Kalpana Jayaram is Client Partner – Retail & Finance at AUDIENCES and has previously worked at organisations including InfoSum, Crownpeak, Mapp, and Lotame. We asked how she found herself with a career in retail media.
What is your role and what does it entail?
I lead the Retail sector at AUDIENCES, where my focus is on helping retailers and brands unlock the full value of their first-party data.
Retail media has moved far beyond onsite placements. Today, it’s about building scalable, privacy-safe audience strategies that work across the entire media ecosystem. My role sits at the intersection of that shift, supporting retailers as they think about how to use their data more effectively, whether that’s improving the performance of their digital advertising or enabling more seamless access for their partners.
A big part of my job is helping teams simplify how they work with first‑party data and navigate the operational and organisational changes that come with it.
How did you first become interested in retail media and move into it?
Like many people in the space, I didn’t “set out” to work in retail media because it didn’t really exist in its current form when I began my career.
My background spans data, customer strategy and digital innovation. I’m particularly motivated by roles where data can be applied in smarter ways to drive commercial impact and enhance the customer experience.
Retail media felt like a natural evolution of that. Retailers hold some of the richest, most actionable first-party data available anywhere: real purchase behaviour, real frequency, real value. When I saw the opportunity to connect that data to media in a more sophisticated way, it was clear this would be one of the most important growth areas in our industry.
Joining AUDIENCES to lead retail media allowed me to focus on building the infrastructure and activation strategies that make that opportunity scalable and sustainable.
What most excites you about the industry today and what might happen next in RM?
What excites me most is that retail media is maturing. We’re moving from experimentation and short-term revenue generation toward interoperability and long-term strategy. Retailers are recognising that retail media isn’t just a new revenue line, it’s a transformation in how customer data is used across the entire business.
The next phase will be about greater in-cloud activation and interoperability, more sophisticated offsite extension and stronger collaboration between retailers and brands as strategic partners, not just media buyers and sellers.
Retail media won’t remain siloed. It will increasingly sit at the centre of broader commerce media ecosystems. With the launch of Retail Media Age, it’s the best sign that it is truly mainstream media.
Who is your biggest inspiration in the retail media sector and why?
Rather than a single individual, I’m inspired by the leaders building retail media strategies with long-term credibility rather than short-term monetisation in mind.
The most impressive operators understand that trust from both customers and brands is the real currency. They prioritise strong data governance and measurable outcomes rather than simply increasing inventory.
We’re fortunate to work with a leading UK pet care retailer whose retail media strategy is grounded in deep first-party intelligence. With millions of active customers, high repeat purchase frequency and rich behavioural data spanning food, healthcare and services, they’ve built a model where insight genuinely enhances relevance and true value for both brands and pet owners.
That scale and loyalty creates a powerful foundation, but it’s the disciplined approach to activation and measurement that makes it truly effective.
Retail media will only thrive if it’s built on solid data foundations and a clear value exchange. The leaders who recognise that and invest accordingly are the ones shaping the future of the industry.
What one retail media campaign or strategy that you’ve been involved in are you proudest of?
I’m most proud of strategies where retail data has been activated beyond the retailer’s own environment securely and in a way that drives true incremental growth.
One standout example was with a leading UK retailer. Together, we built high-value, purchase-based audiences derived from real transactional data such as repeat buyers, lapsed customers and category switchers and activated them offsite while keeping all data within the retailer’s own cloud infrastructure.
The impact was significant. By moving beyond standard demographic or onsite targeting and using deterministic purchase behaviour instead, brand partners saw improvements in ROAS and measurable incremental sales uplift. At the same time, the retailer retained full control of its data, ensuring privacy compliance and long-term scalability.
What made it particularly rewarding wasn’t just the performance metrics. It was helping the retailer move from a campaign-by-campaign mindset to a repeatable, scalable activation framework. This now underpins their broader retail media proposition and has transformed the team into what I believe is one of the best in-house media teams.
For me, that’s what success looks like: building capability and infrastructure that compounds in value over time, not just delivering a one-off result.
Read more stories of how industry leaders made their career in retail media in our My Road to Retail Media series.
