Costs and pricing
Part of Building a retail media budget in which every amount can be traced to a document
Retail media pricing compared on identical events, with no invented tariffs
Retail media pricing models compared through identical events, service periods and fee bases, with unknown rates retained until dated evidence is available.
Retail media pricing models can be compared only after the billable unit and contractual scope have been matched. A fixed service charge, a rate per event and a fee linked to spend are different calculations. Their labels alone cannot establish which is cheaper for an England retailer or advertiser using retailer-controlled inventory.
The comparison below is a blank method researched on 6 September 2026. It contains no current supplier quotations or invented usage scenario. Quote A and Quote B are empty comparison slots, not named businesses, actual offers or tested products.
Define a common contract envelope
Use the same retailer property, placement, service period and included operational work for both slots. Specify a shared billing-event definition, filtering rules and reconciliation basis. Require both quotes to identify their currency, payment timing, commitments and VAT treatment before comparison.
If one proposal includes managed campaign work and the other supplies only software, separate the additional work rather than compare their totals unchanged. Where a supplier cannot quote the required scope, mark the comparison unavailable. Do not fill the gap with an assumed service allowance.
Keep equal units within each comparison
| Matched charge basis | Quote A | Quote B |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed GBP charge for the identical service term | UNKNOWN | UNKNOWN |
| GBP per identically defined billable event | UNKNOWN | UNKNOWN |
| Fee fraction of the same eligible spend base | UNKNOWN | UNKNOWN |
| Included services and charge exclusions | UNKNOWN | UNKNOWN |
| VAT amount and recoverability | UNKNOWN | UNKNOWN |
These are alternative comparison structures, not claims that any supplier offers every structure. Populate only the applicable rows from authoritative commercial records. A term described as monthly still needs its start, end and commitment conditions recorded consistently.
For an event rate, multiply each verified rate by the same eligible quantity. For a spend-linked fee, apply each documented fraction to the same eligible spend. Compare fixed charges over the same contracted period. Required quantities, spend and fees remain UNKNOWN in this article.
Do not manufacture a conversion between events
Ad requests are not served impressions; served impressions need not meet a viewability criterion. Clicks are another event, and neither attributed nor incremental sales should stand in for delivery volume. Converting between these quantities requires evidence about the relationship, not a convenient assumption.
The May 2026 IAB Europe standards distinguish media measurement and sales-related concepts. Use the adopted specification to document the denominator. The industry standard does not make a request-priced infrastructure offer equivalent to an impression-priced media purchase.
Read a pricing description without inventing a tariff
Criteo's fee explanation, inspected on 6 September 2026, describes account-specific percentages of working media spend. Its off-site CPM billing record concerns a different billing context. Neither record supplies a comparable England price pair for the blank slots above.
These are global first-party service descriptions with no reliable publication date established here. Restrict their relevance to buying retailer-related advertising under the applicable arrangement. Do not import off-site terms into an on-site quote or generalise account-specific fees across the market.
Keep tax and commitments explicit
Ask finance to confirm VAT treatment and whether any recoverable amount should be excluded from the economic comparison while remaining visible in cash planning. No VAT rate is assumed. Any minimum spend, cancellation charge or rebate must come from the actual terms and retain its qualifying conditions.
Before drawing a conclusion, list unmatched fields and unresolved inputs. The proper result may be UNKNOWN rather than a winning model. This comparison is not legal or tax advice; qualified reviewers must assess the commercial evidence, and the official records need refreshing before publication or a later buying decision.