Albertsons' Liz Roche On Full-Funnel Retail Media, Matched Markets & Moving Beyond Vanity Metrics
Liz Roche, VP of Media and Measurement at Albertsons Media Collective, reveals how the retail media giant is expanding into full-funnel activation and using rigorous measurement to prove business outcomes that matter.
In this exclusive interview, recorded live from the VusionGroup Podcast Studio at Groceryshop 2025, Liz shares:
✅ Three-channel strategy with CPG spend matching: influencers, in-store screens, on-site ads
✅ Over 2,200 stores across 13 of top 15 DMAs reaching 47 million loyal shoppers
✅ Moving from vanity metrics to KPIs tied to category growth and brand LTV
✅ Using matched market and synthetic control methodologies for sales lift
✅ Multi-cell testing to find channel combination arbitrage (1+1=3)
✅ In-house measurement capabilities: attribution, marketing science, research analytics
✅ Digital out-of-home and last-mile opportunities in grocery
✅ Screens in high-dwell areas: deli, meat counter, pharmacy
With experience spanning Meta, LinkedIn, publishing, and agencies before joining Albertsons nearly a year ago, Liz brings a unique perspective on retail media measurement. Discover how Albertsons leverages scale and divisional structure to run sophisticated experiments isolating variables and proving incremental sales lift.
Learn why Albertsons believes "when our clients are winning, we're winning" and how that philosophy drives their focus on moving units, not just metrics.
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#RetailMedia #Albertsons #MarketingMeasurement #InfluencerMarketing #SalesLift #Groceryshop
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Transcript
Hello, everyone.
Speaker A:This is Omnitalk Retail.
Speaker A:I'm Chris Walton.
Speaker B:And I'm Anne Mazinga.
Speaker A: at grocery shop booth number: Speaker A:We're gonna be here all day.
Speaker A:Stop on in if you want to say hello.
Speaker A:And now I'm pleased to introduce to you Liz Roach, the VP of Media and Measurement at Albertsons Media Collective.
Speaker A:Liz has been on our show many times.
Speaker A:Welcome back, Liz.
Speaker C:Thank you, Chris.
Speaker C:Thank you, Ann.
Speaker C:Always a pleasure to be with you both.
Speaker B:Well, I want to start by having you just introduce yourself to some people who are maybe new to Amitak, who haven't seen your previous performances here on Amitak.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker B:On the stage and then what your role is at Albertsons for sure.
Speaker C:So I. I am happy to be here.
Speaker C:I've been with Albertsons coming up on a year in January, actually.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker C:Vice President of Media and Measurement over at the collective side of the business.
Speaker C:Prior to this, I've held some leadership roles and agency.
Speaker C:I've been at platforms, meta, LinkedIn, and I also spent some time in publishing.
Speaker C:So really I've run the gambit, but all of that coalescing back into the world of retail media.
Speaker B:And what do you oversee at Albertsons right now?
Speaker C:All of our media buying strategy and optimization and planning, of course, and then all of our measurement capability, which we do in house.
Speaker C:So attribution, our marketing science team, our research analytics team, and the like.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker C:I'm also overseeing the digital in store screen network.
Speaker C:So we have some new solutions that we've launched this year and I'm lucky enough to be able to oversee those initiatives as well.
Speaker A:Yeah, and funny enough, I was just going to ask you about that because we actually talked about some of the new initiatives you have in regards to retail media on our weekly podcast.
Speaker A:I want to make sure I get it right too.
Speaker A:So I'm going to read my notes here.
Speaker A:But you basically said you're getting behind three media channels.
Speaker A:I think this is like a couple weeks ago, right?
Speaker A:A couple weeks ago.
Speaker A:And those were influencers in store screens and on site ad placements, with the position also that some of the CPG dollars spent towards those initiatives would be matched by the Albertsons media collective.
Speaker A:So what was the rationale there in terms of the framework and then also the matching of the spend?
Speaker C:Yeah, the framework is really to meet our shoppers where they're at and to provide more full funnel experience by way of inspiration and discovery.
Speaker C:I think influencer plays a great role in that in being able to create interesting content around something that we all love.
Speaker C:Food and, you know, housekeeping and keeping our homes nice.
Speaker C:It's a natural sweet spot for influencer when it comes to our in store screens.
Speaker C:We have over 2,200 stores across the U.S. you guys know we operate in 13 of the top 15 DMAs, 47 million loyal shoppers, over 500 million trips per year.
Speaker C:The store is an amazing canvas to drive full funnel activation all the way from hey, how do I inspire you out of the grilled chicken and bagged salad through to how do I make sure that you understand what my price and promo deal is this week?
Speaker C:So we're really, really bullish on store and then our on site as well.
Speaker C:We know that's high intent territory.
Speaker C:When people are on.com, they're definitely shopping.
Speaker C:So we want to make sure that those placements are high impact and that we can really run the gambit when it comes to everything from discovery to conversion.
Speaker B:Well, and Liz, how do you think, I mean, in your VP of measurement, these are a lot of channels to be tracking, to be measuring and looking at efficacy and where to kind of place place to your future bets.
Speaker B:How are you doing all of that and how are there like nuances to each one that you're having to break down, explain kind of your philosophy and how you approach that?
