Episode 24: Cara Pratt From Media to Moment, Rewriting Commerce Through Connection

What’s really holding brands back in modern commerce? According to Cara Pratt, it’s not a lack of data. It’s a lack of alignment.

In this CANNES Confidential episode of SHeCOMMERCE, Cristina and Jacqui sit down with Cara Pratt, President of Global Retail & Media at Circana, for a candid conversation about the future of commerce, retail media, and what it actually takes to turn data into growth.

Cara gets real about the biggest mistake brands are still making: measuring in silos, organizing in silos, and expecting connected outcomes from disconnected teams. From retail media fragmentation to the rise of social commerce, TikTok Shop, and the agentic future already taking shape, this episode is a masterclass in why connected intelligence beats fragmented dashboards every time.

But this conversation doesn’t stop at commerce strategy. Cara also shares the leadership lessons behind building and scaling new businesses inside legacy organizations, what she’s had to unlearn as a leader, and her advice for the next generation of women in CPG: speak early, say yes, and find sponsors—not just mentors.

In this episode, we get into:

• Why most companies still aren’t actually doing end-to-end commerce
• The real problem with retail media today: fragmented measurement and disconnected incentives
• Why brands need to stop obsessing over channels and start organizing around business outcomes
• How TikTok Shop is reshaping discovery, influence, and conversion—especially in beauty
• The thin line between personalization and intrusion, and why trust is the new currency
• Cara’s take on agentic commerce and why metadata, taxonomy, and data quality will define who wins next
• Leadership at scale: what to unlearn when moving from startup mode to scale-up leadership
• Cara’s advice for women building their careers: be bold, use your voice, and build sponsorship

Why listen?

Because this episode calls BS on the idea that more dashboards = better decisions. Cara makes the case for a smarter, more human model of commerce—one where data doesn’t just report performance, it drives action.

If you work in CPG, retail media, commerce strategy, shopper marketing, data, or brand leadership, this one will hit home.

Bold Brands. Fierce Women. One Sisterhood

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:08

Welcome back to She Commerce where women uh build brands build up each other and we are coming to you straight from Cannes for our first Cannes Confidential where we get real about what it actually takes to build and win in commerce today.

SPEAKER_00 0:24

And we are joined by the none other Kara Pratt from Circana, which brings me all the way back to my roots when Circana was IRI and my first job out of college. So thank you for that. Where I met the likes of Peter Bond, who is a dear friend of mine and has definitely served me well. It's a great foundation for any career.

SPEAKER_01 0:46

So welcome, welcome. So here, let's let's introduce you. For those of you who don't know Kara Pratt, let's let's introduce you to the powerhouse that is Kara Pratt. She's one of those rare leaders who doesn't just understand where commerce comes from or is going, she actively builds what's next. Today, as president of Global Retail and Media at Sarcana, Kara is shaping how some of the world's largest brands and retailers connect data, media, and growth at scale. She's not just operating within the system, she's helping to redefine it. At Sarcana, she's been instrumental in advancing how retail media, insights, and measurement come together, moving the industry away from fragmented dashboards and toward truly connected intelligence that drives smarter decisions across the entire value chain. Before this at Kroger Precision Marketing, she helped pioneer what modern retail media could actually look like, grounded in closed loop measurement and real customer understanding, not just impressions and clicks. What stands out about Kara's work now is a shift from data to reporting, data for reporting to data for action, from disconnected signals to integrated insight that actually moves business. She has built her reputation on one simple but powerful truth. If you understand people better, you serve them better. And when you serve them better, growth follows. So true. So true. But what we love most about Kara, it's not just the scale of what she's done. That is impressive. It's the clarity that she brings in an industry that loves to overcomplicate things. She cuts through the noise and gets to what actually matters, making commerce more intelligent, more connected, more human. Kara, we are so excited to have you join us.

SPEAKER_02 2:27

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_01 2:28

And what a what an intro.

SPEAKER_02 2:30

You know how to build people up, aren't you, Seth?

SPEAKER_00 2:32

Yes. Well, where to start, right? There's so many things we want to dive into with you. But let's talk about what everyone's talking about, which is end-to-end commerce. And spoiler or alert, most companies are not doing that. They're still very much operating in silos. So what are they getting wrong?

