Retail Media Pioneers Recap | Data Transparency, Standardisation & Optimisation Insights

Retail Media Pioneers Recap: Data Transparency, Standardisation & Shelf-Intelligent Optimisation

Much of the discussion at Retail Media Pioneers centered on the theme of data-driven optimisation. Across panel conversations and case studies, we explored three core questions:

• How can retailers increase data transparency to optimise advertiser campaigns and unlock additional revenue streams?
• How can smarter retail media strategies be built by connecting product, pricing, placement, and promotion into a single intelligent workflow?
• How do businesses define retail media’s strategic role and break down internal silos to maximise budgets and support scalable growth?

Key Takeaways:

1. Internal silos remain a major barrier, with organisations needing stronger cross-functional alignment and shared KPIs across teams such as marketing, sales, and finance.
2. Standardisation and interoperability across retail media platforms and data sources are essential for consistent performance measurement and accurate like-for-like comparison.
3. Combining retailer first-party data with third-party insight enables a richer, more personalised understanding of the customer and helps optimise media investment.
4. Integrating digital shelf data- including availability, pricing, and reviews- into activation platforms supports “shelf-intelligent” optimisation, reducing wasted spend and capturing competitive opportunities.
5. Flexible, automated technology solutions are critical to transforming raw data into actionable insights that improve retail media performance.

What they said:

Data transparency and standardisation surfaced repeatedly as key enablers of greater investment in retail media. Tom Bang, Head of Retail Media at Nemlig, highlighted that internal alignment is often a bigger hurdle than technology itself. He underscored the importance of governance frameworks- such as data ethics committees- to ensure consistency and shared accountability.

Nick East, European Head of Retail Media at Mars Pet Nutrition, echoed this point, emphasising the need for unified KPIs and broader data collection practices. Metrics like ROI and MMM, he noted, provide a common language that allows teams to collaborate more effectively.

Speakers also explored how bringing product, pricing, placement, and promotion into one unified workflow drives meaningful impact. Andrew Pearl, VP Industry Insights at Profitero, showcased this through the concept of “shelf intelligent media”- linking digital shelf signals with media bidding strategies. His case studies demonstrated significant results, with 25–28% lifts in sales and new-to-brand buyers, showing the real value of marrying operational and media datasets.

Despite these advancements, retail media is still viewed as a maturing discipline. Mike Cheetham, Head of Culture, Entertainment, Digital and Media at Diageo, raised concerns around the lack of standardisation and interoperability, both of which hinder fair comparison and optimisation across platforms.

From a technology standpoint, Paul Dahill, Managing Director of EMEA Sales at Koddi, stressed that tech platforms should operate as industry enablers, not obstacles- supporting consistent standards and facilitating smoother collaboration across the retail media ecosystem.

Actionable Takeaways:

1. Create shared KPIs across marketing, sales, and finance to ensure alignment on what success looks like for retail media.
2. Support industry efforts toward standardisation to improve interoperability, measurement consistency, and platform comparability.
3. Combine retailer first-party data with third-party insights to build a deeper, more personalised understanding of target audiences.
4. Connect digital shelf data to media activation systems to optimise bidding and campaign decisions in real time.
5. Adopt flexible, automated technology solutions that turn complex data streams into practical, insight-driven actions.