Liftoff with Jeanniey Walden · Cannes
Leora Kelman of BCG on Why In-Store Retail Media Is So Hard, and How to Get It Right
Who’s on this episode
Hosted by Jeanniey Walden, founder and host of Liftoff with Jeanniey Walden, recorded at Cannes.
What you’ll learn
- Why a one-year horizon is tough for something as hardware-heavy as in-store retail media.
- What actually unlocks in-store: partners that make it easy for a retailer to say yes.
- Why the merchant, the person who owns the piano, is the real decision-maker.
- Which retail categories will adopt in-store first, and why.
- How to measure success without sacrificing the store experience.
- How to make non-endemic feel like a natural complement, not a random ad.
Episode highlights
- 00:00The tables are turned: from moderator to guest
- 01:00Why a year is a hard horizon for in-store
- 01:29Partners that make it easier for retailers to say yes
- 02:45Not making the store feel like advertising
- 03:38Who owns the piano? The merchant decides
- 04:40Which retailers move first: drug, convenience, grocery, home improvement
- 05:43Success metrics: monetization plus sales lift, without losing NPS
- 06:40Endemic vs non-endemic: natural complements
- 08:00Three pieces of advice for going in-store
Episode summary
Leora Kelman spends her days on the hard version of this problem, so she is honest about it: in-store retail media is difficult. A year is a very short horizon for something that depends on hardware and physical experience. She has been excited about in-store for three or four years, working with clients on it, and the truth is that the idea is easy to agree with and hard to deliver. What she thinks unlocks it is technology partners that make it easier for a retailer to say yes, solving the unglamorous problems of in-store Wi-Fi, power, and CapEx that otherwise stall everything.
Her most quotable idea is about power inside the retailer. Ask who owns the piano, she says, meaning who is accountable for the top-line and bottom-line numbers. That is usually the merchant, and while the retail media and ads team may pick partners and push the initiative, you will not get far unless the merchants are on board. It is also why the experience matters so much: nobody wants their store to feel like advertising, even as digital screens, done well, can make a store feel more modern and useful at the point of decision.
On where this takes off first, Kelman points to retailers whose stores are central to the shopper relationship, drug, convenience, and grocery, where a very high share of sales still happens in the aisle, and to categories where people need information right at the shelf, like home improvement, where a shopper often does not know what they do not know. On measurement, she insists on a combination: the ad metrics (monetization, fill rate, CPM, sales lift from matched-store tests) alongside experience metrics, making sure NPS and CSAT hold, and ideally seeing cross-sell rise.
She closes on non-endemic, which she reframes as a spectrum. Random ads feel wrong; natural complements feel right. She points to premium credit-card lifestyle baskets, the Amex Platinum grouping of Lululemon, Equinox, Hulu, and The New York Times, as brands that cohere. A pickup-truck ad at a home improvement store fits; life insurance at the grocery store does not. Her three pieces of advice for any retailer going in-store: find the right partner, build internal buy-in, and set a realistic sales strategy so it is not judged as underperforming a year later.
Key takeaways
- 01:00 A year is a hard horizon for in-store retail media because it takes real hardware and experience; it is genuinely hard.
- 01:29 What unlocks in-store is partners that make it easy for retailers to say yes, solving Wi-Fi, power, and CapEx, not just the idea.
- 03:38 Ask who owns the piano: the merchants own the top and bottom line, so you won’t get far unless they’re on board.
- 04:40 In-store moves fastest where the store is central to the shopper relationship (drug, convenience, grocery) and where people need information at the point of purchase (home improvement).
- 05:58 Measure both the ad product (monetization, fill rate, CPM, sales lift via matched-store tests) and the experience; well-done ads generally don’t hurt NPS and can lift cross-sell.
- 06:40 Non-endemic works when it’s a natural complement, like the Amex Platinum lifestyle basket or a pickup-truck ad at a home improvement store, not something random.
- 08:00 Going in-store: pick the right partner, build internal buy-in, and set a realistic sales strategy so it isn’t judged as underperforming 12 months in.
Questions people ask
Who is Leora Kelman?
Leora Kelman is a Managing Director and Partner at Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where she leads the firm’s retail media work for North America. She focuses on consumer marketing, retail media strategy, personalization, and media monetization.
Why is in-store retail media so hard?
In-store requires real hardware and experience, so a one-year horizon is tough. Retailers face practical barriers like in-store Wi-Fi, power, and CapEx, and must justify it against everything else they are doing in the store. Kelman says what unlocks it is technology partners that make it easy for a retailer to say yes.
Who decides on in-store retail media inside a retailer?
The merchant. Kelman’s rule is to ask who owns the piano, meaning who is responsible for the top-line and bottom-line numbers. The retail media and ads team may select partners and advocate, but you will not get far unless the merchants are on board.
Which retailers will adopt in-store retail media first?
Retailers whose store footprint is central to how they engage shoppers, such as drug stores, convenience stores, and grocery, where a very high share of sales still happens in store. Also categories where the consumer needs information at the point of purchase, like home improvement, where shoppers often do not know what they do not know.
What are the success metrics for in-store retail media?
A combination. From the ad side: monetization, fill rate, and CPM or sponsorship rates, plus sales lift measured through matched-store tests. From the experience side: making sure NPS and CSAT do not drop, and ideally seeing cross-sell or upsell rise. Kelman warns against sacrificing long-term store experience and brand for short-term revenue.
How should retailers think about endemic versus non-endemic in store?
