Circana and Best Buy Ads have released findings from a marketing mix modeling (MMM) study designed to measure the impact of retail media beyond transactions occurring within a single retailer. The research examines leading consumer electronics and appliance brands and compares Best Buy Ads with national media investments across sales, category demand and longer-term brand value.
The study addresses a growing measurement challenge for retail media: determining whether advertising produces incremental marketplace demand or primarily shifts purchases within a retailer’s own ecosystem.
According to Circana’s MMM analysis, Best Buy Ads generated a return on ad spend (ROAS) 79% higher than other media when measured against total U.S. Best Buy sales.
Measuring the Retail Media Halo
A central finding is the reported cross-retailer effect. Nearly 16% of media-driven sales associated with Best Buy Ads occurred at competing retailers, according to the study.
That result suggests retail media can influence consumers beyond the retailer’s owned environment. Rather than treating a retail media impression as valuable only when it leads to a transaction on the same platform, the research attempts to connect advertising exposure with subsequent purchasing activity across the broader category.
For advertisers, the distinction matters as retail media networks increasingly compete for budgets traditionally allocated to search, social, video and other digital channels. Measurement that stops at retailer-attributed transactions can make cross-channel and cross-retailer effects difficult to quantify.
Brand Impact Enters the Equation
The Circana analysis also attributes nearly 10% of measured brand equity value to Best Buy Ads. Best Buy characterizes the finding as evidence that retail media can contribute to longer-term brand strength in addition to immediate sales.
Bringing brand equity into the same measurement framework as sales and media performance reflects a broader shift toward full-funnel retail media measurement. Advertisers increasingly need to understand how retail media contributes to both conversion and consideration rather than evaluating networks exclusively through lower-funnel metrics.
The study is particularly relevant to consumer electronics and appliances, where shoppers often research products across multiple retailers before completing a purchase.
Implications for Advertisers
The findings could affect how brands evaluate retail media investments and compare them with national media spending.
If advertising exposure on one retail network can influence purchases elsewhere, advertisers may need to account for broader marketplace effects when calculating the economic contribution of retail media. That also raises questions about how retail media networks should establish independent measurement standards and avoid relying exclusively on platform-reported attribution.
For agencies, MMM can provide a complementary perspective to deterministic attribution and retailer-level reporting. It can help connect media investment with sales patterns across channels while incorporating longer-term brand outcomes.
Programmatic and Retail Media Context
Retail media is increasingly becoming part of the broader advertising technology ecosystem, with retailer first-party data, off-site media, programmatic buying and closed-loop measurement converging around commerce audiences.
The Circana-Best Buy Ads study reinforces the importance of measurement infrastructure capable of connecting these environments without limiting analysis to a retailer’s own transaction data.
The reported 16% cross-retailer sales contribution is particularly relevant as advertisers seek to understand whether retail media creates incremental category demand. However, the results are specific to the brands, categories and methodology examined in this study and should not automatically be generalized across all retail media networks.
Strategic Outlook
Retail media’s next measurement challenge is moving from platform attribution toward broader evidence of incremental business impact. MMM can help address that gap by evaluating media alongside sales, market behavior and brand outcomes.
The Circana study points toward a measurement model in which retail media is assessed not simply by what happens inside a retailer’s walls, but by how advertising affects the wider consumer journey.
As retail media budgets expand, independent full-funnel measurement could become increasingly important for advertisers deciding how much investment belongs with retailer networks versus broader national media channels.
Top Insights
- 79% higher ROAS: Circana reports that Best Buy Ads outperformed other media on U.S. Best Buy sales.
- Cross-retailer impact: Nearly 16% of media-driven sales associated with Best Buy Ads occurred at competing retailers.
- Brand equity measurement: Best Buy Ads contributed nearly 10% of measured brand equity value in the study.
- MMM expands the measurement lens: The research connects sales, category demand and longer-term brand value.
- Retail media moves beyond closed-loop attribution: The findings highlight the need to measure marketplace effects outside a retailer’s own ecosystem.
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