If measurement is the Holy Grail of in-store retail media, is 2026 the year when we will finally have it within our grasp? This week, we’re looking back at what strides the retail media industry took in in-store digital measurement across 2025 and where it is heading in the next 12 months.
As 2025 ends and 2026 begins, TWIRM is stepping away from our usual format covering the week’s biggest retail media headlines to present the second of three special This Year in Retail Media podcasts. In each episode, host Kate Dickson, Head of Marketing and Communications, Retail Media, STRATACACHE, sits down with an industry thought leader to reflect on 2025’s defining retail media trends and forecast what’s coming in 2026.
To take the measure of the moment, Kate welcomes Chris McLelland, Director of Business Development at Walkbase, where he works with an array of retail clients on data-driven digital marketing. Together they explore why a sharp focus on the need for universal standards for in-store metrics will drive industry discussions in 2026, and why that quest is gaining ever greater urgency for both marketers and retailers alike.
“There’s too much confusion to adopt [the same metrics] for different retailers because they talk a different language,” Chris notes. “We have to see steps in the right direction toward standardized measurement.”
Chris also shares his predictions for third-party verification adoption, the evolution of in-housing at retailers, and why putting customers first—rather than channels—will unlock retail media’s true potential in the year ahead.
Finally, Chris reveals his favorite shops to visit during the holiday season and why his local Pets at Home remembers his dog’s name better than his own.
Click here to hear Kate and Chris discuss why 2026 could be retail media measurement’s breakthrough year.
