LAS VEGAS – Retail media’s rapid evolution has made data collaboration an essential tool for both advertisers and retailers, said Liz Roche, vice president of media and measurement at Albertsons Media Collective, during an interview with Beet.TV’s David Kaplan at the Groceryshop convention.
“Data collaboration is absolutely the name of the game right now,” Roche said. “Our supplier partners are looking for deeper insight and trying to make sense of a complex mosaic of retail media opportunities.”
Trust and transparency are foundational to those partnerships, and the ultimate beneficiaries are shoppers, she said.
“The more we can drive relevance and personalization, the more we can inspire our shoppers,” Roche said.
Clean rooms bring trust and speed to data partnerships
As retail media grows more intricate, clean room technology has become a crucial tool for managing privacy-safe collaboration. Roche described clean rooms as a key way for brands and retailers to share data securely while reducing the complexity of decision-making.
“Bringing clean rooms into the equation allows partners to collaborate in a privacy-safe environment,” she said. “Retail media can be complex. The goal is to help partners make better decisions faster, and that ultimately benefits shoppers on the other side.”
Cross-channel measurement defines the next phase of retail media
Connecting data across in-store, digital and connected TV channels remains a central challenge for marketers. Roche said that cross-channel experimentation was a major theme at this year’s Groceryshop conference, as advertisers look to measure effectiveness across the full customer journey.
“Retail media has long been seen as a low-funnel conversion driver – and it still is – but now we’re expanding up the funnel,” she said.
With 47 million loyalty members and more than 500 million trips a year, Albertsons’ rich first-party data allows it to explore how audiences respond across multiple touchpoints.
She noted that brands are testing new strategies like geo controls and holdouts to understand where “one plus one equals three,” how combining upper-, mid- and lower-funnel efforts can drive stronger results.
Cross-functional data strategies connect retail media to merchandising
Roche underscored that Albertsons’ priority is being a retailer, not just a media platform.
“Our primary job is to sell units and delight shoppers in the store,” she said.
That focus means integrating media with core retail functions, such as pricing, promotions and merchandising.
“Retail media is one slice of the flywheel that drives shopper behavior,” Roche said. “We need interconnectivity across the enterprise so that media amplifies what’s happening in-store.”
She warned against treating media as a silo: “We don’t want to be too myopic. Media must serve the broader retail strategy.”
Measuring upper-funnel effect across new channels
Looking to 2026, Roche said she’s most excited about innovations that help retail media extend beyond its traditional digital roots. As brands move “up the funnel,” new measurement models will be essential to understanding the impact of channels that aren’t as easily traceable, such as digital out-of-home, linear TV and even CTV.
“We need to bring more models into the equation to understand how these channels work together,” Roche said. “That’s the next wave: figuring out the efficacy of all these touchpoints as part of a single ecosystem.”
Albertsons Media Collective is leaning into data collaboration, clean rooms and cross-channel experimentation to simplify retail media’s complexity. By uniting media strategy with merchandising and prioritizing shopper value, the company aims to help partners make smarter, faster and more transparent decisions in a privacy-first era.
Retail Media Needs Accountability and Standardization, says Albertsons’ Liz Roche