Advertise on podcast: Retail Media Therapy

What the Hell Do We Do About Measurement Now? | Retail Media Therapy ROAS: the metric everyone wants, but is it really the one marketers and online advertisers should be chasing? In this final episode of our special six-part series, The Retail Media Guide to Everything You Always Wanted to Know About ROAS and Measurement, But Were Afraid to Ask, Viv Craske and Colin Lewis revisit the biggest lessons, challenge some long-held assumptions, and share practical advice for brands and retail media networks trying to make sense of measurement. Why has Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) become the default measure of success? And what happens when the relentless pursuit of efficiency comes at the expense of brand and category growth? Viv and Colin explore why a high ROAS isn't necessarily a sign of success, how the industry became so fixated on the metric, and why it's time to look beyond a single number. They revisit insights from previous episodes, including Andrew Lipsman's case for incremental ROAS (iROAS) and Sky Frontier's argument for brands and retailers to collaborate more closely on measurement. They also unpack why incrementality isn't something you need to measure constantly, and why understanding the methodology behind your numbers matters just as much as the results themselves. So, what should you actually do? Viv and Colin share actionable takeaways for both brands and retail media networks: agree on measurement expectations upfront, align on campaign objectives, understand the limitations of your chosen methodology, and build measurement into joint media planning. They also explore the metrics worth watching beyond ROAS, including share of voice, market share, long-term customer value and, crucially, penetration. Because if your goal is sustainable brand growth, acquiring new customers may tell you far more than the return from a single campaign. The big takeaway? Don't let one metric dictate your marketing strategy. Understand what you're measuring, question the assumptions behind the numbers, and focus on the outcomes that genuinely matter to your business. Join Viv and Colin for the final instalment of this measurement therapy session. Listen now, follow Retail Media Therapy, and visit retailmediatherapy.com. Grace & Co | Retail Media Experts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Albertson's Media Collective iROAS Measurement Secrets How much can the methodology behind iROAS change the story your retail media data tells? In this episode of Retail Media Therapy, Viv Craske takes a deep dive into iROAS measurement, exploring research from Albertsons Media Collective and Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. The study examined 42 digital advertising campaigns and compared different approaches to measuring incremental return on ad spend. The results reveal just how much methodology matters. Across the campaigns, the difference between the highest and lowest reported ROAS was 6.5x. Even more strikingly, 83% of campaigns flipped from a positive to a negative incremental return depending solely on the measurement methodology used. Viv breaks down three key approaches to iROAS measurement: Pre/post analysis – simple and accessible, but unable to fully separate advertising impact from other factors influencing sales.Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) – widely regarded as the gold standard for incrementality measurement, but more difficult to implement, particularly for omnichannel retailers.Synthetic controls – a middle ground that uses comparable unexposed audiences or markets to estimate what would have happened without advertising. The episode also explores how audience definitions and revenue calculations can dramatically change reported iROAS. For example, focusing specifically on previous brand buyers reduced one reported result from $2.27 to just $0.22. So what should advertisers do? The key takeaway is transparency. Before comparing iROAS figures, advertisers need to understand how the result was calculated, how test and control groups were constructed, what assumptions influenced the model, and how incremental revenue was determined. And Retail Media Networks need to be transparent about how they are measuring their online media results. Because without understanding the methodology, two iROAS numbers may not actually be measuring the same thing. Grace & Co | Retail Media Experts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What does incrementality really mean, and how can brands understand whether their retail media investment is actually driving growth? In this episode of Retail Media Therapy, Viv Craske and Colin Lewis are joined by Skye Frontier, EVP at Incremental, to unpack one of the most important topics in retail media measurement: incrementality. At its core, incrementality asks a simple but critical question: Would the sale have happened if the advertising had not happened? This counterfactual is at the heart of understanding whether advertising is