---
id: "framework-five-pillars-of-rmn-success"
type: "framework"
source_timestamps: ["¶5", "§ The Buyer-Seller Role Inversion Requires a New Playbook", "§ Performance Accountability Is Not Optional Anymore", "§ Personalization Must Respect Privacy Boundaries", "§ RMNs Cannot Succeed Without Trust", "§ Supplier Enablement Creates Shared Value"]
tags: ["strategy", "best-practices", "retail-media"]
related: ["concept-buyer-seller-role-inversion", "concept-performance-accountability", "concept-privacy-segmentation", "concept-coercive-monetization", "concept-supplier-enablement"]
steps: ["\\\"Acknowledge the Buyer-Seller Role Inversion: Treat suppliers as advertising clients", "offering dedicated media sales teams and campaign planning tools.\\\"", "Enforce Performance Accountability: Move beyond vanity metrics to provide near real-time reporting that links ad exposure directly to incremental sales.", "Respect Privacy Boundaries: Invest in consent management tools and segment messaging by privacy preferences to avoid making consumers feel surveilled.", "\\\"Build Trust Through Transparency: Offer clear campaign reporting", "include third-party verification", "and stop using RMN spend as leverage in unrelated commercial negotiations.\\\"", "\\\"Enable Suppliers to Succeed: Provide onboarding", "workshops", "testing tools", "and strategic guidance rather than just focusing on monetization.\\\""]
speakers: ["Remko Van Hoek", "Stephanie Thomas", "Rodney Thomas"]
source_url: "https://hbr.org/2025/09/the-importance-of-trust-and-transparency-in-retail-media-networks"
source_title: "The Importance of Trust and Transparency in Retail Media Networks"
sources: ["attention"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-attention"
originDay: 4
articleStem: "hbr-foci-71-retail-media-networks-trust"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2025/09/the-importance-of-trust-and-transparency-in-retail-media-networks"
sourceTitle: "The Importance of Trust and Transparency in Retail Media Networks"
---
# Five Pillars of RMN Success

The authors identify **five key ways** that leading Retail Media Networks are moving forward and creating real value for suppliers, contrasting them with the failures of 'typical' retailers. Together these constitute the article's diagnostic-and-prescriptive playbook for RMN operators. Each pillar names a *typical-retailer failure* and its *leading-retailer remedy*.

1. **Acknowledge the [[concept-buyer-seller-role-inversion]].** Treat suppliers as advertising clients (see [[action-treat-suppliers-as-clients]]) — dedicated media sales teams, self-service portals, and campaign-planning tools designed for marketers. *Typical failure:* imposing fixed media spend as a 'cost of doing business.'

2. **Enforce [[concept-performance-accountability]].** Move beyond [[concept-vanity-metrics]] to near real-time reporting and standardized metric definitions that link ad exposure directly to **incremental sales** (see [[action-link-ads-to-transactions]]). *Typical failure:* asking for more spend with no data validating past performance.

3. **Respect Privacy Boundaries via [[concept-privacy-segmentation]].** Invest in consent-management tools and segment messaging by privacy preferences so consumers don't feel surveilled (see [[action-invest-in-consent-management]]). *Typical failure:* serving ads on data collected without clear disclosures, inviting regulatory scrutiny.

4. **Build Trust Through Transparency.** Offer clear campaign reporting, integrate third-party verification (see [[action-include-third-party-verification]]), and stop using RMN spend as leverage in unrelated commercial negotiations — the antidote to [[concept-coercive-monetization]]. *Typical failure:* turning collaboration into coercion (see [[quote-collaboration-into-coercion]]).

5. **Enable Suppliers to Succeed via [[concept-supplier-enablement]].** Provide onboarding, workshops, testing tools, and strategic guidance rather than just monetizing access (see [[action-provide-strategic-marketing-support]]). *Typical failure:* slow creative approvals and support routed through merchandising teams lacking marketing expertise.

The framework's throughline is captured by [[quote-earn-supplier-dollars]]: *'Retailers built their RMNs on supplier dollars. Now they must earn them.'*