SPEAKER_02 2:47

You know, a lot of times we we do talk about the fragmentation in the ecosystem. We do talk about uh the fragmentation of data and assets and what technology is doing to accelerate performance and accelerate kind of democratizing all that data, all that insights. The challenge, though, and back to what's wrong, is the organizational fragmentation, the organizational silos are really holding back the power and the potential of what companies can do with the diversity of signals that exist today. Yeah. And the technology that is creating a better opportunity to drive business outcomes. And so really, you know, I talk to companies often about it, it's not data and technology that's going to hold you back. It's about how you organize your teams, how you create shared incentives and shared connection into business outcomes. When you look at media teams and marketing organizations versus agencies and how they're designed and equipped to deliver value versus commerce teams versus merchandising teams and the customer teams that call in retail, there's so many different KPIs that these teams are being held against. And when you think about from a from a chief financial officer perspective or a chief executive officer perspective, at the end of the day, invest dollars to drive outcomes. But when each team is being held to not necessarily different standards, it is different standards when you look from above, but what you're held to different outcomes and KPIs, yeah, it's really difficult to make sure that you're taking advantage about where this industry is today and what it can do to help build brands.

SPEAKER_00 4:18

Yeah, and we we say all the time, like it's measured, gets done. And if you're all measuring something different and that's what you're focused on, then it's very, it's very misaligned. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:26

Especially, especially when there's conflict, right? That's right. So let's call it. Brands are obsessed with performance metrics, right? But not obsessed enough with people. How do you actually move, Kara, from campaigns to connection?

SPEAKER_02 4:40

Do you know? Um, I think that's a very healthy question. I mean, when you think about brand building, that all that that really is around creating human connection and being able to um, you know, being able to have a brand resonate uh really kind of intrinsically with with human decision. Uh we'll we can talk later about agentic and machine decisions in a bit, but at the end of the day, human intuition matters. Uh and and brand builders are focused on on performance, they're focused on business outcomes. It just might show up a little bit differently, you know, over time. I think about uh what's happening was the the industry evolution takes shape from, you know, of course, where brick and mortar was, you know, a decade ago as the dominant uh place for purchase to then e-commerce massively accelerating to social commerce having a big influence, you know, on decisions. And then agentic commerce is the next frontier, the next horizon that we're in such early innings of learning and discovery on. But in a social commerce space, that's a really special place where you can have performance and human connection. And you we we've are running, you know, a lot of different measurement for many of the top brands and retailers around the world. And we have brands that are that we're proving out through different measurement. When they look at influencers and creators that they can amplify on paid content, they're getting a 35% higher return. But think about that, that role that influencers, the trust, the connection uh that happens in that space. Think about what TikTok shop has done so quickly to disrupt, I mean, dare you say, kind of disintermediate the core channel of delivery. Uh Circana released in October of 2025 TikTok shop and kind of an intelligence for the for the first time within our ecosystem of measuring the market, right? Circana globally, we have $5.8 trillion that move through the pipes, 2,000 categories, 26 industries, all the signals that we have visibility into in TikTok shop, just from you know our our kind of review starting in Q4 of 2025, especially in beauty and personal care, where that human connection really really does matter. Performance, you know, and and human connection really play well together. TikTok shop is driving 9% of e-commerce sales in beauty and personal care, is what we're showing.

SPEAKER_01 6:50

When did that start?

SPEAKER_02 6:52

We started looking at it in October.

SPEAKER_01 6:54

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 6:54

But nine percent of the e-commerce channel in North America versus traditional e-commerce channels were saying TikTok run run three percent, right? It's about 20% of the sales velocity that we see running through those pipes. So just a really powerful play as we think about then the you know the continued evolution of brand building. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:11

And I think that that first moment, whether it's connecting on TikTok or another social platform or in-store, wherever it is, like that should be when that relationship with the brand is starting and you're really starting to own that data from that point on to be able to really take advantage of it and harness that relationship. That's right.

SPEAKER_01 7:29

Right. So we're gonna look at talking about retail media, whether it's overhyped or underwhelmed.

SPEAKER_02 7:36

You know I suck a soft spot for retail media.

SPEAKER_01 7:40

So it's it's everywhere right now. You know, everyone's talking about it, everyone's selling it. But are we building something meaningful or are we just building another sort of, oh, it's in fashion right now. So let's do it. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:52

