The easiest way is to make their jobs easier. Here are a few ways how.
By Ryan Jordan, Mars United Commerce
Retail media doesn’t struggle to win over brand advertisers because of data. It struggles because it’s hard to buy.
If you’re a media buyer in today’s marketplace, you’re navigating multiple platforms — each with different attribution models, different measurement standards, and little-to-no ability to make true apples-to-apples comparisons between them. That fragmentation creates friction — and friction is what ultimately drives dollars toward the easiest platforms to transact with.
The largest players in the market have simplified the process. They haven’t exactly cracked the code on cross-network comparisons yet, but they have made progress in most other areas. They’ve built systems that are easy to use, easy to measure, and easy to scale. That simplicity is their competitive advantage.
When we think about scale, it’s not just about reach. Scale must be tied to the business objective. The real question is: are you reaching the right audience in a way that can actually move the business? Without that alignment, scale becomes a vanity metric rather than a meaningful assessment of impact.
From a media buyer’s perspective, every decision comes down to three things: scale, measurability, and trust. Can I reach enough of the right people, using first-party data to identify the relevant audience needed to achieve a specific business objective? Can I prove the campaign worked, applying closed loop measurement to determine the channel-level impact? And do I trust the data I’m using? If any of those elements are missing, it’s difficult to justify the investment.
In Canada, we face additional challenges. We operate in a smaller, highly competitive market with stricter privacy standards and less accessible identity data. While that creates stronger, more deterministic datasets in some cases, it also makes activation more complex. And complexity is something buyers tend to avoid.
Another key issue is standardization. Right now, every retail media network operates in a slightly different way. That requires buyers to rebuild campaigns multiple times for each platform, interpret different measurement outputs, and reconcile inconsistent reporting. This isn’t scalable, and it’s one of the biggest barriers to growth in the space.
If retail media networks want to compete more effectively, they need to focus on making it easier to transact. That means aligning on measurement, simplifying buying processes, and creating more consistent experiences for brands and agencies. Accessibility and integration of audiences and measurement tools with the third-party platforms commonly used by agencies and brands are essential to delivering those consistent experiences.
Looking ahead, the metrics that matter are evolving. The move from impressions and click-based metrics to return on ad spend (ROAS) improved campaign optimization and efficiency, but ROAS is no longer enough. The industry is shifting toward incrementality and customer lifetime value. It’s not just about whether a campaign drove sales but whether it drove meaningful, incremental outcomes and contributed to long-term value.
Ultimately, the opportunity in retail media is significant. But realizing that opportunity requires us to move beyond data as the differentiator and focus on usability, standardization, and trust. If we can solve those challenges, we can unlock the channel’s full potential.
About the Author
Ryan Jordan is VP-Media Sales at Mars United Commerce, where he enables collaboration and strategic growth across key retailer partners by implementing effective go-to-market strategies and establishing scalable, consistent processes that streamline operations. His 20 years of commerce experience includes nine years building CPG partnerships and driving ad sales for Walmart Connect in Canada.
