For all the dollars advertisers have been shoveling into retail media networks, marketers are starting to scrutinize the industry’s latest shiny object a bit harder. The pitch of RMNs was their first-party data and the potential to truly track sales. Marketers, however, are still looking for the retailers to make good on that promise.

This year, expect more emphasis on measurement with advertisers prioritizing incrementality metrics as opposed to return on ad spend, or ROAS, which has traditionally been the gold standard to help marketers determine which campaigns and ads are working (and which aren’t).

“Retailers can report incremental sales with greater accuracy than any other media company,” Christine Foster, vp product strategy and media operations for Kroger Precision Marketing at 84.51°, said in an email response to Digiday. “We know exactly what the baseline organic sales should be in any category we sell.” And that’s what advertisers say they want in on, especially as retail media networks act more as media companies, rolling out off-site ad opportunities to reposition themselves from performance marketing channels to one-stop ad shops.

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