It’s also what United Natural Foods, Inc., a publicly traded wholesale distributor for food and grocery items, has invested in, launching its own retail media network this spring called the UNFI Media Network. It developed the platform with Swiftly, a technology company that powers retail media networks.

Who owns your data?

Third-party data is information about consumers that a retailer or advertiser acquires through an entirely separate source. On the internet, that’s often done through third-party cookies. Third-party cookies are code used on websites that can live on in web browsers across multiple site visits. They essentially track user activity and inform targeted advertisements delivered to those users. Google had planned to phase out third-party cookies, but it recently announced it will not do so.

The intuitive alternative to third-party data is first-party data. First-party data is what retailers and advertisers acquire directly and voluntarily from consumers. It can include an email address or phone number that a consumer uses to sign up for a loyalty program, or the information that a consumer uses to complete a checkout on an ecommerce order. That’s the kind of data that powers retail media networks and advertising.

Both kinds of data allow retailers and advertisers to personalize digital ads based on consumers’ shopping behaviors.

“One of the things that we thought was so important about Swiftly versus other retail media platforms out there is that the retailer retains 100% control of the information and data of that shopper, of that loyalty subscriber,” Louis Martin, UNFI president of wholesale, told Digital Commerce 360. “They don’t have to give that away.”

What is an example of retail media advertising?

Sean Turner, cofounder and chief technology officer at Swiftly, showed Digital Commerce 360 examples of what retail media advertising can look like. Sharing his screen on a web-based call, Turner showed three kinds of personalized ads the UNFI Media Network can display using Swiftly technology.

1. Personalized pricing promotions

In the example above, the consumer has shopped at a Hen House location. The prices in the promotion are specific to the Hen House location where that consumer typically shops. Swiftly operates in the first-party cookie list identity space, Turner said.

“So we’re not cookie-ing users to try to track and target users,” Turner told Digital Commerce 360. “I’m actually getting explicit opt-in identities with a first-party login with the user’s email address, phone number into these retailer apps. And when we go and we target users, we’re actually able to target them using a data clean room, target these same shoppers off-platform in a privacy-compliant and cookie-less way.”

A data clean room “leverages the hash of your email address, so you’re not sharing any of the raw data, and it couldn’t be used to reverse-engineer-your email address,” he explained. It matches two people “without ever having to exchange any personally identifiable information,” he added.

He compared the process to a digital version of circular print ads. A local grocery store can send printed coupons and pricing — often on newsprint paper — to consumers and potential consumers near it. But because many shoppers are more inclined to check prices on their phones and computers than go through traditionally mailed circulars, companies like UNFI and Swiftly use retail media advertising capabilities to reach potential customers.

“If I just show you an ad and you’re out on the internet and it just says, well, hey, apples are $0.98 a pound, I don’t know where to go,” Turner said. “I don’t know where to buy it. I’m gonna probably just ignore that ad ’cause it’s not gonna register with me. But if it’s the retailer that you go to every week that’s branded that ad and it’s like, hey, these are the deals at that retailer, well, guess what? We’re seeing very, very high average return on ad spend for these ads.”

2. Product-based promotions

Another Swiftly-powered retail media ad highlights a specific product, as opposed to a pricing promotion.

Turner also showed Digital Commerce 360 a different use case for personalized retail media advertising. In the image above, the retail media ad shows Alexia-brand onion rings. Clicking on the ad takes users to a recipe page featuring the product.

Clicking through the Alexia onion ring ad takes online shoppers to a page that promotes a recipe featuring the product, as well as what other ingredients a shopper should purchase to make the recipe as shown.

“I’ve got all the products featured right below that, so it makes it super easy for me to add these to my shopping list or to add it to an ecommerce cart and actually go and buy the product,” Turned said. “You’ve got a pretty good, complete story there.”

3. In-app mobile advertising

Swiftly powers the retail media technology for St. Louis-based grocery retailer Dierbergs’ mobile app. Upon opening the app, a user might see an ad to make s’mores.

An ad on the Swiftly-powered Dierbergs mobile app calls users to make s’mores.

When a user clicks the ad, she is taken to a list of products that an advertiser or advertisers promote to complete the recipe in their call to action. In this case, those would be Hershey’s, Kraft and Mondelez.

The Dierbergs app shows which products to buy to make s’mores, based on the companies advertising.

The app then displays the products with pricing based on the location where the user shops. Additionally, it shows which aisles a user can go to in the store to find the products. Both of those details update automatically, as the retailer’s app is linked to its point-of-sale system.

The product detail page shows an image, pricing and the duration of the promotion. It also shows where to find the product in the user’s preferred store location.

The user can add the product to an ecommerce cart or to a list for physical shopping by clicking the plus symbol in green on the product detail page.

Dierbergs app users can add products to their shopping lists or digital carts.

The app sorts the products that consumers add to their lists to display by aisle, making in-store shopping more efficient.

