The latest ANZ Retail Media Report Card shows the market shifting from infrastructure build to measurement proof. 85% of retailers are enhancing measurement capabilities, five new networks have launched, and the pressure is now on demonstrating incrementality.
Every retailer wants a media network. Not every retailer has the data infrastructure to make one worth buying.
The latest ANZ Retail Media Report Card reveals an industry pivoting from infrastructure to accountability. 85% of Australian and New Zealand retailers are now enhancing their measurement capabilities, and five new retail media networks have entered the market in the past 12 months.
The build phase is over for the major players. Coles 360, Cartology and Amazon Ads Australia have their infrastructure in place. The question is no longer whether retail media works as a channel. It is whether individual campaigns deliver incremental sales that would not have happened without the ad spend. That is a much harder thing to prove.
Five new networks entering the market also tells a story. The category is attracting entrants at the same time that oOh Media is exiting its reo venture. The gap between networks with genuine first-party purchase data and networks selling repackaged display inventory is widening.
Why it matters
For Australian marketers, the shift from build to proof changes what you should be asking your retail media partners. During the build phase, the pitch was access and reach. During the proof phase, the pitch needs to be incrementality. If your retail media partner cannot show you that the sales attributed to their network would not have happened organically, you are paying for attribution, not advertising.
Of ANZ retailers are now enhancing measurement capabilities for their retail media networks
The five new entrants also mean more fragmentation. More networks means more dashboards, more reporting formats and more time spent comparing apples to oranges. Standardisation in retail media measurement is still years away, which gives an advantage to brands with internal analytics capability.
What to do about it
Ask for incrementality data, not just ROAS. If your retail media partner reports a 5x return but cannot isolate the incremental contribution, treat that number with scepticism. Run holdout tests where possible. And if you are evaluating a new retail media network, start with the measurement methodology before you look at the reach numbers.