shop, its production studio, and new measurement capabilities.

I think that shift tells us something important about the future of retail media. Brands increasingly want retail media to do more than drive an immediate sale, while AI is changing how shoppers arrive at retailers in the first place. In this episode, I unpack why Best Buy may be looking beyond the traditional search-results-page model, what its new measurement research says about the brand-building potential of retail media, and why the retailers with the most distinctive assets may be best positioned to move beyond sponsored products.

This episode is sponsored by GrowthLoop

Timeline

[00:15] - Exploring the gap between brands’ interest in retail media brand-building and where their budgets are actually going

[01:15] - What Best Buy Ads showcased beyond sponsored products, including CTV, creators, TikTok Shop, and measurement

[03:30] - Why Best Buy’s showcase suggests its growth ambitions are moving beyond the search results page

[05:15] - How AI and LLMs could change the shopper journey—and potentially reduce traditional sponsored product opportunities

[08:30] - Breaking down Best Buy’s Circana marketing mix model and its findings on ROAS, media contribution, and brand equity

[10:24] - Why Best Buy’s distinctive retail assets could help it move beyond interchangeable retail media networks

Links & Resources

• Follow Patrick Albano, Chief Revenue Officer at Best Buy Ads, on LinkedIn
• Read my related articles:
  • Best Buy Wants To Become An Ad Platform, Not Just Another RMN
  • Best Buy's Marketplace Bet Is Really About Ad Revenue
  • Why Agentic Shopping Poses an Existential Threat to Retail Media (Part 1)
  • Agentic Shopping Poses An Existential Threat To Retail Media (Part 2)
  • Everyone's Going Gaga Over Creators. I Had Some Questions.
  • The Fairy Godmother Of Retail Media, Cara Pratt, On Her New Agenda At Circana
• I'm sharing comedy skits on Instagram about retail media! Follow along: @retailmediabreakfastclub
• Subscribe to Retail Media Breakfast Club's daily newsletter
• Follow Kiri Masters on LinkedIn

A couple of years ago, two neighborhood cats started visiting our house. We fed them, they kept coming back, and then one day they turned up wearing collars that said, “Do not feed unless starving.” It turned out we weren't the only ones feeding them: and nobody really knew who was feeding them, how often, or how much.

Brands have their own version of this problem. When they add up all the attributed sales from every retail media network they spend with, somehow the total can come out bigger than their actual sales. So when Albertsons and Best Buy launched new multi-touch attribution (MTA) capabilities within a week of each other, I wanted to understand what problem they were actually trying to solve. Are brands really asking for MTA? Why did MTA fall out of favor in broader marketing? And has retail media simply never moved beyond last-click attribution? 

In this episode, I expand upon my recent article for The Drum, and dig into what brands, consultants and the retailers themselves are saying. I also set up the bigger question I'll tackle in Part 2: even if retailer-operated MTA is in the retailers' interests, can it still be useful and credible for brands?

This episode is sponsored by GrowthLoop

Timeline

[00:43] - Why retail media attribution can add up to more sales than brands actually have

[01:50] - Albertsons and Best Buy launch new multi-touch attribution capabilities

[03:22] - Why brands may be turning to media mix modeling and cross-network measurement instead

[04:15] - How privacy restrictions and ecosystem fragmentation helped push MTA out of favor

[07:47] - A CPG perspective on why MTA may not answer the incrementality question brands actually care about

[10:04] - What SharkNinja, EOS and other advertisers say they need from commerce media measurement

[11:00] - Why Best Buy and Albertsons say advertisers are asking for MTA

Links & Resources

• On 17 September 2026, Albertsons Media Collective announced Retail Media Incrementality-Based Multi-Touch Attribution, built with LiveRamp and piloted by PepsiCo.
• My article for The Drum: Why retail media networks are resurrecting multi-touch attribution
• Skye Frontier, executive vice-president at Incremental, gave a valuable lesson about marketing mix models and MTA on the Measure Up podcast last year.
• Follow Skye Frontier on LinkedIn
• Read my related articles:
  • This Agency Abandoned MTA, Here's Why
  • Retail Media's Measurement Problem: It's Not Just the Retailers
  • 'Not 100% altruistic': ad measurement veteran on what retail media is really optimizing for
  • The Other Side of the Story: Why Retailers Struggle with Media Measurement & Standardization
• Check out Basket Case, a project I’m part of with The Drum and QSIC, an irreverent and lively podcast series talking shop: latest episode
• I'm sharing comedy skits on Instagram about retail media! Follow along: @retailmediabreakfastclub
• Subscribe to Retail Media Breakfast Club's daily newsletter
• Follow Kiri Masters on LinkedIn

