Marketing

Digital-style in-store media proving complex for physical store environments

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April 21, 2026

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There is a critical gap in how in-store media is evaluated across stakeholders, according to an In-Store Marketplace research report conducted with Catalyst Media Consulting.

The report, "In-Store Media Has a Measurement Problem – Just Not the One You Think," revealed the biggest barriers to scaling in-store media are twofold: a measurement alignment gap, where brands, retailers, agencies and retail media networks evaluate success in the physical store differently, and a measurement capability gap, where existing tools and methodologies — often adapted from digital — aren't fit for purpose in a physical environment, making it difficult to quantify impact in ways that align with how brands assess other in-store activations.

The research draws on interviews with leading brands, agencies and retail media executives across the U.S. and the U.K., according to a press release on the findings. While much of the industry has focused on building digital-style attribution models for in-store media, the findings suggest the approach may be overly complex for the physical store environment.

"Much of the industry has approached in-store media with what we call 'digital envy,' or the belief that it needs the same one-to-one attribution as e-commerce to prove its value," Paul Brenner, SVP of global retail media and partnerships at ISM, said in the release. "We've overcomplicated the problem by forcing digital thinking onto a channel that operates very differently. Brands ultimately measure success based on whether the product sells, and aligning measurement to that reality makes it far easier to justify investment."

The report identifies the use of four different scorecards to evaluate in-store activations as a core source of friction: media effectiveness for agencies, retail sales performance for merchants, media revenue for RMNs and category efficiency for brands.

Even when an activation drives positive outcomes in one area, misalignment across these metrics can prevent it from being recognized as a success and stall future investment.

"When a brand's media team demands one-to-one attribution to satisfy their Media Mix Scorecard, but the retail merchant cares about moving pallets to satisfy their Retail Sales Scorecard, gridlock occurs," Collin Colburn, VP of commerce and retail media at IAB, said in the release. "We must stop treating measurement as a unilateral digital mandate and instead align our metrics to the mutual goal of all the parties."

The report introduces a measurement framework called the Shopper Purchase Rate, which evaluates in-store media performance through three core components: dollars spent, units sold and shopper behavior across defined segments.

SPR is designed to work within existing retail methodologies, including matched-market testing and pre/post analysis, enabling RMNs to isolate incremental impact and demonstrate the contribution of digital in-store activations to product movement.

The framework adapts to different retailer insights and CPG personas. From category leaders defending market share to challenger brands seeking awareness, RMNs can tailor measurement to the unique objectives of each brand, bridging the gap between legacy activations and new digital initiatives, unlocking incremental budgets and aligning all stakeholders on a common language for success.