An overview of the recently released In-Store Retail Media Definitions and Measurement Standards from IAB
IAB Europe and IAB released their first set of Industry Definitions and Measurement Standards for In-Store Retail Media on Wednesday, September 19th. Marie-Clare, Puffet Industry Development & Insights Director of IAB Europe, presented the findings as part of the first What’s in Store for Retail Media Networks masterclass, From Traditional to Targeted: The Evolution of Agency and Brand Spending, which is available to watch now.
Why In-Store Retail Media Standards and Definitions are Necessary
The standards aim to provide unified definitions, measurement guidelines, and best practices for in-store retail media, hoping to instill brands with greater confidence in directing marketing spend towards in-store campaigns.
With almost 84% of retail sales happening in-store (EMARKETER 2024), there is a huge opportunity for brands and retailers to influence sales at a critical point of the customer journey. Indeed, the IAB standards and definitions work recognizes that in-store retail media is not the same as digital out-of-home (DOOH) as in-store RMN offers more formats and creative solutions as well as operates in a way that has the potential to make much more of an impact on shopper behavior than DOOH. By finding a consensus on how in-store retail media should be understood, measured, and bought, it is hoped that it will attract more advertising dollars as marketers find buying space and measuring success far less complex.
Topics covered in the IAB In-Store Retail Media Standards and Definitions
The IAB has focussed on the following areas:
In-Store Retail Media Formats
The formats which are most extensively explored within the standards and definitions are digital signage, where Scala is a market leader, as well as audio and connected shopping formats which are any retail strategies that combine online and offline shopping channels to create a seamless shopping experience such as in-store hand scanners or retail apps.
In-Store Retail Media Zones
The IAB and its contributors, which in Europe included 14 retail media operators, including Ahold Delhaize, Douglas Marketing, Solutions, Kingfisher, MediaMarkt, Schwarz Media, Tesco Media, and Insight Platform, identified five zones in which retail media can be placed. These zones are especially relevant for digital displays, where marketing messages should perform different tasks to reflect where shoppers are in their journey.
The zones identified by the IAB are:
In-Store Retail Media Measurement
In the part of the standards and definitions that will potentially have the most profound industry impact, the IAB sets out a preferred way to sell and assess the success of in-store retail media campaigns. Most interesting to the Scala team is the recommendation that Likelihood-To-See (LTS) Impressions be used as a key metric to judge in-store retail media placement and performance. IAB recognizes that Likelihood to See is determined using sensor or analytic technology and that this could have data privacy considerations.
As part of the STRATACACHE family of companies, Scala works closely with Walkbase, which provides highly accurate and anonymous in-aisle store data to determine traffic in-store, customer journeys, and shopper behavior. The Walkbase set of analytic tools works with Scala’s integrated display technology to provide valuable insights on the most effective places to situate a digital display and how many people would have likely seen that display. Not only does this solution answer the GDPR-compliant needs presented in the IAB standards and definitions, but it can also help retailers across a host of in-store operations, including merchandising, staffing, and enhancing the customer experience within the store.
The work the IAB and its collaborators have done to bring standardization to in-store retail media is very welcome. By providing a universal language and framework, brands can compare retail media networks fairly and allocate budgets accordingly. The emphasis on measurement feels especially important given the questions around the transparency and validity of online programmatic data. By setting out a clear rubric for in-store retail media measurement at the relative infancy of the in-store offering, best practices are established up front, allowing marketers to have greater confidence in their ability to create, book, and optimize marketing campaigns. Retailers will have a means by which to measure customer behavior within their store and use this data to optimize not only their in-store retail media offering but also the experience of shoppers visiting their store. As the experts in the From Traditional to Targeted: The Evolution of Agency and Brand Spending masterclass all state, it is ultimately by centering the customer experience that brands and retailers will achieve real retail media success.
Learn more about the IAB’s standards and definitions for in-store retail media and the impact these terms will have for retailers and advertisers for their strategy in the From Traditional to Targeted: The Evolution of Agency and Brand Spending Masterclass, which is available to watch now. You can access all of the masterclasses of What’s in Store for Retail Media Networks, presented in cooperation with DMEXCO, here.
