IAB Europe releases retail media best practice guides

IAB Europe announced on July 15, 2025, the publication of two comprehensive best practice guides designed to support retail media growth across European markets. The Interactive Advertising Bureau Europe's Retail & Commerce Media Committee developed bite-sized overviews targeting both buyers and retail media networks, providing standardized frameworks for campaign optimization and platform development.

The guides address critical challenges identified in IAB Europe's second annual Attitudes to Retail Media Report, which surveyed 180 respondents across 31 markets between April and June 2025. According to the organization, "Retail Media is no longer an emerging trend, but a strategic priority," as stated by Marie-Clare Puffett, Industry Development & Insights Director at IAB Europe.

Summary

Who: IAB Europe's Retail & Commerce Media Committee developed the guides, targeting brands, agencies, and retail media networks across European markets. The committee surveyed 180 respondents across 31 markets to inform the best practices.

What: Two comprehensive best practice guides - one for buyers (brands and agencies) and one for retail media networks. The guides provide standardized frameworks for campaign optimization, measurement consistency, data monetization, and omnichannel integration across retail media platforms.

When: Published on July 15, 2025, based on survey data collected between April and June 2025, representing year-over-year comparison with 2024 benchmarks and incorporating feedback from the broader European retail media ecosystem.

Where: The guides address retail media practices across 31 European markets, with particular focus on standardization needs across diverse regional approaches to retail media network development and campaign execution.

Why: The guides address critical industry challenges including measurement standardization gaps, partnership complexity, and operational fragmentation as retail media transitions from experimental phases to strategic advertising infrastructure across European markets.

Growing partnership complexity drives standardization needs

The European retail media landscape has reached significant maturity in 2025. According to IAB Europe data, buy-side stakeholders maintaining retailer partnerships for more than one year increased from 50% to 63%. Meanwhile, brands working with four to six retail media networks more than doubled from 10% to 24%, indicating widespread diversification strategies among European advertisers.

This expansion creates operational complexities requiring standardized approaches. "Build broad and niche audiences by combining high-scale purchase segments with valuable customer traits, ensuring relevance for advertisers," states the retail media networks guide. The framework emphasizes leveraging retail insights as strategic assets while maintaining customer-centric execution approaches.

For buyers, the guides recommend holistic activation across on-site, off-site, and in-store environments. "True Retail Media success lies in coordinating across the full shopper journey, from on-site product discovery to off-site re-engagement and in-store conversion," according to the buyers' framework. This approach aligns with growing investment patterns showing increased allocation toward off-site activations including connected television, audio, and out-of-home advertising.

Measurement standardization remains critical industry challenge

The guides emphasize measurement consistency as fundamental to ecosystem growth. While 88% of buyers require ROAS data, only 71% of retail media networks currently provide this measurement, highlighting persistent standardization gaps across European markets. Media measurement (78%) and attribution (69%) top the list of areas requiring industry alignment.

IAB Europe's measurement standards address these challenges through specific KPI frameworks. For on-site placements, the guides recommend focusing on ROAS, basket size, and conversion rate metrics. Off-site campaigns should optimize for awareness, consideration, and engagement metrics including video completion rate and unique reach. In-store activations require tracking uplift via loyalty card sales, coupon redemption, or test-and-control methodologies.

"Standardisation of core metrics ensures better comparability. Seek retailers who adhere to IAB Europe's Retail Media measurement standards for campaign metrics and attribution," the buyers' guide states. This standardization enables advertisers to compare performance across multiple retail media networks effectively, supporting the documented trend toward multi-network partnerships.

The networks guide provides comprehensive measurement frameworks addressing impressions, viewability, attention, and completion rates across formats. "Use closed-loop attribution models to link exposure to measurable outcomes such as ROAS, conversion lift, and in-store sales impact," the guide recommends. Advanced approaches include SKU-level attribution and incrementality testing to distinguish ad-driven results from organic behavior patterns.

Data monetization strategies expand beyond traditional boundaries

Both guides emphasize extending retail data activation beyond owned properties. The networks framework recommends activating loyalty data for omnichannel growth, specifically leveraging it for off-site campaigns across open web and connected television placements. "Adopt a test-and-learn approach to enhance customer experience and refine performance metrics," according to the guidance.

First-party data access remains the dominant driver of buy-side investment, with 87% of respondents in IAB Europe's survey citing this as a key opportunity. Point-of-sale consumer reach increased in importance, rising from 74% to 79% of respondents prioritizing this capability between 2024 and 2025.

