By Leah Logan, Vice President, Retail Media Transformation
Retail media is evolving quickly, and expectations are rising just as fast. Yet inside many organizations, growth still feels harder than it should.
In Episode 1 of Retail Media Confessions, Andrew Lipsman (Founder & Chief Analyst at Media, Ads + Commerce), Mark Williamson (AVP of Retail Media at Costco), and I, Leah Logan, tackle a familiar friction point: media and merchandising don’t always move in sync. Both are accountable for growth but are measured differently, and that misalignment impacts results.
Here are the key takeaways:
KPI Alignment Is Critical
Retail media and merchandising are often treated as a trade-off: more ads vs. better experience, more monetization vs. margin protection.
As Mark shared, "Too often retail media gets set up as a zero-sum game. It’s either merchandising or advertising. But the opportunity to use supplier and brand partnerships through retail media to drive more traffic and more sales is too good to pass up."
When incentives compete, teams compete. When KPIs align, growth accelerates.
The Margin Question
Retail media generates real margin—but in many organizations, merchants don’t receive credit for it. If the contribution isn’t visible in how performance is measured, it’s easy to treat retail media as someone else’s responsibility.
This isn’t about lowering standards. It’s about aligning incentives. When performance metrics reflect retail media’s financial impact, collaboration becomes practical—not theoretical.
CX First — Always
Merchants are accountable for protecting the customer experience. If retail media compromises that, resistance is inevitable.
But when media improves discovery, drives measurable sales, and strengthens trust, alignment follows. Retail media only works if the customer experience works.
Alignment Requires Structure
Integration doesn’t happen by agreement—it happens by design.
Shared KPIs. Executive backing. Clear accountability. Retail media can remain adjacent to growth, or it can become embedded in core strategy. That shift requires leadership to define success and reinforce it consistently.
If retail media still feels adjacent instead of embedded in your organization, this conversation will resonate.
Watch Episode 01 of Retail Media Confessions to hear the full discussion.
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