You’re likely reading about or hearing a lot of retail media jargon in meetings, and you sort of know what some of it means… but not really. Below is a ‘explain it to me like I’m 5‘ definition of the 30 most common retail media network advertising terms, drawn from years of hands-on experience and feedback from advertising veterans – us ;). If you already know all this, no sweat, this post isn’t for you. For everyone else, keep the following list handy next time you’re in a meeting and you’re struggling to keep up with all the advertising acronyms flying around the room.
Retail Media Network (RMN)
A retail media network is basically when a retailer like Amazon, Walmart, or Target becomes an advertising company. Instead of just selling products, they also sell advertising space on their websites and apps to brands who want to promote their products.
Think of it like this: if a grocery store is a physical building where people shop, a retail media network is that same store saying “Hey brands, pay us and we’ll put your products in the most visible spots and help more people find them.” The retailer has a huge advantage because they know exactly what their customers buy, when they buy it, and what they’re searching for.
ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)
ROAS is the holy grail metric that tells you how much money you made for every dollar you spent on advertising. If you spent $100 on ads and made $400 in sales, your ROAS is 4:1 (or 400%).
It’s like asking “If I give you $1, how many dollars will you give me back?” A ROAS of 3:1 means you get $3 back for every $1 you spend. Most successful retail media campaigns aim for a ROAS between 3:1 and 8:1, depending on the product and profit margins.
CPC (Cost Per Click)
CPC is exactly what it sounds like—how much you pay every time someone clicks on your ad. If your CPC is $0.50, you pay 50 cents each time someone clicks, whether they buy something or not.
It’s like paying a cover charge every time someone walks into your store. The key is making sure enough of those people who walk in actually buy something to make the cover charge worth it.
CPM (Cost Per Mille)
CPM is how much you pay for 1,000 people to see your ad, whether they click on it or not. “Mille” is just a fancy word for thousand. If your CPM is $5, you pay $5 for every 1,000 times your ad is shown.
Think of it like paying for a billboard—you pay a flat rate for exposure, regardless of how many people actually stop to look at it or visit your store afterward.
CTR (Click-Through Rate)
CTR measures what percentage of people who see your ad actually click on it. If 100 people see your ad and 3 people click, your CTR is 3%.
It’s like measuring how compelling your store window display is. A high CTR means your ad is interesting enough that people want to learn more. Most retail media ads see CTRs between 0.5% and 3%, depending on the platform and product.
Conversion Rate
Conversion rate tells you what percentage of people who click on your ad actually buy something. If 100 people click your ad and 5 people make a purchase, your conversion rate is 5%.
This is like measuring how good your salespeople are—once someone walks into your store (clicks your ad), how often do they actually buy something?
Sponsored Products
Sponsored Products are ads that look almost exactly like regular product listings but appear in premium spots like search results. When someone searches for “wireless headphones,” sponsored product ads might show up at the top of the results.
These ads are sneaky in the best way—they blend in naturally with regular search results, so they don’t feel like intrusive advertising. They’re the retail media equivalent of product placement in movies.
Sponsored Brands
Sponsored Brands are bigger, more prominent ads that showcase your brand logo and multiple products at once. Unlike Sponsored Products which promote individual items, these ads are about building brand awareness and showcasing your full product line.
Think of Sponsored Products as putting a single product in the store window, while Sponsored Brands are like renting the entire window display to showcase your whole brand story.
Campaign
A campaign is like launching a coordinated marketing mission with a specific goal, budget, and timeline. You might run a “Back to School” campaign in August to promote notebooks and backpacks, or a “Holiday Gift” campaign in December.
Each campaign contains multiple ad groups and targets specific audiences with tailored messaging. It’s your way of organizing and managing different advertising efforts without everything getting mixed up.
Ad Group
An ad group is a smaller collection of related ads within a campaign. If your campaign is “Kitchen Appliances,” you might have separate ad groups for “Coffee Makers,” “Blenders,” and “Toasters.”
This helps you organize your ads and customize your targeting and bidding for different product categories. It’s like having different sections in your store, each with its own promotion strategy.
Keyword Targeting
Keyword targeting means showing your ads when people search for specific words or phrases. If you sell coffee, you might target keywords like “coffee beans,” “espresso,” or “morning coffee.”
The art is thinking like your customers. What words would they type when they’re looking for your product? Good keyword targeting is like being a mind reader—you anticipate what people want before they fully know it themselves.
Audience Targeting
Audience targeting lets you show ads to specific groups of people based on their demographics, interests, or past shopping behavior. You can target “millennial parents” or “people who bought running shoes in the last 30 days.”
It’s like having a magical ability to only put flyers in the mailboxes of people who are actually interested in what you’re selling, instead of annoying everyone in the neighborhood.
Bid Strategy
Your bid strategy determines how much you’re willing to pay for ad placements and when. You can bid aggressively for premium spots during peak shopping times, or bid conservatively to stretch your budget across more placements.
