Retail media's next challenge isn't scale. It's measurement

Retail media has quietly become one of India's biggest digital advertising success stories. Together with quick commerce platforms, industry executives estimate the segment is now worth nearly ₹15,000 crore, making commerce media one of the fastest-growing destinations for performance marketing budgets. Amazon India alone generated ₹8,342 crore in advertising revenue in FY25, while Flipkart reported ₹6,310 crore.

Yet despite this exponential growth, one capability has struggled to keep pace: measurement.

Unlike search and social advertising, where marketers optimise campaigns using live performance signals, retail media campaigns still rely largely on post-campaign reporting. As brands increase spending on commerce media, they increasingly want insights that can improve campaigns while they are still running—not after budgets have been exhausted.

Shrenik Ghodawat, Managing Director, Sanjay Ghodawat Group, believes retail media's next phase of growth will depend less on scale and more on the credibility of its measurement. According to him, the industry needs to move beyond reporting impressions, clicks and attributed sales to demonstrating genuine business impact, such as incremental sales, new customer acquisition, higher purchase frequency and increased basket size. While retail media is evolving in the right direction, he says the lack of standardised measurement and differing attribution models across platforms continue to make meaningful comparisons difficult.

He adds that advertisers are increasingly evaluating retail media networks not just on their reach or shopper data, but on the quality, transparency and speed of measurement. While real-time optimisation can help brands improve campaign performance, Ghodawat argues that speed alone is not enough. The real competitive advantage lies in combining timely insights with transparent methodology and credible measurement that gives advertisers confidence they are driving genuinely incremental business outcomes.

"Retail media has become one of our fastest-growing performance channels, but measurement still feels a step behind. On search and social, we can optimize campaigns almost instantly. In retail media, actionable insights often arrive after the campaign has ended, limiting our ability to improve performance in flight," said the digital marketing head of a leading consumer electronics company, requesting anonymity.

A senior marketing executive at a leading FMCG company brand echoed the sentiment. "We've significantly increased our retail media investments over the past two years because that's where consumer intent is strongest. But when platform reporting isn't granular or timely enough, we still end up relying on our own attribution models and first-party analytics to understand campaign performance. That defeats the purpose of having closed-loop measurement in the first place," the executive said, requesting anonymity.

The concern comes at a time when retail media is rapidly evolving beyond sponsored product listings into offsite advertising, connected TV, video commerce and omnichannel retail experiences. As the ecosystem matures, marketers argue that measurement is no longer simply about reporting campaign outcomes—it is becoming central to campaign management itself.

Amazon, Flipkart and several e-commerce and quick commerce platforms did not respond to exchange4media's queries till the time of publication.

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Standardisation awaited 

The industry's challenge goes beyond reporting speed. Retail media networks continue to use different definitions for impressions, viewability and return on ad spend (ROAS), making cross-platform comparisons difficult. Attribution also remains complex as consumers increasingly move between online, offline and off-site environments before completing a purchase.

As more than 20 retail media networks compete in India, advertisers say platforms will increasingly need to differentiate themselves through transparent measurement, faster optimisation and stronger privacy practices—not merely richer first-party data.

According to Anand Chakravarty, Chief Growth Officer, Omnicom Media India, the issue is not the absence of data but the maturity of commerce advertising technology. "Retail media campaigns are just an extension of performance campaigns like Search, Lead Generation and Conversion campaigns. The challenge today is that commerce platform ad tech—especially for quick commerce—is still evolving. Unlike Google and Meta, data and signals are still limited, although this is improving over time.”

Chakravarty says measurement maturity will ultimately mirror the evolution of performance marketing itself. Rather than relying solely on platform-reported metrics, advertisers are increasingly adopting AI-powered marketing mix modelling (MMM) to understand retail media's contribution alongside traditional trade, modern trade and direct-to-consumer channels.

"Most brands are still in the process of scaling retail media investments. It will take time before the industry shifts towards more holistic measurement," he adds.

The Next Battle Is Speed, Not Scale

Yasin Hamidani, Director, Media Care Brand Solutions, believes measurement maturity now extends well beyond impressions and clicks.

"Measurement maturity means moving beyond reporting impressions and clicks to understanding incremental sales, customer lifetime value and omnichannel impact in near real time. Retail media should help brands optimise campaigns while they're live, not just explain results after they've ended."

That expectation is also changing how advertisers evaluate retail media networks.

"Reach and shopper data are now the entry ticket, not the differentiator. Advertisers increasingly want faster reporting, transparent attribution and actionable insights. Platforms that can demonstrate measurable business outcomes—not simply audience access—will be better positioned to attract long-term media investments."

According to NielsenIQ, nearly three in four brands say improved real-time data sharing would encourage greater investment in retail media, underlining the growing importance of measurement.

Commerce Intelligence

The industry's next phase, executives believe, will be shaped by AI-enabled optimization rather than inventory expansion alone.

Aakash Goplani, Vice President – Business, SoCheers, believes first-party data alone is no longer enough to differentiate retail media platforms. According to him, retail media needs to evolve from reporting campaign performance to actively influencing it.

"Measurement maturity means shifting from simply reporting outcomes to actively influencing them. Instead of just telling us what happened after a campaign, platforms will need to deliver actionable insights in real time so campaigns can be optimised while they're still running."

According to him, first-party shopper data is rapidly becoming table stakes.

"Reach and shopper data will always remain important, but they are increasingly becoming a baseline rather than a differentiator. The platforms that provide faster, transparent and actionable measurement will naturally become stronger long-term partners because they enable brands to make better decisions—not just report on them."

He believes retail media is gradually transforming into a commerce intelligence platform, where competitive advantage will stem less from owning shopper data and more from helping advertisers act on it faster.

As advertisers channel larger performance budgets into commerce media, measurement is no longer just another feature. It is fast becoming the industry's biggest competitive advantage.