Impact on regional and independents retailers

Retail media advertising is a critical capability for smaller retailers, Martin and Turner both told Digital Commerce 360. Any retailer working with UNFI or brand that sells to those retailers can participate in the UNFI Media Network, Martin said.

That includes some of the largest consumer packaged goods companies (CPGs), he said. Those CPGs typically come in with a checklist of expectations. That’s because they have the resources to understand what goes into advertising at that scale, he added.

“The flip side is we also have a universe of suppliers who don’t have that infrastructure,” Martin said. “They are small, natural organic suppliers. In many cases, they may be all the way down to still doing stuff in the garage of their home to maybe having one or two production facilities and able to supply to just a few.

“Well, they’re not the ones that can go to Walmart and get on the media platform because one, if Walmart turns it on, they’re not going to have the scale to keep up with it. But two, they don’t have the administrative infrastructure to engage. And so we’ve tried to make that very easy for that type of supplier by you can just simply go on our website and with a few clicks, sign up, put your brand on it.”

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The UNFI Media Network launched in May 2024. It extends digital marketing capabilities to more than 30,000 retail customer locations and about 11,000 brand partners, the distributor said.

Louis Martin, president of wholesale, United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI)

UNFI already offered what it called “professional services” to its clients. That included helping clients design the layout of a new store, shelving units, getting deals on refrigeration equipment, or getting better rates on credit card machines bought through the company.

What became clear was that retail media was a service UNFI’s independent and regional clients “were not getting full access to,” Louis Martin, UNFI president of wholesale, told Digital Commerce 360.

UNFI owns some retail banners, including Cub and Shoppers Value.

Why did UNFI start a retail media network?

There are a variety of reasons these independent and regional grocery stores were not getting full access, he said. One of those reasons is the scale at which the retailer can buy and sell product.

“If you’re a small independent grocer or a bodega or a mom-and-pop store with three to four or five outlets, you probably don’t have the bandwidth or infrastructure in place to be negotiating with Kraft on what they’re going to bring into your store,” Martin told Digital Commerce 360.

Another example is that a grocery company could have different store banners through which it sells, but they use different types of technologies, making it challenging to have a single point of entry to “that universe of retailers because they were all in different places,” he said.

As a result, he added, UNFI identified that developing a retail media network would create value for the grocery distributors and store operators it serves. In a sense, UNFI and those companies it served were “sitting on the sidelines as Walmart and Kroger and Amazon and Target were building their infrastructure for retail media.”

“Well, we wanted to make sure our customers had an ability to play in that space,” Martin said. “And not only did we think that internally, but a whole lot of our customers were coming to us and saying, ‘Help me think about this.’ We need to be able to compete and provide this to our consumers in our stores so that they have more tailored and differentiated shopping experiences — because we’re not going to beat Walmart on price, but we can offer a much better shopping experience, and this is a way to do that.”

How does a company develop a retail media network?

At first, Martin said, UNFI planned to build its retail media network capabilities in-house. And it began to do so.

But the distributor realized “really quickly” that developing such technology wasn’t its core capability. And its customers couldn’t wait for the time it would take UNFI to develop it, Martin explained. That led to UNFI meeting with technology providers figure out which retail media platform best matched its goals. Among those providers was Swiftly, which had the added benefit of having already been working with UNFI customers, Martin said, allowing the distributor to get references it felt were credible.

What is an example of a retail media network?

Retail media networks are a type of advertising platform where retailers can sell ad space on their own digital channels to third parties. Advertisers can target their ads using the retailer’s first-party data on customers, including information from loyalty programs. Then, advertisers can place ads on the retail media network provider’s websites, within mobile apps, or in stores via screens and displays. Those options provide an alternative to other targeting methods, such as those that rely on third-party cookies.

The on-site — or on-platform — component allows retailers advertising through the UNFI Media Network to “create a tailored shopping platform” via desktop and mobile.

In UNFI’s case, it’s not limited to UNFI-owned channels, Martin told Digital Commerce 360. Its retailer and supplier partners will be able to advertise off-platform in, for example, the Wall Street Journal as well as on Facebook and other social media platforms, Martin said. What differentiates it from other digital marketing is that they are targeting not just generic consumers from a marketplace or area. Instead, they can target individuals who they know are members of a loyalty program within UNFI’s system.

Based on that, he said, advertisers can “understand with a closed loop” if consumers convert from looking at a product via retail media advertising and then going to a UNFI-affiliated store or supplier website or app.

How does it work?

Retail media networks can work in different ways. For the UNFI Media Network, one way is through suppliers and brands couponing digitally. Another is being part of a retailer’s loyalty program.

Whereas some companies feel they’re devaluing their brand’s equity through couponing, Martin said, there are workarounds that still benefit both the advertising brand and the consumer. One example is that a brand can opt to donate a certain amount of points to a grocery store’s loyalty program if a consumer purchases the brand’s product. The consumer then accumulates points from that purchase that can eventually convert to dollars they can spend on groceries.

“But you did it through a series of transactions,” Martin said. “You didn’t do it because Heinz ketchup happened to be cheap that week, and so there’s a lot of interesting ways to reinforce that loyalty and that activation.”

