Retail Media Insights

When Johnson & Johnson spun off Kenvue, many of the leaders who joined saw it as an opportunity to operate in a fast, agile, stand-alone environment. Now, as Kimberly-Clark acquires Kenvue for nearly $49B, I can’t help but wonder: what happens to that kind of talent next? People who thrive in a start-up-like culture: speed, ownership, experimentation - often find it hard to adjust to a slower, more structured, process-heavy organization. And Kimberly-Clark, while world-class in legacy and discipline, is not known for agility or fast-paced innovation. So the question becomes: will Kimberly-Clark recognize and leverage the entrepreneurial talent they’ve just inherited or will those people eventually walk away, frustrated by hierarchy and pace? In M&A, most of the headlines focus on synergies and cost savings. But cultural integration is where deals often succeed or fail. Especially in consumer goods, where people and creativity drive performance more than any spreadsheet ever will. Curious to hear from my FMCG network: how can established giants like Kimberly-Clark preserve the innovative DNA of the companies they acquire? #FMCG #Growth #Trending #Consumergrowth

Retail media Is booming and changing the shopper journey heavily - but are FMCG giants ready to play it properly, yet? After hundreds of store visits across Saudi modern trade, I’m witnessing a retail media revolution. The infrastructure at Othaim Markets, Panda, Danube, and Tamimi Markets Jeddah is impressive - entry bows, category headers, integrated brand experiences transforming the shopper journey. But here’s the uncomfortable truth: most FMCG brands aren’t ready to play this game properly. In the store I just visited, take Nescafe RTD. They have budget, distribution, and brand power. But their assets don’t match the retail media hardware in the store. Side note: Besides that example, Nescafe did a fantastic job in the relaunch of their RTDC portfolio in the region. Why Retail Media Fails for Most Brands Retail media on its own will have a negative ROI. Let me be clear about that. But if you build a story around it, it can make all the sense in the world. The 4 Critical Steps That Actually Work: 1) You Need a Powerful Test Budget (And It’s Super High) Entry bows, category headers, custom gondolas require serious investment. Most brands underestimate this by 50-70% and wonder why execution looks cheap. 2) Align With the Retailer Get sell-out data (not just sell-in), secure your core shelf space, plus a separate gondola. Without retailer partnership on data and space, you’re flying blind and cannibalizing your base business. 3) Get the Specs and Adapt Your Latest TVC Get exact specifications from Faden, Saudi Signs, or whoever provides the hardware. Then push internally to adapt your newest TV commercial content to those specs. Not “close enough.” Not “global assets.” This is where corporate bureaucracy kills speed - and why you see situations like what I just observed. 4) Make an In-Store Video and Use It Strategically Film your execution in-store (Friday mornings in Saudi when it’s quieter). Interview the retailer. Then use this content in Joint Business Planning sessions to demonstrate capabilities and secure better terms. This transforms retail media from tactical spend to strategic investment. The Real Question Retail media is booming in Saudi. The hardware is world-class. The shopper journey is being transformed. But are FMCG giants ready to commit the budget, build true retailer partnerships, move fast on assets, and tell the complete story? Right now, most aren’t. And smaller, faster regional brands are capturing attention while the giants wait for approvals. Retail is detail. And retail media without the full story is just expensive wallpaper. Who’s doing this right in Saudi? I’d love to hear examples of brands building the complete retail media story, not just buying placements.

Yesterday, Amazon Ads dropped TWO announcements that are about to change retail media strategy. 1) Amazon Marketing Cloud is now self-service This is HUGE. Until now, AMC's sophisticated capabilities were locked behind barriers. You needed technical expertise, SQL knowledge, the whole thing. Not anymore. Any advertiser can now access these insights through intuitive, no-code templates with AI assistance. You can finally connect AMC learnings across your entire retail media strategy. Budget shifts, audience adjustments, keyword targeting, all of it unified in one place. 2) Creative and media activation are no longer separate. Amazon is rolling out integrated creative tools for Sponsored Brands, DSP, and more, so you can build, launch, and measure creative in one workflow. That means less lag time between concept and execution, as well as the ability to measure creative performance against campaign results in real time. The bigger picture is clear. Amazon just set the new standard for what retail media should look like.

Retail Media Networks? More like Retail Media Nightmares. Us marketers all bought into the same promise: High intent shoppers. Closed loop measurement. Better signal in a post cookie world. Then reality set in. Most RMNs ended up as isolated tech stacks with limited reach, uneven execution, and measurement that only made sense if you squinted. Finance teams started asking questions marketers couldn’t confidently answer. Was this incremental or just expensive retargeting? Did it scale or did it cap out fast? Why did performance fall apart the moment spend increased? Retailers mistook building an ad platform for owning leverage. Their real asset was never the platform itself, it was first party purchase data and demand signals. Trying to turn every retailer into a mini walled garden was always going to fragment budgets and slow outcomes. The smarter path is already showing itself. Instead of forcing brands to learn yet another buying system, retailers route their signal and inventory into platforms (Google and Meta being the obvious ones) that already have scale, liquidity, and world class optimization. When this works, everyone wins. - Brands get scale and efficiency without operational drag. - Retailers monetize data without becoming software companies. - Media dollars move faster to where performance compounds instead of stalling. Over the next few years, I don’t think the winners are the RMNs trying to out platform the platforms. The winners are the retailers who accept that distribution beats duplication and partner aggressively. This is all about gravity. Money flows to systems that learn, scale, and prove impact. Everything else becomes a line item under review.

