Retail Media’s Next Stage: Incrementality Measurement and Third-party validation.
By Cristina CostaRetail media is under greater scrutiny than ever. As budgets grow, so does the expectation of retailers to deliver definitive proof of real incremental outcomes and actionable insights.
In his article, “The Knives Are Out for Retail Media,” industry analyst Andrew Lipsman makes a clear case for how retail media can meet that moment: get more rigorous about incrementality research and serious about independent, third-party measurement.
Those two ideas sit at the heart of what Pēq is working to enable for our brand and retailer partners.
Incrementality needs context, not just a headline number.
A sales-lift result alone does not tell a marketer enough. The context is missing.
What methodology was used? What were the baseline sales trends? What else was going on that impacted sales? What did the result teach the team about what is genuinely adding value? What does it mean for the business and how do I take future action?
As Lipsman argues, incrementality should be an ongoing learning discipline—not a static statistic.
Pēq unifies retail media and all marketing (brand, shopper, trade, and digital commerce) under one standardized framework, then goes beyond a headline incremental lift number.
Every result comes with the context behind it so teams know not just what worked, but why, how reliably, and where to put their next dollar.
Independent measurement makes cross-channel decisions possible
Marketers make investment decisions across an entire plan—not one media platform at a time. To understand relative contribution, identify trade-offs and move budgets with confidence, they need a consistent measurement approach that can operate across channels.
That is where standardized independent measurement matters.
Pēq brings disparate media and commerce signals into one performance framework, allowing teams to evaluate retail media in the context of the wider omnichannel plan. Rather than treating each channel as its own scoreboard, teams can work from a common view of performance and use it to inform future allocation decisions.
The opportunity ahead
Retail media has a strong value proposition. Its next stage of growth depends on making that value work harder for the brands, more comparable and more actionable for advertisers.
Lipsman’s call for rigorous incrementality research and independent measurement is not just a response to industry criticism. It is a practical blueprint for building trust.
At Pēq, we believe better measurement is how retail media earns its place in the full plan—and helps marketers make every investment work harder.