5 Minutes with… Katrina Smart
With offices in the UK, US, Canada, Brazil, Australia, Singapore, and South Korea, Mars United Commerce works with some of the biggest names in retail globally, including Mars, Coca-Cola, Johnson & Johnson, Samsonite, Samsung, Nestlé, Kraft Heinz, Lindt, and Arla, to name a few.
Katrina Smart, VP digital commerce at Mars United Commerce believes that 2025 is the year that the industry has to start looking beyond return on ad spend (ROAS). While the metric still has relevance, it’s not the best one when it comes to retail media which has moved outside of search, according to Katrina. One of the challenges she identified that may prove difficult is that not all retail media networks are set up with in-depth measurement capabilities, like data analytics tech or teams to measure incrementality, AB testing or media mix modelling.
As well as a move beyond ROAS, Katrina predicts that nine other trends will shape the retail media landscape internationally. The three that will be the most influential are off-site, in-store, and measurement, which Katrina expands on shortly.
Below, LBB discusses with Katrina Mars United Commerce's key priorities and growth areas for 2025 and beyond, the industry mindset shift required to see beyond ROAS, and which brands are succeeding in delivering authentic customer experiences.
LBB> What trends do you see shaping the global retail media landscape in 2025? How do these trends differ across the diverse markets Mars United Commerce operates in?
Katrina> At the end of 2024 we published nine key trends as part of our global retail media yearbook. These trends were very much international in nature. Looking at the key markets that we work in, they remain broadly consistent on the whole. However, what changes is the different levels of maturity for each of them.
The nine key trends are as follows:
- Self-serve: becoming much more commonplace across retail media networks.
- Off-site: opportunities in this area are expanding greatly.
- In-store: same here.
- Measurement: becoming more sophisticated.
- Audience targeting: becoming more granular and tailored.
- Data clean rooms: really proliferating.
- Omnichannel marketing: retail media will enable this.
- Connected commerce: retailers will increasingly accommodate this.
- Gen AI :this could pretty much change everything.
LBB> And which ones do you think will be the most influential?
Katrina> I would say that the three that are really going to shape global retail media this year are going to be off-site, in-store, and measurement. They might not be the biggest or the craziest, but I do think they will have the most impact.
First, off-site. This encompasses all the other opportunities that are available to advertisers and retail networks to reach audiences outside their walled garden, so to speak. We’re seeing such a diverse range of opportunities. The commerce landscape is just growing and growing in terms of how we can reach consumers. This is a change that’s here to stay.
Second, in-store. This was a major topic at the end of 2024. When we talk about in store, it doesn’t just refer to digital screens, but rather all of the other formats and touchpoints you can reach customers with – in a data-driven and digitised way. Digitisation is really about how granular you can get when targeting your audience. As an advertiser, do you know if a customer is walking past that screen and seeing your advert? Do you know if they are looking at a handheld scanner and getting served an advert whilst physically in that retailer? It’s really about some of the different formats and the level of sophistication when it comes to retail media.
Third, measurement. We’re definitely going to see the advancement of measurement this year. With retail media spend always under scrutiny, as is all digital media or ad spend, we’re going to continue to see that scrutiny grow. This is where the importance of measurement comes in.
LBB> What are your key priorities and growth areas for 2025 and beyond, especially across emerging technologies or platforms?
Katrina> It varies by market, but I would say that being able to attribute and increase what we’re spending in terms of attributable media spend will be huge.
Precision targeting to show who we’re reaching for our clients will be really high on our agenda. Measurement too is obviously key on our priority list, so ensuring that our clients have an apples to apples view of their media spend. Being able to see the results from one retail media network versus another, understand how it performed, and have that kind of transparency will be another key area.
Finally, when it comes to AI, we are keeping a lid on what’s happening from a global retailer perspective. There’s the likes of Amazon and Walmart looking at generative AI, conversational search, and it is key for us to understand how this translates across other retailers.
Is it on their agenda? Is it on their priority list? We know that AI is at the forefront for the brands we’re working with, but how does that then translate into retail media?
LBB> You’ve mentioned that 2025 is the year to move beyond ROAS – why do you believe this metric is no longer sufficient for measuring success in retail media?