genuinely generating additional sales, rather than simply receiving credit for sales that would have occurred anyway. The conversation explores why traditional ROAS and last-click attribution can provide an incomplete picture of media effectiveness, and how brands can use iROAS, experimentation, test-and-control approaches, causal inference and marketing mix modelling (MMM) to better understand what is driving growth. Skye explains why strong baseline data is essential to incrementality measurement, including sales, distribution, pricing, promotions, seasonality, external factors and media exposure. The discussion also looks at the challenge of siloed retail media measurement, where individual retail media networks may only see sales within their own ecosystem, while brands need to understand how advertising influences purchasing across multiple retailers and channels. The episode also examines the relationship between incrementality, penetration, new-to-brand and new-to-category growth. Rather than treating these as interchangeable metrics, the conversation considers how advertising can contribute to incremental growth alongside other factors such as distribution and physical availability. Another key theme is practicality. Should brands measure incrementality on every campaign? The discussion explores how advertisers can prioritise measurement around the decisions that have the greatest potential impact, while recognising that an experiment showing no incremental effect can still provide valuable insight. Finally, the episode looks at branded keywords, media efficiency versus effectiveness, and why incrementality should be considered alongside pricing, promotion, assortment, competition and other commercial factors. Topics covered: Retail Media, Incrementality, iROAS, ROAS, Retail Media Networks, MMM, Marketing Mix Modelling, Media Measurement, Incremental Sales, New-to-Brand, New-to-Category, Penetration, Branded Search and Advertising Effectiveness. Grace & Co | Retail Media Experts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

ROAS SPECIAL EP3: Is ROAS The Root Of All Evil? In this Retail Media & Measurement special episode with guest Andrew Lipsman, we ask the question: "Is ROAS helping retail media grow - or holding it back?" Is it, in fact the root of all evil in Retail Media and online advertising? In this special episode of Retail Media Therapy, Viv Craske and Colin Lewis are joined by retail media analyst and consultant Andrew Lipsman to question one of marketing's most influential metrics: ROAS (Return on Ad Spend). Andrew argues that an obsession with ROAS can encourage marketers to optimise for short-term, attributable sales rather than genuine incremental growth, brand building and long-term effectiveness. The conversation explores why high ROAS doesn't necessarily mean effective advertising, how branded search and retargeting can inflate performance numbers, the limitations of attribution and “new-to-brand” metrics, and why creative and broader brand-building activity can get overlooked. So what should marketers measure instead? Andrew makes the case for incremental ROAS (iROAS) while also discussing the potential role of market share and other measures in understanding marketing effectiveness. In this episode, we discuss: Why ROAS can encourage short-term thinkingROAS vs. incremental ROAS (iROAS)Attribution and attribution windowsBranded search and retargetingNew-to-brand metricsIncrementality in retail mediaBrand building vs. performance marketingThe role of creative in advertising effectivenessRetail media's halo effectMarket share as a broader business measureWhy high ROAS doesn't always mean high incremental salesHow marketers can think beyond the ROAS number This episode asks marketers to look beyond the headline ROAS number and consider whether their advertising is genuinely generating incremental sales and contributing to long-term brand growth. Featuring: Andrew Lipsman, Viv Craske & Colin Lewis Topics: Retail Media · Advertising · ROAS · iROAS · Incrementality · Marketing Measurement · Brand Building · Performance Marketing · Attribution · Retail Media Networks Grace & Co | Retail Media Experts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

ROAS SPECIAL EP2: ROAS is a Toxic Love Language ROAS. It's everywhere. In media plans. In ad consoles. In AOP meetings. In strategic decks. And, apparently, in the emotional lives of marketing and sales teams. In this episode of The Retail Media Therapy Guide to Everything You Wanted to Know About ROAS But Were Afraid to Ask, Viv and Colin are joined by Mrunal Bhagat, Retail Media Lead at Pearson, to tackle the uncomfortable question: Has retail media been speaking ROAS for so long that we've forgotten how to speak business? Mrunal's answer is provocative: ROAS is a fraud metric. Sales teams live in the commercial world - EPOS and sales performance. Marketing teams live in ad consoles and media metrics. These worlds don't always collide. So what happens? They find something they can both understand: ROAS. As