What Retailers Selling In-Store Media Need from an OMS
Retailers may be uncomfortable porting over order management systems built for traditional digital media companies. This is exponentially more true for retailers that sell a significant amount of in-store media across many different types and sizes of screens.
A gas station, pharmacy, or doctor’s office chain selling a large volume of in-store impressions simply cannot rely on an OMS built for traditional publishing or digital-only ad ops. But why? And what capabilities do these retailers actually need?
Let’s break it down.
Digital-First OMS Platforms Can’t Handle In-Store Complexity
When you’re talking about retail media that doesn’t include in-store or OOH, the systems and workflows are relatively simple. Most retailers make money through product sales, not advertising, so the media operations are straightforward. In those cases, a lightweight OMS might be enough.
But in-store media changes everything. Especially when the screens come in many different sizes with different formats.
Retailers selling media in-store need an OMS that can handle far more complexity.
The Complexity of In-Store Media: Just Ask GSTV
Let’s take Gas Station TV (GSTV) as an example. In a single ZIP code, there may be hundreds of gas stations, each with up to 40 digital screens. Now scale that across the country.
If GSTV wants to sell inventory in a given region, it has to answer:
What have I already sold across all of those screens?
How much inventory do I have left?
How can I plan a media buy that spans multiple DMAs without overselling or cannibalizing inventory?
To solve this, GSTV triangulated data from Snowflake, Vistar, and other platforms. But even then, they were generating massive spreadsheets - 20MB or more - just to run a proposal. FatTail’s AdBookOMS simplifies all of this with media calculators, inventory triangulation, and bespoke planning tools built specifically for in-store media sales.
A multinational pharmacy chain FatTail spoke to faces similar challenges. It’s not just the number of screen types - it’s the logic behind how those screens are packaged and sold. Advertisers want to buy by DMA or store radius. The plans are different every time. There’s no one-size-fits-all. Retailers need a planning system that’s flexible enough to accommodate those needs.
The Role of Engagement, Location, and Context
What unites in-store networks like GSTV, global pharmacy chains, and national doctor’s office chains is that the media is specific—tied to location, screen size, and audience context. But there’s also overlap.
All of these retailers need to:
Forecast availability per store, screen, or location ID
Build dynamic plans based on targeting criteria (geography, specialty, timing)
Sell at scale without losing visibility into the micro-level
These are not billboards. They’re dynamic, high-context, high-complexity media environments.
What the Ideal OMS for In-Store Retail Should Do
Conversations with retailers who fit this profile have made it clear that current OMS vendors are falling short. Too much manual work. Too many disconnected systems. Too many reporting gaps.
Here’s what a purpose-built OMS needs to offer retailers that sell a lot of in-store media:
Automation of line-item builds based on Salesforce or media plan data
Rate card logic that dynamically applies Q4 pricing to Q4 flights and defaults to standard pricing in Q1–Q3
Two-way integration with Salesforce, where opportunities and campaigns live as a single record and syndicate bidirectionally
Elimination of double bookings in the calendar view
Visibility into campaign pacing and inventory availability across screens and channels
Integrated forecasting, down to the DMA, screen, or specialty level
This is the kind of infrastructure that allows retailers to scale their in-store media business without hiring more people or reverting to spreadsheets.
FatTail Solves for In-Store Retail
FatTail’s OMS doesn’t treat retail media like magazine ads. We’ve built tools specifically for retailers with OOH-like, screen-based networks that don’t conform to traditional ad sales logic.
If your team is stitching together Snowflake dashboards, spreadsheets, and manual Salesforce entries just to answer basic inventory and pricing questions, there’s a better way.
We built it for GSTV. Global retailers are using it. And it’s ready for any retailer serious about turning in-store media into a scalable, measurable, high-margin business.
If you want to explore how FatTail OMS, Adbook, can help you, reach out to us at info@fattail.com, or book a demo.