Interest in emerging channels continues expanding, with 42% of respondents valuing data access for reaching consumers via connected television, audio, and out-of-home advertising, compared to 36% in 2024. This expansion creates opportunities for retail media networks to diversify revenue streams while providing buyers access to high-value audiences contextually.

The guides recommend implementing tiered access models to unlock commercial value from behavioral data. "Standardise planning and measurement outputs, creating tiered access models to unlock commercial value from behavioural data," states the networks guidance. This approach balances scale with unique customer insights while maintaining data usage safeguards and brand experience protection.

Technical infrastructure requirements for omnichannel success

The frameworks detail specific technical requirements for effective retail media implementation. Networks should "implement real-time decision-making to serve ads at high-intent moments, ensuring relevance across channels like CTV and retail sites." This requires sophisticated ad decisioning capabilities supporting dynamic creative optimization and cross-channel attribution.

For buyers, the guides emphasize identity solutions including clean rooms for coordinating audience delivery and measurement across channels. "Use identity solutions, like clean rooms, to coordinate audience delivery and measurement across channels, including display, video, CTV, social, and more," according to the buyers' framework. These solutions enable consistent audience targeting while maintaining privacy compliance across European markets.

The guides address persistent fragmentation challenges affecting retail media activations. While direct relationships with preferred networks work effectively, platforms consolidating access to multiple retailers offer scale and efficiency benefits. This consolidation approach supports the documented trend toward multi-network partnerships while reducing operational complexity for buyers managing multiple relationships simultaneously.

Ad inventory optimization requires continuous testing capabilities across different formats and creative variations. "A strong, live testing capability is crucial. Experiment with different formats and creative variations to identify what resonates best and drives results," states the networks guide. This testing should balance revenue optimization with shopper experience enhancement, ensuring placements enhance rather than disrupt customer journeys.

Strategic implications for European market growth

The guides' publication coincides with exceptional retail media performance across European markets. Digital advertising spending reached €118.9 billion with 16% year-over-year growth in 2024, according to IAB Europe's AdEx Benchmark Report. Retail media demonstrated particularly strong performance with 22.1% growth compared to overall advertising market expansion of 6.1%, nearly quadrupling the total market growth rate.

This performance reflects fundamental shifts in marketing priorities, with 67% of brands and agencies redirecting performance advertising budgets toward retail media investments. The guides provide frameworks supporting this reallocation by establishing clear success metrics and operational best practices for both buyers and networks.

Looking ahead, first-party data activation and omnichannel integration emerge as top growth priorities, each cited by 39% of buyers for the next 12 months according to IAB Europe's recent research. Incrementality sales measurement ranks third at 37%, reflecting continued emphasis on performance accountability across retail media investments.

The guides support these priorities through specific recommendations for organizational strategy and team structure. For networks, embedding retail media within broader retail strategy proves essential for unlocking full potential. "Embed retail media within the broader retail strategy - from team structure to P&L. Secure early internal buy-in to break down silos and unlock full potential," according to the framework.

Buyer organizations should integrate retail media across brand, media, eCommerce, and shopper marketing functions. "Involve brand, media, eCommerce, and shopper marketing functions to unlock more value. Retail Media can play across the funnel - bring it into above-the-line conversations," the buyers' guide recommends. This integration enables retail media to support brand-building objectives beyond direct response performance.

The European retail media market's continued expansion creates opportunities for both established players and new entrants. However, success requires adherence to emerging best practices and measurement standards that enable consistent performance comparison across networks and markets. These guides provide essential frameworks for navigating this complex but rapidly growing advertising channel.

Timeline

• September 18, 2024: IAB and IAB Europe release In-Store Retail Media measurement standards for public comment, establishing unified metrics for transparency and growth in evolving ad sector
• January 2025: Search ad spending surged in Q4 2024, with retail media leading - Retail media emerges as biggest winner with 23% year-over-year growth in Q4
• May 21, 2025: IAB Europe releases 2024 AdEx Benchmark Report showing European digital advertising reached €118.9 billion with retail media as key growth driver
• July 8, 2025: Carrefour and Coopérative U form retail media alliance creating Concordis, fundamentally altering competitive dynamics in French retail media sector
• July 15, 2025: IAB Europe publishes second annual Attitudes to Retail Media Report revealing doubled brand engagement with 4-6 networks and measurement standardization gaps
• July 15, 2025: IAB Europe releases retail media best practice guides for buyers and networks to optimize campaign performance across European markets