Retail Media in Loops, Not Lines: Why Connected Commerce Demands a New Measurement Model
For years, marketers have relied on a familiar shape to explain consumer behavior: the funnel. A neat, linear path from awareness to consideration to purchase. But anyone who shops today knows this model is broken. Shoppers don’t move in straight lines; they loop, jump, and spiral through discovery, validation, purchase, and back again.
Nowhere is this more visible than in retail media. Retail ads are no longer just performance drivers at the bottom of the funnel. They are connective touchpoints that influence discovery, brand building, loyalty, and cross-channel demand. And yet, too many brands still measure them as if they were one-and-done transactions.
It’s time for a new measurement model, one that reflects the loops of Connected Commerce, not the lines of outdated funnels.
Why Linear Models Fall Short
The traditional way of reporting on retail media centers around ROAS (Return on Ad Spend). Retailers provide siloed dashboards with their own KPIs, leading to a patchwork of disconnected insights. The problem? ROAS is a surface metric. It tells you what was purchased, but not what was influenced.
- Did a sponsored ad on Amazon drive a new-to-brand buyer, or just shift share from another SKU?
- Did your TikTok-driven awareness campaign fuel branded search on Walmart?
- Did Subscribe & Save sign-ups create long-term retention loops, or were they short-term promotions in disguise?
Linear reporting can’t answer these questions. Funnels assume a start and an end. But in commerce today, the journey never really ends. It loops into loyalty, repeat purchase, and rediscovery across platforms.
The Loop Model of Connected Commerce
Instead of funnels, think loops. Consumers cycle through four interconnected stages:
- Discovery → often off-platform via TikTok, Instagram, or influencer content.
- Validation → comparing reviews, prices, and product details across marketplaces.
- Purchase → completing the order wherever is most convenient: Amazon, Walmart, Target, Instacart, or even in-store.
- Loyalty & Rediscovery → subscription models, branded search, or repeat shopping moments that spark the loop again.
These loops explain why investments in one channel often create results in another. TikTok hype can drive Amazon search. Sponsored placements at Tesco can influence performance at Sainsbury’s. Loyalty programs extend customer lifetime value far beyond the first sale.
Essity — Loops Within Retail Ecosystems
The Challenge: Essity, a global leader in hygiene and health, had strong in-store performance at Tesco and Sainsbury’s but lagged in digital channels. Onsite retail media was low in profitability and under-optimized.
The Approach: Front Row worked with Essity to develop a strategic, data-driven retail media plan. By restructuring campaigns, refining targeting, and applying SEO-informed sponsored ad strategies, we uncovered inefficiencies in budget phasing and allocation.
The Results:
- +93% sales growth across digital retail channels
- +45% clicks through improved targeting
- Increased ROAS despite larger investments
- Amazon sales performance exceeded baselines by 20x for select brands
The Loop Insight: Investments created ripple effects across retailers. By approaching Tesco and Sainsbury’s as connected nodes rather than siloed platforms, Essity turned retail partnerships into engines of sustainable growth.
Case Study 2: Coca-Cola & Monster Energy — From Hype to Loyalty
The Challenge: In Germany, less than 3.5% of beverage sales happened online. For Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, this represented both a barrier and a massive opportunity.
The Approach: Front Row partnered with Coca-Cola to translate cultural hype around Monster Energy into measurable Amazon sales. The strategy spanned the full funnel:
- Prime Video ads for upper-funnel awareness
- Sponsored Brands & DSP campaigns to capture consideration and conversion
- Retargeting of ad viewers and PDP browsers to drive purchase
- Subscribe & Save programs to extend loyalty and customer lifetime value
The Results:
- +70% revenue uplift vs. previous year
- +180% page views growth
- +42% additional subscriptions via Subscribe & Save
- Secured #1 bestseller rank in the energy drink category
The Loop Insight: Hype from TikTok fueled awareness, captured by retail media loops. Prime Video ads generated discovery, retargeting converted browsers, and Subscribe & Save turned one-time buyers into long-term loyalists.
Rethinking Measurement: From ROAS to Incrementality
The future of retail media measurement isn’t about tracking the last click. It’s about answering bigger, loop-aware questions:
- Incremental Sales: Did campaigns create new demand, or shift volume from elsewhere?
- Cross-Channel Impact: How did retailer ads influence branded search, social engagement, or in-store sell-through?
- Lifetime Value: What is the retention curve of a Subscribe & Save customer versus a one-off purchaser?
- Category Leadership: Are campaigns building share of voice that compounds into long-term visibility?
At Front Row, we blend retailer-reported KPIs with Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) insights, proprietary analytics through Catapult, and incrementality testing. The goal is to reveal where the next dollar should go to maximize both near-term efficiency and long-term brand growth.
What Brands Need to Do Next
- Audit Measurement Models: Identify where linear ROAS reporting hides true performance.
- Adopt Loop-Based Attribution: Recognize that every campaign can influence awareness, purchase, and loyalty—often in ways dashboards don’t show.
- Invest in Cross-Platform Strategy: Don’t assume success on one retailer equals growth everywhere. Your shoppers don’t live in silos, and neither should your media.
- Balance Now vs. Next: Pair baseline evergreen investment with flexible bursts around seasonal events, launches, and cultural moments.
- Partner for Scale: Work with teams that bring together media, data, and retail strategy under one roof—so you can act on insights, not drown in them.
Conclusion: Winning in Loops
The brands that will win in Connected Commerce are those that embrace loops: campaigns that fuel each other, platforms that feed one another, and strategies that measure more than last-click ROAS.
At Front Row, we’ve seen firsthand, from Essity’s 93% sales growth to Coca-Cola’s #1 category win, that when you design for loops, retail media becomes more than ad spend. It becomes a growth engine.
Ready to move beyond the funnel? Let’s talk about how your brand can measure, scale, and win in loops.
