OPINION The challenge of in-store measurement and standards

In-store retail media has become an essential part of the omnichannel marketing mix, enabling retailers to unlock new revenue streams and providing advertisers the opportunity to have high definition, high quality creative at point of purchase. 

As in-store retail media gains momentum, questions about its measurement and effectiveness arise. Indeed, one of the regular refrains in the world of Retail Media is around measurement and standards. 

Of course, there are barriers around quantifying the impact of in-store retail media as it can be overwhelmingly complex. A lot of that is because of the nature of retail, store ownership and the choice of measurement models. However, many of these issues have been addressed by the IAB EU and US.

The nature of retail is a challenge for measurement

Deploying measurement for any form retail media creates its own challenges due to the dynamic nature of online retail. Factors such as price, promotion, ratings, and assortment are just as important as paid media, influencing retail outcomes in ways that are difficult to isolate. 

As conditions are constantly shifting, relying on specific results become less generalisable. Additionally, the sheer volume of variation in retail environments presents further difficulties for any measurement strategy.

Who owns the store?

Some of this complexity is caused by the reality of instore retail media ownership. If you ask most retailers the simple question “who owns the store?” you will find it very difficult to get a simple answer.

For example, on any ecommerce site, there will be a Product Manager, or even a series of product managers. They are working on how to shape the customer experience online and what’s expected and integrate all the stakeholders. The same is true for the app.

However, few, if any retailers, have a product management mentality over the store experience. The instore screens are seen as a operational challenge rather than as a space that a Product Manager is thinking about the customer experience, what should it be, and be able to then create the business case and bring alignment all the way up to the C-suite.

Without that ownership of that store experience, merchant by merchant operations by operations, it gets really difficult to do the bigger things that require a product management mindset to create a unified experience for the shopper. 

Lots of different measurement models

There are lots of different measurement models talked about when it comes to Retail Media. The difference between measurement models for MEDIA v REVENUE are not always clear. Many of the revenue measurement models are variations of what has been used for years, for example:

• Geo holdouts – Running campaigns in some regions while keeping others as control, then compare sales lift.
• A/B testing – Splitting audiences randomly into test (exposed) and control (unexposed) groups, then measure the difference in outcomes.
• Pre/post analysis – Comparing sales before and after a campaign, adjusting for seasonality and trends.
• Matched market testing – Select similar markets, run media in one but not the other, and analyse the lift.
• Media mix modelling (MMM) – Statistical modelling to quantify the impact of media spend while accounting for other marketing factors.

Why in-store retail media standards and definitions are necessary: enter the IAB

IAB Europe and IAB released their first set of Industry Definitions and Measurement Standards for In-Store Retail Media in 2024 

The standards aim to provide unified definitions, measurement guidelines, and best practices for in-store retail media, hoping to instil brands with greater confidence in directing marketing spend towards in-store campaigns

The IAB has focussed on the following areas: 

• Definitions: Clear terminology for the components of any in-store digital Retail Media components.
• Formats: Recommendations regarding the formats for in-store advertising placements.
• Store Zones: Classification of critical areas within stores where media can be deployed (e.g., entry, checkout, aisle) in a standardized way.
• Measurement: Guidelines for tracking, reporting, and analyzing campaign performance across various in-store formats.

In-store retail media formats

The formats which are most extensively explored within the standards and definitions are digital signage, as well as audio and connected shopping formats which are any retail strategies that combine online and offline shopping channels to create a seamless shopping experience such as in-store hand scanners or retail apps. 

In-store retail media zones

The IAB and its contributors, which in Europe included 14 retail media operators, including Ahold Delhaize, Douglas Marketing, Solutions, Kingfisher, MediaMarkt, Schwarz Media, Tesco Media, and Insight Platform, identified five zones in which retail media can be placed. These zones are especially relevant for digital displays, where marketing messages should perform different tasks to reflect where shoppers are in their journey. 

The zones identified by the IAB are:

In-store retail media metrics

Certainly — here is the revised version with all original bullet headings unchanged, but the content underneath each shortened for clarity and conciseness:

• Impression: Unlike online where an impression is a count of advertisement, with digital instore, an ‘impression’ is the count of how many people are exposed to an advertisement play.
• Audience segmentation: Uses data to improve targeting and ensure media resonates with the intended audience.
• In-store traffic and conversion: Key metrics like footfall and conversion mirror online KPIs. Retailers can use sensors and Wi-Fi analytics to track behaviour, with third-party tools available for validation.
• Unique visitors and dwell time: Mobile device detection helps measure unique store visits and time spent, offering insights into repeat engagement.
• Engagement KPIs: Sensors track in-store behaviour—like attention time and product pick-up—to go beyond impressions and assess true interaction.
• Sales measurement: Tying media exposure to sales enables ROI tracking. Even without full behavioral data, POS scans can reveal campaign impact and support consistent measurement across tactics.

In the part of the standards and definitions that will potentially have the biggest impact, the IAB sets out a preferred way to sell and assess the success of in-store retail media campaigns. 

Most interesting to the Scala team is the recommendation that  Likelihood-To-See (LTS) Impressions be used as a key metric to judge in-store retail media placement and performance. IAB recognizes that Likelihood to See is determined using sensor or analytic technology and that this could have data privacy considerations.