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UK retail media networks powered by Epsilon: a guide to the partnerships behind the platforms
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Retail media has moved from a handful of sponsored product placements into the fastest growing part of the advertising sector, and the shape of the discipline has changed with it. Campaigns now run across premium publisher sites, online video and connected TV, with retailers using first-party data and trusted shopper relationships to help brands grow across the open web.
What sits underneath that shift is a measurement model that ties exposure directly to sales, both online and in store. The five campaigns below show how that plays out in practice, with brands using precise audience definition across onsite and offsite channels to extend reach, recruit new customers and re-engage lapsed ones with relevance. Performance in each case is measured through to purchase, which is what gives retail media its credibility as a growth channel.
Taken together, they illustrate where retail media is heading in the UK: closer to the centre of the marketing mix, with measurable outcomes attached.
Sheba × Ocado
Ocado was well placed to help premium cat food brand Sheba break through the high loyalty that defines the category. As an online-only grocer with complete visibility of customer behaviour and a tech-savvy, affluent shopper base, it could use first-party pet purchase data to find cat owners likely to try Sheba and measure incremental sales in a way traditional pet retail struggles to match.
Under the hood Audiences were built from Ocado's first-party purchase data, spanning existing Sheba buyers, lapsed users and likely new customers. The campaign combined Ocado's own channels, including personalised customer emails and on-site placements, with offsite paid social and programmatic display. Closed-loop measurement tied exposures back to actual purchases on Ocado, confirming a clear uplift in new-customer orders and a strong return on ad spend.
Premium Fashion Brand × John Lewis Partnership
John Lewis Partnership's curated, quality-first retail environment made it a credible growth channel for a global fashion house known for clean lines and understated design. The brand needed to reach high-value shoppers in a context that matched its positioning, and John Lewis offered an affluent, style-conscious customer base with a natural affinity for premium fashion, alongside the data infrastructure to evidence what media spend delivered.
Under the hood Audiences were modelled from John Lewis first-party transaction data, seeded by the brand's top purchasers and extended through lookalike higher-income households with a propensity for premium fashion. Recent buyers were suppressed to keep spend focused on recruitment. Offsite display ran across premium digital environments and closed-loop measurement linked every impression to verified sales, confirming of all converted customers, 58% had no previous purchase history and 42% were lapsed buyers who had not bought in over a year.
TV Brand × Currys Tech Hunters
Currys wanted to show that retail media could drive demand ahead of product launch, not only harvest intent at the checkout. For premium TVs, that meant identifying audiences early, scaling reach across channels and connecting exposure to outcomes in store. Retail media powered by Currys first-party data was well suited to the job, with the depth of behavioural signal needed to find pre-market audiences and the measurement framework to tie connected TV and online video back to physical sales.
Under the hood Using Currys first-party shopper data and Epsilon identity, Tech Hunters identified high-value TV intenders before purchase. A full-funnel plan combined onsite media, offsite display, online video and connected TV, optimised against sales rather than clicks. Identity resolution enabled frequency control and sequencing across channels, while closed-loop measurement tied exposure to online transactions and physical store visits, confirming incremental sales at launch. The campaign won Best Use of Retail Media at the Digiday Awards Europe.
Global Beer Brand × Co-op Media Network
Co-op set out to prove that convenience retail media could grow brand sales beyond its own stores, not just shift share inside them. For the beer brand, incremental volume was the objective rather than retailer-specific conversion. Retail media was the right lever for the question, combining high-frequency local exposure, first-party shopper insight and the ability to measure halo effects across competing retailers.
Under the hood Co-op store-level data informed activation across in-store screens and media formats in matched test locations. Measurement isolated incremental impact through control and halo stores, with Circana applying its test versus control panels to track sales movement across both Co-op and surrounding grocery stores. The result evidenced how retail media in convenience can influence brand choice across the wider category, with the halo effect generating four times the incremental sales value of the Co-op stores alone.
Sky × Deliveroo Media
Sky wanted to move past awareness and reshape how audiences open to switching or upgrading their entertainment provider actually felt about the brand. Retail media made sense because Deliveroo's "staying in" occasion sits naturally alongside an evening of television, giving Sky a high-attention environment with built-in emotional receptivity and a measurable audience to survey before and after exposure.
Under the hood Deliveroo Media used first-party audience signals to identify customers who genuinely enjoy nights in, then built a full-funnel sequence across the platform's highest-attention surfaces. Homepage banners introduced Sky at the start of the browsing journey, and the order tracker screen carried stills and video from Sky's catalogue through peak evening wait times. Measurement ran through a pre and post campaign survey of Deliveroo users, linking 4.2 million impressions to verified shifts in perception and consideration.
How to take your retail media campaigns further
The campaigns explored here show retail media maturing into a full-funnel growth engine rather than a performance add-on. Across premium apparel, pet care, consumer tech, entertainment and convenience, the most effective programmes are built on real shopper behaviour, activated across connected onsite and offsite channels, and measured through to outcome.
The role of in-store measurement is a defining shift in how brands evaluate the channel. Connecting exposure to both online and physical purchase completes the picture of what worked, which gives brands the confidence to invest further up the funnel. Brand-led storytelling backed by closed-loop proof of sales and store impact is what turns retail media from tactical inventory into a strategic growth channel.
If you're building your own retail media strategy and want a clearer view of how the channel works end to end, our guide for brand advertisers walks through the fundamentals, from audience activation through to measurement.
