Marketers face challenges proving ROI in retail media. ANA members cite inconsistent measurement as the top barrier. New recommendations aim to unify metrics across networks.
Marketers investing in retail and commerce media are running into a major obstacle: inconsistent measurement standards that make it difficult to compare performance and prove return on investment. According to a new report from the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), 55% of advertisers say the lack of unified standards is the biggest barrier to retail media success, even as spending in the sector hits record highs.
The ANA’s “Retail Media Measurement Standardization” report highlights how varying definitions and practices-such as attribution lookback windows, identity resolution, and deduplication-lead to unreliable campaign comparisons across different retail media networks. These inconsistencies prevent marketers from accurately evaluating ROI, growth, or incrementality, the report found. The ANA is urging its members to use the findings as a baseline for establishing common definitions and processes, with a focus on standardizing key metrics.
One area of particular concern is the attribution lookback window, which measures the time between ad exposure and purchase. The report notes that lookback windows differ widely across networks, undermining the ability to compare results. To address this, the ANA recommends that media networks allow marketers to set a 14-day attribution window, enabling more consistent measurement across platforms.
Retail media networks-advertising platforms operated by individual retailers-are projected by Emarketer to grow at a 17% compound annual rate, reaching $90 billion by 2028. When commerce media networks, which connect multiple retailers and partners, are included, ad spending is expected to surpass $100 billion. More than half of marketers now use five or more commerce media networks, increasing the need for standardized measurement.
Major ANA members such as Georgia Pacific, Hersey, and Intel have reported that inconsistent inputs-ranging from attribution methods to identity resolution-produce unreliable outcomes. The ANA’s Retail Media Working Group, which includes Walmart Connect, Target Roundel, and Kroger Precision Marketing, is reviewing additional issues such as disconnected data silos, lack of on-platform experimentation, and poor data integration. These challenges have contributed to inefficiencies and limited ROI growth for marketers.
The ANA report also calls for advertisers to standardize baseline metrics like impressions, clicks, viewability, and invalid traffic. This push for consistency echoes recent moves by major retail media platforms to give advertisers more control and transparency, such as Walmart’s introduction of negative keyword controls for search ads, as covered in a recent report on new advertiser tools.
