Every retail media network. One operating and measurement layer.
Retail media is the fastest-growing ad channel, and the most fragmented. We run it across every network as one system, on-site, off-site and in-store, and judge it on incremental sales and margin, not the ROAS a network reports on itself.
A brand now runs six networks, each with its own metrics. We sit above them, an independent, data-strong team that turns the chaos into one comparable view and proves the sales your media actually caused.
Part of our Retail & Commerce practice, built on the disciplines retail media is made of.
The shelf became a media network, and it changed advertising.
Retailers turned their first-party shopper data into a core ad channel, growing double digits while search and social slow. Budgets are moving fast, from trade and shopper marketing into media, and the money is spreading from on-site search into off-site and in-store.
Bigger than most people realise
Global retail media is estimated between roughly 165 and 197 billion dollars in 2026 depending on definition, the third-largest channel after search and social. It is not a test line any more, it is core budget, and it grows even as older channels plateau.
Fragmented, and grading its own homework
The average brand runs about six retail media networks, heading to eight to eleven by the end of 2026, each with its own login, metrics and attribution window. And every network reports the sales it takes credit for. Growth needs comparable numbers and independent proof, not self-attribution.
This is the Wise Pirates way: the best of digital, marketing, people and technology, aimed at one thing, your business results. Retail media connects to our Marketplaces, Programmatic & Agentic and Analytics & Measurement work.
Dozens of networks. One comparable view.
We sit above every retail media network. One operating and measurement layer that normalises the metrics, connects retail media to search, social and CTV, and lets you compare spend, sales, share and incremental ROAS on the same basis, everywhere. It is our people, data engineering and reporting working as one, engineered on your own cloud, not a black box you have to license.
- Platform-neutral by design: we do not sell the inventory, so the comparison is honest.
- One number, every network, next to search, social and CTV.
- Your data stays yours, engineered on your own cloud.
Fragmentation is the problem. One accountable layer is the answer.
Start with a retail media incrementality read.
The fastest way in: a short, structured read of where you stand and where the growth is, before you commit budget.
We assess
Network mix, reported vs comparable ROAS, incrementality gaps, trade vs media allocation, and measurement maturity.
You receive
One comparable view, an incrementality baseline, a network opportunity map, and the priority actions to grow from.
A small, fast engagement, not a big project, and it sets up everything that follows on this page.
Wherever the shopper meets the brand, on one plan.
Retail media used to mean sponsored products on a retailer’s site. Now the same first-party data reaches shoppers off-site, across the open web, CTV and social, and in-store, on screens, smart carts and retail DOOH. We plan all three as one budget and one audience.
Sponsored and display
Sponsored products, sponsored brands and on-site display, search and product-page placements, run for share and profit on each network.
Programmatic, CTV and social
The retailer’s first-party data extended to the open web, connected TV and social, the fastest-growing part of retail media, run through our programmatic practice.
Screens, carts and DOOH
Digital screens, smart carts, checkout media and retail DOOH, planned to the new IAB in-store standards and their five store zones.
Off-site and in-store are exactly where an independent, data-strong partner earns its place, because that is where the networks are weakest on measurement.
Measured on incrementality, not self-reported ROAS.
Every network reports the sales it takes credit for. Reported ROAS can include sales that would have happened without the media investment, which is why we add independent incrementality measurement, and incremental ROAS often lands below the reported number. In 2026 the bar moved: buyers want proof of the sales their media actually caused. Incrementality is the first thing we build, not the last thing we report.
Causal, not last-click
Geo and matched-market experiments and marketing mix modelling, aligned to the IAB and IAB Europe measurement standards and their guidance on incrementality, run by a team that does measurement for a living.
An operating model, not a one-off
A repeatable test-and-learn engine that keeps proving what works and reallocating budget to it, network by network, and gives you the evidence to negotiate the joint business plan from strength.
The measurement runs on data you own.
Retail media is measured where the brand’s data meets the retailer’s: in a clean room. We engineer that layer, matching your first-party data with the retailer’s in a privacy-safe way to the IAB Tech Lab standards, and unifying it in BigQuery so every network is measured on one commercial truth.
Where the proof lives
Amazon Marketing Cloud, Walmart and neutral multi-retailer clean rooms, engineered so measurement is possible even below the spend level that usually makes it worthwhile.
Unified in BigQuery
Media, retail media, e-commerce, margin and stock on your own Google Cloud, so decisions come from the whole business, not a platform report.
Your data, your asset
First-party data captured and activated for retail media and beyond, privacy-safe, AI-ready, and never locked inside a network.
Retail media increasingly draws from trade and shopper budgets.
For decades, brands funded retailer relationships through trade marketing: budgets traditionally used for shelf position, promotions and retailer activation, often with limited measurement of incremental sales. Retail media is where a growing share of that budget is going digital. Industry research shows retail media increasingly draws from trade and shopper marketing rather than classic media, buying sponsored placements and audiences instead of shelf position, and, for the first time, it can be measured against real sales. It can also be funded from media budgets.
From shelf fees to sponsored placements
The budget that used to buy an end-cap now buys a sponsored product, a share-of-search position or an off-site audience. Same goal, winning the shopper at the shelf, but now it is targetable and, crucially, measurable against real sales.
