How to Launch a Retail Media Network: A Step-by-Step Guide | Particular Audience
Steps to launch onsite retail media: size the opportunity, choose formats, set relevance rules, onboard brands and prove results.
How to launch a retail media network
Launch a retail media network in stages: size the opportunity from your traffic and supplier base, start with sponsored products in search and category pages, set relevance and labelling rules, onboard a handful of brand partners, and agree how results will be measured before the first campaign. Expand formats and categories once those early campaigns show incremental sales.
1. Size it
Model revenue from traffic, conversion and supplier count, and decide whether to run it in-house or with a partner team.
2. Start with sponsored products
They sit closest to purchase, are easy for brands to understand and use the product catalogue you already have.
3. Set the rules
Relevance thresholds, sponsored slot limits, labelling and excluded categories.
4. Onboard brands
Begin with existing trade partners. Agree reporting and incrementality tests up front.
5. Expand
Add sponsored search, brand pages, rich media, retargeting and supplier-funded offers.
How Particular Audience does it
In production
- The Warehouse Group (TWG): 5 weeks from signature to live across The Warehouse and Noel Leeming (+126.1% Sponsored Product CTR (NL + TW))
- Intersport Austria: Intersport launched onsite retail media — and proved brand growth in five weeks (17.3× Brand-halo ROAS)
Frequently asked questions
How long does a launch take?
It depends on catalogue, data and contract readiness. Starting with one format and one category keeps the first launch small.
Related guides
- What is a retail media network?: A retail media network lets brands advertise on a retailer's own site and channels using the retailer's shopper data. How it works and what it needs.
- How should a retailer choose a retail media platform?: The questions to ask when choosing a retail media platform: relevance, formats, brand buying tools, measurement, billing and ownership.
- How to measure retail media incrementality: Use holdout groups to separate sales caused by retail media from sales that would have happened anyway, and report brand halo.