Mrunal puts it, it's the common denominator. Viv has an even better description: ROAS is the shoutiest person in the room. And if ROAS were a romantic partner? A toxic love language. Constantly sliding into your DMs asking: "Hey. Where are you? Want to talk about ROAS?" Meanwhile, incrementality and other potentially useful measures are sitting quietly in the corner, being left on read. IN this episode, we talk about: Why ROAS became the common language between marketing and salesWhy Mrunal calls ROAS a "fraud metric"The difference between a post-media metric and a commercial decision frameworkThe Trojan Horse modelCustomer wallet shareIncrementalityShare of model: Why AI and LLMs are changing product discoveryWhy today's purchase journey looks nothing like it did 20 years agoWhy we need measurement frameworks designed for the future - not just better rear-view mirrors Grace & Co | Retail Media Experts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

ROAS SPECIAL EP1: Where did Retail Media ROAS come from? ROAS. Four little letters that have somehow taken over retail media. It appears in conference decks. It lives in ad-platform dashboards. Vendors love it. CFOs ask for it. Marketers stare at it while quietly wondering whether they’re measuring the right thing at all. In this first episode of The Retail Media Therapy Guide to Everything You Always Wanted to Know About ROAS But Were Afraid to Ask, Viv and Colin get on the measurement couch to ask a deceptively simple question: Why the hell did ROAS become the default language of retail media? And, more importantly, should it have? First: let's stop mixing up the words Measurement, metrics, attribution and incrementality are related, but they are not the same thing. Measurement tells you what happened.Metrics give you ways of quantifying performance. ROAS is one of them.Attribution tells you what gets the credit - assigning a sale or outcome to a touchpoint or campaign.Incrementality asks the much more awkward question: what did your activity actually cause that wouldn't have happened anyway? So why is everyone obsessed with ROAS? The episode explores four big reasons. 1. Amazon. For a long time, retail media was effectively synonymous with Amazon. As Amazon evolved into a major pay-to-play advertising platform, particularly around sponsored products, suppliers understandably wanted to know whether their increasingly expensive investment was generating a return. ROAS made sense in that environment. And then, apparently, we collectively decided it should make sense everywhere. 2. Ad tech. Ad platforms have helped bake ROAS into the operating system. Set your ROAS target. Optimise towards your ROAS target. Report your ROAS. Lovely and simple. Possibly too simple. 3. Retail media was treated as performance media. Retail media audiences are often close to the bottom of the funnel, so a performance metric like ROAS feels like an obvious fit. But retail media has grown up. It now spans on-site, off-site and in-store, and increasingly plays across the funnel. Different objectives and different funnel stages require different measures. One metric to rule them all? Probably not. 4. Humans like simple numbers. This may be the most powerful reason of all. ROAS is easy to understand. A higher number sounds better. And therein lies the trap. The ROAS paradox One of the central arguments in this episode is that optimising relentlessly for high ROAS can actually restrict growth. Why? Because chasing efficiency can encourage brands to focus on people who are already highly likely to buy - rather than finding new customers, building penetration or supporting genuinely incremental growth. You can therefore celebrate a beautiful ROAS number while quietly strangling your brand's growth. The goal isn't to kill ROAS. It's to stop treating it like the answer to every question. Because if your only tool is a hammer, eventually every business problem starts looking suspiciously like a nail. And sometimes it's actually a CFO. What's coming next? This is only the beginning of the ROAS Special Series of Retail Media Therapy podcasts exploring measurement. Future episodes will dig into: Why everyone is suddenly obsessed with incrementalityWhat iROAS actually tells usWhat happens when we go beyond ROASWhether there are better metrics for modern retail mediaMarketing Mix Modelling (MMM) - and whether it's the answer or just assumptions stacked on top of assumptionsHow brands, agencies and retail media networks can make better measurement decisionsGrace & Co | Retail Media Experts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Rise of the Retail Media Ad Networks Retail Media Therapy EP48 with Viv Craske, Colin Lewis & special guest Dean Harris, Head of Co-op Media Network Retail media is entering a new phase: as advertisers demand more scale, speed and simplicity, are aggregated “super RMNs” the answer to an increasingly fragmented market? In this episode, Viv and Colin are joined by Dean Harris to explore the rise of retail media aggregation, following the