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Marketers evaluating retail media should look beyond a network’s inventory and reported return on ad spend (ROAS). Prioritize whether the investment can demonstrate incremental business impact, whether its measurement is transparent and fit for the decision, and whether the network can operate across the online and offline channels your plan requires. IAB describes the industry’s next phase as a shift toward execution, interoperability, and measurable outcomes—not simply adding more networks or placements. IAB, April 2026
What should marketers value in retail media now?
Retail media is advertising sold or enabled by retailers using their customer relationships, data, and media properties. As programs extend beyond retailer websites into off-site and in-store placements, the practical question is whether a network can connect media activity to a business outcome in a way that is clear enough to guide investment.
IAB’s April 2026 industry guidance identifies inconsistent definitions, measurement, and operations as barriers to scaling commerce media across channels. Its framing is strategic industry guidance, not a guaranteed forecast. For marketers, it points to a useful evaluation shift: judge a proposal by its measurable contribution and operating fit, not by the number of placements it offers. IAB’s commerce media guidance
Start with the decision the campaign must support
Define whether the goal is to optimize a live campaign, validate its incremental return, compare networks, or plan a longer-term media portfolio. These are different decisions and may need different evidence. A campaign-level causal test may inform an immediate budget change; consistent reporting definitions help compare network proposals; broader modeling can inform longer-horizon allocation.
#1 Best Overall
Value operational fit alongside measurement
Consider whether your team can manage each partner’s creative specifications, reporting cadence, data access requirements, and activation workflow. IAB Europe’s January 2026 standards announcement also introduced four flexible aspect ratios for static display ads intended to reduce creative-format fragmentation. This may ease execution, but it does not establish that networks have identical inventory or operating requirements. IAB Europe’s standards update
How to tell whether retail media drove incremental sales
ROAS and incrementality answer different questions. ROAS relates attributed sales to advertising spend under the reporting method used. Incrementality asks what sales or other outcomes occurred because of the advertising that would not otherwise have happened. An attributed-sales figure alone does not establish that counterfactual.
Ask for the counterfactual and the method
Request a written measurement specification that explains the comparison used to estimate what would have happened without the campaign. IAB’s November 2025 guidance groups approaches into experiments, model-based counterfactuals, econometric models, and hybrid proxies. It emphasizes credible counterfactuals, controlling bias, and separating signal from noise. The appropriate method depends on the objective and the causal rigor needed for the decision. IAB’s incremental measurement guidance
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- Experiments: Randomized controlled trials or match-market tests can create a comparison between exposed and unexposed groups or markets. Ask how assignment, contamination, and differences between groups are handled.
- Model-based counterfactuals: These estimate the unobserved outcome using a model. Ask what data and assumptions drive the estimate and how the model is validated.
- Econometric models: These can analyze relationships across time or markets. Ask which factors are controlled and whether the model can isolate the campaign’s contribution for the decision at hand.
- Hybrid proxies: These combine methods or use a proxy where a direct experiment is impractical. Ask what the proxy represents and what uncertainty remains.
IAB’s October 2024 advanced-measurement guide also names shadow-mode testing, marketing mix modeling (MMM), and data clean rooms among techniques or infrastructure relevant to measurement and collaboration. These options are not interchangeable, and a clean room is an environment for data collaboration rather than, by itself, proof of causal lift. IAB’s advanced measurement and data collaboration guide
Match the method to the decision
For campaign optimization or validating incremental campaign impact, ask whether the design can support a causal claim. For longer-range portfolio planning, MMM can help assess broader media-mix scenarios; IAB commentary cautions against treating it as a substitute for causal methods in closed-loop campaign decisions. That is expert commentary, not a universal rule. IAB commentary on measurement choices
What buyer demand says about measurement and reporting
IAB Europe’s July 2025 Attitudes to Retail Media survey received more than 180 responses from advertisers, agencies, and retail media networks across 31 markets between April and June 2025. At least 75% of respondents managed annual advertising budgets of €1 million or more. The findings describe that European respondent group; they are not global market estimates or causal evidence. IAB Europe survey
| Survey finding | Share of respondents | What it signals |
|---|---|---|
| Transparency and reporting as an evaluation criterion | 82% | Buyers want to understand how results are defined and reported. |
| Performance as an evaluation criterion | 76% | Buyers weigh outcomes, not just access to inventory. |
| Measurement options as an evaluation criterion | 75% | Measurement capability is part of network selection. |
