Podcast Summary: The CPG Guys

Episode: Retail Media Trends, Benchmarks and Leadership with EMarketer's Sarah Marzano

Date: January 10, 2026
Hosts: Peter V.S. Bond & Sri Rajagopalan
Guest: Sarah Marzano, Principal Analyst, Retail & Commerce Media at eMarketer

Episode Overview

This episode delves into the current and future state of Retail Media Networks (RMNs), leveraging fresh research authored by guest Sarah Marzano in partnership with Bain & Co. The hosts guide a comprehensive discussion on industry benchmarks, operational realities, structural best practices, measurement challenges, and innovation frontiers shaping the rapidly evolving retail media landscape. The conversation demystifies the gap between strategic ambition and operational maturity, while exploring what leading RMNs are doing to differentiate in a highly competitive space.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introduction to Sarah Marzano and Her Research

• Background: Sarah’s deep roots in retail (Macy’s, Lord & Taylor) and analyst experiences inform her unique perspective on retail media (05:51).

• Purpose of the Report: Addressing the lack of quality data about how retailers build and structure retail media teams, and identifying industry-wide operational white spaces and challenges (07:13).

  "I was hearing from folks on retail media teams that they were struggling to educate their executive leadership about what retail media is and what it can do." – Sarah Marzano [07:41]

2. Ambition vs. Operational Maturity in RMNs

• Findings: Many teams are confident in their strategy and vision but stumble on execution — especially around operating models, measurement, and tech infrastructure (09:56; 12:38).

• Core Challenge: The traditional separation between ‘media’ and ‘retail’ leaves teams ill-equipped to execute in areas foreign to typical retail operations, such as media measurement, analytics, and tech (09:56–13:49).

  "Where we heard that retail media teams were struggling were in these arenas where retailers haven't historically had to operate or develop expertise." – Sarah Marzano [11:43]

3. The Operating Model Dilemma

• Host Perspective: Sri highlights ongoing disconnects between retail operations and media teams, stemming from legacy structures and unclear ownership (12:38).

• Sarah’s Response: Many retailers “set up quickly to act” without defining roles and responsibilities, leading to inter-team friction and operating model gaps (13:49).

  "There's no playbook for this... there's not a lot of transparency around what's actually working." – Sarah Marzano [14:10]

4. Where Should RMNs Live Within Retailers?

• Diverse Structures: RMN teams report to a wide variety of functions (CMO, Chief Digital Officer, Merchandising, Commercial), with no consensus on best location (15:27).

• No “One Size Fits All”: The right structure depends on the retailer’s digital penetration, private label mix, and strategic ambition (15:27–16:25).

  “It all has to do with what a retailer wants to see from their retail media business.” – Sarah Marzano [15:41]

5. Metrics, KPIs, and Incentive Alignment

• Stubborn Gaps: Nearly half of surveyed RMNs lack cross-functional KPIs; even fewer tie incentives to merchandising, causing misalignment (16:25).

• Root Cause: Much retail media funding is repurposed from trade/shopper budgets, leading to ‘zero sum’ conflicts between merchant and media priorities (17:16).

• What Good Looks Like: KPIs must support company goals, merchants need ownership in performance, and organizations must take a holistic approach aligning incentives across teams (19:45).

  “When you have a media strategy that operates counter to your retailer strategy, that undermines the strength.” – Sarah Marzano [18:52]

6. The Measurement Conundrum

• Pressing Industry Pain Point: Measurement, especially proving incrementality, is the top challenge for both media sellers and buyers (20:56).

• Recent Progress: New IAB frameworks for in-store and incrementality measurement provide shared definitions, but execution requires technical and analytic talent (20:56–23:00).

• Foundational Issue: “You can’t fix measurement on its own — it sits on top of everything else” (22:07).

  “It's not only about getting those shared frameworks and those shared definitions… but it’s about making sure that the retail media teams… are armed with the right talent, the right expertise and the right technology…” – Sarah Marzano [22:36]

7. The Evolution of RMN Formats (On-site, In-store, Offsite)

• On-site: Most mature; still room for optimization.

• In-store: Considered high-potential, though digitally activating in-store environments requires restructuring, tech, and confronting existing store P&Ls and operators (24:16–27:33).