The marketing returns of Retail Media are grossly misattributed. It’s great to have a further element of addressability for the communications mix of FMCG / CPG brands. And its great that the potential ability to extend performance marketing capabilities through integrating retail data with brand data is becoming apparent for more brands. However, there is only ever a small percentage of in-market customers. Most FMCG sales are still made in real life and most in-store displays are managed through JBPs with retailers and sales teams. Most online retail media is in support of promotions, which are the sales drivers and should take most of the credit for the incremental sale, not the estore display. And marketers spent many years moving from ROAS as a stand alone metric or treating as anything but hygiene, only to re-adopt it as it was convenient for Retail Media. There has been a gold rush to Retail Media. Followed by some Wild West behaviour. Some of this is testing, which is totally appropriate once the campaign attribution and measurement are right. But, most is money invested because we can, not necessarily because we should. Meaning it’s likely being spent on the double, duplicating other marketing spend but taking its credit. Audience first brands with the measured balance of investment across brand and performance (for want of better badges) are more likely to be getting their spend in this channel right. Retail Media is set to evolve, eventually moving beyond retail to become Commerce based media. Where the audience data is valued higher than to nudge to sales. In the meantime, brands must ensure that they are not duplicating their efforts on the short-term market where some customer were likely to buy the brand anyway. And, to do this, brands need to get their measurement right and not accept the convenient metric. #marketing #advertisingandmarketing #digitalmarketing #branding #retailmedia Graph is from WARC

50% of marketing mix models underrepresent retail media. Let that sink in. Half the brands using MMM to allocate budgets are systematically underfunding the one channel that can prove, at the SKU level, whether it actually drove a sale. The IAB published a paper last week making the case bluntly: legacy measurement is "sabotaging growth in the retail media era." Their argument has three structural pillars: 1. MMM needs spend variation to detect impact. Retail media is always on. Budgets rarely fluctuate enough for MMM to measure signal. So the model sees noise where there's actually value. 2. MMM relies on limited point-of-sale data from brick-and-mortar. But retail media drives sales across delivery, pickup, marketplace transactions, and cross-retailer spillover. MMM can't parse that. 3. Retail media offers closed-loop, transaction-level measurement. MMM was built for channels where direct measurement didn't exist. Using correlational estimation when you have causal proof is like using a sundial when you own an atomic clock. The result: brands are making billion-dollar allocation decisions using models that structurally undercount their most accountable channel. Meanwhile, the Skai/Stratably 2026 survey of 166 retail media advertisers reveals a clear split: Brands actually measuring incrementality report real outcomes. 54% reduced wasted spend. 49% increased new customer acquisition. 68% aim to improve profit margins through better incrementality insights. But 14% aren't measuring incrementality at all. And 69% of respondents were classified as "laggards" in measurement maturity. In a tariff environment where every basis point of margin is under siege, this isn't a measurement debate. It's a P&L problem. Brands are expanding from 6 retail media networks today to 11 by year end. Without solving measurement first, that's just spreading blindness across more channels. One question every VP of Ecommerce should ask their analytics team this week: does our MMM structurally undercount retail media? If no one can answer confidently, you already have your answer. #RetailMedia #CPG #Ecommerce #Incrementality #MarketingMeasurement #RetailAI

If more of your store sales start on TikTok lately, you might wanna read this. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘦. The checkout happens in-store. But the sale happens everywhere else. Here's the reality: This year 60%+, and in 2027, 70% of retail sales will be digitally influenced. I can't emphasize this enough; here's what most brands miss—digital influence isn't just about online sales. It's about shaping every moment before the customer even walks into your store. L'Oréal cracked this code: 100M+ AR try-on sessions driving real conversions. 31 brands orchestrating seamless experiences across 72 countries. No.1 in beauty influencer marketing (29% market share), 20-80% higher conversion rates through enhanced digital experiences. The new customer journey isn't linear—it's layered: - They discover you on social - Research you through reviews and UGC - Try your product virtually through AR - Get retargeted with personalized content - Finally purchase in-store (feeling confident they're making the right choice) Every touchpoint matters, and every interaction influences the final decision. The brands winning today aren't just selling products—they're orchestrating experiences across owned, paid, and earned media that guide customers from curiosity to checkout. Digital discovery is increasingly pay-to-play and shoppers are paying attention. ++ Tactical Recommendations for CPG / FMCG Brands ++ 1. Beyond just having perfect, high SOV product pages, create discovery ecosystems. - Optimize for "zero-moment-of-truth" searches. - Activate shoppable content at scale. - Leverage user-generated content as social proof. Brands that do these see a 35% higher conversion rate from digital touchpoints to in-store purchases. 2. Connect digital engagement directly to retail execution. - Geo-target digital campaigns to drive foot traffic - Create "store-specific" digital content CPG brands using geo-targeted social ads see a 23% higher in-store sales lift in targeted markets. 3. Most important one; stop flying blind—measure digital influence on offline sales. - Implement unique promo codes for each digital touchpoint to track conversion paths. - Use customer surveys at point of purchase. - Partner with retailers on shared data insights Brands with proper attribution see 15-25% improvement in marketing ROI within 12 months. 𝗧𝗼 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 ecommert® 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗷𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝟭𝟰,𝟲𝟬𝟬+ 𝗖𝗣𝗚, 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝗲𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝘀𝘂𝗯𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗯𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘁® : 𝗖𝗣𝗚 𝗗𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘄𝘁𝗵 𝗻𝗲𝘄𝘀𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿. #CPG #FMCG #AI #ecommerce Procter & Gamble PepsiCo Unilever The Coca-Cola Company Nestlé Mondelēz International Kraft Heinz Ferrero Mars Colgate-Palmolive Henkel Bayer Haleon Kenvue The HEINEKEN Company Carlsberg Group Philips Samsung Electronics Panasonic North America