I’m revisiting one of my most popular episodes from last year: the retail media doom loop. The basic idea is pretty simple — a retailer sees the ad revenue being generated by Amazon and Walmart, launches a retail media network, and quickly grows by moving existing trade and shopper marketing dollars onto a media line. But what happens when that easy growth runs out?

In this episode, I look at what the latest data and conversations with retail media leaders suggest about where the industry is actually headed in 2026 and beyond. I dig into why sponsored search and on-site display remain the backbone of retail media, why some of the industry’s newer “sparkly” offerings are struggling to gain adoption, and why the unglamorous work of fixing ad tech may matter far more than the flashy announcements getting all the attention.

This episode is sponsored by GrowthLoop

Timeline

[00:59] - What the latest eMarketer and Bain research says about retail media growth expectations in 2026

[01:52] - Why sponsored search and on-site display still dominate retail media ad spending

[03:04] - The “add sparkles” phase of the retail media doom loop — and why shiny new formats can distract from core problems

[04:00] - How a legacy ad server created major forecasting problems for one mid-sized retail media network

[05:15] - The hidden cost of manual retail media operations and the potential for missed seven-figure ad opportunities

[06:43] - Why creators and off-site media are struggling to gain adoption among some brands

[08:41] - What consolidation could mean for the future of commerce media

Links & Resources

• Sarah Marzano, principal analyst for retail and commerce media at EMARKETER, presented findings from work with Bain at Groceryshop last week.
• Follow Sarah Marzano on LinkedIn
• Read my related articles:
  • The Retail Media Doom Loop
  • Why Good Retailers Make Bad Ad Tech Decisions (The Drum)
  • The Hallucination Is That Everything Is Just Fine As It Is
  • Are RMNs finally getting the hang of this collaboration thing?
• Check out Basket Case, a project I’m part of with The Drum and QSIC, an irreverent and lively podcast series where we talk shop.
• I'm sharing comedy skits on Instagram about retail media! Follow along: @retailmediabreakfastclub
• Subscribe to Retail Media Breakfast Club's daily newsletter
• Follow Kiri Masters on LinkedIn

AI is becoming part of how we shop, but how much do consumers actually trust what an AI assistant recommends? In this episode, I’m digging into two new research studies — one from Acosta Group, and one I conducted with Bazaarvoice — to explore what shoppers really think about AI-powered shopping recommendations, advertising, brand discovery, and trust.

I’ll walk through what happens when shoppers encounter ads inside AI tools, why consumers are increasingly taking a “trust but verify” approach, and how AI is changing the way people research products both online and inside physical stores. I’ll also look at what all of this means for challenger brands, established brands, and retailers as AI increasingly becomes part of the shopping journey.

This episode is sponsored by GrowthLoop

Timeline

[02:13] - Why shoppers are concerned that advertising could influence AI recommendations

[05:23] - The rise of “trust but verify” as consumers increasingly use AI for shopping research

[07:18] - How AI is becoming a second opinion for shoppers right in the store aisle

[10:22] - Why AI could make consumers more willing to discover and switch to unfamiliar brands

[13:15] - The opportunity for challenger brands — and why reviews and other proof points matter

[14:42] - Why established brands’ first-click advantage may only be temporary

[15:03] - The changing role of retailers as shoppers use AI to validate prices, products, availability, and reviews

