VÍDEO A LA CARTA
Cómo afrontar el reto de los medios publicitarios en el comercio minorista para las empresas de bienes de consumo de alta rotación
The Retail Media Measurement Challenge for FMCG Brands
Retail media is growing fast — and most FMCG brands are spending heavily without a clear read on what's working. Nick Widdowson and Adrian Baker of The Shopper Group shared their perspective on how to build genuine operational grip on retail media investment, and what separates brands that are winning in this space from those that are simply spending.
Conclusiones clave:
- Almost nobody in the room measures their retail media ROI — a show of hands in the room confirmed what most already suspected: spend is growing faster than the ability to evaluate it independently
- Retailers are marking their own homework, and that should be challenged — post-campaign data from retailers is useful, but it will never tell you a touchpoint doesn't work; independent measurement is the only way to know what's actually driving incrementality
- The brands winning in retail media are the ones who started to understand it early — nine years of granular campaign data allows one global brand to walk into every JBP conversation with facts, not assumptions, and has doubled their retail media ROI as a result
- Retail media belongs in the JBP conversation — as the channel approaches broadcast TV in reach and impact, leaving it to the last five minutes of a supplier meeting is no longer an option
"This is not about necessarily reducing budget... but what we spend, we spend better. It's a win-win situation here, a triple win for the shopper, the brand and the retailer."
Presentation Highlights
A quick show of hands at the start of the session confirmed the room's reality: nearly everyone uses retail media, but almost no one feels confident measuring its ROI or comparing performance across touchpoints. Nick traced the idea of the store as a media channel back over two decades, noting the scale has changed dramatically. Retailers see it as high‑margin income, and brands see it as a new way to influence shoppers. Tesco’s claim that retail media would surpass broadcast TV in reach was offered as a signal of where budgets are heading; the traditional 60/40 above/below-the-line split is likely to shift materially in retail media's favour.
However, what’s key to this shift is understanding campaign performance and optimizing your budget accordingly. As many brands find, retailers will always say “everything works.” The real skill is operational grip: knowing what actually works, what doesn’t, and learning continuously.
That’s why it’s worthwhile to invest in independent measurement. Retailer post-campaign data is useful but not impartial — retailers won't tell you their touchpoints don't work. Nick's advice: supplement retailer reporting with independent evaluation, always measure incrementality rather than ROAS, and build toward a proprietary database of what works under what conditions.
A global beer brand working with The Shopper Group since 2017 doubled its retail media ROI over four years simply by doing more of what the data showed worked, learning and adjusting continuously and by walking into retailer JBP conversations with facts rather than assumptions.
The discipline required is operational and granularity is required. Know your budget, know your spend by touchpoint and shopper journey stage, and know your results — independently verified. Once you have enough data, you can start forecasting what will work before you collaborate with retailers.
Registration Is Open for the Revenue Growth Management Summit in London in November 2026
If you enjoyed this session, we’ll be sharing more expert insights and content at our next FMCG Revenue Growth Management Summit in London on the 12th of November. Click here to register.