Grocers and brands selling in UNFI Media Network-affiliated stores can also use in-store digital advertising. For example, some grocery stores might use digital screens on the doors in their refrigerated and frozen sections, highlighting specific products or displaying video advertisements.

It then becomes “plug and play based on what the retailer wants and prioritizes,” Martin said.

That could mean ads prioritizing categories, a retail banner, a loyalty program or in-store activity.

First-party data and user privacy

All this factors into the personalized advertising UNFI Media Network displays. But it’s also based on consumers’ shopping activity.

“What you’re going to see and what gets promoted to you is going to be very much tailored to meet those buying patterns and to help reinforce what you’ve already demonstrated are your preferences or your priorities as a consumer,” Martin said. “And more importantly, through our network, not only are you tailoring it, but one of the things that we thought was so important about Swiftly versus other retail media platforms out there is that the retailer retains 100% control of the information and data of that shopper, of that loyalty subscriber. They don’t have to give that away.”

Other retail media platforms, Martin said, declining to name them, will give companies access to the technology in exchange for user data. Those platforms, he said, are “interested in then using that data to create last-mile delivery connectivity.”

“Well, we’re not in the last-mile business,” Martin said. “We’re in the [business of] helping our shoppers, our business, our retailers grow their business in store. So we actually are able to deliver on the promise that you retain your shopper loyalty data. It is yours. It is private to you. We don’t need to see it to activate the programming that we have and we are able to provide the right ROAS [return on ad spend] analytic analytics to the suppliers without having to sacrifice that privacy either.”

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Piyush Chaudhari, CEO, Salsify

Piyush Chaudhari, a former CEO of global brand services firm SGS & Co., is the new top executive of product experience management company Salsify.

He succeeds Jason Purcell, a Salsify co-founder who has been the company’s CEO for the past 12 years and will remain as a board member and company advisor. “I am personally excited about the vision, energy, and experience Piyush will bring to power the next decade of accelerating growth for Salsify and our customers,” Purcell said in the company’s announcement of Chaudhari’s appointment as CEO.

Chaudhari is joining Salsify at a time when the company is  rolling out new technology products designed to improve how companies can manage and syndicate branded product descriptions and images to attract online customers and boost conversion rates.

Last year, Salsify invested $38 million in production innovation across several areas, including AI and automation, to enhance its product experience management technology for engaging and converting online buyers with helpful digital product content across multiple channels. And in this year’s first quarter, Salsify announced the general availability of Salsify PXM Advance, the newest version of its Product Experience Management platform.

“But in truth we have only scratched the surface of the business impact and global scale that Salsify is capable of,” Chaudhari said in a statement announcing his new position.

He added, “I am humbled and thrilled to assume leadership towards the next phase of growth that Salsify’s Board and entire team of Salsifarians are ready to invest in.”

Jason Purcell, co-founder and former CEO, Salsify

The company says it’s in good financial condition to invest in its growth. “Purcell leaves the company in the best financial shape of its history,” Salsify said in a statement. “It is growing, profitable, and holds over $300 million in cash and no debt.”

Chaudhari most recently was CEO of SGS & Co., which provides brands with advertising services across more than 30 countries. Prior to SGS, he was president, Americas and global strategy, at IRI (now known as Circana), which provides companies data on consumer demand to foster sales growth. Chaudhari has also held senior executive positions at Aon Hewitt, a provider of human capital and management consulting services. In addition, he has worked at Aon Consulting, Motorola and IBM, according to his LinkedIn page.

Salsify works with thousands of brand manufacturers, distributors and retailers worldwide to develop technology designed to help companies produce and share product content that wins over online buyers.

The company’s clients include brand manufacturers Mars, L’Oreal, Coca-Cola, Bosch, McCormick, Kenvue, Danone and ASICS; and such retailers and distributors as Albertsons, Carrefour, Metro, Glass Warehouse and DoorDash.

Paul Demery is a Digital Commerce 360 contributing editor covering B2B digital commerce technology and strategy. paul@digitalcommerce360.com.

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The retailer will formally present the new interactive ad types at a presentation on May 14.

Amazon introduced ads to Prime Video, its streaming platform, in early 2024. For an extra $2.99 per month, Prime members can opt out of seeing ads. Amazon said Prime Video with ads has an average monthly reach of 200 million consumers. The retailer’s advertising business shows specific ads to consumers, targeted based on its trove of customer data.

“Amazon Ads continues to reimagine the streaming TV experience with interactive ad formats that are seamlessly shoppable and help advertisers meaningfully connect with customers,” said Alan Moss, vice president of global ad sales for Amazon Ads. “We are developing innovative experiences to help brands better engage with customers, as we work to transform streaming advertising through our differentiated combination of reach, first-party signals, and ad tech.”

Other streaming companies have also introduced shoppable ads recently. Amazon’s statement puts the new ad formats in direct competition with others, saying, “These formats go far beyond QR codes, making it easier for viewers to connect with brands while enjoying the premium streaming entertainment content they love.”

