The grocery cart knows you better than demographics do

Across two conversations with The Drum as part of our Media that Moves video series at Advertising Week New York, KPM leaders and partners painted a clear picture of where retail media is heading next – and how grocery data is moving far beyond its CPG roots.

From signals to strategy: simplifying programmatic activation

“What we've learned about retail signals is that they tell us so much more about a consumer around their interests and their lifestyle than any other signal can,” says Molly Ryan, agency partnership director, Kroger Precision Marketing.

Retail data has become a key ingredient in building precise, performant audiences – but for many brands, the complexity of programmatic activation has been a barrier. KPM’s new managed-service offering is designed to make programmatic channels like CTV and streaming audio more accessible, particularly for mid-tier advertisers.

Streaming audio has been a particularly strong growth area. “Emarketer just reported that the US consumer spends nearly an hour and 25 minutes a day streaming audio and I think that is nearly as much as social media proving that it’s such an important platform for brands to show up,” says Ryan.

For agencies, retail purchase data adds strategic depth. “You’re able to look at specific sales points, how your product is moving on shelves, in order to drive a more informed media strategy that's not just based on historical reporting,” says Joe Groter, vice-president, retail media and commerce partnerships, Publicis Media Exchange (PMX). “You can actually use purchase data signals to inform that strategy moving forward. It just helps add another layer of strategic thinking to the forefront of media planning.”

These signals are also helping close the loop between awareness and performance. “The closed loop measurement really helps to see the full picture of what that upper funnel, that brand marketing or awareness tactic is actually driving from a sales perspective or how it's moving product in store,” says Groter.

“The signals that come from retail data really allow for very prescriptive, high performing audiences. And so we're able to really leverage those signals to make much more informed strategies and make sure that the client’s dollars and investment is working as hard as it can.”

Beyond grocery: non-endemic brands find their audience

While grocery data has traditionally been used by CPG brands, it’s now becoming a tool for non-endemic advertisers too.

“You are what you buy… You are what you end up putting in that basket and purchasing. And that’s why the precision in those signals is so important and can really help brands understand how to grow their brand by hitting the right person,” says Holleran.

Through partnerships with DSPs like Yahoo and The Trade Desk, brands outside the grocery category – like automotive – can tap into weekly purchase signals to find and reach their ideal audiences.

“We see a lot of demand coming through on our demand side platform for signals that are just outside of the grocery store,” says Beth Gross, global commerce media partnerships, Yahoo DSP. “Coupled with our identity graph and leveraging Kroger audiences, our advertisers are able to reach a lot more scale, drive a little more intent.”

Chevrolet, for example recently leveraged KPM audiences through Yahoo DSP to launch its Equinox EV campaign, using lifestyle segments to identify households most likely to engage with an electric vehicle message.

For advertisers, these signals offer a high-frequency, high-fidelity window into consumer behavior. “It’s the idea that we’re not just looking at broad buckets like women 25–54,” says Holleran. “Instead, we can segment shoppers into groups like outdoorsy, crafty or health-conscious based on real-world purchase behavior.”

A new era of retail media

Whether it’s simplifying activation for smaller brands or unlocking lifestyle-based targeting for categories like automotive, the connective tissue is the same: grocery data is becoming a powerful, precise and flexible signal in an increasingly complex media ecosystem.

As KPM continues to build out its ecosystem, across programmatic, DSP partnerships and managed service support, the definition of retail media is expanding. From the grocery aisle to the auto showroom, the data in people’s carts is writing a new playbook for targeting and measurement.

Watch both conversations to hear how Kroger Precision Marketing is powering this shift – from infrastructure to activation, and from CPG to categories far beyond.