launch of RMX by PlanApps from SMG and the Dunnhumby Network Alliance, bringing together retailers including Tesco, B&Q, John Lewis and Waitrose. What we cover: Why aggregation is happening now: Advertisers are being asked to achieve more with fewer resources, increasing demand for media that is easier, faster and more connected to buy. Consolidation vs. curation: Rather than every RMN merging into one giant network, the future may involve curated portfolios of complementary retailers.The “rocks, pebbles and sand” model: Large-scale walled gardens could become the “rocks”; differentiated specialist networks the “pebbles”; and aggregated networks the “sand” that efficiently extends audience reach. The audience opportunity: The real value of super-networks may not simply be putting more inventory in one place, but enabling advertisers to reach valuable audiences across retailers and sectors through a single buying point. Lessons from programmatic: Aggregation can bring efficiency and scale, but it can also put pressure on CPMs, pricing control, differentiation and retailer-client relationships. The risk of the “squeezed middle”: RMNs without sufficient scale or differentiation may struggle to attract agency attention unless they find a compelling role within an aggregated ecosystem. The strategic choices for RMNs: Retailers need to decide whether to build scale, own a specialist position, participate in aggregation, or potentially become aggregators themselves. Why proposition should come before product: Dean argues that RMNs should define their proposition first and then use it to determine where to compete, lead or follow. Key takeaway: The future of retail media may not be about every retailer trying to become bigger. It could be about knowing exactly where you fit in the media plan. For Co-op Media Network, Dean sees the opportunity in being a differentiated specialist: not necessarily the biggest network, but one that can make campaigns work harder. The bigger question for the industry is whether aggregation can deliver the scale and simplicity advertisers want without triggering the same commoditisation and pricing pressures seen in programmatic media. Listen in for a lively debate on super RMNs, audience-based buying, the future of retail media consolidation, and what retailers should do next. About the podcast Retail Media Therapy is hosted by Viv and Colin and explores the challenges, opportunities and big questions shaping the world of retail media. Grace & Co | Retail Media Experts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Retail Media Therapy — EP 47: Cannes Special Fresh from the Cannes Lions Festival, Viv and Colin unpack the retail media trends that actually matter – no, not the rosé and boat parties, Colin! First up: the return of the soap opera. Albertsons Media Collective and P&G launched 'Rico's Tacos,' a 24-episode, 15-second soap opera inspired by shopping data, complete with QR codes linking back to products. It's the TikTokification of retail media taken to its logical conclusion, and proof that in-store screens are ready for real storytelling. We discuss Instacart's new immersive, shoppable video feed. Billed as inspiring content mid-shop, Viv thinks it's a risky distraction for shoppers. OpenAI made a quiet Cannes debut, projecting $100 billion in ad revenue by 2030. Viv bets a billion dollars of his own money that it won't happen. The standout deal: Walmart Connect's acquisition of French startup Vibe.co, the self-serve 'Google Ads of TV' that lets SMBs create and target connected TV ads in minutes. Colin sees this as true democratisation of television advertising. Besides the messing around, reference to French philosophy, Brad Pitt and squirrels, Viv & Colin agree there's a thread tying all these stories together: Retail Media's creative era has arrived. After a year of data, pipes and AI, it's time for every network to ask: how do we build a creative studio? Grace & Co | Retail Media Experts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this special edition of Retail Media Therapy, Viv and Colin unpack the biggest retail media deal of the year: Publicis Groupe's $2.2 billion acquisition of LiveRamp. Why would one of the world's largest agency groups buy one of the industry's most important data collaboration platforms? We explore what the deal means for retailers, brands, agencies and retail media networks, and whether this is really an AI play... or something much more fundamental. The conversation dives into LiveRamp's role as a neutral identity and clean-room provider, the strategic fit with Publicis assets such as Epsilon, Sapient and Marcel, and why identity resolution, data collaboration and measurement have become the industry's most valuable battlegrounds. Viv and Colin debate whether access to customer IDs is becoming more important than access to media inventory, and examine the growing importance of customer graphs in an AI-driven marketing landscape. They also discuss the challenges facing retail media networks and the potential risks