Kroger Launches Private Marketplace to Connect Brands With Consumers

The Kroger Co.’s retail media business, Kroger Precision Marketing, powered by the Cincinnati-based grocer's 84.51° data science firm, has launched a new private programmatic advertising marketplace that the company says will allow brands to reach the most relevant consumers across the web using their DSP of choice and then optimize performance against actual retail sales.

“The Kroger Private Marketplace makes buying easier while providing advertisers unmatched flexibility, speed and control of their campaigns,” the company stated in a news release.

Kroger, which serves 60 million households annually nationwide, says the Kroger Private Marketplace works by allowing agencies and brands to reach millions of consumers by applying Kroger audience data to programmatic campaigns within their preferred ad-buying platform.

Advertisers can tailor their audiences to match campaign objectives using targeting science exclusively available through Kroger Precision Marketing. For example, when aiming for conversions, the targeting science will enable brands to reach relevant households that will deliver the strongest sales impact. These activations have resulted in household penetration gains from new and lapsed households with at least three times more sales than the average consumer, according to internal 84.51° data from 2021.

In an interview with WGB at the recent Groceryshop conference in Las Vegas, Barbara Connors, VP of commercial insights for Kroger’s 84.51, shared how the data science company gathers insights about these shoppers through surveys and analysis of purchase data to help the grocer better understand today’s most influential trends.

The new platform further supports Kroger Precision Marketing’s commitment to safeguarding customer data by using a deal ID that allows for appropriate programmatic use while still giving agencies the flexibility to activate across many platforms, adds the company.

“We built The Kroger Private Marketplace to be flexible for agencies while protecting the privacy of our shoppers,” said Cara Pratt, SVP of Kroger Precision Marketing at 84.51°, in the release. “You design the audience, choose the measurement criteria, set the safety standards and activate in your tech stack. We’re setting the bar for the future of programmatic media.”

“Brands are looking for ways to tap first-party retail data and reduce ad waste,” noted Helen Lin, chief digital officer at Publicis Groupe, the first holding company to participate in the alpha tests for this product. “The Kroger Private Marketplace uses retail sales data to unlock new optimization levers for programmatic buyers, while still giving them the flexibility to manage the campaign in our existing tech stack.”

Kroger further notes that its Private Marketplace will give advertisers self-service access to targeting solutions and audience science to reach relevant households; retail performance metrics such as sales lift, new buyers, and household penetration; and quality controls including verification and brand safety tagging.

“We’re still in the early days of seeing ecommerce disrupt shopping habits,” said Pratt. “This is an important time for brands to leverage retail insights to influence new shopping behaviors. Kroger’s private marketplace reaches relevant households and empowers teams to optimize campaign performance against actual business outcomes.”

Kroger Precision Marketing relies not only upon 84.51° data but also data from Kroger’s loyalty-card program to “connect customers to brands through engaging moments that inspire purchasing online or in-store,” the company states. Retail data science, insights and media company 84.51° leverages first-party retail data from nearly 1 out of 2 U.S. households and more than 2 billion transactions to fuel what it calls “a more customer-centric journey.”