Links & Resources

• Here's the link to download the full Bazaarvoice consumer study that I co-authored: What Is a Brand Worth When AI Does the Shopping
• Don't miss my October 6, 2026 webinar with Bazaarvoice CMO Doug Straton, where we'll present highlights of the research. It's short, sharp and built for brands of all sizes and categories. Register here.
• Learn about Bazaarvoice, a platform that collects, syndicates, and optimizes UGC across retailers, all in one place.
• New research from Acosta Group: AI-Driven Shopping Evolves. Fielded May 15–21, 2026 among 1,271 US shoppers of at least one retail channel in the prior three months. 
• Check out WPP: Who owns the learning? by Ad industry veteran John Ebbert, who founded AdExchanger and now writes the tipsheet.ai newsletter.
• Read my related articles:
  • Shoppers think that AI's answers are for sale
  • Maybe Ads in AI Don't Have To Suck?
  • I Really, Really Hoped That Ads in AI Wouldn't Suck. Now We Find Out.
  • AI Makes Shopping Easier. But Shoppers Still Check The Receipts.
• Check out Basket Case, a project I’m part of with The Drum and QSIC, an irreverent and lively podcast series where we talk shop.
• I'm sharing comedy skits on Instagram about retail media! Follow along: @retailmediabreakfastclub
• Subscribe to Retail Media Breakfast Club's daily newsletter
• Follow Kiri Masters on LinkedIn

Retail media is a creative wasteland. That’s the catchy line coming out of Ipsos’ new Creativity Over Clicks research. And honestly, my first reaction was to get my hackles up. But once I slowed down and looked at what the data was actually saying, I realized the report was confirming something many retail media practitioners have known for a long time: the creative looks the way it does for some very rational reasons.

In this episode, I unpack what Ipsos’ research tells us about retail media creative, shopper mindset, measurement, and the tension between brand building and bottom-of-funnel performance. I also look at where I think retail media has an opportunity to go further, particularly when it comes to video, premium formats, and reaching shoppers who aren't already in market. 

Is retail media really a creative wasteland? Or have we simply been optimizing for what the channel can measure?

This episode is sponsored by GrowthLoop

Timeline

[00:00] - Why the “creative wasteland” framing initially got my hackles up

[01:11] - Why retail media attracts a more data-driven, performance-focused mindset

[02:06] - Why retail media ads are 47% less likely to be remembered, and how shopper mindset explains it

[03:07] - How measurement shapes creative choices and keeps retail media focused on the bottom of the funnel

[04:22] - Why video outperforms display across key brand metrics

[06:18] - The surprising impact of creative quality on undecided and out-of-market shoppers

[07:17] - Why retail media shouldn't simply copy the “best practices” of traditional media

Links & Resources

• Ipsos' new retail media research: Creativity over Clicks
• Subscribe to Andrew Lipsman's newsletter Media, Ads + Commerce
• Read my related articles:
  • Why Do Brand Marketers Love To Hate On Retail Media?
  • The ‘How Brands Grow’ Dogma Wants To Have A Word With Retail Media
  • Challenger Brands: Being Heavy On Sponsored Products Is a Feature, Not a Bug
• I'm sharing comedy skits on Instagram about retail media! Follow along: @retailmediabreakfastclub
• Subscribe to Retail Media Breakfast Club's daily newsletter
• Follow Kiri Masters on LinkedIn

I recently spent a week in Poland on a family trip, and while I didn't have nearly as much time for retail media recon as I would have liked, I came away with a few observations that I found genuinely fascinating. From the country's enormous network of parcel lockers being turned into advertising surfaces, to the surprising density of Żabka convenience stores, there is a lot happening in Polish retail and commerce media.

In this episode, I walk through four things that caught my attention on the ground: the emergence of parcel lockers as an out-of-home media network, what I observed about connected TV and retail destinations, Żabka's rapidly expanding in-store digital network, and Rossmann's huge footprint of digital screens. I also dig into how differences in privacy regulation between Europe and the US can shape the media opportunities available to retailers and advertisers.