to LiveRamp's neutrality now that it sits inside a major holding company. A must-listen for anyone trying to understand the future of retail media, identity and data-driven marketing. Grace & Co | Retail Media Experts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Retail Media Therapy's special episode is live from Istanbul with guest Kina Demirel, Managing Director, Mimeda Your host is Colin Lewis. Recorded live in Istanbul at Mimeda's studios ahead of a major retail media event hosted by Mimeda for 500 brand representatives – one of the largest retail media gatherings in Turkey. Kina Demirel has spent 30 years in retail, originally drawn to loyalty programmes while studying in the UK. On returning to Turkey she joined Migros, running their loyalty programme before expanding into marketing and media. Around 15 years ago, Migros began advertising to brands using customised segments from loyalty data – the precursor to what became Mimeda. Mimeda was founded four years ago as a standalone retail media company, spun out of Migros. It is the first retail media company in Turkey. Mimeda has grown from 10-15 people at launch to close to 100 employees. Key Insights & Takeaways: Hybrid shoppers are your most valuable customers. Consumers who shop both in-store and online have significantly larger basket sizes. Mimeda actively encourages brands to run campaigns across both environments. Integrated campaigns multiply effectiveness. Using a single retail media channel produces a meaningful sales uplift. Combining in-store and online channels doubles the effect. Integrated campaigns consistently outperform single-channel buys. Don't abandon your customer at the store entrance. If a brand invests heavily in TV, social, and outdoor, they must also be present throughout the in-store journey. From entrance to exit, Mimeda's screen and digital shelf network ensures the brand stays connected to the shopper – because without that presence, shoppers get lost in the maze. Search is the critical starting point online. 65% of online shoppers begin with search. Brands that are not visible in search are effectively invisible to the majority of online shoppers. Influencer ROI can be proven. By linking influencer content directly to Mimeda's sales data via trackable URLs, Mimeda can attribute purchases to individual influencers – distinguishing high-performing talent from those delivering only awareness. People & Structure — roughly a 10x increase in a few years. Teams span: The Road Ahead: From Retail Media to Smart Media Mimeda is evolving its positioning from retail media network to "smart media" – leveraging superior consumer data to serve as a strategic partner to brands, not just a media vendor. Grace & Co | Retail Media Experts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From Tesco Media to Tomorrow’s Stack: Building Retail Media That Actually Works (Part 2) With special guest Florian Clemens - ex-Director of Strategy, Proposition and Measurement at Tesco Media; built the global accounts team at Amazon Advertising. Hosted by Viv Craske & Colin Lewis. Brought to you by Grace & Co, the marketing and commerce consultancy. Part two of our special with Florian Clemens dives into the unsexy-but-critical machinery behind retail media: interfaces, platforms, ad policy, data sharing and measurement. We open with the tier-one question every retailer is asking - self-serve or managed service? - then move into how to design ad experiences without breaking the retail experience, why ad policy matters more than people think, and the big make-or-buy question facing every retail media network. Florian closes with a TLDR every retail media leader should pin to the wall: what is your theory of incrementality? If you missed Part 1 on supply and demand, queue it up first... About our guest Florian Clemens has spent more than a decade at the heart of retail media. He built the global accounts team at Amazon Advertising and most recently led strategy, proposition and measurement at Tesco Media. Topics covered •   Self-serve vs managed service for tier-one CPG advertisers •   Designing retail interfaces with ad placements built in •   Search placement density, relevance guardrails and AB testing •   Ad policy and sensitive categories (the “red face test”) •   Contextual ad rules: homepage vs in-category, browsing signals •   Data sharing posture and the LiveRamp question •   AI model training risks when sharing purchase data •   Building a 5-10 year omnichannel retail media platform •   Make-or-buy decisions and the limits of today’s vendor stack •   Next-best-action across media and retail (contested space) •   Yield management and integrated promo/pricing planning •   Conversational search and AI agents as new entry points •   iROAS online vs in-store and brand-lift measurement •   Theory of incrementality as the strategic north star Enjoyed the episode? •   Follow Retail Media Therapy wherever you get your podcasts •   Rate and review — it genuinely helps new listeners find us •   Visit retailmediatherapy.com for