Non-endemic works when it is a natural complement rather than random. Kelman points to premium credit-card lifestyle baskets, such as the Amex Platinum grouping of Lululemon, Equinox, Hulu, and The New York Times, as brands that feel coherent together. A pickup-truck ad at a home improvement store fits; a life-insurance ad at a grocery store feels off. Merchants are especially sensitive to non-endemic in store.
Full transcript
Jeanniey Walden: We’re back with Leora Kelman from Boston Consulting Group. You’re in an interesting spot, because a few minutes ago you were moderating a panel about the future of commerce media, in-store opportunities, endemic versus non-endemic, the whole nine yards, and now I’m interviewing you.
Leora Kelman: The tables are turned. It’s such a delight, thank you for having me.
Jeanniey Walden: No prep, no script. So, from your panel, what do you think is really going to happen in the next year for commerce media, retail, and in-store?
Leora Kelman: A year is a very hard time horizon for a technology that requires as much experience and hardware as in-store does. I’ve been excited about in-store for three or four years now, working with my clients on it, and the truth is it’s hard. That’s why I’m excited about the announcement today. A lot of what’s necessary is tech players or partners that make it easier for retailers to say yes in store. Right now everyone understands the idea, but they say, I have merchants, I have the problems of in-store Wi-Fi, in-store power, I’ve got CapEx, and it’s hard to justify this against all the other things I’m trying to do in store. What it’s going to take to unlock this is a partner that makes it easier to say yes, and I’m really optimistic about that.
Jeanniey Walden: I want to hug you. As the former CMO at Rite Aid who sat in those meetings around CapEx and battled with merchandising teams, I called my old chief of stores and chief merchandising officer to ask what they thought. My former chief of stores said, you can actually reduce my CapEx if you’re bringing this hardware into the store, upgrading something that got knocked off the plan every year. We can finally bring customer experience to the store. So hearing you validate it makes me excited.
Leora Kelman: On our panel, so much of the conversation was about experience and the consumer. Where there’s resistance to retail media, it’s usually because people inside the retailer are concerned about making the store feel like advertising. But as a consumer, digital screens can make things feel more modern, be very useful, and share information we need at the point of decision-making. There’s a huge win-win here. It’s just been hard to break the barrier.
Jeanniey Walden: If you’re going to move retail media in store, who is the decision-maker? The ad team, the marketing team, the merch team, ops, the CEO?
Leora Kelman: Great question. Within a retailer, you’re naive if you don’t consider the merchandising team. In any company, CPGs or retailers, you ask who owns the piano. Who’s responsible for hitting that top-line and bottom-line number? That’s often the person you need to convince. The retail media and ads team may make some decisions on partner selection, advocate, and push it forward, but you’re not going to get very far in most stores unless the merchants are at least on board.
Jeanniey Walden: Do you see certain retail industries where you expect this to take off faster than others?
Leora Kelman: Retailers for whom the store footprint is a big part of how they engage the consumer, drug stores, convenience stores, grocery to a degree, because so much of their sales are still in stores, more like 90 percent plus versus roughly 80 percent for the industry. The other interesting one is places where the consumer needs information at the point of purchase. I’m doing a home renovation right now, so home improvement is top of mind: I don’t necessarily know what I don’t know, so being able to learn more about products near the point of purchase is very useful.
Jeanniey Walden: Now let’s shift to success metrics. What should a retailer look at to know if in-store is working? NPS? Monetization, GMV?
Leora Kelman: It’s a combination, and it goes back to who’s the decision-maker. From a retail media perspective, you’re looking at monetization, fill rate, and what CPMs or sponsorship rates you can command. You’re also doing matched-store tests to look at sales lift, is this driving meaningful sales? Those elements connect. From an ads perspective, you’re asking, is this an effective ad product doing what I want? You also want to make sure, and when I’ve tested this, that ads on-site and in-store generally don’t lead to a loss in NPS or CSAT. In some places you even see an increase in cross-sell or upsell because of the presence of ads. You want to think about the business holistically, because it would be unwise to sacrifice your long-term store experience and brand for short-term revenue.
Jeanniey Walden: Last question. The balance between endemic and non-endemic media. Where does that sit?
Leora Kelman: Non-endemic can be a very broad term. It can feel totally random, or it can feel in line, lifestyle-wise, with the brand and the retailer. One thing I’ve been interested by is the lifestyle basket premium credit cards put together, the Amex Platinum or Chase Sapphire Reserve. Why does my Amex Platinum have a Lululemon, an Equinox, a Hulu, a New York Times benefit? Because those are all brands I can get on board with making sense together. It would be weird for me at a grocery store to get an ad for life insurance, but it wouldn’t be weird to get an ad for a pickup truck at a home improvement store. Thinking about the natural complements is going to be important to get non-endemic right, especially in store, where merchants and retailers are more sensitive to it.
Jeanniey Walden: For a retailer considering something in store, what are three pieces of advice you’d give?
Leora Kelman: One, find the right partner, because if you’re going to do in-store, it needs to work. If screens are down, it’s a bad experience. Two, get the right buy-in internally, so what proportion of those ads go to merchandising and category promotions so everyone is invested in this working. And three, depending on your size, be really thoughtful about the sales strategy: are you moving off-site into in-store, are you trying to get non-endemic, and what partnerships make it feel cohesive for the consumer? Right partner, internal buy-in, and a realistic sales strategy, so you don’t get complaints 12 months in that it’s underperforming expectations.
Jeanniey Walden: Such great advice. This has been so great. We could talk for hours, but we need to get some sun. Thank you so much for being on the show. Stay tuned, we’ll be right back.
Leora Kelman: Indeed. Go drink some spritz.
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