Speaker C:Yeah, I mean, this is a lot of what I've been speaking about here because we're getting so much more interest in doing some more full funnel stuff.
Speaker C:Again, I think a lot of it has to do with the Albertson scale.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:We don't just need to be a low funnel player.
Speaker C:We're addressing a lot of the adults in the US So how can we create kind of those upper funnel moments and really feed the funnel to drive efficiency low for us?
Speaker C:You know, that means that we need to get kind of creative when it comes to measurement.
Speaker C:Not everything in that high funnel area is one to one, but we need to make sure that we're moving units.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker C:So measuring sales lift using match market, using synthetic control, match market and really trying to understand the lift, especially for in store, is really critical.
Speaker C:And for us we're really focused on, hey, how do we isolate some of these variables and figure out where we're driving incremental sales, where we're moving units.
Speaker B:What are some of the things blocking you from being able to do that right now?
Speaker B:Like, are there things standing in the way that could prevent you from getting to this clear picture?
Speaker C:I think we're Getting pretty close.
Speaker C:Where it becomes tricky is when you're combining channel on channel on channel.
Speaker C:And for us, again, because we have our division structure and because we have such scale, we are able to execute multi cell tests and understand, hey, I've got one channel running in this market, I have three channels running in this market, I have two channels running in this market.
Speaker C:Where am I getting that arbitrage opportunity of one plus one equals three.
Speaker C:Yep.
Speaker C:So a lot of experimentation, but when you have the scale, it does make it unlocks it for sure.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:And so Liz, you mentioned you've been talking about this at the show all the time.
Speaker A:You talked about it on stage.
Speaker A:I'm curious, like, did you, did you present, did you share the stage with anybody else?
Speaker A:What were some of the other key things you shared at the conference?
Speaker C:Yeah, so I was really lucky to be on a panel with Mike from Pepsi.
Speaker C:And we had a great conversation both about partnership, but also about getting metrics that are closer to business outcomes.
Speaker C:We know there are a lot of metrics that can be vanity metrics, some that are efficiency metrics.
Speaker C:At the end of the day at Albertsons, at the Collective, yes, we're a media company, but we are a retailer.
Speaker C:We have to move units, we have to move more units.
Speaker C:And when our clients are winning, we're winning.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:When they grow, we grow.
Speaker C:So being able to start isolating some of those KPIs that do speak to category growth, brand growth, LTV, getting more longitudinal, all things that our partners are really interested in and things we want to dig in with them.
Speaker B:So we'll close out with this question.
Speaker B:I'm curious where you see retail media heading kind of, and it's its presence in grocery.
Speaker B:As we look out, you know, across the next three to five years, do you feel like we're still in early innings?
Speaker B:You mentioned things like influencers, and we think about how people are searching and finding products.
Speaker B:Like, how are some of these new technologies going to impact where, where you think the state of retail media is headed?
Speaker C:Retail media and grocery is fun because grocery shopping is inherently fun.
Speaker C:And in making food, everyone's got to do it.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker C:And also, you know, like, look clean.
Speaker C:I'm on clean talk.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:Home cleaning, all of these things are fun for us.
Speaker C:So I think there's no end in sight for where we move in grocery.
Speaker C:I do think that there's so much room for us to play in some of those more content rich spaces.
Speaker C:There's also room for us to play in digital out of home.
Speaker C:There's room for us to play in store.
Speaker C:There's room for us to influence the last mile with the frequency of grocery especially, you know, I think of the store and the last mile to the store as ripe for opportunity to drive some kind of inspiration.
Speaker C:Again, how do we get you to think outside of the typical dinner box?
Speaker C:So I think we're going to see a lot more formats, a lot more channels, really.
Speaker C:I think we'll see an emphasis on creative, on influencer and things that really just kind of mirror the fun of being in the store.
Speaker B:How do you think about experience?
Speaker B:That's one thing that we've been hearing from some retail media outlets about how you can measure experiences in the store outside of the store.
Speaker B:Like, do you think about that as a possible channel?
Speaker C:Yeah, I think there's.
Speaker C:That's certainly on the table.
Speaker C:There's nothing off the table for us.
Speaker C:The screen experience is part of it.
Speaker C:Right.
Speaker C:Being able to bring these big beautiful screens into areas where you might have a little more dwell time.
Speaker C:Think deli, think meat counter, think pharmacy and put really engaging inspirational content.
Speaker C:It's a huge win for our shoppers.
Speaker C:It's a huge win for our brands.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:Are there any other channels that you're thinking about that you can tease for us?
Speaker C:I wish I could say, okay, I'm curious.
Speaker A:I thought I'd ask.
Speaker C:But you know, especially with at Albertsons, you guys know we're extremely data driven.
Speaker C:We're also really, really willing to test and lean into innovation.
Speaker C:So, you know, we're open minded.
Speaker C:We've got open ears when it comes to trying some new things.
Speaker A:Awesome.
Speaker A:Well, thank you, Liz.
Speaker A:Thanks for joining us.
Speaker C:Thanks for having me as always.
Speaker C:Yeah, always a pleasure.
Speaker A:Hope the rest of the show goes great for you.
Speaker A:And thank you to the Fusion group for sponsoring our coverage here today and as always, and be careful out there.