Amazon ranks No. 1 in the Top 1000, Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of the largest North American online retailers. It is also No. 3 in Digital Commerce 360’s Global Online Marketplaces Database, which ranks the 100 largest such marketplaces by third-party GMV.

Amazon’s new ads on Prime Video

It shared three new formats advertisers can purchase on Prime Video. 

1. Shoppable carousel ads: Retailers can present their products as a lineup that customers can browse through during commercial breaks and add to their carts using the remote. The advertisement automatically pauses when a consumer interacts with it and restarts once the interaction is over.
2. Interactive pause ads: Translucent ads will appear on screen when viewers pause a show or movie. The imagery will include “add to cart” and “learn more” buttons. These advertisements can extend engagement over a traditional ad break because they remain on the screen as long as the video is paused, Amazon said.
3. Interactive brand trivia ads: Amazon said these advertisements give consumers a chance to shop while being entertained with trivia about the brand. They can also be used to teach consumers about products and services and give out rewards, like Amazon credits with eligible purchases. 

Amazon said that interactive ads are more valuable for advertisers based on a study it conducted. In the study, advertisers ran both interactive ads like those mentioned above and non-interactive ads. The interactive versions drove higher conversion and 10 times higher product page views than the alternative. 

The growth of shoppable video 

Shoppable ads are a growing ecommerce option for some of the largest online retailers. It’s not Amazon’s first foray into the area, either. It tested shoppable ads during the first-ever Black Friday NFL game it streamed in 2023.

Meanwhile, competing streamers are also incorporating the advertising option. In January 2024, Disney announced a beta program on Hulu. Consumers can make purchases through the new Gateway Shop in Hulu while maintaining their viewing experience, Disney said at the time. 

Viewers see personalized advertisements for products that are sent to phones through push notifications or email. Since the launch, Disney has grown the interactive shopping features in streaming, it said.

“Our goal is to help audiences connect with the brands they love with the least amount of friction, without disrupting the content they’re streaming,” Jamie Power, senior vice president of addressable sales at Disney Advertising, said in January.  

Disney is No. 92 in the Top 1000. Walmart (No. 2) and Home Depot (No. 4) are also experimenting with shoppable TV. Walmart inked a deal with NBCUniversal in November to place shoppable ads on the streaming platform Peacock. The ads gave consumers the chance to buy Walmart items featured in select Bravo shows. And Home Depot released a branded-content series with Vizio in 2023.

Most recently, TelevisaUnivision announced a partnership with Shopsense AI to integrate shopping across its streaming channels. It launched four shoppable collections along with the Latin American Music Awards.

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The agreement means that Kroger Precision Marketing will allow Yahoo DSP advertisers to place ads in front of Kroger’s audience. The retail media platform is powered by Kroger’s first-party and purchase-based data.

Kroger ranks No. 6 in the Top 1000, Digital Commerce 360’s database of North America’s leading retailers by online sales. Kroger is also first in the Top 1000’s Food/Beverage category.

Why Kroger’s first-party data is important to Yahoo

“Using first-party data is crucial to future-proof against third-party cookie deprecation, and applying Kroger’s retail data will help to ensure addressability for our advertisers,” said Elizabeth Herbst-Brady, chief revenue officer at Yahoo. “This new offering not only reinforces our privacy-safe approach, but also demonstrates our commitment to interoperability and allows advertisers to activate high-quality data across campaigns through the Yahoo DSP.”

The first-party consumer data that retail media networks use has gained interest as Google prepares for third-party cookie deprecation. The search giant plans to implement full deprecation on Chrome in early 2025. Other browsers have taken steps to block third-party cookies as well, limiting their utility in tracking users across different websites and activities.

Access to Kroger Precision Marketing, which the grocer operates with the retail media company 84.51°, will leverage Kroger’s customer data. In addition, in cases where advertisers use both Kroger and Yahoo’s platforms, they will be able to attribute store sales at Kroger locations based on media exposures from the Yahoo DSP.

Leveraging retail media network strengths

“Advertisers on average see 6.5x higher return on ad spend when using our precision audiences,” said Cara Pratt, senior vice president of Kroger Precision Marketing. “By expanding our availability through the Yahoo DSP, we’re delivering even more meaningful messages and measurable brand impact.”

That impact is something that many other retailers are currently pursuing. Their motivation stems in part from Google Chrome’s forthcoming third-party cookies deprecation.

Albertsons, Walmart, Macy’s and others have all announced major retail media network updates, launches, and partnerships in 2024. The networks bring in revenue, in addition to driving sales of products that advertisers are already selling through the networks’ owners.

Kroger Precision Marketing, which debuted in 2017, already offers self-service advertising for digital contexts. It also sells managed-service advertising in work with publishers, as well as programmatic advertising.

Kroger previously announced plans to let advertisers from another DSP, The Trade Desk, reach Precision Marketing audiences in 2023.