Think of it like an auction strategy. Do you bid high early to secure the best spots, or do you wait and see if you can get a good deal? Different strategies work for different goals and budgets.
Display Advertising
Display advertising includes banner ads, video ads, and other visual advertisements that appear on websites and apps. These aren’t in search results—they’re the digital equivalent of magazine ads or billboards.
The goal is usually brand awareness rather than immediate sales. It’s like putting up a beautiful poster that reminds people your product exists when they’re not actively shopping for it.
Search Advertising
Search advertising shows your ads when people actively search for products. This is the most valuable type of advertising because it captures people with “purchase intent”—they’re already looking to buy something.
It’s like having a salesperson who only approaches customers who are clearly shopping, rather than trying to sell to people who are just browsing.
Product Detail Page (PDP)
The Product Detail Page is the specific webpage that shows all the information about a single product—photos, descriptions, reviews, price, and the buy button.
In retail media, you can often place ads directly on competitors’ PDPs. It’s like being able to put your business card on your competitor’s counter.
Impression
An impression happens every time your ad is displayed to someone, whether they notice it or not. If your ad appears on someone’s screen, that counts as one impression.
It’s the digital equivalent of someone walking past a billboard. They might not look up, but your ad was technically “seen.”
Ad Attribution
Ad attribution tracks which ads led to actual sales. Since customers often see multiple ads before buying, attribution helps you understand which touchpoints deserve credit for the final purchase.
It’s like being able to trace exactly which marketing efforts convinced someone to walk into your store. Did they see your billboard, hear your radio ad, or get your flyer? Attribution helps you figure out what’s actually working.
Retargeting
Retargeting shows ads to people who already visited your product pages or website but didn’t buy anything. It’s your second (or third, or fourth) chance to convince them.
Think of it as a polite follow-up. Someone looked at your product but left—retargeting is like sending them a friendly reminder that you still have what they were looking for, maybe with a special offer.
First-Party Data
First-party data is information that retailers collect directly from their own customers—purchase history, browsing behavior, demographics, and preferences.
This is gold for advertisers because it’s accurate, detailed, and comes straight from real customer behavior. It’s like having detailed notes about every customer who’s ever shopped in your store.
DSP (Demand-Side Platform)
A DSP is software that helps advertisers buy ad placements automatically across multiple websites and platforms. Instead of manually negotiating with each site, the DSP bids on ad spaces in real-time.
Think of it as a super-smart assistant who attends thousands of auctions simultaneously, bidding on the ad placements most likely to reach your target customers at the best price.
Programmatic Advertising
Programmatic advertising uses algorithms and data to automatically buy and place ads in real-time. When someone loads a webpage, programmatic systems instantly analyze that person’s profile and bid on the ad space if they match your target audience.
It’s like having a robot that can make thousands of advertising decisions per second, each one customized for the specific person viewing the page.
Viewability
Viewability measures whether an ad was actually visible to a human user. An ad might load on a webpage, but if it’s below the fold and the user never scrolls down, it’s not “viewable.”
Industry standards typically require that at least 50% of an ad is visible for at least 1 second (for display ads) or 2 seconds (for video ads).
Brand Safety
Brand safety ensures your ads don’t appear next to inappropriate content that could damage your brand reputation. You don’t want your family-friendly product advertised next to controversial news or adult content.
It’s like having a bodyguard for your brand image, making sure you’re only seen in the right neighborhoods.
Incrementality
Incrementality measures whether your ads actually generated new sales that wouldn’t have happened anyway. Some people might have bought your product even without seeing the ad.
It answers the crucial question: “Are my ads bringing in new customers, or just taking credit for sales that would have happened regardless?”
SOV (Share of Voice)
Share of Voice measures how much of the total advertising conversation in your category belongs to you. If there are 1,000 ad impressions for “running shoes” and 100 of them are yours, you have a 10% share of voice.
It’s like measuring how loud your voice is in a crowded room. Higher SOV usually means greater brand awareness and market presence.
Lookalike Audiences
Lookalike audiences are groups of potential customers who share similar characteristics with your existing customers. If your best customers are “urban millennials who buy organic food,” a lookalike audience would find more people matching that profile.
It’s like asking a dating app to find you more people similar to your perfect match.
Frequency Capping
Frequency capping limits how many times the same person sees your ad within a specific time period. You might cap it at 3 impressions per day to avoid annoying potential customers.
It’s like knowing when to stop calling someone—persistence is good, but stalking is counterproductive.
Walled Garden
A walled garden is a closed advertising ecosystem where one company controls both the audience data and the advertising platform. Amazon, Facebook, and Google are classic examples.
It’s called a “walled garden” because you can’t easily take your data and insights with you to other platforms. You’re playing by their rules in their garden, but the flowers (targeting capabilities) are usually worth it.
Ad Performance
Ad performance is the overall health check of your advertising efforts, combining metrics like CTR, conversion rate, ROAS, and cost efficiency to understand what’s working and what isn’t.
Think of it as your advertising report card. Good performance means your ads are reaching the right people, getting their attention, and driving profitable sales.
