European retail media partnerships deepen as standardization gaps persist

European retail media demonstrates significant maturity gains as brand partnerships deepen and diversify across networks, according to IAB Europe's second annual Attitudes to Retail Media Report published July 30, 2025. The comprehensive study surveyed 180 respondents across 31 markets, revealing an industry moving beyond experimental phases toward strategic advertising infrastructure.

The research indicates fundamental shifts in partnership dynamics. Buy-side stakeholders maintaining retailer partnerships for more than one year increased from 50% to 63%, suggesting a move from tactical campaign-based engagements toward strategic long-term collaborations. According to the webinar presentation, brands recognize retail media's potential to influence entire customer journeys from awareness through loyalty, requiring sustained retailer relationships rather than short-term activations.

"We are seeing clear shift from a tactical relationship which is more campaign based engagements to a more strategic long-term partnership between the brands and the retailers," explained Stanislas Lajouanie, VP Brands EU & LATAM at LiveRamp, during the webinar discussion. "Brands are not only coming there to test and launch one campaign and they're not focusing on to short-term conversion attached to one campaign but they're recognizing the potential to influence the entire customer journey on a on a more long-term basis."

Network diversification accelerated significantly in 2025. Brands working with four to six retail media networks more than doubled from 10% to 24%, indicating strategic portfolio expansion among European advertisers. However, the proportion engaging with more than 10 networks remained consistent, suggesting a practical ceiling on operational complexity that teams can manage effectively.

Budget allocation reveals retail media growth stems from existing advertising spend rather than net new investment. Performance advertising budgets and brand advertising funds remain the primary sources, though trade marketing contributions increased notably in 2025. This shift signals growing recognition among organizations to break down traditional silos between trade marketing teams and media buying departments.

On-site retail media maintains dominance with over 90% of advertisers investing more than 41% of their digital advertising budgets in these placements. However, off-site activations showed meaningful growth, reflecting advertiser desires to extend retailer data reach beyond owned properties. Digital in-store media remains largely untapped, with 48% of respondents reporting zero investment in physical retail environments despite 80% of purchases occurring in stores.

Organizational structures evolved to support retail media integration. The percentage of buy-side stakeholders integrating retail media buyers into digital media teams increased from 34% to 44%, demonstrating movement toward omnichannel alignment and reduced operational silos. On the sell-side, 58% of retailers now maintain separate retail media sales teams, up significantly from 36% in 2024, indicating rapid scaling of dedicated capabilities.

First-party data remains the dominant investment driver, attracting advertisers and agencies to allocate advertising budgets toward retail partnerships. However, emerging motivations include reaching consumers at point-of-sale and leveraging retail networks to access new channels including Connected TV, audio, and out-of-home advertising. These trends reflect advertiser ambitions to activate retailer data across diversified media environments.

"The first party data that the retailers hold on customers is really what's attracting advertisers and media agencies to spend money here and to allocate advertising budgets," stated Marie-Clare Puffett, Industry Development & Insights Director at IAB Europe. "However, we do see a slight uptick in brands wanting to reach their consumers at the point of sale to reach them in a shopping mindset. But also quite interestingly leverage emerging channels."

Measurement challenges persist as significant growth barriers. Fragmentation across retail media networks affects 51% of buyers, while lack of standardization impacts 53% of respondents. These issues remain the primary obstacles despite gradual improvement in technology capabilities and data availability. Concerns about insufficient technology decreased from 49% to 37%, and data availability problems fell from 40% to 29%, indicating steady infrastructure development across the ecosystem.

The standardization gap affects multiple operational areas. Media measurement standards and attribution guidelines represent the most demanded improvements, with 78% and 69% of buyers respectively citing these as priorities. IAB Europe's certification program launched in response, with initial retailers including Nectar 360 and Albert Heijn preparing for accreditation under the new measurement standards framework.

Return on Ad Spend dominates metric requirements with 88% of buyers demanding this measurement, though only 71% of retail media networks currently provide consistent ROAS reporting. Incrementality measurement follows at 71% demand, reflecting continued emphasis on performance accountability beyond traditional conversion metrics.

