Dive Brief:

• Kroger Precision Marketing (KPM), a division of Kroger Co., has partnered with Pacvue to offer an enterprise software suite for advertisers that includes programmatic bidding, automation and analytics features, according to a press release.
• Brands can use the suite to monitor campaign performance indicators including return on ad sales, cost-per-click and product-level tracking with insight on paid and organic visibility. Features also include AI-based optimization tools, which will autonomously adjust when and where ads are shown.
• KPM and Pacvue’s partnership is part of a series of efforts by Kroger to expand its retail media presence and offer marketers stronger value as competition from other retailers with media networks continues to grow.

Dive Insight:

Kroger, the largest grocery retailer by revenue in America, is the latest retailer to ramp up its retail media business through more robust services for advertisers, as the space continues to show strength. A key point of differentiation for Kroger is its loyal shopper program, which is connected to 96% of sales, per the release. Leveraging such transactional data remains attractive for consumer packaged goods and other marketers as a way to gain insights into consumers that can help strengthen the performance of their marketing efforts. 

Pacvue, who also partners with Walmart, Amazon, Target and Instacart, brings a layer of convenience for KPM advertisers seeking to leverage the information they can access, including the shopping behavior of the 60 million households the grocer serves. Through the customizable Pacvue dashboard, users can track the success of advertising campaigns by pinning specific KPIs like return on ad sales and cost-per-click, which could be helpful when bidding on ad slots. The suite also includes an AI-based optimization tool, which adjusts when and where ads are being shown based on ad performance. 

The partnership between Pacvue and KPM, which is powered by Kroger’s data and analytics unit 84.51°, comes full circle to the steps the grocer has taken to expand its retail media footprint. In October 2021, it launched Kroger Private Marketplace, a private programmatic advertising marketplace that allowed brand’s to utilize Kroger’s audience data within their DSP of choice, while still protecting customer information. With the partnership, brands no longer need to seek a third-party programmatic vendor, which may help KPM gain more business.

Kroger follows suit to other popular brands who are looking to find where they fit in the growing retail media space with top retail sites Amazon, Walmart and Target drawing over $2.3 billion in ad spending from May to January last year. In October 2021, Walmart launched Walmart DSP in partnership with ad-tech partner The Trade Desk for brands to utilize data and audience insights across Walmart’s website, mobile app and brick-and-mortar locations. Earlier this year, it also outlined plans to grow its Walmart Connect advertising platform with new campaign management tools to track targeting, search and measurement capabilities. 

Similarly, Walgreens Advertising Group announced in February that it will launch self-serve programmatic and clean-room solutions that allow advertisers to use Walgreens first-party data for their campaigns using their preferred DSP.