Tesco Media is extending its retail media offering with a new measurement framework, which it claims will demonstrate the full-funnel impact of campaigns.

The new framework, announced at the Tesco Media upfront today (9 October), has been developed in collaboration with advertisers, agencies and industry bodies with the intention of setting a new industry standard for retail media measurement.

The retailer claims the full-funnel measurement approach includes a range of solutions to provide “detailed and incremental” insights for advertisers, with omnichannel attribution to follow in 2025.

“Retail media has reached a new dawn, and we think about that in three ways: financials, organising for growth and recognition,” Tesco Media’s managing director, Tash Whitmey, told a crowd of advertisers at the upfront.

Since the rapid growth of retail media networks, measurement has been a challenge for advertisers given retailers often control which metrics they share.

Marketing Week columnist and Econsultancy editor Ben Davis pointed out in June that as retail media expands it is undergoing some growing pains – one of which is a lack of sophistication in measurement and an accompanying lack of transparency.

“Brands that don’t have the measurement savvy are likely getting a blinkered view – they may be using return on ad spend (ROAS) figures provided by a retailer whose picture of the world includes only its own ads,” he wrote.

The growing pains of retail media: Dodging ROAS gremlins

In November 2023, ISBA took steps to address these issues, launching the UK’s first Responsible Retail Media Framework, designed as a guide to drive standardisation across definitions, data availability, attribution and transparency.

‘Retail first’

The retailer also announced a new insights portal that will allow brands and agencies to deliver more personalised advertising experiences based on data from its 23 million Clubcard members. The idea is this will allow brands and agencies to engage across multiple channels, re-engage with lapsed customers and acquire new ones.

In addition, brands will now be able to engage with online Tesco shoppers and app users through short-form video content. The retailer claims the new video ad solution will enable advertisers to deliver “more engaging brand stories” to shoppers.

“We see customers changing their habits from broadcast and long-form advertising to short-form video and we see the importance in video in advertising, discovery and how we articulate our products,” Whitmey added.

The retailer claims that due to its “expanding creative canvas”, Tesco will be able to launch immersive omnichannel brand activations designed to enhance the customer experience and drive business growth.

In what it claims is a “retail first”, Tesco Media is also offering store wrap advertising at up to 50 locations. The new in-store offering will be used to “transform” storefronts into brand showcases, with the ability to adjust by region and context. This is in addition to the rollout of digital screens throughout its stores and product sampling.

Precision targeting

The Tesco Media and Insight platform, powered by Dunnhumby, first launched in November 2021. The new offerings follow the expansion of Tesco’s partnership with The Trade Desk in September.

The retailer says the partnership will power precise targeting to meet brand and performance objectives, based on the types of customers most likely to engage with a specific brand, those known to buy from category competitors or lapsed customers of that brand.

This would allow, for example, planners to target customers known to be advocates of sustainability and buyers of vegan products, rather than all 18 to 35-year-olds who have visited a vegan recipe website on a single occasion.

To prepare for what the retailer describes as the “accelerated growth and innovation in the booming retail media landscape”, Tesco Media has brought together Tesco and Dunnhumby under the leadership of Whitmey and a newly assembled leadership team.

Whitmey noted that the business has restructured to bring together Tesco’s “best talent” into one team to “fuel growth” for brands.

“[The team] is there to deliver on our vision of being the number one retail media platform of choice for CPG advertisers,” she said.

Retail media may excite the execs, but loyalty is where the real revolution is happening

The updates from Tesco come at a time retail media has emerged as one of the fastest-growing media channels globally. Indeed, retail media spend grew 12% in 2023 to £283m. Group M forecasts investment in retail media to grow 8.3% this year, while revenues last year were estimated at $119.4bn (£96.3bn) globally.

Other retailers are naturally getting in on the action. In September, Ocado Retail rolled out Ocado Ads, with a “flexible” operating model it claims will be able to drive “measurable growth” for brands thanks to its fully online proposition.

Similarly, last month the Very Group, which owns digital retailers Very and Littlewoods, launched a “reimagined” retail media proposition it claims will allow brands to turn “data into action”.