Technical integration challenges limit operational efficiency across networks. According to Matt Hinton, Group Partnerships Director at SMG, "It's still really difficult from an agency perspective to work with this amount of retail media networks. So whilst the capabilities are increasing and whilst the opportunity is increasing the stat around the amount of agencies that are working with 10 plus retail media networks decreasing year on year shows that that opportunity there to kind of consolidate and bring this together is so needed."

The Connected TV capabilities gap illustrates supply-demand misalignment within the sector. While CTV represents a major priority for agencies and brands, only 19% of retailers currently offer this advertising format. This disparity highlights infrastructure development needs as retail media networks expand beyond traditional on-site placements.

Industry standardization efforts continue advancing through IAB Europe's retail and commerce media committee. The organization published comprehensive pan-European definitions covering on-site, off-site, and in-store categories in March 2025, building upon September 2024's in-store measurement standards and ongoing certification program development.

Looking forward, first-party data activation and omnichannel integration emerge as top growth priorities, each cited by 39% of buyers for the next 12 months. Incrementality sales measurement ranks third at 37%, reflecting continued emphasis on performance accountability. The report indicates a shift from standardization focus toward strategic, outcome-focused initiatives signaling retail media's evolution toward scalable growth and value realization.

Partnership expansion beyond traditional retail boundaries accelerates as dominant platforms seek broader reach. Amazon's collaborations with Disney and Roku exemplify this trend, leveraging unique audience access and content environments to extend retail media capabilities. These partnerships reflect recognition that consumer behaviors operate across multiple touchpoints requiring integrated activation strategies.

Off-site growth represents the sector's primary expansion opportunity as retailers seek revenue diversification beyond on-site inventory constraints. According to the webinar discussion, off-site activations enable retailer data integration with broader media ecosystems, creating the "holy grail of marketing and media" through combining retail transaction data with existing advertising infrastructure.

The measurement evolution requires balancing traditional media metrics with retail-specific performance indicators. Attention measurement studies demonstrate in-store advertising's superior engagement compared to out-of-home and social media alternatives, providing retailers with differentiated value propositions for brand advertising objectives beyond direct response campaigns.

Jason Wescott, Global Head of Commerce Solutions at WPP Media and Chair of IAB Europe's Retail & Commerce Media Committee, emphasized the strategic importance during the webinar: "Working with a lot of experienced people who have been in media and been in adtech for a very long time, you know, they've seen all of this before, you know, whether it's search, social, programmatic you know, a lot of them have lived through many of the pitfalls when there is, you know, a new and shiny category within digital advertising."

The research indicates European retail media operates within a €11.1 billion market that achieved 22.1% growth in 2024, significantly outpacing the broader advertising market's 6.1% expansion. This acceleration reflects fundamental shifts in marketing priorities as brands recognize retail media's unique combination of targeting precision and transaction measurement capabilities.

Looking ahead, the industry faces critical decisions around standardization adoption and technology integration. Without unified measurement frameworks, retail media networks risk limiting their growth potential as buyers seek comparable metrics across partnership portfolios. The certification program represents one solution, though adoption requires demonstrating clear competitive advantages for compliant networks.

The webinar discussion concluded with emphasis on industry collaboration as essential for addressing current challenges. Education initiatives, measurement guideline development, and cross-stakeholder dialogue will determine whether European retail media can capitalize on its growth momentum while resolving operational fragmentation that currently constrains broader adoption.

Timeline

• September 18, 2024: IAB and IAB Europe release in-store retail media measurement standards for public comment
• March 26, 2025: IAB Europe releases updated retail media definitions for European markets
• July 15, 2025: European retail media partnerships extend as measurement challenges persist
• July 29, 2025: Media agencies face satisfaction decline as retail budgets surge 20%
• July 30, 2025: IAB Europe publishes second annual Attitudes to Retail Media Report during live webinar
• July 30, 2025: Retail media measurement challenges persist despite industry growth
• August 1, 2025: Australian retail media spending shows steady growth amid measurement challenges

Key Terms Explained

Retail Media Networks: Digital advertising platforms operated by retailers that enable brands to promote products using the retailer's first-party customer data and inventory. These networks have evolved from simple on-site product listings to comprehensive advertising ecosystems encompassing Connected TV, audio, and out-of-home placements. The European market features over 50 networks competing for advertiser investment, with significant variation in capabilities and measurement standards.

