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Search Retail media presents a lucrative growth engine for companies, particularly in the consumer goods landscape, but its full potential is at risk. While the sector is projected to exceed $300 billion by 2030 (source: Omdia), a critical question looms: how can businesses overcome technical, strategic and operational hurdles like data governance and standardisation that could turn a profitable opportunity into a source of loss?
The Data-Driven Value Chain, in collaboration with Hanshow, a member of The Consumer Goods Forum, brought together 30 industry leaders for the first-ever Retail Media SpringBoard to address critical industry questions rising with the rapid evolution of retail media
The sessions unlocked the following insights:
- AI Is a Strategic Imperative, Not Just a Tool
The workshop underscored the pivotal role of AI in revolutionising retail media. Led by Nate Pinkston, Microsoft’s Global Head of Retail Media, this session explored how AI can disrupt traditional retail models. The discussion revealed AI’s potential to solve business problems, with examples of AI agents replacing CRM systems and enhancing performance data. Participants learned about AI’s crucial role in creative tasks, campaign building, and measurement.
AI is changing how people shop – shifting the shopping journey and where discovery happens. Retailers and brands need to start adapting or risk falling behind. Nate Pinkston
- Physical Infrastructure Is Key to In-Store Marketing
This immersive session led by Philipe Brochard and Eason Tong, Hanshow, took participants to the shopping floor to see, feel and observe how retail media networks work influences consumer purchase decisions.
They further demonstrated how effective retail media networks rely on strong physical infrastructure such as electronic shop labels and shopping carts on the shop floor. It was a powerful reminder that while AI handles the digital experience, the human interaction in stores remains a key part of the customer journey that an agent cannot fully replace.
The discussions also touched upon data-driven insights for space optimisation and underscored the overarching aim of retail media to engage with customers and improve their shopping experience, striving to transform it from “non-transactional to transactional media” in order to measure its impact on sales.
- Standardisation Is Critical for Industry Trust and Scalability
Is there value in making information available in a standardised way, or is it better left highly competitive? Ruediger Hagedorn, CGF Data-Driven Value Chain Director, led this discussion addressing a core industry question.
A key consensus emerged: data must be structured and standardised for AI agents to function effectively and prevent errors. Participants further emphasised that more consistency in data available to agents is crucial, as different formats and styles can lead to ‘hallucinations’. They highlighted the need for ‘data quality,’ stressing that data must be ‘structured,’ ‘standardised,’ and ‘aligned with what the consumer is actually asking’. The discussions underscored the importance of ‘common vocabulary’ and ‘common standards’ for defining product schemas across the industry, advocating for scalable AI solutions.
Interoperability is key to unlocking seamless data flow and powerful insights. It enables a pre-competitive, collaborative approach to connecting with consumers, delivering a single, unified customer experience online and in-store. Ruediger Hagedorn
The day’s collective effort culminated in a co-working session to find collaborative topics that accelerate value creation for the industry. This was concluded with a decision to work on two key initiatives: a Stakeholder Assessment to map the retail media ecosystem and a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) to create a standard for data exchange between retailers and manufacturers.
To learn more and hear directly from participants on the strategic way forward watch the highlights video.
