Navigating the complex retail media landscape: Learnings from Uber’s Megan Ramm

The retail media landscape is increasingly fragmented, with numerous players vying for consumer attention and advertising dollars. Understanding how to navigate this battleground is crucial for brands looking to stay ahead–and be noticed. As the Global Director and Head of Consumer Packaged Goods Partnerships at Uber Ads, Megan Ramm has been at the forefront of integrating advertising into one of the world’s most dynamic and widely used platforms. Her career is marked by significant achievements and a deep understanding of consumer behavior and the technological innovations driving modern advertising.​​In Rokt’s Beet.TV Leadership series, Ramm sheds light on how Uber harnesses its vast data and consumer insights to create relevant and effective advertising experiences. Her interview provides insights into the future of retail media and broader industry trends that can help brands better connect with their audiences.

The shift to unified platforms is reshaping consumer behavior

Megan highlights a significant trend in consumer behavior: the shift from using multiple specialized apps to preferring single apps that offer a variety of services. “If you think about how they want to shop and buy and the types of apps they want to use, they’re moving from many apps on your phone that do single things to single apps that do more things,” she explains. This shift is critical for brands to understand as it impacts where and how they should invest in retail media.

Keeping the customer experience at the forefront is key to navigating this change. Brands must create seamless, integrated experiences for consumers. Wherever consumers are, that’s where brands need to be. With a holistic view of customer behavior, brands can offer shoppers the relevant experiences they crave within unified ecosystems.

Standardization and measurement are critical for advancing retail media

Megan points out that retail media fragmentation and issues like standard measurement and incrementality pose significant challenges. “Between the metrics, the measurement, the fragmentation, and the desire to also have things in walled gardens, there’s a lot of confusion and competitiveness in the market right now,” she says.

This fragmentation complicates the assessment of ad effectiveness and consumer engagement. To overcome this, brands must adopt a data-driven approach to ensure every ad dollar spent translates into tangible business outcomes. Megan emphasizes the need for robust measurement standards to accurately determine the incremental value of each sale. Understanding whether a sale is truly net new or if it could have been captured through traditional brick-and-mortar and digital channels requires sophisticated attribution models and comprehensive data analysis. For instance, brands can use advanced analytics to compare online and offline sales data, helping them identify the true incremental sales driven by their digital campaigns.

Move beyond impressions by focusing on value

Brands need to ensure accurate media attribution. Megan points out the industry challenge: “Is this a sale that’s net-new? Did I truly get this incremental sale online on your channel versus another?” To combat this, brands can focus on actionable metrics like cost-per-acquisition and cost-per-click to optimize their campaigns for maximum ROI and ensure that every marketing decision is backed by robust data. However, it’s crucial to go beyond these metrics and focus on ecommerce incrementality—the true additional sales driven by a particular online channel.

Providing detailed insights into where customers convert, or closing the loop, is essential so brands can track the full customer journey and accurately measure ecommerce incrementality. One approach is for brands to partner with technology companies that offer robust data analytics to determine the true impact of their campaigns.

Partnering with Rokt for a seamless customer journey

Megan Ramm’s insights offer a valuable roadmap for brands navigating the complexities of retail media. By understanding consumer behavior, addressing fragmentation and standardization challenges, leveraging data, and embracing innovation, brands can create meaningful and effective advertising experiences.

Rokt’s solutions align with these principles, providing the tools and expertise needed to thrive in this competitive environment. Rokt seamlessly integrates with existing retail networks, using first-party data to deliver relevant, real-time offers that boost engagement and conversions. By operating within a closed ecosystem, we can close the loop on ad spend, offering a clearer, more cohesive understanding of consumer behavior across different platforms.

To explore how Rokt can elevate your retail media strategy and drive greater value, visit our retail media page.

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