Omni Talk’s Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga welcomed back Liz Roche, VP of Media and Measurement at Albertsons Media Collective, to the VusionGroup podcast studio at Groceryshop 2025. Liz shared how Albertsons is leveraging its massive scale—over 2,200 stores, 47 million loyal shoppers, and 500 million trips per year—to execute full-funnel retail media strategies while staying laser-focused on what matters most: moving units.
From Agency to Platform to Retail Media Leadership
Liz is approaching her one-year anniversary at Albertsons in January, bringing extensive experience from agency leadership roles, platforms including Meta and LinkedIn, and publishing. This diverse background across the media ecosystem now coalesces into her work in retail media, where she oversees all media buying, strategy, optimization, planning, and measurement capabilities.
Her measurement responsibilities span attribution, marketing science, research analytics, and the digital in-store screen network. Albertsons handles measurement in-house, giving them direct control over understanding what drives results across their expanding channel portfolio.
🔑 Three Channels, One Strategy: Meeting Shoppers Where They Are
The Investment Framework
A few weeks before Groceryshop, Albertsons Media Collective announced a significant initiative backing three media channels: influencers, in-store screens, and on-site ad placements. The framework includes matching CPG partner investments, demonstrating Albertsons’ commitment to their success.
The rationale centers on meeting shoppers where they are and providing full-funnel experiences through inspiration and discovery. Each channel serves specific purposes:
Influencers: Food, housekeeping, and home care represent natural sweet spots for influencer content. Creating interesting content around topics people already love enables authentic discovery and inspiration at the top of the funnel.
In-Store Screens: With over 2,200 stores operating in 13 of the top 15 DMAs, physical stores represent an incredible canvas for full-funnel activation. The screens can inspire shoppers beyond grilled chicken and bagged salad while ensuring they understand weekly price and promotional deals. Liz emphasized they’re “really bullish on store,” recognizing its potential to drive everything from inspiration to conversion.
On-Site Placements: When shoppers visit Albertsons.com, they’re in high-intent territory—actively shopping. These placements need to be high-impact, running the full gambit from discovery to conversion.
Measurement Philosophy: Business Outcomes Over Vanity Metrics
During her panel with a representative from Pepsi, Liz discussed the critical distinction between vanity metrics, efficiency metrics, and business outcomes. While Albertsons Media Collective operates as a media company, the underlying reality is clear: they’re a retailer first. They must move units—and more units.
The philosophy is straightforward: when clients win, Albertsons wins. When partners grow, Albertsons grows. This alignment drives their focus toward KPIs that speak to category growth, brand growth, lifetime value, and longitudinal performance rather than surface-level engagement metrics.
The Measurement Challenge
Not everything in the upper-funnel space is one-to-one measurable, but Albertsons still needs to prove they’re moving units. Their approach includes:
- Measuring sales lift using matched market methodology
- Employing synthetic control matched market techniques
- Isolating variables to determine where they’re driving incremental sales
- Understanding which channels and combinations deliver results
Liz noted that combining channel upon channel creates complexity, but Albertsons’ divisional structure and scale enable multi-cell testing. They can run one channel in one market, three channels in another, and two channels in a third, identifying arbitrage opportunities where one plus one equals three.
Experimentation Unlocked by Scale
Operating in 13 of the top 15 DMAs with 47 million loyal shoppers provides Albertsons with a significant advantage: the ability to experiment at scale. Their divisional structure allows them to isolate variables and run controlled tests that smaller players cannot execute. This scale transforms measurement from theoretical to practical, unlocking insights about channel combinations and incremental lift.
The Future: More Formats, More Channels, More Fun
When asked about retail media’s trajectory in grocery over the next three to five years, Liz offered an enthusiastic perspective. Grocery shopping is inherently fun—everyone has to eat, cook, and maintain their homes. This universal relevance creates endless opportunities.
Liz sees significant room for growth in:
- Content-rich spaces where inspiration thrives
- Digital out-of-home opportunities
- In-store activation and experiences
- Last-mile influence before shoppers reach the store
With grocery’s high shopping frequency, the store and the last mile to it represent prime opportunities for driving inspiration—getting shoppers to think beyond the typical dinner box.
The Experience Dimension
While Liz couldn’t reveal specific future channels, she confirmed that experience-driven retail media is on the table. The digital screen network already contributes to this by bringing large, beautiful screens to high-dwell areas like deli counters, meat departments, and pharmacies. Engaging, inspirational content in these locations creates wins for both shoppers and brands.
Liz emphasized that Albertsons is extremely data-driven while remaining willing to test and lean into innovation. Nothing is off the table—they maintain open minds and open ears when it comes to trying new approaches.
The Bottom Line
Albertsons Media Collective is leveraging its massive scale to execute full-funnel retail media strategies that prioritize business outcomes over vanity metrics. By investing in influencers, in-store screens, and on-site placements—and matching partner investments in these channels—they’re demonstrating commitment to meeting shoppers across their entire journey. With sophisticated in-house measurement capabilities and willingness to experiment, Albertsons is positioned to lead retail media’s evolution from lower-funnel conversion tactics to comprehensive, inspiration-driven experiences that move more units for everyone.
🎧 Want to hear the full conversation? Watch above or listen via your favorite podcasting platform:
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music
Be careful out there,
– Chris, Anne, and the Omni Talk team
Music by hooksounds.com
#retailtech #retailmedia #albertsons #measurement #omnitalk #groceryshop #influencermarketing #instoremarketing
Omni Talk® is the retail blog for retailers, written by retailers. Chris Walton founded Omni Talk® in 2017 and have quickly turned it into one of the fastest growing blogs in retail.