Struggling with retail media performance? You’re not alone.
Modern retail media platforms like Instacart Ads, Walmart Connect, and Amazon DSP promise high returns — but many brands are seeing the opposite: wasted spend, unclear ROAS, and no SKU-level insights.
In this deep-dive, we expose the 10 biggest mistakes brands make with retail media, including:
Relying on delayed, siloed dashboards
Missing real-time SKU performance
Ignoring creative fatigue
Treating Instacart, Walmart, and Target ads as separate strategies
Trusting platform metrics without validation
If you’re a CPG brand, growth marketer, or eCommerce team wondering why your retail media ROAS is stuck, this is your wake-up call.
A high click-through rate (CTR) might make your retail media dashboard light up, but if those clicks don’t convert into actual sales, you’re just paying for attention — not action.
CPG Reality Check:
That $4.50 you spent to get someone to click on your sparkling water ad? They added a competitor to cart. Ouch.
The problem: Most platforms like Instacart or Amazon optimize toward CTR by default, not purchases. That means your ad might show up in flashy positions but never lead to a transaction.
Fix it:
Shift from impressions and clicks to SKU-level conversion. A retail media platform like RMIQ ties ad spend directly to product-level sales — so you know exactly what’s working and what’s window dressing.
Retail media is not something you launch and leave. Yet many brands do just that — especially with limited teams or when managing multiple channels.
The danger: In a volatile market, pricing, competition, and inventory status can change by the hour. If your bids don’t evolve, your ad performance tanks fast.
Example:
A Target Roundel ad set up last quarter might still be running full speed on a SKU that’s now out of stock in half your regions.
Fix it:
Automate with intelligence. RMIQ uses live data and AI to adapt campaigns in real-time — shifting bids, pausing underperformers, and reallocating budget with zero lag.
Not all products are created equal. Some are your brand heroes, others are margin-eaters. But many retail media platforms don’t let you go granular enough to tell them apart.
The cost: If your ad budget is spread equally across every SKU, you’re spending money to promote products that don’t convert — while underfunding your winners.
Example:
Your new beard oil is flying off shelves — but your ad spend is still going toward an old face scrub that’s dying on the vine.
Fix it:
RMIQ breaks down campaign performance by SKU, retailer, and region, so your top products get top support — automatically.
Retail media platforms typically offer data with a 24–72 hour lag. That means you’re making decisions today based on what happened two days ago.
The result: By the time you realize your Instacart campaign is overspending or your Walmart Connect bid is too low, the damage is done.
Fix it:
Real-time performance data is non-negotiable. RMIQ syncs data from all major platforms and delivers live insights — so your team can react before the budget bleeds.
“10x ROAS!” sounds great… until you learn it’s based on a $50 spend.
The trap: Teams chase easy ROAS wins by targeting low-competition, low-scale products — while avoiding bigger, riskier opportunities that could actually move revenue.
Fix it:
Normalize ROAS with context — volume, margin, and scale potential. RMIQ helps you focus on real growth, not feel-good stats.
Running campaigns across Instacart, Walmart, Amazon, and Target shouldn’t feel like spinning plates. But without unification, it does.
The problem: Each platform has its own dashboard, data format, and rules. Managing it all manually wastes hours and multiplies human error.
Fix it:
RMIQ acts as your command center, letting you run, adjust, and report across platforms in one place — no more platform-hopping.
Retailers give you dashboards that look great. But they only show their side of the story — and their definitions of success.
The issue: You end up trusting biased metrics, missing anomalies, and making decisions without cross-checking.
Fix it:
RMIQ normalizes and validates data across all retail media networks — giving you a true, independent performance view.
Running the same creative for six weeks on Instacart? Expect diminishing returns.
Ad fatigue is the silent killer of performance. But most brands don’t have a system to rotate assets or test creative variations.
Fix it:
With RMIQ, you can A/B test creative, measure decay, and get alerts when your ad performance starts slipping — before it hits the floor.
Your budget should move with your momentum. But most retail media plans lock in spend at the beginning of the month — regardless of performance shifts.
The result: Breakout SKUs don’t get the fuel they need. Poor performers keep burning money.
Fix it:
RMIQ dynamically reallocates budget in real-time, based on SKU-level demand, margin, and competition — so every dollar moves the needle.
Retail media isn’t a checkbox. It’s an ecosystem. But many brands treat each platform like a separate channel, with no unified view of what’s working overall.
The gap: There’s no learning loop, no strategic alignment between teams, and no clear growth roadmap.
Fix it:
RMIQ is not just a tool — it’s a strategic engine that connects the dots between products, platforms, and performance. One view. One logic. One growth strategy.
Retail media is too powerful — and too expensive — to run blind.
If you’re tired of guessing, juggling dashboards, and celebrating fake wins, maybe it’s time to upgrade from tactics to strategy.
Fix the 10 faults. Build your edge. Today.
