We Can’t Keep Ignoring the Retail Media Talent Shortage

There’s a challenge bubbling beneath the surface in retail media. Few are talking about it, but if we don’t address it, I expect we will see the repercussions over the next year. I’m talking about talent in retail media. The people who drive retail media — from senior network leaders to those handling day-to-day sales and operations — are the lifeblood of these networks.

Let’s oversimplify as a grounding point: retailers excel at selling products and services to consumers. That’s their core business. That is what all of the cogs in the retail machine are geared toward. However, building, operating and selling media solutions, and the accompanying technology, is an entirely different challenge that requires a distinct set of skills and talent. Compounding this issue is the fact that each retailer’s retail media network (RMN) operates with its own internal — and often complex — structure, making it difficult for brands to navigate investment and leaving ad dollars on the table.

Merchandising and retail media teams often lack a much-needed symbiosis. As a result, the merchandising and network organizations frequently struggle to offer a single point of access to the buy side, which looks at the retailer as a single entity and sales channel. This will only become more apparent as the industry moves toward leveraging stores to create truly omnichannel opportunities for advertisers. Brands and their agencies must manage this type of setup across multiple retailers, quickly exacerbating the complexity. I mean, this paragraph alone feels entangled — and it’s not selling you media!

Figuring out how to best design an internal organizational structure is challenging. It often requires major changes, most of which require executive buy-in, and adjustments to longstanding teams, practices and incentives. First and foremost, retail media can no longer be treated as a side project. It’s no longer a side project of some PPC experts. Just look at Walmart, which reported in November that retail media accounted for one-third of its third quarter operating income.

That is the litmus test every board should ask their RMNs: will you become a meaningful profit pool for the organization, and how do we get there? To succeed and maximize top-line sales growth and bottom-line ad revenue, retail media must be integrated into the core of the business and treated as a top priority. And, yes, this means merchants and monetization leaders have shared incentives and performance markers.

Even if retailers get their structures right, the talent question — who staffs these key positions — lingers. Many of the retailers have built in-house teams. In-housing can be a great approach; developing and nurturing talent that understands the specific ins and outs that are endemic to your business is key to the long-term sustainability of an RMN. However, it’s not the only way — and in many cases, it’s not the best way. The question isn’t: Should you build your own teams? The question is: Which functions should you build internally vs. which ones should be outsourced to accelerate execution? But, we’re seeing many networks continue to try to muscle their way through on their own.

Retail media is growing rapidly. Over 200 networks now exist globally, and new ones are being launched regularly. The challenge is clear: the industry is expanding, but there simply isn’t enough talent to support this growth … or dollars. Top-tier talent has already been scooped up by the largest players — Amazon, Walmart, and a few others — (and that will continue) leaving a limited pool of skilled individuals to lead and grow new RMNs. Building tech, running sales, optimizing operations, navigating merchant orgs, and managing the board are all necessities but are tough to get right. Few will do it right and stand on their own. Taking on all facets of running a network is a drag on execution in an industry that continues to change at a rapid pace.