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Retail media networks turn shelf space into attributable ad inventory; small brands replicate the model via co-marketing tests with any retailer running a loyalty program.
260+ stores
and online
31%
year-over-year across US retailers in 2023
15 doors
and an email file of
8,000 active members
can produce statistically valid lift data if you isolate…
Academy Sports + Outdoors launched Academy Retail Media (ARM), a platform that connects advertising exposure on its digital properties to purchases in its 260+ stores and online, according to SGB Online. The move converts the retailer's customer base into a closed-loop attribution system for brand partners selling through Academy's shelves.
The mechanics: brands buy ad placements across Academy's site, app, and email channels, then track whether shoppers who saw the ad later bought the product in-store or online. ARM surfaces first-party data from Academy's loyalty program and transaction history, letting brands attribute lift to specific impressions. The retailer provides dashboards showing which creative drove foot traffic to which aisle.
This works because it solves the broken feedback loop in physical retail. A brand running a traditional trade promo through Academy used to guess whether the incremental spend drove shelf turns. ARM closes that gap. The brand sees impression counts, store-level conversion, and basket composition tied to the same customer ID. Academy monetizes shelf access twice: once through wholesale margin, again through media fees for proving the wholesale worked.
The broader mechanism is retail media arbitrage. Retailers with loyalty programs and point-of-sale data own the last mile of attribution. They sell that visibility back to brands that have no other way to connect a digital impression to a physical SKU leaving the shelf. Retail media revenue grew 31% year-over-year across US retailers in 2023, per eMarketer, because brands pay premium CPMs for closed-loop proof.
The steal for a small physical-product brand: identify the retailer you already distribute through that runs a loyalty program. Email their category buyer and propose a co-marketing test tied to their CRM. Offer to fund a segmented email send to their loyalty members featuring your SKU, with a unique discount code. Track redemptions by store location. Calculate cost per incremental unit sold. Present the results as a case for expanded shelf placement or end-cap featuring. You are proving the same thing ARM proves—that your marketing spend moves their inventory—without paying for a media network.
If your retailer does not have a loyalty program, run the test with a retail partner that does, even at smaller scale. A regional chain with 15 doors and an email file of 8,000 active members can produce statistically valid lift data if you isolate the test group and track SKU-level sales for two weeks pre- and post-campaign. Use that case study in your pitch to larger accounts. The data story—we drove 22% lift in participating stores versus control—opens doors that sample drops cannot.
The next move is to treat retailer media inventory as a line item in your trade budget, not your digital budget. If you are already paying slotting fees or funding shelf resets, redirect a portion of that spend into measurable media that proves the placement worked. Academy built ARM because brands will pay for proof. You can buy proof at small scale, then use it to negotiate better terms on the big scale.
Pitch a co-marketing test with your smallest retail partner that has a loyalty file; prove lift, then use that case study to negotiate placement with bigger accounts.
For the operator
Allocate trade budget to retail media buys that tie impressions to SKU-level sales data; treat retailer dashboards as your primary attribution source for in-store velocity.
For the house
Require suppliers pitching incremental shelf space to co-fund loyalty-driven campaigns with measurable store-level lift; use retail media platforms to pre-qualify which SKUs move before committing deep inventory.
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