Uh I I do have a soft spot in the space. You know, I I spent a near decade of my career really focused in on on you know influencing, I'll say the early innings of retail media uh during my time at Kroger. There is no doubt that retail signals can play a really impactful role in supporting brand growth. That that, without question for me, is a fact. Organizations, though, also need to recognize the kind of intelligent blurring that that does take shape as you connect national investments to retail plans as well. Right. So much of retail media is the commerce side of what's transacting within that ecosystem. Right. Uh, and then trying to figure out how to use these signals on an audience side more holistically. Right. Um, but a lot of uh the review and the impact and the performance is happening retailer by retailer discreetly. Right. And that becomes really difficult when you zoom out and you look at the kind of entity at large, right? Back to CEO, CFO, and they're looking at how they invest dollars wisely to build brands. Back to silos, right? Back to silos, back to silos. But it's really been you know awesome in this seat at Circana with the work that we do across retailers and the support mechanics that we provide, the measurement uh standards and frameworks that we can move into decision grade signals at scale. And so a lot of the work that we're doing beyond you know marketing attribution and marketing mixed models and looking through the different dynamics is a couple things within the retail media space that that are really, really important components. One is in the early innings of building out kind of a universal framework and performance standards. It's very inconsistent, very fragmented now, retailer to retailer. That's a challenge. That's a challenge to measure the efficacy of a dollar invested. The second bit is helping retailers understand how you move into simulation and forecasting. Think about the acquisitions we just made at Circana in 2025. We have 5,000 models that are running on the marketing mix element for us, you know, 25,000 different response curves. We have a hundred categories we've run mixed models in across 50 countries. Wow. You think about that intelligence layer and how we can have that to fuel uh foresight recommendations, you know, simulation tool for retailers to come forward within their box of retail media. So we we believe that we we also can create an engine of optimization for retailers to come forward with that helps everybody think bigger, think bolder about how you know how those dollars are are best invested to drive business outcomes. And then the last bit that is an important layer is what happens through an investment dollar that comes through a retailer A and the implications of how that dollar impacts humans that shop in many different retailers across many different channels. Halo? So you look at Halo cross-channel cross-retail effects. And we've been doing this work for different retailers over the years and are very pleased and very you know proud to support those conversations. And we just finished up pilot review uh deliveries with CVS, with CMX, PARPS and CVS Media Exchange and giving visibility for them to understand the extended impact. Now we're seeing in some of their campaigns up to 60% of the incremental return is happening outside of CVS. Wow. Last uh year we completed work and Walmart Connect's been public with this, so I'll share it here. That when we've measured the efficacy of some of the campaigns that are moving through Walmart Connect's pipes relative to social media, they're seeing a two and a half X higher sales impact. And that's what you know, Circana is a neutral third party. We are supporting the uh the you know the review cycles for all these different retailers. So just is it overhyped? No, I don't think it's overhyped. I I do believe that there's a real opportunity to bring harmony and consistency and measurement. I do believe that there's a real opportunity to be a catalyst to to influence the optimization layer and investment strategy for retailers. And I absolutely believe that we can provide an extended window into the performance layer that happens outside of their box.

SPEAKER_00 11:40

I mean, that's critical. And, you know, I think to your point, like when it's useful, when it's predictive, when it's connected, that's when you're gonna win with it. It's not just chasing after it because, you know, you're you're investing just one way, like you said, it's that two-way investment. And how are you using the data once you receive it back? So what separates those brands that are doing that well, really harnessing the power of that data and the full ecosystem to your point versus those that aren't? They're just scratching the surface.

SPEAKER_02 12:08

Yeah, I I think the simplest way to answer that is they really are organizing themselves and anchoring against outcomes versus channel strategies. Right. So as you really think about, you know, what what what's the I don't want to call it kind of a governance or oversight layer, but yeah, you know, in the end, if you have discrete customer teams that are running on discrete, you know, planning cycles, uh, you're gonna lose some of the durability or or business impact that you can drive as a business. And so I think that that's that's the biggest bit, right? To make sure that you're organizing around a strategy first. Right. Uh to your point of going out, you know, you gotta move beyond reporting and you have to be creating a decision grade framework that you can move forward with. And and you know, we're we're you know, really have an awesome you know, influence within a lot of brand partners, retail partners, agency, you know, partners within that ecosystem to support these dynamics. Yeah, because you know, you you started it, you know, Jackie talking about the realities of how much money is flowing through the pipes within this space. Yes. Yeah, the money the yeah, money matters in this space with respect to the business intelligence that it can provide. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:11

And that's the important thing, right? It's the business intelligence. I mean, nobody wakes up thinking, I hope I really get served by a well-targeted ad today.

SPEAKER_00 13:20

Yeah, well, let's dig into that. Let's talk about data. It's like one of my favorite subjects. So obviously consumers are more aware than ever. They know they can kind of cut through the VS, they know when they're being retargeted, they're hyper protective of their data and information, but at the same time, they're also saying, You don't know me, I want that hyper personalized experience. And you know, Newswash, the only way you can do that is by an exchange of data. So, how do brands navigate that?

