Dive Brief:

• Albertsons’ retail media arm has shared a preliminary framework meant to standardize specifications, methodologies, terminology and disclosures throughout retail media networks, according to a Thursday press release. 
• Albertsons Media Collective’s framework outlines four priority areas — product specification, performance measurement, third-party verification and capabilities — as it issues “a call to action for stakeholders to join the conversation,” according to a newly released white paper.
• As retail media networks continue to gain momentum, unifying data, measurements and language surrounding the programs is becoming a more pressing need for brands and retailers.

Dive Insight:

Albertsons’ in-house retail media arm noted that a lack of standards leaves every retail media network with its own requirements and processes in numerous areas, including ad formats, measurements and protocols, leading to an “unnecessarily inefficient, costly, and frustrating ecosystem for ad buyers,” the white paper said.  

Retailers also have what is known as “walled gardens,” causing a lack of transparency in measurement methodologies and worsening this already strained retail media landscape, per the white paper.

Standardization of retail media could lead to roughly $5 billion to $15 billion in incremental value for retail media networks, marketers and agencies in an estimated three years, according to a McKinsey & Company analysis cited in the white paper. This figure includes an increase in ad spending as well as efficiencies in data analytics and creative operations.

Albertsons’ new framework narrows in on four priority areas. The first, product specifications, recommends retail media networks follow existing digital media guidelines, which are available for display ads, native ads, new media experiences, digital video and connected TV, published by the Interactive Advertising Bureau. 

Standardization of product characteristics with common product specifications would save workers thousands of hours of time each year, per the McKinsey research, as well as increase retail media networks’ overall sales, the white paper said.

The second priority area, performance measurement, looks to create consistent measurement across media delivery and engagement metrics as well as to adapt sales and conversion metrics to category or product-specific needs, according to the white paper. 

Thirdly, the framework recommends retail media networks disclose the third-party providers used and the type of verification offered in areas such as ad placement, fraud detection, brand safety and geo-targeting. The white paper also advised retail media networks to state any additional areas third-party verification is provided as well as the vendor used for verification. 

The fourth priority aims to have retail media networks disclose available capabilities, including those offered by people, processes and data and technology, to create more transparency between retail media networks and advertisers. 

At Cannes Lions 2023, an international creative marketing community festival in Cannes, France, Albertsons hosted on Thursday a discussion on retail media networks and is launching a formal coalition of advertisers, agencies and retail media networks to tackle challenges with retail media.

The Albertsons Media Collective worked with marketers, agencies, retail media networks and advertising industry associations to develop standardization guidelines that ensure competitive differentiation between retail media networks as well as create a common baseline to promote synergy, efficiency and growth, the white paper stated. 

Albertsons also stressed the importance of retail media standardization at the National Retail Federation conference in January where the grocer’s senior vice president of retail media, Kristi Argyilan, spoke. She noted that even when data findings from retail media networks can be presented to brands, each retailer has its own metrics, making it difficult for brand partners to decipher what retail media campaigns and strategies are most effective.