What’s Stopping Retail, Brands and Agencies From Getting Aligned?
Retail media is booming — but maturity isn’t evenly distributed. Lachlan joins Commerce Media Matters to cut through the hype and grey areas: misaligned incentives, messy data expectations, the “too many screens” problem, offsite extensions, and why we need better briefs, not more buzzwords. From IAB council work to hands-on network builds, he shares a pragmatic view on how retailers, brands, media agencies and tech partners can make retail and commerce media actually work together.
What you’ll learn from this episode:
First-party data as the real product: How data has become the new currency of media, and why retailers must treat it as an asset that powers smarter targeting, better measurement, and more meaningful customer relationships.
Where everyone’s misaligned (and how to fix it): Retailers, brands, and agencies are still figuring out how to work together. From budget confusion to long-standing silos, Lachlan explains why they’ve been operating in different swim lanes, and what needs to change to bring everyone into alignment.
Offsite done right: Why retailers can’t rely on onsite media alone and how using offsite channels can extend reach from a small share of e-commerce shoppers to almost their entire audience.
Incrementality without the buzzword bingo: Why “incremental” is meaningless without context and why brands need to clarify what kind of Incrementality they’re chasing.
Retail media vs. commerce media: Lachlan’s take on the two: retail media goes deeper with product-level insights, while commerce media goes wider, using more data sources for scale, explaining why both are essential to a connected media strategy.
The realities of data sharing: Retailers can’t share everything — understanding what’s commercially sensitive, what can be shared, and where the boundaries lie is key to building stronger partnerships.
Soundbites to listen out for:
Australia’s strength in bricks and mortar
“Realistically, in Australia on a great month, e-commerce is maybe 20% of the total audience for a retailer. Not because we suck at e-commerce, we’re just really good at bricks and mortar.”
Retail media should enhance, not interrupt<
“A colleague once said to me, the whole point of retail media is to accompany the customer journey and not to detract from it.”
Who owns retail media?
“Where does retail media sit? Is it a part of a marketing function? Does it sit in trade and merchandising? Do you set it up as a completely separate entity deal outsourcing because you realise you don't have the nascent skills to be a media seller? You know, all considerations that really ought to be addressed.”
The data-sharing dilemma
“There are questions that come from media agencies who are probably less experienced in the trade side of things, that the answer is no, you can't have that [data] because it's probably commercially sensitive. For example, I wouldn't necessarily share category share data with a supplier because that would impede my trade negotiations.”
Brand vs. performance? It’s both.
"I've no problem with the desire to get more sales. I just think, be specific and be open to how you are going to plan and accommodate that and measure it, because it won't be just ‘I didn't get enough clicks, therefore it's a failure’. It will be, well, I'm going to need to look at the trajectory of my sales and see if I'm getting more in what used to be a low week, and start to measure that a little bit more holistically as well.
The power of offsite
Offsite I think gives you even more power, because you can stick stuff into off site creative that retail media networks are never going to allow on site.”
About the guest
Lachlan Brahe is a retail media leader with over 20 years of experience in digital advertising and media. He is currently General Manager of Retail Media at Cashrewards, where he leads Circuit by Cashrewards, the company’s retail media platform. In 2024, he was also appointed the inaugural Chair of IAB Australia’s Retail Media Council, helping to set standards and guide industry growth.
Previously, Lachlan launched MixIn, Endeavour Group’s retail media business, led Reprise (IPG Mediabrands) as Managing Director, and helped roll out Criteo’s retail media platform across APAC. Earlier in his career, he served as VP ANZ at comScore.
His career spans building retail media networks, scaling global ad tech, and shaping strategy for major brands, making him one of Australia’s key voices in the evolution of retail and commerce media.
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