more episodes and resources •   Learn more about Grace & Co, the marketing and commerce consultancy behind the show Hosts: Viv Craske and Colin Lewis · Guest: Florian Clemens · Producer: Grace & Co Grace & Co | Retail Media Experts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 43: Building Omnichannel Retail Media (Part 1) Hosts: Viv Craske & Colin Lewis Guest: Florian Clemens – Former Director of Strategy, Proposition & Measurement at Tesco Media; former global accounts leader at Amazon Advertising In this episode of Retail Media Therapy, Viv and Colin are joined by retail media veteran Florian Clemens to unpack the complexity of building a true omnichannel retail media business. Drawing on his experience at Tesco Media and Amazon Advertising, Florian breaks down the four major supply sources in retail media, the core principles for designing retail media propositions, and how retailers should think about demand – from large CPG partners to marketplace sellers and agencies. This is Part 1 of a two-part conversation, focusing on inventory supply and advertiser demand in retail media. Why Omnichannel Retail Media Is Hard Building retail media on top of a retail business involves managing multiple moving parts simultaneously: Ad inventory across physical and digital environments Retail priorities vs advertising priorities Technology and data infrastructure Advertiser expectations shaped by large platforms Florian emphasizes that retailers must coordinate many internal interfaces while building a credible media proposition. The Core Framework: “Win–Win–Win” Florian highlights a guiding principle for retail media strategy: Every retail media product must work for three stakeholders: Shoppers – Ads must enhance or at least not harm the shopping experience Advertisers – Campaigns must deliver measurable results Retailers – The activity must drive revenue and category growth If any of these fail, the retail media product quickly breaks. Retail Media Supply: The Four Major Inventory Sources 1. In-Store Media 2. Onsite & App Media 3. Offsite Retail Media 4. CRM & Loyalty Media Example activation: Clubcard challenges Customers earn points for increasing spend on a product Brands fund the loyalty reward Brands only pay if customers convert Demand Side: Where Retail Media Revenue Comes From Major suppliers generate a large share of revenue through Joint Business Plans. Retail media can support broader category growth strategies. Retail media becomes part of joint commercial planning, not just advertising. Smaller brands often lack traditional brand budgets. Retailers must support them through: Self-serve ad tools Performance-driven retail media campaigns Agency support similar to Amazon marketplace models Marketplace Sellers Marketplace sellers often assume retail media works like Amazon. But discovery dynamics differ. Example challenge: Shoppers may not search for categories like garden furniture on grocery sites. Non-Endemic Advertising: Non-endemic brands represent a major future opportunity. But retailers must offer: High-impact placements (video, homepage takeovers) Brand measurement tools Strong category guidelines Retailers also need clear internal policies about which non-endemic advertisers are acceptable. Agencies and the Future of Commerce Media Florian predicts a major shift: “Commerce is eating advertising.” Two agency worlds are emerging: Performance Agencies: Want retail media platforms to behave like Amazon. Focus heavily on sales outcomes Brand Agencies: Interested in upper-funnel opportunities. But still expect campaigns tied to sales impact Retail media’s promise is combining brand and performance measurement into a single ecosystem. Key Takeaways Retail media must deliver value to shoppers, advertisers, and retailers simultaneously The four major supply sources are in-store, onsite/app, offsite, and CRM Retailers must balance relevance and inspiration Future growth will come from offsite media and non-endemic advertisers Agencies and brands increasingly expect commerce-driven advertising outcomes What’s Coming in Part 2 In the next episode, the discussion continues with: How retail media teams work with internal retail stakeholders The technology stack required for retail media The platform architecture retailers must build Grace & Co | Retail Media Experts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Retail Media Therapy – EP42 Hiring Boom, Industry Beef & The Rise of Airline Media This week, Viv Craske and Colin Lewis unpack three major shifts in retail media: A growing power struggle between holding companies and The Trade DeskA surge in retail media hiring (and what it takes to stand out)Why airlines are becoming retail media giants Topic 1: The Trade Desk vs Holding Companies A major industry conflict is brewing: Omnicom joins Publicis, WPP, and Dentsu in investigating The Trade DeskOfficial concern: transparency and platform feesUnofficial theory: control and margin pressure Key Insight: Holding companies may want to: Own media buying infrastructure (“the