SPEAKER_02 13:48

Listen, as as consumers, if you just stick in a consumer layer, like we we think about this industry very differently because we're in it. Yeah, we know you know all of the rules and regulations very appropriately. At the end of the day, you you know, you trust becomes the the equalizer and the major influence. Consumers want relevance. Like in the simplest form, they want relevance. Yes, of course. To deliver relevance, you need personalization. To execute personalization, you need rich data intelligence. To have consented use of rich data intelligence, you need to have all of the different you know dynamics kind of in the back end to make sure you've got all consent protocols that are locked in and that you've got the right, you know, privacy kind of overlays in a as a company. Yeah. So that that chain is uh is a very basic chain, but at the end of the day, it it it's you know complicated to execute. You need to execute it at scale, complicated maybe to set up the framing. Once you execute it, it just flows naturally. But consumers want relevance. Uh and so companies, uh, whether they're retailers, whether they're brands, with a lot of brands over the last you know five to ten years have been building out their own 1P data so they can have their own data framework to stand on. It really is about how you bring the pools of these different data sources together to have a greater picture about what a human is doing. Uh and that's where, you know, again, we feel so fortunate at Circana with the visibility that we have. And from what, you know, while we're a global company, I'll take the US market for for just a minute. We have 92% POS census coverage across across consumers in North America. Uh, and we think about that intelligence layer and how that can be a support mechanic for for you know building brands, audience intelligence for audience signals and what happens you know, pre-bid uh within, you know, within that the ecosystem there, what happens for optimization in flight, uh, so we can you know support getting the best outcomes on on those uh on a dollar invested. So at the end of the day, data you have to, especially in an agentic world, it has to be really rich, it has to be really durable, uh, it has to, you know, to have the right taxonomies, the right metadata, that cleanliness to be able to extract the right value from it and ultimately deliver a relevant personalized experience.

SPEAKER_00 15:50

That's a thin line between helpful and intrusive. So I think the the brands that are doing it well are are navigating it with that sensitivity and that due diligence to your point.

SPEAKER_01 15:59

And you know, um that that is that is so incredibly so incredibly important that they're doing it with authenticity as well, you know, um and and and and f engendering and fostering that trust. Yeah. So we're now gonna go into the women part okay of it. So we're building the CPG sisterhood here, you know, no surface level conversations. You've built an incredible career in a space that hasn't always made it easy. I mean, you were name-checked by Christine Foster when we when we spoke to her uh so many months ago. So many months ago. What's something that you have had to unlearn, Kiara, uh to kind of step into your power?

SPEAKER_02 16:37

I l I love the the sense of unlearning because you know, I I think that it is really important in in life, right? What what works today doesn't work tomorrow? The the cycles of change, the speed of the speed of change happening from, again, whether it's technology, whether it's you know consumer behavior, et cetera. As I reflect on that question, I think about some of the roles that I've had over the years that are really about building new businesses within established industries. Yeah. Right. So you think about where retail media came from, you think about you know the kind of you know early innings of you know customer insights and data and analytics and uh the feed and fuel that that has on loyalty marketing and loyalty programs. You think about um, you know, what happens in an agentic world where we are now. So I think from an unlearning standpoint, I I think of it a framing of when when organizations that you lead move from startup to scale up, what what do you need to do differently through the phases of the opening early innings and what happens as you mature and your your organizations mature over time? And yeah, the if you break a few of those from a talent and culture standpoint, and those are some of the most important. At the end of the day, the work that happens, what you deliver, there's always gonna be evolution there. But you you have to, you know, unlearn the early innings of you know, of of ownership and control when there's so few people that are at the table around you. You've got to build teams, you've got to empower teams to go make decisions and get things done, right? To really empower teams about you know being comfortable failing fast. Um I love this little short, I don't know, 10-minute video vignette from Captain David Marquette, who is a retired US Navy general. And you know, he talked about when you um you know giving control versus taking control. When you give control, you create leaders, and when you take control, you create followers. And I couldn't agree with that more. I love Excelia. Those components are just really an important piece. But when you're small in a startup, you know, the firing of you know, you know, kind of all of the kind of decisionings that are happening within a small community versus when you build up teams, you've got hundreds of people working, you know, on a team with a shared mission. Yeah, you've got to go let let you know let people have to go run the destiny and have autonomy uh to go make things happen. I think about the early innings, kind of unlearning the value and credit credibility of what what you need early innings of a generalist. Yeah, yeah. Uh versus as organizations mature, you need specialists. Of course. You've got to unlearn the power of generalists and really push in on specialists and invest behind specialists in really big ways. I think about culture. Uh, and you know, you kind of have to unlearn the realities. When you're a small team, you can build that culture really natively and organically because there's a handful of people that are at the heart of it. When you've got it's a different hiring process. It's a different when you've got hundreds of people at the table or thousands of people around the world and in the and the role that I have now. Well, thousands of people around the world, culture isn't created in a room. No, right. You do have to kind of unlearn the realities of young kind of scrappiness uh within startups into how you create kind of the structure on leadership principles and the right behaviors and the communication patterns that everybody can see themselves with purpose. Yeah. And it just shows up differently. So I I think I think unlearning is important and I think relearning in these new ways as teens grow and businesses grow, you know, domestically around.