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The growth story this year shows no signs of slowing down. For evidence, look no further than major retailers — including Walmart, Home Depot, Saks and others — that have expanded, rebranded, created or otherwise shared new plans for their retail media networks.

More could be coming. In December 2023, Deloitte published a poll finding that 64% of retailers said they plan to implement a retail media network by the end of 2024.

What are retail media networks?

Retail media networks are a type of advertising platform where retailers can sell ad space on their own digital channels to third parties. Advertisers can target their ads using the retailer’s first-party data on customers, including information from loyalty programs. Ads can be placed on retailers’ websites, within mobile apps or in stores via screens and displays.

Retail media networks also open up a new revenue stream for retailers.

Here are the most important developments so far in 2024.

1. Albertsons works with Criteo

Albertsons Media Collective, the advertising piece of the grocery chain, is working with commerce media platform Criteo to expand in-store retail media offerings for advertisers. Criteo is helping Albertsons develop new ad formats, like sponsored video and commerce displays, it said.

Albertsons Media Collective can use a combination of first-party data, in-store sales and other shopper information to give advertisers better ad-targeting abilities.

Albertsons is No. 24 in the Top 1000, Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of North America’s leading retailers by online sales.

2. Instacart uses Google shopping data for CPG partners

Instacart announced in January that it would make Google Shopping accessible to Instacart advertisers.

“Instacart’s closed-loop platform and first-party retail media data are critical differentiators for CPG brands,” said Laura Jones, chief marketing officer of Instacart. “Today, our team works with more than 5,500 brand partners to help them grow their businesses and drive incremental sales. With our collaboration with Google, we’re now able to layer our valuable retail media data over Google Shopping ads’ capabilities to enhance audience signals for our CPG partners’ campaigns off of Instacart,” she said.

Instacart is one company experimenting with retail media networks.

The grocery delivery company also debuted ads on Caper Carts. Instacart described them as AI-powered smart carts that will make personalized recommendations through advertisements. Recommendations will be based on the time of year, ongoing promotions, and other products already in the customer’s cart, Instacart said.

3. Macy’s Media Network recruits VP from Walmart Connect 

Macy’s hired Michael Krans as a vice president in March who is in charge of running the Macy’s Media Network. Krans spent the two years prior at Walmart Connect, Walmart’s retail media network. 

The Macy’s ad network collaborates with advertisers across Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s, helping them target the retailer’s customers. The goal is to lead to discovery and brand awareness among Macy’s customers. It launched the network in 2020.

“Macy’s Media Network is one of retail’s premier platforms for advertisers helping them to connect with highly engaged customers across Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s, giving marketers a host of opportunities to more effectively leverage their media campaigns,” Max Magni, chief customer and digital officer, said in a statement.

Macy’s ranks No. 14 in the Top 1000.

4. Lowe’s and Google team up on a retail media solution

In March, Google announced a retail media solution in partnership with Lowe’s.

The beta uses Google’s Search Ads 360 product to facilitate retail media campaigns. The program extends advertisers’ reach to new third-party channels beyond the retail media network’s owner. 

“With self-service, retailers will be able to selectively share first-party audiences with their brand partners in a privacy-centric way, without exposing user-level data,” Google project manager Ewan Fisher said at the time. “This lets brands reach high-intent shoppers with relevant ads, increasing performance while respecting consumer privacy.”

Google is also looking for future retail partners, he added.

Lowe’s is No. 11 in the Top 1000.

5. Home Depot rebrands its ad operation as Orange Apron Media

Home Depot relaunched its retail media network as Orange Apron Media four years after it first formed. The name is a reference to uniforms its employees wear, and an attempt to differentiate the network from the proliferation of other retail media networks across the industry, Orange Apron Media vice president Melanie Babcock told Digital Commerce 360.

Advertisers can purchase ad space on Home Depot’s website, including on banners and product carousels and in promotional emails. In select stores, they can also buy ads to display on in-store TVs and end caps. 

Home Depot currently reports a few thousand supplier advertisers. It plans to double that number over the next few years, Babcock said.

Home Depot is No. 4 in the Top 1000.

6. Chase brings banking into the retail media network game

Chase ventured into the retail media network space with Chase Media Solutions in April. The digital media business will give brands a way to connect with Chase’s 80 million customers, it said. It said Chase Media Solutions is the only bank-led media platform of its type, with advantages over the more typical retail media networks.

“Like retailers, we have first-party data and a dedicated audience,” Rich Muhlstock, president of Chase Media Solutions, said in a statement. “But what sets us apart is the unrivaled scale and insights from our customers – having long-served as a trusted guide for their financial decisions. Chase reaches across brands, merchants and shopping verticals, providing a comprehensive view of purchase behavior; this strengthens the degree of personalization, helping brands deliver offers that stoke consumer interests.”

Initial partners include Air Canada, Solo Stove, Blue Bottle and Whataburger.

7. Walmart outlines growth plans for Walmart Connect

In early April, Walmart shared updates and goals for Walmart Connect, its advertising business. 

