Retail media has become the advertising industry's most discussed growth channel. According to eMarketer, US retail media advertising spend reached $45.15 billion in 2023, surpassing linear TV for the first time. The companies building and operating retail media networks — from large grocery chains to specialty retailers to pure-play commerce platforms — are managing explosive advertiser demand with teams that were not sized for this moment.
The operational demands of running a retail media network are substantial. Onboarding new advertisers, managing campaign activation workflows, producing post-campaign performance reports, and supporting agency partners all require significant coordination capacity. Virtual assistants are emerging as a practical solution for filling this capacity gap without a proportional increase in headcount costs.
Advertiser Onboarding and Campaign Coordination
When a brand or agency commits to a retail media campaign, the activation process involves multiple moving parts: creative asset collection, audience targeting configuration, placement scheduling, and compliance review. Each step requires communication between the RMN team, the advertiser, and often third-party technology vendors.
Virtual assistants can own the coordination layer of this process. They track asset delivery timelines, send reminder communications to advertisers with missing materials, log campaign milestones in project management systems, and escalate delays to account managers. This is detail-oriented, process-driven work that VAs can handle independently once workflows are documented — freeing account teams to focus on strategic conversations with advertisers rather than chasing down missing files.
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) reported in its 2023 Retail Media Measurement Standards report that operational friction during campaign setup is one of the top three reasons advertisers reduce retail media spend. Better coordination directly improves retention.
Performance Reporting and Client Communication
Post-campaign reporting is one of the most resource-intensive functions in a retail media operation. Advertisers expect detailed performance breakdowns: impressions, clicks, conversion attribution, return on ad spend, and competitive share-of-voice. Compiling and formatting these reports, customizing them for different client segments, and distributing them on schedule is time-consuming work.
VAs can take ownership of the reporting production workflow: pulling data from dashboards, populating report templates, adding commentary from account managers, and distributing finalized reports to advertiser contacts. They can also manage the post-report communication cycle — answering basic questions, scheduling follow-up calls, and routing complex inquiries to the right team member.
According to a 2023 Advertiser Perceptions survey, 68% of brand advertisers say that transparency and quality of reporting is a top factor in their decision to increase retail media spend with a given network. VAs help RMN teams meet that standard consistently.
Research and Competitive Intelligence
Retail media is evolving fast. New networks launch regularly, measurement standards shift, and advertiser expectations are shaped by what Amazon and Walmart are doing. Companies operating in this space need current intelligence to position themselves effectively with both advertisers and retail partners.
VAs can run structured competitive monitoring: tracking network launches and product announcements, summarizing industry reports, maintaining a competitive landscape database, and compiling weekly briefings for sales and product leadership. This keeps the business informed without pulling senior staff into time-consuming research tasks.
Partner and Agency Relationship Management
Many retail media networks work through agency intermediaries. Keeping these agency partners informed, trained, and supported requires dedicated communication management: distributing product updates, scheduling training sessions, tracking certification completions, and managing partner portals.
VAs can serve as the operational backbone of an agency relations program. They handle the communication cadences, logistics, and documentation that keep agency partnerships productive and growing.
For retail media network companies looking to scale their operational capacity, Stealth Agents provides virtual assistants with backgrounds in digital advertising, client operations, and reporting — ready to integrate into fast-moving RMN teams.
Sources
- eMarketer, "US Retail Media Advertising Spend 2023"
- Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), "Retail Media Measurement Standards 2023"
- Advertiser Perceptions, "Retail Media Networks Report 2023"