This episode is sponsored by GrowthLoop

Timeline

[01:24] - Discovering Poland's extraordinary network of 73,000 parcel lockers

[03:00] - How parcel lockers accidentally became a new out-of-home advertising surface

[04:09] - Seeing P&G CTV ads with Polish retail destinations like Allegro and Media Expert

[06:01] - How GDPR and US privacy regulations create different retail media dynamics

[08:01] - Why Żabka has more than 13,000 stores — and what I noticed about its growing in-store media network

[10:00] - Exploring Żabka's digital screens and the early stages of its third-party advertising business

[11:26] - Rossmann's 6,000 screens and its move toward programmatic in-store media

Links & Resources

• Read the blog version of this piece for photos of the retail media activations I saw in Poland
• Read my related articles:
  • Trip Report: Retail & Commerce Media Activations in Australia
  • The UK Takes A Run At Retail Media Aggregation
  • In-Store Retail Media Evolved Differently in Europe. Here's Why.
• Check out Basket Case, a project I’m part of with The Drum and QSIC, an irreverent and lively podcast series talking shop: latest episode
• I'm sharing comedy skits on Instagram about retail media! Follow along: @retailmediabreakfastclub
• Subscribe to Retail Media Breakfast Club's daily newsletter
• Follow Kiri Masters on LinkedIn

Are retail media networks finally getting the hang of collaboration? This week, two major announcements have me thinking about the transition from parallel play to collaborative play in retail media. Best Buy is expanding its partnership with Amazon to sell Fire TV ad inventory, while Instacart and Gopuff are teaming up on both delivery and advertising technology. And these aren’t just interesting partnerships on paper: they could change how brands buy, target, and measure retail media campaigns.

In this episode, I’m breaking down what each company gets out of these deals, why Best Buy’s audience data could be particularly valuable for connected TV advertising, and how Gopuff’s move to Instacart’s Carrot Ads platform could open up a much larger advertiser base. I’m also looking at what these partnerships mean for media buyers, the ongoing question of whether retail media tech providers can work with competitors, and what it takes to move from simply sharing the same space to genuinely collaborating.

This episode is sponsored by GrowthLoop

Timeline

[00:23] — Why I’m comparing retail media networks to toddlers learning the difference between parallel play and collaboration.

[02:02] — Best Buy and Amazon expand their Fire TV partnership, giving Best Buy the ability to sell ad placements across Insignia TVs.

[05:05] — How Best Buy’s purchase and Geek Squad data could bring more meaningful audience targeting to connected TV advertising.

[09:23] — Instacart and Gopuff team up, combining Gopuff’s rapid delivery network with Instacart’s marketplace and Carrot Ads technology.

[11:14] — Why the difference between a weekly grocery stock-up and a quick snack run matters for retail media advertisers.

[13:00] — Gopuff’s move to Carrot Ads, access to 9,000 advertisers, and the challenge of scaling an advertising business.

[15:07] — What these deals reveal about the future of retail media collaboration, and why the real test may come at renewal time.

Links & Resources

• Gopuff joins the Instacart Marketplace
• GoPuff commerce media leader Michael Peroutka explains the deal on LinkedIn
• Read my related articles:
  • How Alliances Could Solve Retail Media's Fragmentation Problem (Part 1)
  • Meet The First Retail Media Federations & Consortiums
  • What It Actually Takes to Build a Retail Media Federation
• Check out Basket Case, a project I’m part of with The Drum and QSIC, an irreverent and lively podcast series where we talk shop.
• I'm sharing comedy skits on Instagram about retail media! Follow along: @retailmediabreakfastclub
• Subscribe to Retail Media Breakfast Club's daily newsletter
• Follow Kiri Masters on LinkedIn

We’ve struck a pretty clear deal with advertisers: we tolerate ads in exchange for free or subsidized services. But what happens when those ads show up inside AI assistants that we’re increasingly relying on to help us shop? New research from Bazaarvoice, which I co-authored, reveals that consumers are already questioning whether AI recommendations are truly independent. And that raises some important questions for brands and retail media advertisers.

In this episode, a recap of my recent article for The Drum, I dig into what shoppers actually think about advertising in AI, why sponsored placements aren’t a shortcut to building brand trust, and where consumers go to validate AI-recommended products. I also explore what brands can do right now to make sure their reviews, user-generated content, and product information are accessible to both shoppers and AI crawlers. Because AI might open the door to a brand, but that doesn't mean it earns the customer's trust.