A few of the many changes coming to Walmart Connect include:

• Greater on-site display access
• Advertising for complementary brands that don’t sell through Walmart
• Media partnerships with Roku and TikTok
• Self-service capabilities for in-store advertising
• Better analysis tools

The retailer has made other moves to grow its advertising business, including with its proposed acquisition of Vizio. Walmart could use data from Vizio’s 18 million active users to improve ad targeting for Walmart Connect.

Most recently, it announced an integration with the advertising technology platform Infillion in Mexico. The partnership will allow Walmart to offer its advertisers in Latin America elevated media plans optimized with artificial intelligence (AI), it said.

Walmart Connect generated about $3 billion in sales last year and is growing quickly. In Walmart’s fiscal fourth quarter report, chief financial officer John David Rainey said sales increased 22% year over year.

Walmart is No. 2 in the Top 1000. It is also No. 9 in the Global Online Marketplaces Database, Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of top online marketplaces by third-party gross merchandise value (GMV).

8. Saks creates luxury retail media network

Saks announced the launch of Saks Media Network to connect customers with digital advertisers. The ecommerce retailer said it will be one of the first retail media networks in the luxury retail space.

Saks said it will use the company’s “iconic brand, rich first-party customer data and robust traffic of over 435 million annual site visits,” to increase the revenue of brands that sell on its website through sponsored product ads and display banners.

Several prominent brands that sell through Saks are already using the Saks Media Network, it said, including Stuart Weitzman and Rag & Bone.

Saks’ retail media network also strengthens its relationship with the brands it sells, the retailer said. Its in-house media team creates custom strategies for retailers to drive business to their brands.

SaksFifthAvenue.com and SaksOff5th.com are owned by Hudson’s Bay Co. The parent company is No. 26 in the Top 1000.

9. Best Buy partners with CNET

Best Buy announced a new agreement with tech news website CNET to integrate the publication’s recommendations and content across the Best Buy website, stores, and mobile app. 

The consumer electronics retailer called it a “new retail media model between a media publication and retailer.” Advertisers can share ad spaces across the two companies, leveraging the audiences of both across the funnel. They have a combined 50 million unique visitors monthly, Best Buy said. 

“This partnership sets a powerful precedent for how content and retail media brands can collaborate to bring more opportunities to both consumers and advertisers,” said Lauren Newman, executive vice president of revenue at CNET. “With a focus on data-driven insights, we’re introducing a new standard to help brands expand audience reach and measure the impact across what was previously a fragmented digital media ecosystem.”

Best Buy first launched its retail media network, Best Buy Ads, in 2022. It ranks No. 8 in the Top 1000.

10. T-Mobile announces a retail media network

T-Mobile Advertising Solutions, the company’s ad business, will add a retail media network to its portfolio, it said. The network will extend across 20,000 screens in more than 11,000 T-Mobile stores across the U.S., reaching 58 million consumers each month. Advertisers can reach an additional 7 million consumers each month through the company’s T Life loyalty app, it said.

Finally, T-Mobile also announced a partnership with streaming company Plex to expand its connected TV (CTV) reach. Advertisers can use Plex’s free, ad-supported video on demand to reach consumers with relevant ads, T-Mobile said.

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More than 70% of Vizio’s TVs are already sold at Walmart, Reuters reported. The deal would give Walmart control over more than 20% of the U.S. TV market.

Following the report, Vizio shares jumped 36% before closing the day up 24.6%. Meanwhile, competitor Roku’s shares fell 9% on Tuesday.

Walmart is No. 2 in the Top 1000, Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of North America’s leading retailers by online sales. Vizio ranks No. 397. Walmart is also No. 9 in the Global Online Marketplaces Database, Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of the top 100 online marketplaces by gross merchandise value (GMV).

Walmart and Vizio did not respond to requests for comment.

Walmart and Vizio see an advertising opportunity

A deal with Vizio could be good for Walmart Connect, Walmart’s U.S. advertising business launched in 2021. Walmart could gain access to Vizio’s nearly 18 million active users, ad viewership data, and potentially the ability to track purchases to those ad views.

Walmart Connect generated about $3 billion in sales last year and is growing quickly. In a third-quarter earnings call, chief financial officer John David Rainey said sales increased 26% year over year. Rainey said advertising will likely continue to play a large role and drive Walmart’s profitability thanks to its higher margins as compared to groceries.

In March 2023, Walmart announced it would offer personalized ads on connected TVs through a partnership with advertising company Innovid. The ads used artificial intelligence (AI) to tailor messages to audiences.

The retailer previously partnered with Vizio’s rival Roku on shoppable ads in 2022. More recently, Walmart inked a deal with NBCUniversal in November to place shoppable ads on the streaming platform Peacock. The ads gave consumers the chance to buy Walmart items featured in select Bravo shows.

Vizio also ventured into shoppable ads with a branded content series with Home Depot last year.

Home Depot ranks No. 4 in the Top 1000.

In-store advertising

Vizio coming under the Walmart umbrella also presents an opportunity for displaying ads on TVs in Walmart stores. 

