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The advertising industry has firmly committed to the outcomes era, and The Trade Desk is advancing bottom-of-the-funnel targeting and measurement for channels traditionally viewed as upper-funnel.
A new study across 11 CPG and QSR brands shows how retail data on The Trade Desk does not just extend reach — it drives real, measurable sales outcomes, including incrementality, new buyer acquisition, and larger average transaction values, across CPG and QSR categories.
The Setup
The Trade Desk launched a retail data learning agenda spanning 11 brands and 8 different retailer datasets covering grocery, big box, and specialty. They tapped into Attain as the retail-agnostic measurement layer. The goal wasn't to validate reach. It was to answer a more critical question: does retail data on The Trade Desk drive incremental sales?
The short answer is yes. Every single campaign drove statistically significant incremental sales and transaction lift.
The Results
100% of campaigns tested produced measurable incremental sales lift — meaning sales that would not have happened without the advertising. That's the cleanest possible signal that campaigns are driving net-new outcomes, rather than capturing existing purchase intent.
90% of campaigns drove new buyer ROAS above Attain's industry benchmarks. On average, they outperformed those benchmarks by 122%.
Retail data also drove a 23% increase in average transaction value from attributed consumers, compared to what those same brands typically see over a trailing 12-month period. Buyers were converting and spending more when they did.
“Connecting campaigns to true business outcomes like incremental sales and iROAS is critical for understanding performance. Through The Trade Desk and Attain, we were able to directly tie media exposure to real sales impact across the full retail spectrum. This level of visibility proves that retail data can drive measurable sales outcomes.” Tommy Adams, Director, eCommerce at Starcom
Why the Signal Quality Matters
It's worth pausing on why these results hold up. Purchase-based audiences carry a fundamentally different signal than behavioral data. Knowing someone bought a product is a qualitatively better targeting input, and more predictive of their future purchasing behavior.
For one leading beverage alcohol brand, grocery retail data drove a 26% higher conversion rate compared to behavioral data alone. The audience built from actual purchase history outperformed the audience built from inferred interest.
While retail data's applicability to CPG is intuitive, given that these brands are sold in grocery stores, its use in the Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) category presents a more striking case. QSR brands do not sell through retailers, which raises the question: how effective is retail purchase data in identifying new customers in a non-endemic vertical, such as fast food for a fast-food chain?
For one leading QSR, purchase data from grocery and discount retailers drove a 17% higher conversion rate compared to behavioral data and an 18% higher new buyer conversion rate versus non-retail 3P competitive conquesting.
What This Study Proves
The Trade Desk demonstrated the ability to drive performance throughout every stage of the funnel across connected TV, online video and display, by activating retail data across a wide range of verticals. Attain's permissioned purchase data provided the closed-loop measurement layer by connecting ad exposure directly to real transaction outcomes.
The findings confirm that using retail data within DSP buys on The Trade Desk is now a powerful, measurable, and mature lower-funnel strategy, moving beyond mere purchase intent targeting into proving real sales outcomes.
“Retail data is quickly becoming one of the most powerful signals available to advertisers,” said Jennifer Ng, GM of Advertiser Insights, The Trade Desk. “When paired with transparent, closed-loop measurement, it allows marketers to move beyond assumptions and directly understand what's driving real business outcomes — from new customer acquisition to incremental revenue.”
The Takeaway for Marketers
If you're a performance marketer, brand manager, or agency planner, retail data should now be a foundational part of your targeting strategy. It works for endemic CPG advertisers and endemic and non-endemic advertisers. It outperforms behavioral data on conversion. It drives new buyer acquisition above benchmarks, and lifts average transaction value.
Interested in how The Trade Desk and Attain's measurement infrastructure could drive incremental sales and close the loop on your next campaign? Reach out to our team.