One owner, one measurement
Trade budgets sit with sales and category teams; media sits with marketing. That split is why retail media so often leaks. We bring trade, shopper and media into one plan with one owner and one incrementality-based measurement, so the money compounds instead of funding the retailer's margin.
Treated as a media channel and measured properly, trade marketing budget stops being a cost of listing and becomes a growth investment you can prove.
We build to the measurement standards the industry just wrote.
Retail media is standardising fast. The IAB and IAB Europe published measurement guidelines, in-store definitions and clean-room and identity standards in quick succession, and IAB Europe moved to Commerce Media Standards V2 in early 2026 and is renaming the category to commerce media. We operate inside those standards, so your measurement is credible, comparable and future-proof.
Retail media is not a new discipline for us. It is the convergence of the ones we are already deep in.
Retail media brings together capabilities we already run at scale: retail, performance, marketplaces, adtech, first-party data and measurement.
Retail and commerce specialists
- 500+ retail and commerce brands and 300+ commerce cases
- We speak margin, assortment, sell-through and the digital shelf, not just impressions
Campaign management and ad placements
- Years running paid media, sponsored placements and shopping across Google, Meta, Amazon and the open web
- The exact muscle retail media activation needs
Adtech and marketplaces
- Feeds, catalogues, auctions and retail-media ad tech, with Feed’em, our proprietary feed product
- Deep marketplace and retail-media ecosystem experience
First-party data, BigQuery and measurement
- Real clean-room and BigQuery data engineering, plus MMM and incrementality
- Google certified partner, ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 certified
We already apply these capabilities in retail media projects for large clients, while continuing to build our dedicated case base as the category scales.
Everything organises around one outcome: incremental sales and margin.
We start where the return is clearest and build the rest around it, from a first incrementality read to running the whole operation across every network.
Which networks, and why
Network selection and budget governance across on-site, off-site and in-store, with retail-readiness, PDP, content, price and availability, as the prerequisite for spend.
Run across every network
Sponsored products, brands and display, off-site programmatic, CTV and social powered by retailer data, and in-store, managed as one system.
Compliant assets at scale
AI-native, retailer-compliant creative and A-plus content, and clean product feeds through Feed’em, our proprietary feed-management product, tuned for profit.
Prove what the media caused
Geo and matched-market tests, MMM and incremental ROAS, new-to-brand and lifetime value, aligned to IAB standards and validated on your data.
BigQuery, product economics & LTV
Clean-room engineering and a commerce-intelligence layer that joins first-party data, margin, stock and media performance into one decisioning view.
Reconcile trade and media
Bring trade, shopper and media budgets into one plan and one owner, so retail media stops being a silo and starts compounding.
We match the model to your problem.
Most agencies sell one shape of engagement. We bring several, so the model fits where you are.
Side Car advising
We build the operating layer, measurement and network strategy alongside your team and stay through implementation, not a deck and a handshake.
Full or partial management
We run retail media across every network as an extension of your team, as much or as little as you need, judged on incremental results.
Build it in-house
When you want the capability in your own team, we help you find and build the retail media, data and measurement talent to do it.
A good place to start is a retail media incrementality read: one comparable view across your networks, and where the real growth sits.
One purpose, and retail media does not work alone.
The Wise Pirates way: the best of digital, marketing, people and technology, aimed at one thing, your business results. Retail media is a team sport.
Built on 500+ brands and 300+ commerce cases, now pointed at retail media.
We have driven digital performance for hundreds of retail and commerce brands, with the first-party-data, BigQuery, adtech and performance strengths that retail media actually needs. Independent, AI-native, and platform-neutral by design.
Every network, compared
Spend, sales, share and incrementality on the same basis, across all your RMNs.
Proof, not attribution
Causal measurement on your first-party data, validated to real sales and margin.
Measured on your data
Engineered in BigQuery, privacy-safe, and portable, an asset you keep.
Part of 500-plus brands we have driven digital performance for. Explore the work in our Showcases.
Local retail and shopper expertise, through ICOM.
Through ICOM, our international network of independent agencies, we can add local retail and shopper expertise, and retail media experience, in markets such as the UK, Germany and the United States, while the accountability stays with one team: ours.
The networks sell it and measure it. The point tools automate it. We do neither.
Independent across networks
We do not sell the inventory or the identity stack, so the comparison is honest, the data stays yours, and one operating and measurement layer sits over every RMN.
Measured on incrementality
We build causal measurement first, so you spend on the sales your media actually caused, not the ones a network reports on itself.
Built on retail, data and adtech
Retail and commerce specialism, clean-room and BigQuery engineering, and adtech depth, the foundations retail media actually needs.
We bring the best of a senior team, proprietary tech like Feed’em, adtech depth and independent measurement, part of 500+ brands we have driven digital performance for. In our Showcases you will find the work.
Retail media, answered.
What does Wise Pirates do in retail media?
How do you measure incrementality?
Can you work across multiple RMNs?
Do you cover on-site, off-site and in-store?
Can you work with trade and shopper budgets?
Who owns the data?
What is retail media?
Where do the numbers on this page come from?
Make retail media your most accountable channel.
Tell us which networks you run and where you want to grow. We will show you one comparable view across all of them, and where the incremental opportunity really sits, on-site, off-site and in-store.
Book a conversation with our team →