• Audio & Offsite: In-store audio is a “bullish” opportunity; offsite is a huge growth lever, especially via social platforms leveraging first-party data (26:40).

  “I’m really bullish on in-store audio… it kind of fits in with hardware infrastructure most retailers already have.” – Sarah Marzano [26:19]

8. AI, Zero-Click Search, and Agentic AI

• Industry Expectation: Agentic AI and zero-click search seen as most disruptive future forces (29:23).

• Actionable Guidance: Brands must closely track evolving monetization opportunities on both platform-owned and retailer-owned AI agents, treating these as new consumer surfaces to activate (29:23–30:18).

  “This is just another surface where consumers are spending time… and as an advertising industry we have adjusted for those changes historically.” – Sarah Marzano [29:43]

9. What Will Separate Leading Retail Media Networks?

• Short- and Long-term Success: Requires executive buy-in, investment in tech modernization, data infrastructure, and offsite activation capabilities (31:02).

• Total Buy-in Required: Teams can no longer expect disproportionate profit from minimal investment; playing the long game (31:02–31:58).

  “Retailers… need to start thinking about playing the long game. If we want this to be a core part of our revenue… what are the hard decisions that we need to make?” – Sarah Marzano [31:29]

10. Industry Realities, Frictions, and the Path Forward

• Scale vs. Complexity: Buying retail media is still more complex than other channels; scale and transparency remain barriers (33:00–34:12).

• Need for Alliances: Prediction that retailers may begin relying more on third-party alliance networks to reduce friction and increase advertiser scale (33:48–34:12).

  "Anything that the retailer and their retail media team does, it needs to be in service to reducing friction to the advertiser." – Sarah Marzano [34:12]

Notable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• On lack of operational maturity:
  “Our respondents feel really confident about their overall strategy as well as their vision and product roadmap. But then that confidence took this major dive when it came to some of the more executional levers...” – Sarah Marzano [11:16]

• On misaligned incentives:
  “The media team is going to be maybe making decisions that aren’t always supporting the core business of retail.” – Sarah Marzano [18:39]

• On measurement obstacles:
  “Measurement and reporting ranked as ‘the most pressing challenge’ for RMNs according to your report, especially proving incrementality.” – Peter Bond [20:56]

• On the long-term RMN success:
  “Failure to take action… is going to cost you both in the short term, but I think specifically in the long term as well.” – Sarah Marzano [31:37]

• On what good KPIs look like:
  “Retail media needs to support company goals, and merchants need real ownership in retail media performance.” – Sarah Marzano [19:44]

Important Segments and Timestamps

| Segment | Timestamp | |-----------------------------------------------------------|-----------| | Sarah Marzano’s intro & role at eMarketer | 05:41 | | Rationale for RMN report | 07:13 | | Gap between ambition & enablement | 09:56 | | Operating Model challenges | 12:38 | | Where RMNs live within orgs | 15:27 | | The metrics & incentive struggle | 16:25 | | Measurement as key challenge; IAB updates | 20:56 | | Emerging RMN formats: onsite, in-store, offsite | 24:16 | | Offsite and in-store media: formats & future growth | 26:40 | | Agentic AI and zero-click search disruptors | 29:23 | | What will separate leading RMNs/long-term strategy | 31:02 | | Industry scale, friction, and consolidation pressures | 33:00 |

Conclusion: Industry Takeaways & Closing

• Persistent Issues: Hosts note that RMNs are wrestling with many of the same fundamental issues a decade on: measurement, inventory, incentives, and operating models (37:17).
• Core Solution: Emphasis that resolving the operating model—roles, ownership, and proper incentives—is the foundation required for industry progress (38:02).
• Future Prospects: As retail media evolves post-pandemic and tech/AI innovation accelerates, industry alignment and simplification for buyers will be key to wider adoption and growth.

“No matter what we do to solve other stuff, nobody’s going to follow it if you can’t solve the operating model…” – Sri Rajagopalan [38:02]

Final Call to Action:
Listeners are encouraged to read Sarah Marzano’s report for full insights (link in show notes) and follow the CPG Guys for upcoming discussions on this dynamic topic.

For deeper analysis and data, access Sarah’s full report via eMarketer (see episode links).