Kroger builds proprietary self-service ad platform

The Kroger Co. is upgrading its targeted advertising offering for CPG brands.

Kroger Precision Marketing (KPM), a division of Kroger focused on connecting brand partners with shoppers and supported by its 84.51° data analytics subsidiary, is rolling out a new in-house-developed advertising platform.

The self-service platform will initially encompass Kroger’s existing product listing ads and onsite display advertising. It will later support the entire Kroger Precision Marketing retail media service portfolio.

By building an in-house advertising platform, KPM intends to offer a more unified marketing strategy among different on-site and offsite media channels. As a self-service advertising platform, initial capabilities are designed to enable Kroger’s advertisers to reach relevant audiences using search-based insights and custom ad groups; design, iterate, and activate creative messages within the platform; customize and save multiple creative templates by brand and product; optimize all campaign elements - including budgets, messaging, and flighting; and build reports and measure performance against data including sales lift, household penetration and unit lift.

All KPM advertisers will be able to transition to the new platform before the end of 2023. Advertisers using third-party management tools from Pacvue, Skai and Commerce IQ may still manage their ad inventory through those platforms. Kroger will release additional third-party integrations in the future.

“Retailers are creating the consumer-first future of advertising,” said Cara Pratt, senior VP of Kroger Precision Marketing. “We know we need to remove friction from the retail media buying process. Building a new foundation of integrated technology empowers brands and agencies to maximize retail media’s potential. Together, we will deliver a more convenient, personalized, and inspirational shopping experience.”

The Kroger Co. created Kroger Precision Marketing in 2017, in an effort to apply data science to better connect CPG brands with relevant households. The retail media network sells self-service advertising on Kroger digital properties, managed-service advertising through publisher collaborations, and programmatic advertising through its private marketplace.

KPM features nearly 2,000 participating brands, with Pratt leading a team of data scientists using 45 machine-learning models tapping purchase data from 60 million households. KPM has delivered an average 25%-30% household penetration lift and 35%-40% sales lift on campaigns, according to Kroger analysis.

[Read more: Kroger expands retail media network to connected TV, video]

Based in Cincinnati, Kroger operates 2,800 stores, including more than 100 stores in Southeast Texas and Louisiana, under a variety of banners across the U.S., including Kroger, Fred Meyer, Ralphs, Dillons, Smith's, King Soopers, Fry's, QFC, City Market, Owen's, Jay C, Pay Less, Baker's, Gerbes, Harris Teeter, Pick 'n Save, Metro Market, and Mariano's.