Traditional channels 'smash digital ROI for retailers'

Traditional, offline advertising still offers retail brands the highest return on investment, outperforming digital marketing virtually across the board.

That is the stark conclusion of a new analysis by econometrics agency Independent Marketing Sciences (IMS), from over 270 IMS campaigns using 24 different advertising channels over the past decade.

IMS uses econometric modelling to quantify the relationship between various factors such as seasonality, product promotions, and economic trends, in order to calculate the effectiveness of different marketing channels for specific brands.

The analysis reveals that the ROI of traditional channels – including print, partnerships, events, radio and TV all outperform certain digital channels, including paid social, shopping PPC and SEO.

In fact, the top ten advertising channels for retail brands by ROI are magazine and newspaper advertising (9.6x); partnerships (8.9x); retargeting (7.3x); events (6.1x); radio (6x); digital audio (6x); TV (5.9x); generic PPC (5.9x); video on Demand (5.8x); and brand PPC (5.8x).

IMS’ data comes as the average monthly wastage for UK department store advertising budgets reached £171,859 in Q1 26, according to research by ClickThrough Marketing – as major retailers continue to significantly invest in ineffective marketing.

IMS founder and CEO Alex Vass said: “Many retail brands – and, in particular, the venture capitalists and private equity funds that own these brands – instinctively flock to digital, and accept the ROI data that digital platforms promise as gospel.

“But very often, digital platforms overclaim their impact on sales and omit to mention the role of other marketing platforms in the driving conversions.”

Traditional channels ‘smash digital ROI for retailers’

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