pipes”)Monetize their own AI-driven targetingReduce reliance on third-party platformsIs The Trade Desk still a partner… or now a competitor? Topic 2: Retail Media Hiring Boom Retail media is officially mainstream. What’s happening: 26 new roles spotted in one week aloneHiring across retailers, agencies, and platforms globally:UK: Tesco, Ocado, Deliveroo, WPPUS: Macy’s, CVS, DentsuEurope: Douglas, ICAEven banks launching media networks Skills You Need to Win: Commercial mindset + revenue focusRetail and media expertiseStakeholder managementStorytelling & negotiationStrategic + analytical thinkingAdaptability Colin’s 5 Winning Mindsets: Build expertise across disciplines (especially brand growth)Develop personal agency (be a “doer”)Master modern collaborationThink like a showrunner (vision + detail)Adopt a test & learn mentality Topic 3: Airline Commerce Media Airlines are quietly becoming powerful retail media platforms. Why it matters: Airlines historically make ~$5–$7 profit per seatThrough retailing (upsells, hotels, cars), that can jump to $100+ per customerThe Game Changer: Connectivity (e.g. Starlink) Real-time passenger data + loyalty profilesEnables personalized, high-value advertisingCreates a captive, high-intent audienceOpportunity: Turn onboard experiences into media channelsReplace generic ads with personalized contentUnlock high-margin revenue streams 🔗 Follow & Learn More 🌐 retailmediatherapy.com ⭐ Don’t forget to rate & follow the podcast Grace & Co | Retail Media Experts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Retail Media Therapy Episode 41 Costco, Membership Models & the Future of Connected Commerce In this special episode, Viv Craske and Colin Lewis are joined by Mark Williamson (AVP Retail Media at Costco) to unpack how one of the world’s most disciplined retailers is approaching retail media – without compromising its core business model. From Costco’s iconic $1.50 hotdog to its membership-first philosophy, this episode explores how retail media can drive growth while staying true to brand principles. The conversation dives deep into sales velocity, data strategy, and Costco’s partnership with Symbiosis (now part of DoorDash) to enable a new kind of connected commerce search. Key Topics Covered: The Costco Model Explained Membership-first business modelLow-margin, high-efficiency strategy focused on delivering valueEcosystem approach: retail + services The $1.50 hotdog as a symbol of customer commitment Retail Media, the Costco Way Retail media must serve member value first, not just ad revenueBuilt on strict guardrails and principles, not “quick wins”Transparency & data governancePrivacy-first measurementSaying “no” to misaligned revenue opportunities is a strategic advantage Sales Velocity > Vanity Metrics Core metric: sales per warehouse per weekRetail media’s job = increase product movement, not just impressionsFaster sales = better operations + stronger membership renewalKeeps retail media aligned with merchant priorities Connected Commerce & Symbiosis Partnership enables performance-driven shopping adsExtends reach beyond Costco’s owned channels (search, social, etc.)Connects upstream signals → downstream conversions The Big Idea: Connected Commerce Search Meet customers wherever they search (Google, social, LLMs, etc.)Identify intentPersonalize experiencesDrive conversion back to Costco The Power of Saying No No to non-endemic advertising (if it doesn’t serve members)No to short-term monetization that breaks trust“Costco will survive without retail media—so it must add real value” Bonus Discussion: Opportunities Beyond CostcoMembership + retail media = powerful combo (Amazon, Walmart)Untapped UK opportunities:B&M (high traffic, strong app usage)Holland & Barrett (health data + personalisation potential) Grace & Co | Retail Media Experts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

OpenAI has stepped back from its “instant checkout” experiment—raising a big question: is agentic shopping already over before it began? In this special news update, Viv and Colin – alongside Grace & Co's new AI expert Rob Isaacs – unpack what really happened, whether OpenAI misjudged the complexity of e-commerce, and what it means for retailers, AI search, and the future of retail media. Key Topics Covered:OpenAI’s withdrawal from instant checkout Why scaling across retailers is harder than expectedThe reality vs hype of “agentic shopping”Consumer behaviour: search vs full-funnel AI commerceAdvertising strategies across AI platforms (OpenAI vs Perplexity vs Anthropic)What retail media networks should do next “They tried to conquer e-commerce in six months – something that took Google years.” “AI reinforces expertise – it doesn’t replace it.” “You have the products, you have the customers. That’s not going away.” “Everything loops back to closed-loop attribution.” Stay tuned for more episodes of Retail Media Therapy, where we unpack the biggest shifts in commerce, media, and AI. Grace & Co | Retail Media Experts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.