Standardization: The development of unified measurement frameworks, metrics definitions, and operational procedures across retail media networks. Industry standardization addresses fragmentation challenges that currently affect 51-53% of buyers, enabling comparable performance assessment and streamlined campaign management across multiple retailer partnerships. IAB Europe's certification program represents the primary standardization initiative for European markets.

Measurement: The systematic tracking and analysis of advertising campaign performance across retail media environments. Current measurement priorities include Return on Ad Spend (demanded by 88% of buyers), incrementality analysis, and attribution models that connect advertising exposure to sales outcomes. Measurement capabilities vary significantly across networks, creating operational challenges for advertisers seeking consistent performance evaluation.

First-Party Data: Customer information collected directly by retailers through purchase transactions, website interactions, loyalty programs, and in-store behaviors. This data represents retail media's primary competitive advantage, enabling precise audience targeting and closed-loop measurement unavailable in traditional advertising channels. Retailers leverage first-party data for both on-site and off-site advertising activations across partner networks.

Partnerships: Long-term collaborative relationships between brands and retail media networks extending beyond individual campaign executions. The research shows partnerships lasting more than one year increased from 50% to 63%, reflecting strategic evolution from tactical activations toward comprehensive customer journey optimization. These partnerships often include joint business planning, data sharing agreements, and multi-channel activation strategies.

IAB Europe: The Interactive Advertising Bureau Europe, a trade association developing industry standards, education programs, and best practices for digital advertising across European markets. Through its Retail & Commerce Media Committee, IAB Europe coordinates standardization efforts, publishes measurement guidelines, and operates certification programs for retail media networks seeking credibility validation.

Buyers: The demand-side participants in retail media ecosystems, including brand advertisers and media agencies responsible for campaign strategy, budget allocation, and performance optimization. Buyers face operational challenges managing multiple retail media network relationships while seeking standardized measurement and streamlined activation processes across diversified partnership portfolios.

Networks: The individual retail media platforms operated by specific retailers, each offering unique audience segments, inventory types, and activation capabilities. European advertisers increasingly work with 4-6 networks simultaneously, though operational complexity limits engagement with more than 10 networks. Network capabilities range from basic on-site placements to sophisticated off-site and Connected TV offerings.

On-site: Advertising placements appearing on retailer-owned digital properties including websites, mobile applications, and e-commerce platforms. On-site retail media dominates current investment levels, with over 90% of advertisers allocating more than 41% of budgets to these placements. These activations benefit from direct purchase intent signals and simplified attribution models linking advertising exposure to transaction outcomes.

Investment: Financial allocation toward retail media advertising across various budget sources including performance marketing, brand advertising, and trade marketing funds. European retail media investment grew 22.1% in 2024, significantly outpacing broader advertising market expansion. Investment drivers focus on first-party data access, point-of-sale proximity, and emerging channel opportunities including Connected TV and audio platforms.

Summary

Who: IAB Europe, along with industry experts including Jason Wescott (WPP Media), Marie-Clare Puffett (IAB Europe), Matt Hinton (SMG), and Stanislas Lajouanie (LiveRamp), plus 180 survey respondents across advertisers, agencies, and retail media networks.

What: Publication of the second annual Attitudes to Retail Media Report revealing deepening brand-retailer partnerships, increased network diversification, persistent standardization challenges, and organizational evolution within European retail media ecosystem.

When: The report was published July 30, 2025, during a live webinar, based on survey data collected between April and June 2025, providing year-over-year comparison with 2024 benchmarks.

Where: The research covers 31 European markets with respondents having both pan-European and global responsibilities, representing the continent's €11.1 billion retail media sector that achieved 22.1% growth in 2024.

Why: The study addresses industry needs for benchmarking retail media adoption, understanding investment drivers and barriers, measuring ecosystem maturity, and identifying growth opportunities as retail media transitions from experimental phases to strategic advertising infrastructure requiring standardized measurement frameworks.