What does the $2.4B acquisition mean for the CMOs and eCommerce leaders in lifestyle brands? 1) Dick's Locker? Dick’s brings robust omnichannel infrastructure, integrated mobile apps, online inventory visibility, and click-and-collect at scale. Foot Locker adds sneaker and streetwear positioning, with deep cultural capital. A creator commerce engine (via its Impact.com-powered platform), enabling influencers to run affiliate storefronts and drive authentic community-driven sales. Combined, this creates an end-to-end commerce funnel from awareness (influencer storefronts) to transaction. An opportunity for brands to plug into a richer, more socially connected eCommerce channel 2) Foot Locker’s creator platform is one of the most advanced social commerce plays in retail. Under Dick’s, expect to expand across new categories (not just sneakers). Integrate with Dick’s app, website, and loyalty ecosystems. Increase brand visibility via influencer partnerships tied to measurable conversion metrics. 3) This merger also creates a more powerful retail media network and digital storefront. Enhanced search, paid placement, and promotion tools for brands. A competitive edge for those who can pay to play and optimize digital shelf presence. 4) Post-acquisition, shoppers will expect to: Browse online → try in-store → buy from either channel, frictionlessly. Use loyalty points, discounts, and customer profiles across Dick’s and Foot Locker seamlessly. Benefit from smarter fulfillment, such as buy online, pick up at the nearest store. Naturally, expect major tech stack consolidation #ecommerce #retail #omnichannel

Google just made incrementality testing far more accessible. For years, running a proper incrementality test on Google Ads required $100K or more in spend. That’s no longer the case. Google has now lowered the minimum threshold to around $5K, making it possible for more advertisers to measure the true, causal impact of their campaigns. Here’s why this matters: - More access: Mid-market brands can now validate results with real causal data, not modeled assumptions. - Better accuracy: Google’s improved methodology delivers clearer, more conclusive results up to 50% more often. - Faster insights: Reporting is quicker and more customizable, so teams can act on learnings in real time. When paired with MMMs and Attribution, incrementality testing gives marketers a complete picture of what truly drives growth. This is a major win for performance marketers who want data-backed clarity on what’s actually moving the needle.

Incrementality Factors - one of the easiest concepts to grok in theory, and most difficult to implement in practice. Some challenges we've encountered over the past few years at Haus: 1. Calibrating on ad platform reporting gives many marketers the ick due to strong conditioning to not believe it. While I think this is misguided, customers often lose interest in incrementality-adjusted attribution when we mention calibrating on platform metrics. Many want to calibrate their daily source of truth which might be MTA or last click, not platform. 2. Modeling on top of platform reporting means that changes in platform attribution definitions (e.g., Meta's recent attribution changes) create too much inconsistency. 3. Incrementality Factors are too blunt and go stale as you move through different moments of seasonality and make changes to their campaigns, media mix and even product/offering. 4. KPI Incompatibility: Customers measure incrementality on Shopify KPIs like New Customer Orders/Revenue but many teams do not instrument their Meta events to track new vs. returning orders, making it difficult to link test results to platform metrics. At Haus, we’ve taken all the learnings and have been heads down reimagining Causal Attribution. What we’re solving for: 1. Our new Haus pixel collects conversion events and marketing touchpoints directly so you do not have to rely on platform reporting. 2. Incrementality Index: ML model predictions fill in the gaps for channels/campaigns without experiments. The ML model is trained on thousands of GeoLift experiments to predict incrementality based on vertical, spend level, platform, tactic, and funnel position. 3. Regular auto-refresh and constant calibration: factors auto-refresh based on the ML model which prevents calibration from going stale as the media mix changes and more causal evidence is generated. 4. Time-Varying Factors: To solve for factors changing over time, Causal Attribution will build in time-varying factors (similar to how we solved this in MMM) rather than using 1 blunt, static factor from a single test. 5. Granular Reporting: This system allows for a cleaner linking of your Geo-Lift KPIs and your pixel conversion events. Want to learn more? We'll be unveiling our Causal Attribution product at our Haus Growth Lab Roadshow events in May.