Walmart has a wider reach than the largest TV network, Ryan Mayward, senior vice president of retail media sales at Walmart Connect, said at the National Retail Federation’s Big Show in January. He explained that retailers are increasingly allocating their marketing budgets to in-store uses. Walmart is experimenting with new ways to advertise in stores, including on TV screens in the electronics section, on screens in the deli and bakery sections, and on self-checkout screens.

“Physical retail is the new TV” for advertisers in terms of scale, brand safety and reaching the right audience, said Andrew Lipsman, principal analyst of retail and ecommerce at Insider Intelligence.

Competition with Amazon

Acquiring a Smart TV manufacturer would put Walmart further in competition with Amazon. Amazon ranks No. 1 in the Top 1000, and No. 3 in the marketplaces database.

Amazon owns its own line of smart TVs, branded as Fire TV.  In 2023, Amazon crossed the threshold of 200 million Fire TV devices sold. The Fire TV stick was also the only Amazon product among the top five bestsellers on Prime Day this year, the online retailer said.

17% of connected TV operating systems are owned by Amazon, while 8% use Vizio’s OS. Roku has a larger market share than both at 25%, the WSJ reported.

Amazon also has its own advertising business, which generated $24.65 billion in the fourth fiscal quarter of 2023. Amazon’s ad sales were about 10 times the size of Walmart’s in 2023.

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“We want to meet the consumer where they are, and they prefer digital experiences — but it’s also really good for our business,” Glaser says. “We get so much more data to inform our future plans and marketing choices from a performance marketing perspective.”

General Mills can be more flexible by offering digital promotions, Glaser says. This includes incentivizing the consumer to take action when they’re most likely to convert.

“How do we build those relationships with consumers?” asks Glaser.

One way General Mills is building incentives for customers is through the Fetch rewards mobile app. Consumers download the Fetch app and create an account. They take photos of their grocery shopping receipts from in-store or online shopping and upload them to the app.

Consumers earn points they can redeem for gift cards. Eligible receipts that have at least one participating brand may receive at least 35 points. Each dollar is worth one point. 1,000 Fetch rewards points are worth $1, for example, and consumers need to reach 3,000 points in order to redeem for gift cards at stores including Starbucks, Macy’s, Amazon, Nordstrom Rack and Home Depot as well as for Visa cards. Fetch charges participating retailers like General Mills a referral fee.

Brand loyalty: What it is and how to build it

There is a lot of data exchanged between Fetch and General Mills, Glaser says.

“We get a ton of data from the Fetch partnership — about 62 million lines of data per day,” he says.

That data feeds into the brand’s customer data platform (CDP), which is a software platform that collects first-party data from multiple sources to help brands create targeted and personalized marketing campaigns.

“Loyalty programs are something that the consumer packaged goods (CPG) space isn’t necessarily ubiquitous — it’s something not all CPGs have nailed,” Glaser says. “We wanted to be intentional. What does that look like? How does it come to life?”

In March 2023, General Mills said it had added 2 million customers to its Good Rewards loyalty program with Fetch within the first six months of launch.

Consumer engagement experience

Fetch has about 18 million monthly active users, with 6 million of those using the app every day, says Robin Wheeler, the chief revenue officer at Fetch. In April 2023, the rewards app said it had surpassed $152 billion in annual gross merchandise value (GMV) across U.S. in-store and online retail sales.

“Fetch isn’t your traditional kind of shopping app,” Wheeler says. “It’s a consumer engagement experience.”

A larger portion of consumers are Millennials and Gen Z, Wheeler says.

“The younger generation is definitely coming to Fetch and I think a lot of that is tied to the experiences they’re seeing on social media,” Wheeler says.

Fetch rewards: adding brands

Fetch shares its general merchandise value scanned daily, Wheeler says. Fetch employees also track potential opportunities.

“We’re reading the trades and keeping up to speed on industries,” she says. “If we’re seeing national brands start to compete with a certain brand of deodorant, for example, our primary goal is to focus on where we’re seeing a lot of activity where we’re not currently rewarding consumers. Because that’s low hanging fruit.”

The company uses this information as it attempts to build relationships with other brands.

“There are plenty of big companies we haven’t started working with, and we need to be there,” she says.

This includes providing carousel information displayed at the top of the app that consumers see when they open it. Whether the promotion is about back to school or another busy shopping period, brands also want to include their offers and create more consumer awareness.

Fetch also has daily spin feature where consumers can obtain a daily reward.

Brands use influencers to reach new customers

This includes learning about the app from social media influencers, Wheeler says.

Fetch can share with brands what consumers are spending based on the receipts they upload to the app. Brands can target consumers, whether they’re loyal customers or “competitive buyers, which you have a to work a little bit harder for,” Wheeler says.

Fetch works with influencer agencies to source talent, Wheeler says. The company monitors influencer content and when it finds the right fit, it reaches out with affiliate links.

While the majority of Fetch receipts are in-store, Wheeler says online receipt uploads are growing.

