This post originally appeared in my column for Forbes.com, on March 4, 2025. 

As retail media networks multiply—with hundreds of networks now online and spending projected to reach $62 billion in the U.S. alone in 2025—many brands find themselves caught in a cycle of obligatory investment. What began as an opportunity has evolved into what some view as an implicit tax: another required payment for shelf space, favorable trade terms, or simply to appear when consumers search for their products by name.

Harvey Ma, who leads Sam’s Club’s Member Access Platform (MAP) is determined to change the narrative. "If my retail media investments become a tax for an brand, what the brand needs to do then is put that money back somewhere, which is usually going to come in the form of cost," says Ma. Instead, he’s building a model where advertising promises to enhance the membership experience while helping brands grow alongside the retailer. 

This philosophy stems in part from Ma's unconventional background. Unlike many retail media executives, he didn't rise through advertising or marketing ranks. "I was actually a mechanical engineer," Ma explains. He recalls his confusion during his first digital marketing meeting, where industry jargon about CDPs, DSPs, and SSPs left him texting his boss that he might be in the wrong job.

But that outsider perspective proved valuable. Ma frequently challenged industry conventions by asking "why" repeatedly, to the point where colleagues could only respond that certain practices were simply "how it’s done"—an answer Ma never accepted. He believes established methods aren't necessarily the right ones, and this questioning mindset led him to reimagine what retail media could be at Sam's Club: not just a revenue stream, but a way to enhance the membership experience.

A Different Kind of Retail Media Network

Sam’s Club launched MAP in September 2022, positioning it as a member-centric advertising platform. While the company doesn’t break out MAP’s revenue separately in its financial reports, its parent company, Walmart Inc. has highlighted continued investment and growth in its advertising businesses across its portfolio.

What sets Sam's Club's approach apart is its focus on membership value rather than short-term ad revenue. Ma explains that their primary goal is showing brands how their touchpoints drive action—whether positive or negative. This willingness to acknowledge and learn from negative signals informs how MAP evolves its offerings.

According to Ma, Sam's Club doesn't pursue initiatives simply to generate revenue but rather to serve members. He notes that any revenue collected is reinvested back into Sam's Club operations.

This reinvestment takes various forms – from associate wages to club remodeling to new growth – but the core philosophy remains consistent: advertising shouldn't be an extraction from the ecosystem, but rather a way to enhance it.

Longitudinal Measurement vs. Campaign Thinking

One of MAP's most distinctive features is its approach to measurement. "What I believe we should be doing is measuring campaigns over time – longitudinal customer behavior – versus singular campaigns that showcase instantaneous return and gratification," Ma argues.

To illustrate this approach, Ma shares a journey from college student to parent, highlighting the many life stages where poor advertising attribution leads to irrelevant messaging. He points to the classic example of buying diapers from a baby registry, only to be bombarded with diaper ads despite having no children of your own.

Ma explains that Sam's Club's longitudinal measurement allows them to identify anomalous signals, creating more nuanced understanding of member needs and ultimately delivering more relevant advertising.

The Club Advantage In Retail Media

Sam's Club's membership model creates unique opportunities for its retail media approach. Ma observes that while retail media networks are proliferating everywhere, they typically focus on specific shopping behaviors.

While most retailers focus on specific trip types – grocery, stock-up, etc. – Sam's Club offers a more comprehensive view of member behavior across travel, optical, auto, general merchandise, and groceries. This breadth provides what Ma calls a "one-stop shop" for understanding daily member activities.

"This is one of the very unique differentiators about Sam's Club: the ability to service a member through multiple use occasions, multiple shopping trips, and multiple destinations throughout their life cycle, all housed under one unique kind of first-party member deterministic warehouse," Ma notes.

Services is one of Sam’s Club’s biggest priorities in the coming fiscal year. Ma describes their approach as providing exclusive member benefits that reinforce the special feeling of "joining the club." This services strategy creates valuable opportunities for advertisers as well, who can connect with members across more touchpoints and gain data insights from diverse interaction types—not just purchase data but service engagement patterns. For brands, this means more nuanced audience targeting.

Sam’s Club’s Approach to Building its RMN Tech Stack

Ma’s approach to building MAP’s technical capabilities is rooted in a simple framework: ‘Can we? How we? Should we?’

The first question addresses technical feasibility—whether they can build or code a particular capability. The second explores execution—whether they can implement it effectively in a club environment. But it's the third question that sets Sam's Club apart: whether the initiative truly benefits their members.

This framework applies regardless of whether the technology comes from third-party providers or Walmart's global tech infrastructure. Ma describes how they can adapt Walmart's existing technology, taking the "keys" for a test drive while outputting specifications appropriate for their different environment.

He notes that the warehouse club environment requires adaptation because it's not as SKU-intensive as mass retail, requiring adjustments to make standard principles work within a membership-based, curated SKU environment.

Addressing Retail Media Pain Points: Measurement & Standardization

Ma is well aware of the skepticism many brands feel toward retail media. He observes that many networks have lost their identity by pursuing revenue above all else. His team is working to change this perception through a different approach to measurement.

Instead of pushing for standardization, which Ma believes is extremely difficult due to vastly different methodologies across the industry, Sam's Club emphasizes flexibility in how brands consume and analyze data.

"We think of measurement in a similar way here, where you've got to be able to digest the data your way," Ma explains. "And you also need to be able to harness that data through the mechanisms, the platforms, even if it's a spreadsheet, in the way that your company is able to handle them the best."

This could mean fully managed service queries, third-party validation, self-service dashboards, or simply raw data in a spreadsheet. Ma emphasizes that they want advertisers to tell them what will help create the most effective internal narrative.

Ma even challenges one of retail media’s most standard practices—fixed attribution windows—as out of touch with actual shopping behavior. 'I don’t buy a TV every 30 days,’ he points out, highlighting how standardized 30-day attribution periods make little sense across diverse product categories with dramatically different purchase cycles. A more flexible approach to measurement periods is part of Sam’s Club’s broader philosophy that data analysis should adapt to brand needs and shopping realities, not force all advertisers into the same analytical framework regardless of category dynamics.

Long-Term Partnerships vs. Short-Term Gains

Perhaps most radical is Sam's Club's rejection of the typical profit motive driving retail media. Ma references Walmart Inc.'s broader ethos of EDLP (Everyday Low Price) and EDLC (Everyday Low Cost), with a mission focused on saving people money and improving lives.

This leads to fundamentally different conversations with advertisers. Rather than treating retail media as a required investment, Ma focuses discussions on mutual goals and growing businesses together without creating what feels like a tax.

He reveals that Sam's Club even reinvests some retail media dollars back into the club environment in ways not necessarily tied to ad technology, avoiding the simple shifting of funds from one budget to another.

This philosophy extends to how Sam’s Club views its supplier base. Ma shares that every SKU in their curated selection moves in pallet quantities, making even single-SKU suppliers important. He avoids industry terms like "long tail" or "tail torso," believing no supplier wants such labels.

Looking Ahead

While Ma acknowledges that Sam's Club hasn't "figured it all out by any means," his team is working to "change the narrative behind retail media, because it's gotten a negative connotation."

One approach involves facilitated collaboration with advertisers. Ma mentions working with a brand to conduct a measurement summit, bringing together their respective experts to identify key priorities to solve by the end of the fiscal year.

As retail media continues to evolve, Sam's Club's distinctive approach offers a compelling alternative to the revenue-first models that have dominated the space. By prioritizing member experience and mutual growth with brands, MAP is attempting to reframe retail media as a value-add rather than an extraction – a model that could help address the trust deficit plaguing the industry.