Reference library · Inventory pricing
Retail Media Network
A Retail Media Network (RMN) is advertising inventory owned and sold by a retailer, including on-site sponsored listings, retailer apps, in-store screens, and off-site ads built on the retailer's own purchase data. A planner adds it as a separate, closed-loop channel because the retailer controls both ad delivery and the sales data used to prove it worked, unlike open-web or TV buys where exposure and purchase are measured by different parties.
Worked example
A personal-care brand runs a 4-week sponsored-product campaign on a national grocery retailer's RMN, spending €40,000. The retailer's dashboard reports €172,000 in attributed sales (4.3x ROAS), generated from 2.1 million on-site impressions and 18,400 click-throughs (0.88% CTR). The planner records this as a closed-loop result: the retailer's checkout data confirms the sales, but the same shoppers' exposure to the brand's TV and open-web display that month isn't visible in that figure, so it can't be folded into overall cross-channel attribution without separate verification.
How it is used
A planner budgets and measures each RMN (Ocado, Carrefour Retail Media, Kaufland Retail Media, and similar) as its own line in the plan, since targeting, delivery, and reporting all happen inside that retailer's walled garden rather than through the plan's usual ad server or TV measurement. Reported ROAS or attributed sales come from the retailer's own methodology and attribution window, which differ by retailer. The common mistake is pooling or ranking RMN ROAS figures against each other or against TV and open-web digital ROAS as though they were computed on the same basis.
The common mistake
Don't compare ROAS or attributed-sales figures across retail media networks, or against other channels, without first confirming they use the same attribution window and sale-crediting logic.