What Is a Retail Media Network (Offsite)? The Definitive 2025 Guide

---

A Clear Definition: Retail Media Network (Offsite)

A Retail Media Network (Offsite) is a digital advertising ecosystem where a retailer’s first-party shopper data is used to target advertisements outside the retailer’s own owned and operated channels—extending to platforms like social media, connected TV, digital billboards, podcasts, and third-party websites. This enables brands to reach audiences on the open web with the precision and closed-loop measurement once limited to retailer domains.

In other words, offsite retail media is how retailers “pack up” their powerful shopper insights and activate campaigns across the wider digital universe—not just on their own websites or apps.

---

Mapping the Boundaries: What Offsite RMN Is—and Is Not

Let’s break down what counts as offsite, what’s onsite, and what’s just “regular” programmatic ads:

What’s Included:

• Paid social: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest
• CTV (Connected TV): Streaming platforms, smart TVs
• Programmatic display: Banner ads on external websites
• DOOH (Digital Out-of-Home): Billboards, transit displays
• Digital audio: Podcasts, streaming music
• Paid search ads on engines like Google, Bing, using retailer data

What’s Excluded:

• Sponsored product listings or banners on the retailer’s own site/app
• Retailer-owned email or push notification campaigns

For an in-depth industry comparison, check out Skai’s Offsite Retail Media Guide.

---

Why Offsite Retail Media Matters in 2025

The landscape has shifted fast: As retailer owned channels reach their ad capacity, brands need scalable ways to harness retail audiences elsewhere. Offsite RMN is projected to account for nearly 20% of US retail media spend in 2025, driven by:

• Limitations in on-site ad inventory
• Desire for full-funnel marketing (from awareness to purchase)
• Advanced measurement and attribution—from exposure to store sales
• Omnichannel reach for brand growth

“Retailer data is a passport to the open web:” Offsite RMN lets brands use high-quality, purchase-driven insights far beyond a retailer’s online store, giving them more meaningful targeting and measurement.

See recent market research in the Experian 2025 Offsite Guide.

---

How Offsite RMN Campaigns Work: Real Examples & Workflow

Let’s walk through a practical workflow, so you can picture what an offsite retail media campaign looks like on the ground:

Step-by-Step Offsite RMN Workflow

1. Audience Segmentation: Retailer 1st-party data segments shoppers (e.g., recent buyers of gardening supplies).
2. Creative Adaptation: Custom ad creatives built for each channel (a short video for CTV, banners for social, audio spots for podcasts).
3. Cross-Channel Activation: Activate campaigns across social, CTV, DOOH, and programmatic display—reaching the same audience wherever they consume media.
4. Measurement & Attribution: Sales impact tracked via retailer data and multi-channel analytics platforms.
5. Optimization: Results loop back to improve targeting and creative performance in real time.

Case Study: Home Depot & Scotts Miracle-Gro (CTV & DOOH, 2024)

• Used Home Depot’s data to target seasonal lawn-care audiences across streaming TV and digital billboards.
• Result: Conversion uplift of 26%, ROAS doubled, and clear closed-loop measurement to in-store sales.
• Blue Wheel Media details 2025 RMN campaign trends.

Another example: Walmart Connect blends in-store digital screens and offsite programmatic display/social to drive omnichannel ROAS for brand partners (MyTotalRetail).

---

The Technology Behind Offsite Retail Media Networks

You might wonder: How do retailers activate shopper data safely across the open web?

**The answer:

• Privacy-safe data environments (“clean rooms”),
• Customer Data Platforms (CDPs),
• SaaS marketing platforms, and
• Unified identity solutions.**

Here’s how it works:

• Clean Rooms: Secure “vaults” for anonymized, aggregated data sharing—ensuring privacy compliance (e.g., InfoSum, Decentriq).
• CDPs: Software like Salesforce CDP brings together disparate shopper data for unified segmentation and targeting.
• SaaS Platforms: Tools like The Trade Desk, Skai, and Criteo enable planning, buying, reporting across multiple external ad channels—often connected via open APIs and cloud integrations.
• Privacy & Consent: Solutions ensure GDPR/CCPA compliance, user consent management, and encrypted data transfer.
• Identity Resolution: Retailers match user profiles across channels without exposing personal information, allowing persistent, privacy-safe targeting.

For technical deep-dives, see Retail TouchPoints’ fragmentation & adtech analysis.