This episode is sponsored by GrowthLoop

Timeline

[00:00] – Why consumers tolerate traditional advertising but feel differently about ads inside AI assistants.

[01:03] – New Bazaarvoice research reveals that 54% of consumers believe advertising in AI could influence its recommendations.

[02:19] – The difference between earning an organic AI recommendation and buying a sponsored placement.

[05:00] – Why AI advertising is still an immature channel, and what that means for brand budgets and campaign measurement.

[06:01] – Where shoppers actually go to validate AI recommendations, from customer reviews to brand websites and retailer sites.

[08:40] – How brands can build trust with reviews, user-generated content, and accessible product information.

[10:25] – The evolution of who vouches for brands, and why AI assistants can’t be the only source of trust.

Links & Resources

• This is a recap of an article was originally published to my column at The Drum on September 15  2026 as 'Ads in AI can’t vouch for your brand yet. Here’s what can'. It is reproduced here with permission.
• Here's the link to download the full Bazaarvoice consumer study that I co-authored: What Is a Brand Worth When AI Does the Shopping?
• Learn about Bazaarvoice, a platform that collects, syndicates, and optimizes UGC across retailers, all in one place.
• Check out WPP: Who owns the learning? by Ad industry veteran John Ebbert, who founded AdExchanger and now writes the tipsheet.ai newsletter.
• Read my related articles:
  • Maybe Ads in AI Don't Have To Suck?
  • I Really, Really Hoped That Ads in AI Wouldn't Suck. Now We Find Out.
  • AI Makes Shopping Easier. But Shoppers Still Check The Receipts.
• Check out Basket Case, a project I’m part of with The Drum and QSIC, an irreverent and lively podcast series where we talk shop.
• I'm sharing comedy skits on Instagram about retail media! Follow along: @retailmediabreakfastclub
• Subscribe to Retail Media Breakfast Club's daily newsletter
• Follow Kiri Masters on LinkedIn

I've got some really good news to share on today's Retail Media Breakfast Club. Despite some of the things that can leave me feeling a little disheartened about the retail media industry, I recently discovered something genuinely exciting: 44% of US retail media networks are led by women. That's substantially higher than the representation of women in VP and SVP roles reported in recent McKinsey research.

I put together a database of named P&L leaders across the NRF's 2026 Top 100 US retailers, and I'm sharing what I found, along with a few theories about why retail media might be getting something right. From the role of relationships and women's leadership networks, to the influence of marketing functions, I'm exploring what might be behind these numbers. I don't have a definitive conclusion just yet, but I'd love to hear what you think we're doing well as an industry, and what we should do with this information.

This episode is sponsored by GrowthLoop

Timeline

[00:51] – The surprising discovery: 44% of US retail media networks are led by women.

[01:46] – How I built my database using the NRF's 2026 Top 100 US retailers.

[03:14] – Why retail media might be a more welcoming segment of the media industry.

[03:44] – How women's leadership networks and meaningful relationships can help women reach the top.

[05:39] – Could retail media's roots in marketing help explain the numbers?

[06:07] – Why I ruled out the glass cliff theory as an explanation.

[06:35] – What these findings mean for the industry, and why I want to hear your thoughts.

Links & Resources

• Link to RMN Leaders Database for Retail Media Breakfast Club subscribers: Who runs US retail media? The RMN leaders database
• Women in the Workplace 2025 McKinsey research
• Women In Commerce Media Collective
• Follow Ana Laura Zain, Co-Founder of Women In Commerce Media Collective, on LinkedIn
• Subscribe to Andrew Lipsman's newsletter Media, Ads + Commerce
• Read my related articles:
  • FTC v Amazon: Nothing Changes
  • The Other Side of the Story: Why Retailers Struggle with Media Measurement & Standardization
  • Why Do Brand Marketers Love To Hate On Retail Media?
• I'm sharing comedy skits on Instagram about retail media! Follow along: @retailmediabreakfastclub
• Subscribe to Retail Media Breakfast Club's daily newsletter
• Follow Kiri Masters on LinkedIn