Unifying Measurement in a Fragmented World: A Conversation with Dom Devlin, CPO of Fospha

As retail’s channel mix grows ever more complex, spanning everything from TikTok Shop to Amazon and a rising tide of retail media networks, the job of measurement is under siege. At CommerceNext, Lee Arthur sat down with Dom Devlin, Chief Product Officer at Fospha, to unpack why the old paradigms of marketing measurement are breaking down and what it takes to future-proof decision-making in the age of AI.

Devlin’s main takeaway from three days of industry debate was the accelerating impact of AI on both search and consumer discovery. Tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity are rapidly changing how customers find and evaluate brands, compounding the fragmentation that already plagues acquisition channels. At the same time, brands are being pulled into more selling environments, direct-to-consumer, TikTok Shop, Amazon, and beyond, each with its own limitations on measurement and attribution.

The upshot, according to Devlin, is a sharp rise in complexity. Relying on last-click or even multi-touch attribution (MTA) now leaves brands measuring their dot-coms in isolation, unable to track impact across non-pixel environments like TikTok Shop or Amazon. “You can’t just stitch those journeys together,” he says. “Trying to do so creates an illusion of precision, but isn’t a viable system for modern brands.”

So what’s the solution? Devlin advocates for a unified approach that treats measurement as an organizational capability, not just a tool. “Measurement is upstream of great decision-making,” he points out. It’s not just about dashboards for the exec team, channel managers, finance leads, and everyone in between need to be empowered with a single, holistic source of truth.

In practice, this means evolving beyond pixel-based tracking and click-centric models, and embracing measurement frameworks that operate across channels and sales environments. Fospha, for example, positions itself as a full-funnel platform, combining attribution and media mix modeling to reveal true impact, even when individual touchpoints can’t be stitched together.

Devlin sees the real competitive edge coming when organizations pair this unified measurement with the ability to operationalize budget changes rapidly, shifting spend between DTC, Amazon, and new channels to maximize top-line growth.

One of the big risks Devlin warns against is what he calls the “bottom-funnel trap.” Years of over-investing in last-click and conversion-led tactics have left many brands fixated on expensive lower-funnel campaigns, while audience growth and brand building get starved for resources. It’s easy to see why: last-click is simple for CFOs to understand and report. But Devlin is clear that this is a strategic dead-end, especially as cost-per-acquisition rises and digital privacy limits pixel-based measurement.

Breaking out requires brands to measure what matters, not just what is easy to capture. Fospha is rolling out new innovation, Glow, designed to arm marketers with leading indicators for upper-funnel investment. The goal: help marketers prove to finance leaders how awareness and consideration advertising create long-term, sustainable growth.

Devlin’s closing message is both a warning and a call to action. “You can’t optimize what you don’t measure and you can’t grow if you’re trapped in outdated models.” Brands that invest in unified, future-proof measurement will be best positioned to navigate whatever AI, channel proliferation, and economic turbulence bring next.

For marketers and C-suites alike, the new table stakes aren’t about chasing the latest platform or campaign trend. It’s about building measurement infrastructure that delivers clarity, agility, and the confidence to invest across the full funnel outperforming in a world where complexity is only set to grow.

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