As retail media enters the store, the industry risks overengineering a familiar problem: trying to make physical retail behave like digital. Vistar Media's SVP of Supply, Eric Lamb, argues that costly infrastructure could miss the core strength of in-store media –proximity to purchase.
Retail Media: “We’re Trying too Hard to Copy Digital Workflows”
Retail media’s expansion into physical environments is no longer up for debate. The more pressing question is how this transition is being executed. According to Eric Lamb, SVP of Supply at programmatic platform provider Vistar Media, the industry is making a critical mistake: applying digital logic too rigidly to in-store environments. “I believe in-store retail media has actually been slowed down because we’re trying too hard to copy digital workflows,” he says.
From clicks to influence at the shelf
As retailers scale their in-store media networks, this tension between digital standards and physical realities is becoming a defining issue – one that tech companies are trying to solve with expensive sensors and analytics systems that enable live triggers and link campaigns to check-out data.
These systems are designed to replicate the mechanisms of digital environments where performance is measured through clicks, conversions, and deterministic attribution. In-store, however, these mechanisms reach their limits. “In the real-world, this level of tracking is undesirable if not impossible.”
Instead, retail media should refocus on its original objective – dating back to when it was simply called point-of-sale promotion: impacting purchasing decisions directly at the shelf. In-store retail media can never match the precision of online platforms, but it can build on proximity and context.
At the same time, Lamb emphasizes that this is not a question of either-or: “Brands can now leverage both to maximize impact.” The result is a hybrid model, where digital and physical touchpoints are orchestrated together.
Redefining “closed-loop” for physical retail
Regardless of increasingly sophisticated tracking technologies, measurement remains a challenge in-store. The concept of closed-loop attribution has become a benchmark in digital retail media, but physical retail follows a different logic. Retailers do not have access to the same level of user data as e-commerce platforms, and consumers are generally more sensitive to being tracked in real-world environments than online.
Attempting to impose digital frameworks onto physical spaces therefore risks creating unnecessary complexity without delivering equivalent value. “Retailers and brands need to be thoughtful when defining what ‘closed-loop’ means in each context,” Lamb warns.
Scaling without overengineering
The operational realities of in-store media further complicate this transition. Unlike digital advertising, scaling physical networks involves significant investment. “Putting up a screen in a store is far more expensive than adding a banner to a website.”
Lamb’s advise for retailers is simple: “Start with fewer screens, in higher traffic areas, rather than trying to recreate an e-commerce experience in the store.” This approach challenges the common assumption that retail media networks need thousands of touchpoints to be attractive to advertisers. It also implies that screens should be integrated into broader programmatic supply-side platforms, rather than operating as isolated networks.
A market still taking shape
According to Lamb, in-store networks remain relatively underdeveloped – particularly in the U.S. – compared to digital retail media. For retailers entering this space, he advises against overengineering: Retail media networks should be built to be easily scalable.
Online retail media tends to rely on standardized formats such as sponsored products, sponsored brands, and display ads. In-store retail media, by contrast, has yet to establish such conventions. Lamb sees this as an opportunity rather than a limitation, one that maked room for more flexible and purpose-built solutions.
Aligning media spend with actual commerce
Ultimately, the evolution of retail media will be measured by how well it reflects real-world consumer behavior. Today, a significant share of ad spend is still concentrated in digital channels, despite the fact that most purchases happen in physical stores. “In-store retail media spend should be proportional to where commerce actually takes place,” Lamb argues.
Closing this gap will require more than simply extending digital models into stores. It will depend on developing in-store media ecosystems that create tangible value – without making huge investments to force them into frameworks they weren’t designed to fit in.