CPC and CPM dominate retail media conversations, but are they really the numbers that tell the full story?
In this article, we explain what these metrics mean, why they only show part of the picture, and how retailers using Adhese can focus on what truly drives results: ROAS, iROAS and incrementality.
understanding CPM and CPC
Let’s start with the basics.
CPM stands for Cost Per Mille, the cost per 1,000 impressions. It tells you how much you’re paying to display your ad, regardless of whether people engage with it.
CPC means Cost Per Click. You only pay when someone clicks on the ad.
At first glance, CPC seems safer: no clicks means no cost. But in retail media, the story doesn’t end with a click. What really matters is what happens after that interaction.
why traditional ad metrics aren’t enough
Both CPM and CPC are ad-centric metrics. They show how an ad performed, not what it achieved for your business. Retail media is about driving purchases, not just attention. A high click-through rate may look good, but it doesn’t always translate into more sales. The key question becomes: how much extra revenue did my campaign actually generate?
measuring what really moves the needle
Clicks and impressions are only part of the story. Retailers who want to understand true performance need to look beyond activity metrics and measure actual outcomes. Value-based indicators like incrementality, ROAS and iROAS reveal how advertising contributes to real sales growth.
incrementality
Incrementality measures the real impact of your advertising. It shows which sales happened because of your ad and which would have occurred anyway. Imagine promoting a popular product that many customers would buy regardless. Incrementality separates that baseline from the additional sales your campaign truly created.
ROAS
Return on Ad Spend shows how much revenue is generated for every euro invested.
But before you can calculate ROAS, you need an accurate view of total ad spend. That’s where Adhese makes the process easy and precise. When ROAS is powered by your own sales data rather than external proxies, it becomes a much more reliable indicator of campaign efficiency and profitability.
iROAS
In more advanced setups, retailers calculate incremental ROAS (iROAS), which directly links ad spend to the incremental revenue it generated. This helps teams understand the true business effect of their campaigns instead of relying on surface metrics like clicks or impressions.
how Adhese helps retailers measure real impact
With Adhese, retailers can go beyond surface-level ad metrics and measure business outcomes that matter.
- Access campaign performance data directly via Datamine, without manual exports.
- Connect that data to your sales systems.
- Build ROAS dashboards that combine impressions, clicks and costs with your actual sales data, giving you a clear view of what drives value and where to optimise.
And if you need guidance, our team can help set up reporting pipelines while keeping you fully in control of your data. No black boxes. No walled gardens. Just transparent insights built on your first-party truth.
what to optimise for instead
optimise for impact, not for impressions
While CPM and CPC still play a role in campaign planning, retailers who want to grow revenue sustainably should focus on:
- ROAS and iROAS to connect ad spend to measurable sales results.
- Incrementality over general averages to see how campaigns truly influence additional sales.
- Combined Adhese and first-party data as a safer, privacy-first alternative to sharing customer information with external platforms.
With Adhese, you get both the tools and flexibility to make smarter, data-driven decisions without losing ownership of your customer insights.
➤ Learn more on tracking ROAS at the SKU level
➤ Learn more on measuring retail media success
ready to measure what truly matters?
➤ Let’s talk.
Our team can help you set up iROAS-ready dashboards, guide you through data connections and show you how to measure your retail media impact with confidence.
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