CommerceIQ

Kroger Takes Retail Media Ad Tech In-House for Efficiency

Kroger Precision Marketing announced plans to bring its self-serve retail media ad tech fully in-house, with the platform already in beta for a select group of clients and targeting general availability in Q4. Advertisers will still access third-party tools from Pacvue, Skai, and CommerceIQ, but Kroger aims to reduce friction and consolidate spend by centralizing entry points and leveraging first-party shopper insights. The move reflects a broader trend toward retail media consolidation, with Kroger participating in IAB efforts on standards while not committing to Albertsons’ Cannes framework. The initial platform will support display and search-based product listing ads on Kroger properties, with targeting based on custom ad groups (propensity, flavor/scent profiles) and a focus on driving discovery for new products. Kroger also plans off-site programmatic expansion, social commerce integrations, streaming partnerships with Disney and Roku, and to hire nearly 100 new roles, while ending certain Microsoft Advertising usages but continuing some collaboration.

Nielsen ONE Depends On Nielsen’s Four Screens; Why Retail Media Will Not Be Stopped

Nielsen introduced Four-Screen Ad Deduplication via Total Ad Ratings to measure and reduce overlap in YouTube reach across desktop, mobile, CTV, and linear audiences. The capability starts with TAR and is planned to expand to all publishers within Nielsen ONE later in 2022. Nielsen ONE is in alpha testing with a planned 2024 market release and has added outcome-based measurement. In retail media, Walmart Connect added CommerceIQ to its partner roster, and Kohl’s Media Network is launching off-site programmatic ads, signaling growing demand for third-party ad tech in retail. Dollar General’s DG Media Network emphasizes its broad reach to active customers, underscoring the scale of retail publishers in the ecosystem.

Here’s How Instacart Plans To Become A Major Ad Platform

Instacart is expanding beyond grocery delivery into a major advertising platform via Instacart Advertising. After testing paid search in 2019, it launched a self-service ad platform in May 2020 to monetize a surge of first-time shoppers during the pandemic. The business emphasizes data-driven metrics to support grocery brands and currently sells ads on a cost-per-click basis in a second-price auction (having moved from a first-price model in 2019). Instacart highlights analytics such as market share, household penetration and share of shopping baskets across multiple grocers. High-profile hires include Seth Dallaire (CRO, 2019) and Carolyn Everson (president) who left in 2021; Stephen Howard-Sarin was hired in December 2021 to lead retail media. CVS joined in 2020; Walgreens joined in 2021. Campbell Soup Company and Driscoll’s are advertisers, and Kroger signed a Roku deal in 2020 to attribute CTV campaigns.