Retail Media Experts Advocate for Data Standardization to Enhance Campaign Effectiveness – Friday, February 27, 2026

Retail media experts are increasingly advocating for the standardization of retail media data to unlock deeper consumer insights and fully realize the medium’s potential. This push for harmonization aims to improve the integration and analysis of data, which is essential for enhancing the precision and effectiveness of retail media campaigns.

Who should care: VPs of retail, store operations leaders, eCommerce directors, customer experience teams, and retail technology decision-makers.

What happened?

Retail media experts Andrei Canda from iSense Solutions and Arina Ureche from BRAT have recently underscored the critical need to standardize retail media data. In an interview with The Diplomat Bucharest, Canda highlighted the significant benefits of combining retail media data with broader research insights to deepen understanding of consumer behavior. This integration promises to enable more targeted and effective marketing strategies by providing a clearer view of customer preferences and purchasing patterns. Ureche reinforced this perspective by emphasizing that without standardization, the retail media ecosystem faces substantial challenges in optimizing the value of its networks. Currently, inconsistent data formats and measurement practices hinder accurate targeting, campaign attribution, and performance evaluation. Aligning these practices across retailers and brands could unlock improvements in campaign precision and overall marketing ROI. This call for data harmonization reflects a wider industry trend focused on enhancing data integration capabilities to support more sophisticated, data-driven retail media strategies that can better meet evolving consumer expectations and competitive pressures.

Why now?

The urgency around standardizing retail media data comes amid rapid growth and transformation within the industry. Over the past 18 months, retail media networks have expanded their reach and influence, prompting a greater emphasis on improving data integration and analytical capabilities. As retail media becomes a more prominent component of retailers’ marketing portfolios, consistent measurement and data practices have become imperative to accurately assess campaign impact and optimize spend. This maturation of the industry is driving stakeholders to seek standardized approaches that can support scalable, transparent, and effective retail media campaigns in an increasingly complex digital landscape.

So what?

The movement toward standardizing retail media data carries important strategic and operational implications. Strategically, it promises to enable more precise marketing efforts by providing richer, more reliable consumer insights and improving targeting accuracy. This can translate into higher campaign ROI and stronger brand-consumer connections. Operationally, retailers and brands will likely need to invest in new technologies, data infrastructure, and processes to align with emerging standards. This transition may also encourage closer collaboration among retailers, brands, and technology providers, fostering a more cohesive retail media ecosystem. Ultimately, embracing standardization can help organizations stay competitive by maximizing the value of their retail media investments and delivering more personalized consumer experiences.

What this means for you:

• For VPs of retail: Prioritize investments in technologies and platforms that support data standardization to boost campaign effectiveness and measurement accuracy.
• For eCommerce directors: Conduct thorough evaluations of current data practices to identify gaps and opportunities for improved integration and analysis.
• For customer experience teams: Utilize standardized data to gain deeper consumer insights, enabling more tailored and impactful personalization strategies.

Quick Hits

• Impact / Risk: Without data standardization, retail media networks risk inefficient targeting and suboptimal campaign performance.
• Operational Implication: Retailers must adapt data management practices and invest in technologies that align with emerging industry standards.
• Action This Week: Review your current data integration workflows, assess potential technology partners for standardization support, and brief executive teams on the strategic importance of data harmonization.