Meghan, with over 20 years in marketing across brands, retailers, and agencies, how has your experience shaped your approach to retail media strategy at Rithum?
My experience across agency, brand, and retail has given me a deep understanding of just how quickly retail media has evolved and how it can be incorporated into the overall marketing approach for brands. For many brands, incorporating the necessary channels into their integrated marketing approach can feel overwhelming. Too many platforms, siloed teams, and shifting priorities make it hard to maintain a clear and consistent strategy. At Rithum, I bring that perspective to our clients in order to connect retail media, marketplace operations, and commerce strategies into one cohesive approach. My goal is to simplify the complexity of today’s omnichannel retail landscape and deliver practical and scalable solutions that drive real results across every channel.
Retail media is evolving rapidly—what are the biggest challenges brands face today in delivering ROI across a fragmented landscape?
One of the biggest challenges is that every retail media platform has its own metrics, formats, and ways of measuring success, which makes it hard for brands to see what’s actually working. Without a clear and unified view of performance across channels, it’s nearly impossible to optimize campaigns or prove ROI. Another challenge is that retail media involves multiple teams, media, ecommerce, sales, and even supply chain, that don’t always work together, share the same priorities, or know where the retail media budget should be funded from. This often leads to mixed messaging, slow decision-making, and missed opportunities. To overcome these challenges, brands need to bring their data and teams together, focus on the metrics that matter, and create a more connected and agile approach to retail media.
How are centralized insights helping brands break down silos and make more efficient cross-channel media decisions?
Centralized insights help brands move from reactive to proactive decision-making in their overall mixed media marketing approach. When media, marketplace, and commerce data are all in one place, it’s easier to spot trends, understand what’s working, and shift budgets accordingly. It also helps connect media and ecommerce teams, making sure that investments aren’t just driving clicks but actually leading to conversions and sales.
What does effective cross-channel optimization look like in practice, and how does it directly impact campaign performance and spend efficiency?
Effective cross-channel optimization means having clear KPIs for each channel, shifting budgets based on where the current opportunity is, and not just relying on past performance insights. For example, if organic traffic drops because of a pricing issue or low inventory, paid campaigns for that product can be ramped up in real time to close the gap. It’s a data-driven approach that continuously adjusts based on what’s happening across the market, not just within the media team. This leads to better campaign performance and more efficient spending.
AI is reshaping consumer behavior—how are AI-driven discovery tools changing the path to purchase, and what should brands be doing to stay ahead?
AI is transforming how consumers discover and engage with products. Tools like recommendation engines and predictive search are surfacing new products as soon as a customer starts browsing, sometimes before they know exactly what they’re looking for. Some shoppers may never even make it to the retailer’s website and conduct the majority of their product search within the AI platform. To stay ahead, brands need to make sure their content, inventory, and campaigns are built and optimized for AI discovery with accurate product descriptions, smart tagging, and timely availability to increase visibility, accuracy, and drive conversion.
First-party data is more critical than ever. How can brands effectively harness this data to power personalization and performance in retail media?
First-party data is one of the most valuable tools brands have today, but it only works if it’s actually used across campaigns and in combination with other 3P data channels. Brands should be bringing in data from loyalty programs, email lists, and past purchases to help target their retail media effectively while also identifying where they may have blind spots and need external input. This makes it possible to serve the right message or offer to the right customer at the right time. It’s not just about retargeting people who’ve clicked before; it’s about creating more meaningful moments that feel personal and drive better results.
Loyalty programs are a rich source of customer insight—how are top brands using loyalty data to drive more strategic media and product decisions?
Loyalty data doesn’t just show who’s buying, it helps brands understand why people are buying and how to keep customers indefinitely The smartest brands are using these insights to shape everything from what products they focus on to how they run their campaigns. For example, if loyalty members in one region are more price-sensitive, the brand can adjust messaging or offers to match. It creates a cycle where customer insights help guide spending, and campaign results feed back into those insights to make smarter decisions moving forward.
Beyond impressions and clicks, what metrics are most meaningful today when evaluating retail media success?
Metrics like return on ad spend (ROAS), advertising cost of sales (ACOS), share of shelf (or share of voice, SOV), sales velocity, basket size, and inventory turnover are what matter. Impressions and clicks can give some initial insights, but they don’t tell you if you’re truly driving results. The key is to start by defining what success means for the business, whether that’s selling more units, increasing market share, or boosting profitability, and then build measurement around those goals.
Looking forward, what key strategies or innovations will define the next generation of high-ROI retail media campaigns?
The next wave of retail media will be all about commerce insights integration, agility, and speed. We’ll see a stronger push to connect off-site ads, on-site experiences, and even in-store touchpoints so everything works together to drive results. Brands will get smarter about how they buy media, leveraging commerce insights when possible, using better tools, and working with fewer partners to simplify execution. There will also be more focus on updating ad content in real time, adjusting messaging or offers based on what’s working. At the same time, retailers are moving quickly to build or partner on their own retail media solutions, giving them more control and opening up new opportunities for brands. The brands that succeed will be the ones that stay flexible, act fast, and focus on what truly moves the needle for their business.
What’s one piece of advice you’d give to brands looking to future-proof their retail media strategy in an increasingly data-driven and competitive environment?
Focus on building a strong foundation of data and flexibility. The retail media landscape is moving fast, and the brands that will win are the ones that can quickly turn insights into action. That means breaking down internal silos, connecting data across channels, and being ready to shift budgets or strategy based on what the numbers are telling you. It’s not about chasing every new trend; it’s about staying agile and making decisions that are grounded in real business impact.
A quote or advice from the author
Success in retail media comes down to staying flexible, using data to guide your decisions, and being ready to pivot when the market changes
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Meghan Barden, Director of Global Retail Media at Rithum
Meghan Barden is the Director of Global Retail Media at Rithum, where she leads retail media strategy, the retail media and digital marketing services teams, and innovation for brands and retailers. With over 20 years of experience in digital marketing, she specializes in retail media, creating go-to-market strategy, and e-commerce optimization. Meghan is passionate about using data-driven insights to help brands improve customer engagement and drive real business results. LinkedIn.