| Demand for ROAS reporting | 88% | ROAS remains a widely requested performance metric. |
| Demand for incrementality | 71% | Buyers also want evidence that advertising caused additional outcomes. |
| Demand for campaign-level and unified online/offline reporting | 58% | Some buyers are seeking campaign detail and a view that spans channels. |
The survey summary reported that 71% of networks offered ROAS at the time, while demand for ROAS was 88%. That difference makes it sensible to confirm exactly what a proposal includes; it does not show that every ROAS report is unreliable. Ask the network to specify included metrics, sales definitions, attribution rules, time windows, and whether a result is attributed or incremental. IAB Europe survey
How to compare retail media network proposals
Use the same questions and definitions for every proposal, then weight them according to the business objective. The following framework draws on the evaluation criteria in IAB Europe’s survey and the measurement and operating issues described by IAB and IAB Europe. IAB Europe survey, IAB Europe standards update, IAB strategy guidance
| Comparison area | Questions to ask |
|---|---|
| Business outcome | What outcome is the campaign intended to change, and which decision will the report support? |
| Definitions and transparency | How are gross sales, net sales, attributed sales, and incremental sales defined? What lookback window and exclusions apply? |
| Causal rigor | What counterfactual supports an incrementality claim? How are bias, noise, and uncertainty addressed? |
| Channel coverage | Can reporting connect online, in-store, off-site, and other relevant activity, or does it cover only part of the plan? |
| Audience and data collaboration | What data can be used, under what privacy and access constraints, and what collaboration infrastructure is available? |
| Operational fit | What creative formats, reporting cadence, and workflows are required? Can your team manage the partner effectively? |
Standard definitions can make reports easier to compare, but they do not make retailers’ audiences, inventory, or business models identical. Treat standardized reporting as a baseline for clearer comparison, not as proof that two proposals are equivalent.
What the 2026 European standards update changes
IAB Europe’s January 2026 Commerce (Incl. Retail) Media Measurement Standards V2 update added a clearer measurement funnel, gross and net sales definitions, quick-commerce metrics, an incrementality definition with approved methods, and updated timeframes for new-to-brand and new-to-category reporting. It described 30 days as the default reporting lookback, with customized options available. The announcement also set a V1/V2 transition grace period ending in July 2026; that period has passed. Check IAB Europe’s standards page for current certification status before describing a network as compliant. IAB Europe’s January 2026 announcement
When reviewing a network’s reporting, ask which standard version it uses, how it applies the definitions, and whether its lookback window is the default or a custom setting. A standard can clarify terminology without resolving every methodological choice or ensuring that a particular measurement design is appropriate for your campaign.
How much of the budget—and how many networks—should be involved?
IAB Europe’s 2025 survey found that more than 90% of respondents allocated at least 41% of their digital retail media budget to on-site formats. The share allocating at least 41% to off-site formats rose from 30% to 46%. These are survey responses about budget allocation, not marketwide spend totals. They suggest diversification alongside a continuing role for on-site media, but do not establish an ideal mix for an individual advertiser. IAB Europe survey
In the same survey, the share of buyers working with four to six networks rose from 10% to 24%, while engagement with ten or more networks remained steady. Partnerships lasting more than a year increased from 50% to 63%. These findings do not prescribe a universal number of partners or prove that longer partnerships perform better. Consider additional networks when they offer distinctive reach or capabilities that justify the extra operational and measurement workload. IAB Europe survey
Turn evaluation into a practical buying process
- Write down the decision and outcome. Specify what the campaign should change and whether the immediate need is optimization, causal validation, network comparison, or long-term planning.
- Request a measurement specification. Require definitions for sales and other outcomes, the reporting window, the proposed counterfactual, the method, and the treatment of bias and uncertainty.
- Ask for comparable reporting. Have each network report against the same decision-relevant metrics and disclose where its inventory or data prevents a like-for-like comparison.
- Map channel and data coverage. Identify which online, offline, and off-site activity is measured, what data collaboration is possible, and what privacy or access restrictions apply.
- Score operating demands against team capacity. Include creative adaptation, reporting cadence, workflows, and partner management—not just the media plan.
- Choose evidence proportional to the decision. Use an appropriate causal design when making an incremental-impact claim; reserve broader modeling for decisions it can support.
As IAB’s Collin Colburn put it in April 2026, “The next chapter will be defined by rigor and by how well companies translate proximity-to-transaction into measurable, sustained performance.” IAB, April 14, 2026
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