Epsilon links digital retail media to in‑store sales

Epsilon has launched in-store sales attribution reporting within its retail media platform in Australia, giving retailers and brands a way to link digital retail media exposure with physical, on-shelf sales.

The reporting connects online activity with in-store point-of-sale data. Available within the Epsilon Retail Media platform, it brings online and physical performance into a single view. Epsilon positions the update as a response to the market's continued reliance on bricks-and-mortar shopping.

Physical stores still account for the majority of retail activity in Australia. More than 87% of Australian retail sales take place in-store, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics figures cited by Epsilon. This imbalance has made measurement a persistent issue for retail media programmes, which have grown quickly as retailers sell advertising inventory across their websites and apps.

Retail media reporting has traditionally skewed towards eCommerce. Brands often measure sponsored placements, display advertising, and onsite promotions using online-only metrics, while in-store outcomes sit in separate systems. As a result, marketers have had to infer store impact from broader sales trends or rely on studies that don't link exposure to purchase at the individual transaction level.

Measurement gap

The in-store attribution capability is designed to close that gap by reconciling onsite behaviour with point-of-sale transactions. It aims to provide an end-to-end view of performance across the shopper journey while preserving existing digital measures brands use to evaluate campaigns, such as online return on ad spend.

Epsilon says its data infrastructure processes large volumes of real-time data and uses deterministic measurement to assess in-store impact at scale. Deterministic approaches typically rely on known identifiers and direct matching rather than probabilistic modelling, though Epsilon did not specify which identifiers are used in the Australian deployment.

In-store attribution has become a focus for retailers and advertisers as budgets shift towards commerce media. Advertisers want reporting that resembles what they receive from large digital platforms, with clear links between spend and outcomes. Retailers, meanwhile, want to show their media inventory drives value beyond online orders, particularly in categories where shoppers still buy largely in-store.

The reporting is available through Epsilon's onsite retail media offering and can be enabled for all Epsilon Retail Media onsite clients, regardless of size or maturity. That could give smaller retail media networks access to attribution views previously limited to larger operators with extensive data and analytics teams.

New ROAS metrics

Alongside the attribution launch, Epsilon has added new performance measures to the platform. These include online ROAS, focused on eCommerce sales performance, and total ROAS, which combines online and in-store sales impact in one view.

A third measure, halo in-store ROAS, looks beyond the promoted products to gauge the influence of advertising across a brand's wider in-store portfolio. Halo reporting is often used by consumer goods advertisers that promote a subset of items but want to understand whether exposure lifts sales across the broader range.

Epsilon frames the measures as a transparency move for retailers and advertisers, reflecting a wider trend in retail media as buyers increasingly seek reporting that matches how they manage brand outcomes across channels.

Industry discussions have also focused on standardisation. Retail media networks can define and calculate outcomes differently, making comparisons difficult for agencies and brand teams running campaigns across multiple retailers. Epsilon is introducing its own set of metrics within the platform, but did not say whether its definitions align with any wider industry framework.

Retail media focus

Epsilon operates globally across data, identity, marketing services, and media products. In retail media, it works with retailers to run onsite advertising programmes, typically including sponsored product placements, display formats, and measurement tools that use retailer first-party data.

The Australian launch signals a push to address one of the more difficult parts of omnichannel measurement. Linking ad exposure to in-store purchase requires consistent checkout data capture and a matching process that complies with privacy and consent requirements. Epsilon did not provide details of its privacy approach in the announcement, but described its identity and data systems as privacy-centric.

Esme Robinson, Director Global Platform Solutions and Enablement at Epsilon, said the update is intended to make investment decisions more accountable.

"This innovation reinforces Epsilon's pioneering role in retail media," Robinson said. "By closing the loop between digital exposure and in-store sales, we're giving retailers and brands the proof they need to invest with confidence and optimise with precision at any scale."

Retailers and brands using the reporting can assess how onsite media correlates with both eCommerce transactions and store purchases, with results presented through the same platform interface.