Costco to personalize online display ads at moment of product selection
Costco Wholesale Corp. is fine-tuning its targeting of online ads for brands participating in its retail media network.
The wholesale retail giant is developing "Reserve Display," a new onsite ad format built directly on its Costco Velocity closed-loop retail media technology stack, in partnership with machine learning-based commerce media technology provider Moloco. Costco Velocity curates customer experiences without renting out shopper data and is built on an open architecture.
In a post on the official Costco Retail Media LinkedIn page, Mark Williamson, associate VP of Costco Retail Media, said the retailer views its soon-to-be-released individually targeted digital ads as "digital end caps."
“They are highly visible, highly relevant opportunities to introduce members to products they will love, right at the moment of shopping," Williamson said in the post. "The Moloco platform uses machine learning trained on real purchase behavior to help Costco match the right products to the right customers at the right moments, and its AI is optimized to drive sales rather than impressions."
Costco directly connects the Moloco AI engine with its identity resolution and audience building activities, meaning an advertiser’s custom Costco audiences can be activated within an onsite campaign with no added friction.
The platform is designed to enable advertisers to launch campaigns in minutes and leverage automated bidding and targeting, and brands have access to “in-flight” performance measurement to see how their media is driving sales.
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Costco plans to launch Reserved Display with beta partners in the second quarter of 2026 and expand to all of its retail media network partners soon after. Throughout the second and third quarters of this year, the retailer plans to expand ad slots and formats and plug into supply-side (SSP) and demand-side (DSP) platforms to enable seamless programmatic buying. Costco is currently accepting applications to participate in the beta program.
During this rollout, Costco said advertisers should leverage the new Reserved Display solution in tandem with their Criteo-enabled Sponsored Product Ad campaigns to ensure optimal coverage its e-commerce site.
Costco currently operates 923 warehouses, including 633 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 114 in Canada, 42 in Mexico, 37 in Japan, 29 in the United Kingdom, 20 in Korea, 15 in Australia, 14 in Taiwan, seven in China, five in Spain, three in France, two in Sweden, and one each in Iceland, and New Zealand. Costco also operates e-commerce sites in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Mexico, Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Australia.