Katrina> While it’s still a great metric, it shouldn’t be the only metric we’re thinking about measuring when it comes to retail media.
ROAS was very much penned as a shorter term metric to measure the success of a campaign or multiple campaigns. However, retail media has evolved and we’ve moved into so many other spaces outside of search. This used to be its sole purpose – i.e. driving conversion on a retailer’s website, for a particular term, and then in return, you measure the ROAS. But retail media is now much bigger than this, which means we need to broaden the metrics and measurement we’re looking at into other metrics – e.g. lifetime value, new to brand, share of voice, and incrementality.
I think we’re definitely going to be moving to a place where we’re looking at the likes of iROAS rather than focusing purely on ROAS.
LBB> What challenges do you anticipate in shifting industry mindsets away from ROAS? How can brands and retailers successfully transition to more holistic measurement frameworks?
Katrina> I think the big challenge is that not all retail media networks are set up with in-depth or complex measurement capabilities. They don’t have the data analytics tech or teams required to measure things like incrementality or AB testing or media mix modelling, etc.
You really need to have clear testing control, isolate the media, and make sure that you’ve got the infrastructure there. Ultimately, you need to be set up to measure. Then you add on the number of campaigns and the volume of them into the retail media context, which is an extra layer of volume and scale. Essentially, they’re currently not set up to manage all this. Change won’t happen overnight and it won’t happen to all retail media networks.
Measurement needs to get to a more holistic place whereby we’re measuring ROAS alongside all these other metrics – it’s a bit of a journey. It’s about working really closely, both internally and with your agency to understand all the different teams that impact it. On the flip side, you also need to work like your retail media work and your retailer, because they’re also trying to think how best to measure outside ROAS.
LBB> What do you predict will happen if ROAS remains the primary measurement framework for the industry?
Katrina> Looking ahead to five years’ time, if ROAS is still the primary measurement being used, we will see a decrease in retail media spend. Retail media is constantly on the up and there’s so many stats that prove that.
Right now though, for retail media spend to grow, you’ll need to be able to reach outside the retailer’s garden wall and their website. Through that, you can leverage off-site, partnerships, and all of that fun stuff that retail media enables. The key to this though are the measures outside of ROAS. It’s really about how we can continue to widen the net to ensure that retail media keeps growing.
LBB> How can retailers and brands collaborate more effectively to create meaningful consumer experiences in the increasingly crowded retail media space?
Katrina> It’s about understanding what the shared goals are and what you want to achieve. Whenever we look at media planning, it’s important to take it right back down to the basics.
What are you trying to drive? Who are you trying to reach? What are you trying to say to them? By starting from there, you can understand which tactics are available and soon enough, what works for you, test them, and learn.
The crux of it is creating an authentic and meaningful experience. It needs to be personalised, which means you need to ensure you’re being as granular as you can with your audiences to reach the right person. What resonates with me as a consumer won’t necessarily resonate with someone else. You need to make sure you’re tailoring your messaging and your creative accordingly.
LBB> Are any brands, in your opinion, that are succeeding in creating experiences that are authentic and meaningful?
Katrina> This is tricky because no one really publishes retail media case studies and it’s all very closed loop. However, I would say that lots of brands are doing it well.
In fact, it’s often the case that the most authentic experiences are from smaller brands and challenger brands, because they can leapfrog some of the bigger CPG organisations with legacy structures, legacy budgets, and run things in a certain way. When you’re dealing with smaller budgets every pound counts. You need to make sure you’re really clear on the audience pool you’re speaking to.
L’Oréal is a prime example of a brand that harnesses retail media in a very data driven way. Given the nature of the category, baby brands, beauty brands, and healthcare brands are all paving the way for truly data driven targeting in retail media.
LBB> With Mars United Commerce’s impressive client portfolio, what lessons have you learned from working with such diverse global brands that can benefit the broader industry?
Katrina> Brands often face really similar challenges. No matter the vertical, products, or retailer they’re speaking to. Most global brands face the same issues. It’s pretty much always the standard stuff like organisational structures, budget constraints, measurement challenges, and creating a truly integrated commerce experience.
Some of the key lessons I have learnt are how to properly interrogate a brief, challenge legacy media choices, use data to quantitatively inform your media choices, and once you understand what works for your brands, scale and continue to monitor the results.
