Dive Brief:

• Albertsons Companies, which operates food and drug stores under 20 banners like Albertsons, Safeway and Vons, is launching Albertsons Performance Media, a Quotient-powered digital media platform that will give brands access to proprietary shopper data to drive sales across the retailer’s network for more than 2,300 stores in 35 states, per a company press release.
• The suite of services will allow consumer packaged goods brands to target their ad campaigns across Albertsons, Quotient and third-party properties, including major digital publishers. Brands will be able to leverage shoppers' transactional data and work with Albertsons to build creative ad units and experiences across mobile, social and web, that are integrated with a call to action, like a digital coupon. Additionally, brands can offer in-store specials or online add-to-cart features while taking advantage of media measurement, using advanced analytics to measure performance by linking ad views to a shopper’s verified purchase.
• Quotient will manage the process, which includes collecting shopper data at point-of-sale, working with brands and Albertsons on campaign design and measuring results. Albertsons previously partnered with Quotient for its digital savings programs.

Dive Insight:

The news points to how in-store transactional data is becoming a key asset for mass market retailers as marketing increasingly becomes an omnichannel strategy. By being able to link in-store purchases with digital marketing, brands can better tailor their campaigns and measure their efforts to determine the return on investment. Target, Walmart and Kroger have all similarly created marketing platforms for activating their shopper marketing programs, per Ad Exchanger. 

The new Albertsons Performance Media platform could help the retailer deepen its relationships with brands by giving them access to transactional data and ensure that customers receive more personalized offerings and relevant content. Albertsons claims to have proprietary data from 30 million verified buyers, according to Ad Exchanger. So far, about 60 CPGs have tested the tool. The new platform also lets the grocery store chain better compete with other retailers, like Target, Walmart and Kroger, that are making a concerted push into the convergence of digital and physical mass market retail. 

 Albertsons’ new platform gives brands many ways to activate customers. Shoppers can be targeted about in-store events ahead of their shopping trips and with specific branded messages at critical shopping times, like back to school. Brands can localize national campaigns with calls to action or incentives at nearby stores and notify consumers about new products. Integrated and customized campaigns are 57% more effective, an annual AdReaction study by Kantar Millward Brown found, but most marketers are missing opportunities to build brand awareness because less that half of campaigns are multichannel.

Audience activation tools are critical for marketers, who know how important consumer data is, but don’t always know how to use the insights that data provide or how to apply them to marketing campaigns. Brands, like Procter & Gamble, L’Oreal and Nestle, and major agencies and research groups, recently launched the Insights on Demand Consortium to redesign market research so that brands can use technology and automation to better understand consumer intent and behavior.