Shopper Purchase Rate Push

Retail media companies are pushing a new yardstick called Shopper Purchase Rate to show whether in-store ads actually move products off shelves. (wwd.com) The push comes from a report released April 7 by In-Store Marketplace and Catalyst Media Consulting, and WWD reported on it April 13. The report argues that in-store media spending has stayed sluggish even as retailers add more digital screens and audio systems in physical stores. (prnewswire.com) (wwd.com) Shopper Purchase Rate is built around “product movement,” or whether exposure in the aisle leads to more units sold, instead of digital-style signals such as clicks or one-to-one tracking. Paul Brenner of In-Store Marketplace said brands, merchants, agencies and retail media networks are using different scorecards, which stalls budget decisions. (wwd.com) (prnewswire.com) That debate sits inside a bigger retail media buildout in stores, where screens, audio and connected displays are being sold as ad inventory near the point of purchase. Electronic commerce still accounted for 16.4% of total U.S. retail sales in 2025, according to the Census Bureau, leaving the large majority of spending in physical stores. (grocerydive.com) (census.gov) The Interactive Advertising Bureau and Media Rating Council published retail media measurement guidelines in January 2024, and the Interactive Advertising Bureau and Interactive Advertising Bureau Europe followed with in-store definitions and measurement standards in September 2024. Those standards were designed to give retailers, brands and consumer packaged goods companies a common language for formats, store zones and impressions. (iab.com) (grocerydive.com) In those standards, the Interactive Advertising Bureau said “opportunity to see” is the baseline proxy for a viewable in-store impression. Jeffrey Bustos of the Interactive Advertising Bureau said the group chose that minimum standard partly to keep the framework privacy-first and workable across markets including Europe. (grocerydive.com) The new Shopper Purchase Rate pitch does not replace those impression standards so much as move the argument closer to the merchant’s question: did the display help sell more inventory. Collin Colburn of the Interactive Advertising Bureau said the industry needs metrics tied to “the mutual goal of all the parties,” not only a digital media mandate. (prnewswire.com) The friction is practical as much as technical. The April report says agencies often judge media effectiveness, merchants track retail sales, retail media networks track media revenue, and brands track category efficiency, so one campaign can look successful on one dashboard and weak on another. (prnewswire.com) Retailers and brands have been trying to bring digital ad logic into stores for years, but WWD said the report found that physical aisles lack the sensor coverage and simple attribution paths that websites have. The result is a push to judge in-store media less like a webpage and more like a shelf program that either lifts sales or does not. (wwd.com) The next fight is likely over adoption, not definition. The Interactive Advertising Bureau has already set the floor for counting in-store impressions, and In-Store Marketplace is now arguing that the money will follow only if buyers and sellers agree on a sales-based scorecard. (grocerydive.com) (prnewswire.com)