---

Activating Offsite RMN: Channel-by-Channel Strategies

Each channel has its own strengths, challenges, and best practices. Here’s a tactical overview for 2025:

Connected TV (CTV)

• Why it matters: Allows brands to place retail-powered ads on streaming platforms.
• How to win: Use dynamic creative tailored to segments. Leverage retailer purchase data for precise reach. Measure sales impact with closed-loop attribution. Read more in Criteo’s retail media trends.

Programmatic Display

• Industry leader: Nearly 70% of digital offsite ad spend runs here.
• Best practice: Activate segments across high-quality publisher sites; standardize reporting and frequency for campaign efficiency.

Paid Social

• Platforms: Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest
• Use case: Extend retailer audiences directly into social feeds for awareness and consideration. Focus on creative testing and audience look-alikes.

Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH)

• Formats: Digital billboards, transit, malls
• Tactic: Retail data layers for context-targeted DOOH ads, with mobile targeting extensions. Attribution links exposure to in-store or online sales ( Oxagile’s deep guide to RMN opportunities).

Digital Audio

• Channels: Podcasts, streaming apps
• Strategy: Use retailer segments to sponsor highly relevant audio content; employ sales data to validate lift.

---

Measurement, Attribution, and Privacy in Offsite RMN

One key advantage: Closed-loop measurement. Retailer data not only boosts targeting—it lets brands track every dollar spent to results (online and offline).

• Tools: Multi-touch attribution models, unified dashboards from SaaS vendors
• Privacy: Compliance is essential—retailer tech stacks ensure user consent is captured and all data sharing follows the latest legal rules (GDPR, CCPA, IAB’s TCF).
• Reporting: Brands get deep insight into which channels, creatives, and audience segments convert—enabling rapid optimization.

For full measurement details, see the official IAB Europe’s Retail Media Measurement Standards (2024).

---

The Bigger Picture: Related Trends & 2025 Innovations

Commerce Media Ecosystem

• Offsite RMN is part of the broader “commerce media” trend—using transaction and intent data for smarter advertising everywhere (Criteo Insights).

Emerging Tech: AI, Clean Rooms, Privacy

• AI-driven segmentation and campaign automation is expanding reach and making creative personalization frictionless.
• Clean rooms and data alliances allow multiple retailers to collaborate, building larger, high-quality audiences with strict privacy safeguards (Decentriq explains clean rooms).

Regulatory Landscape

• Privacy is a competitive differentiator: compliance with GDPR/CCPA/IAB standards is embedded in all leading RMN platforms.

---

Actionable Playbooks & Competitive Roadmap

Launching an offsite RMN campaign in 2025? Here’s your checklist:

• [ ] Assess retailer data readiness and privacy protocols (clean room enabled?)
• [ ] Choose SaaS or tech partners (Criteo, Skai, Epsilon, The Trade Desk, InfoSum)
• [ ] Map audience segments to appropriate channels (CTV, social, DOOH, etc.)
• [ ] Adapt creative for each channel—use dynamic tools for scale
• [ ] Activate campaign with unified reporting and closed-loop sales attribution
• [ ] Monitor and optimize using real-time data and predictive analytics
• [ ] Stay up-to-date on privacy laws, interoperability, and industry standards

---

Glossary of Key Terms

Retail Media Network (RMN): A retailer-run ad marketplace powered by proprietary shopper data

Offsite RMN: Extends retailer RMN audience/data to external properties

Clean Room: Privacy-compliant environment for data sharing/activation

CDP: Customer Data Platform—tool for unifying shopper data

Closed-Loop Measurement: Attribution linking ad exposure to real sales

DOOH: Digital Out-of-Home—digital billboards, transit screens

CTV: Connected TV—streaming ad placements

Programmatic: Automated, data-driven ad buying across the open web

Commerce Media: Advertising powered by commerce/transactional data

For details: IAB Europe’s Retail Media Guide 2024 (PDF).

---

Looking Forward: The Future of Offsite Retail Media Networks

Expect rapid growth and innovation through 2025:

• Widespread adoption of AI for audience segmentation and creative development
• More cross-retailer alliances (pooling data for scale)
• Enhanced closed-loop measurement standards
• Stronger privacy, consent, and transparency features

Bottom line: Offsite RMN is now a core pillar of omnichannel marketing—connecting retailer data with external media to forge the next wave of digital advertising effectiveness.

For deep-dive industry predictions, see Criteo’s top trends for retail media in 2025.

---

References: Embedded throughout as anchor links for your further exploration.