SPEAKER_00 19:58

And the context around you changes. It's all situational, right? That's right. Um, so for the next generation of women, what would you say they need to do differently? What's your advice?

SPEAKER_02 20:08

Do you know it's been it's been it's been really great to engage with young, young early career uh women that have so much passion about the impact and influence that they can have. And yeah, my advice uh for all of you know early career women is to lean in on all new experiences. Like say yes to any opportunity that really comes by because it's gonna give you exposure. It's gonna give you an opportunity to to learn, build relationships, and that becomes a critical catalyst to future opportunities. So I think that that that's you know one thing. Early career, just get involved. Yeah. Get involved and work and um be curious and explore and be bold and and and have a voice at the table early. Yes. You have to have a voice early because everybody does want to learn from from people with different experiences. The second bit I'd say is you know, I'm gonna say now kind of mid-career, really start shifting from having mentors to having sponsors. Yeah, and that shift is really important. When you have sponsors, you know, they are are advocates in a different way about finding opportunities. They're gonna challenge you in really important ways too. Um, but that's different voice at the table and a different influence and voice for you as you're engaging in conversations than a mentor, which is which is really about advice, you know, advice and kind of bouncing things off. So those are two things I think early career, mid-career that are important for for women, especially.

SPEAKER_01 21:33

Absolutely. So, really, you don't need to necessarily be the most prepared person in the room. You just need to be the one who's willing to speak. Be bold. Be bold. You're at that table for a reason.

SPEAKER_02 21:46

Respectedly, respectfully. Right. And and and be engaged. I think it's it's such an important piece of you know, really being present. Yes, because there's there's so much that can pass you by and if if you're not in in tune with the different signals that are happening around around you.

SPEAKER_00 22:02

We're going to go into our lightning round, which we love. Oh boy, so it's like short, pithy answers, first thing that comes to mind. Future of commerce in one sentence. Being generous.

SPEAKER_02 22:11

We we've we believe that Sir Khan and I I personally believe that the future of commerce will be uh intelligent, accountable, and connected.

SPEAKER_01 22:18

Ooh.

SPEAKER_02 22:20

One thing that brands should stop doing immediately. Absolutely measuring in a silo. You cannot measure in a silo. You will lose the truth. Uh, you will lose so much learning uh if everything stays fractured. Uh you you have to prepare for an agency future. I know we didn't uh go too deep in this here, but within an agentic future, you know, discovery and purchase is gonna get disintermediated. Machines will make more decisions, machines are making decisions on data. Yeah. Uh that metadata and the the kind of common taxonomy that that is such a critical piece. So prepare for an agentic future. Uh it is happening and it'll it will be it'll be different. You can't buy your way into kind of an agentic commerce success uh like you could traditionally within the e-commerce space. And finally, what's your hype song? I mean, fun fact, I'm such not a music kind of not I do like music. So I'm a music enthusiast, but I'm really not great with music. I pinged my family. I'm like, oh my gosh. What a phone of friend on that uh actually. I would I would say uh C is unstoppable. No, okay, stop now.

SPEAKER_00 23:29

We have a she commerce playlist from all of our guests curated, so that is a fan favorite. It's uh all right.

SPEAKER_01 23:36

We're now in the the closing section. So if there's one thing we're taking away today, it's that commerce doesn't win when it's louder, it wins when it's smarter and more human.

SPEAKER_00 23:48

Yeah. And uh I think thanks for the clarity check. You've really I think going back to the data is so important in those connections and stepping back, as you said, to think about the strategy up front and how you're gonna use the data and be more outcome-based and intentional with it is is a really great reminder for many companies today, because that skipping that step, you're gonna get you're not gonna be able to get all the benefits out of that data strategy and agentic future that we talk so much about. So um, with every episode care, we are building a sisterhood and we ask our guests to join that community and to continue to pay forward for future generations. Will you take that pledge today? My pleasure, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 24:28

The only thing left to say today on this can confidential episode is bull brands, fierce women, one sister.