By Michele Roney, Mars UnitedSM Commerce
The 114-year-old National Retail Federation Big Show last month dedicated a full day to retail media for the second straight year, which illustrates how important the topic is across the industry right now.
My colleague Andy Murray, executive chairman of Saatchi & Saatchi X, kicked off the sold-out event with a keynote presentation that examined the best ways to reconcile the driving forces behind retail media. His message to CMOs in attendance was to understand the potential for retail media well enough to embrace it as an investment that’ll want to make rather than one they feel compelled to make.
A key part of that understanding is the impact on the business that can be gained through an integrated approach in which corporate marketing and retail media collaborate and innovate together. Making that happen within the organization often needs to start from the top, and both functions usually sit under the CMO anyway. This is the best way to deliver an integrated customer experience that will drive engagement and sales for everyone.
Based on what we heard from discussions at the show and elsewhere recently, Mars United has identified four key themes that are dominating the development of retail media networks in early 2025:
Source: Rewe Group
1. The Global Playbook for In-Store Media. How do we best get closer to where most conversion happens — in the store? Retailers in North America should look beyond their own markets to find innovation around the world. Germany-based Rewe Group’s Retail Media Connect network, for example, is leveraging customer identity graphs and delivering in-store iROAS models that are extremely advanced. That’s where we want to be. So you should look to your global partners in retail to find key learnings like these. (Mars United tracks retail media innovation across four regions. Download our recent Retail Media Global Yearbook here.)
2. The Customer-Centric Mindset. Whatever your function in retail, you need to stay centered on the customer. A lot of retailers so far have simply focused on standing up their network, using the same media products that other retailers offer. But you need to be more curious. You need to keep thinking about what makes you different as a retailer and what the right experience will be for your customers. Also, how can you get as close as possible to that point of conversion? (We cover this topic in greater depth here.)
3. Unlocking the Value of Measurement. A major call to action for networks is to continue upleveling their capabilities, and we hear it from CPGs every day. We need to not only understand how measurement is working within the network, but also how it fits into media mix modeling and multi-touch attribution models. As a network, you’ve got to keep evolving your measurement practices. (We recently hosted a webinar that examined Emerging Best Practices in Retail Media Measurement.)
4. Differentiate to Win. With more and more retail media networks launching, it’s getting harder and harder for CPGs to determine where to allocate their investment — which means it’s getting spread pretty thin. At the same time, networks have huge growth targets being set by leadership. So how do you compete? By building a marketing plan around your network’s unique qualities, the things you deliver that an advertiser can’t get anywhere else — an audience that’s rare and hard to find, for instance, or an in-store experience that’s second to none. Take the time to focus on your story to identify how you can stand out. (Find more ways to make your network stand out here.)
Special thanks to Andy Murray of Saatchi & Saatchi X for contributing to the content in this article.
About the Author
As EVP at Mars United Commerce, Michele Roney leads the Retailer CX business, which helps retailers drive growth through marketing, customer experience design, and the creation, operationalization, and monetization of retail media networks. A 32-year company veteran with experience across retail marketing, media and promotion, she has led the ground-up development, management and support of leading networks both in the U.S. and Canada.