“We have integrations with Amazon and Walmart,” Wheeler says. “We also have emailed receipts. If we have your email integrated and you order from DoorDash, we’re able to scan and pick up that receipt. So emailed receipts are definitely growing.”

Consumers can connect their Fetch account to their email, Amazon and Walmart accounts to earn Fetch rewards.

Fetch social

• 61% of Fetch monthly active users engaged with social features during July, up from 24% in January.
• Daily Reward launched in December 2022. Consumers have played daily rewards over 222 million plays since then.
• People who engage with social features/in-app games are more likely to scan receipts every day and have retention rates around 4-5 points higher than cohorts that don’t engage with these features.

Fetch eReceipts

• On average in 2023, about 10% of all receipts submitted to Fetch were eReceipts.
• About 29% of Fetch users who scan receipts also submit eReceipts.
• Top retailers include Walmart, Target, Sam’s Club, Walgreens, McDonald’s, Starbucks.

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The retailer continues to adjust how it engages with subscribers, says Sydney Hamilton, senior director of digital marketing.

“When we started this program back in 2021, it was about ‘how do we just get out there and make a name for ourselves in the college space?’” Hamilton says.

Shoppers can opt out. But, once subscribed, the retailer can re-engage with shoppers during other busy shopping periods.

This year, college-related sales exceeded expectations, Hamilton says, without revealing more. The retailer shared sign up details through signage in-store, online, email and through the header of the retailer’s website. The retailer’s back-to-school messaging campaign is growing in popularity. In 2022, The Container Store enrolled more than 121,000 subscribers, which was 61% higher year over year compared with 2021.

The Container Store shared sign up details through signage in-store, online, email and through the header of the retailer’s website for its college back-to-school messaging campaign.

Back to school SMS text campaign

The Container Store began texting college-bound shoppers last spring — well before school started, Hamilton says.

“We understand this isn’t necessarily the time when people start purchasing,” Hamilton says. “But we looked at when college-bound high school graduates start getting gifts at graduation parties. So we started engaging in April and May about e-gift cards.”

The retailer uses mobile marketing vendor Vibes to reach customers. It’s not always about a sale, Hamilton says. The engagement rate for SMS, MMS and in-app push messages around types of products have increased, she says. The software looks at the list of recipients and their engagement history to determine who is likely to convert at one of three send times a day, Hamilton says. Vibes then sends messages out during their respective engagement times.

“We’ll share the types of products we have and show items they could potentially be using,” Hamilton says. “It’s been a great way to keep people engaged outside of those prime shopping moments.”

Click through rates and promotions

The click through rate (CTR) varies. This year, the retailer sent a text featuring a $20-off promo code for coffee machine and accessories manufacturer Keurig that resulted in 9% CTR. The retailer’s benchmark is 5%. Click through time is best at about 10 a.m., Hamilton says. The text was optimized for send times, meaning that they sent the message on a single day but split it to send in the morning only to SMS subscribers who had shown to engage more with text messages in the mornings. The same logic was applied to texts sent in the afternoon. This resulted in higher engagement versus sending it to all college SMS subscribers at the same time, according to the retailer.

Click through rate is a metric that measures how effective an ad is by calculating the percentage of people who view an ad and then click on it. A benchmark is the typical percentage of consumers who click on a retailer’s content.

The Container Store also sent an SMS text with a 20% discount on 3-tier storage carts, stacking drawers and other storage items. These also saw strong engagement, particularly because the promotion was targeted to only subscribers that previously purchased storage products.

Filling in the Bed Bath & Beyond gap

In addition to targeting text subscribers to maximize engagement, the retailer also noticed an opportunity in 2023 after Bed Bath & Beyond filed for bankruptcy. Online-only home goods retailer Overstock.com purchased it and has rebranded as Bed Bath & Beyond in June 2023. The website went live in August 2023. The retailer was a go-to shopping destination for many back-to-school college students.

“With Bed Bath & Beyond no longer in the market, it did leave a whitespace [this year],” Hamilton says. “So we asked ourselves, where can we fill in?”

Hamilton says The Container Store customer is looking online as well as shopping in-store. A popular promotion is the retailer’s 25% off offer that shoppers can add to their wallet pass on the app, similar to Bed Bath & Beyond’s promotional discounts.

Going forward, Hamilton says the retailer also uses its app to connect with shoppers. In fiscal year 2022, which ended in March 2023, the retailer had 450,000 first-time app downloads.

The Container Store Inc. ranks No. 345 in the Top 1000, Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of North America’s online retailers by web sales.

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His first TikTok posts didn’t receive many views, he says.

“I was in a sense trying a little too hard. It felt very manufactured,” Oppermann says. “I was purposely trying to create content that would go viral, and create content for the algorithm rather than for actual people.”

Creating authentic videos for TikTok

Once Oppermann created videos that were more authentic to himself and his brand, he grew his audience to 105,000 followers on TikTok and his videos gained millions of views.

He gives an example of one video that took him three hours to create, which included the at-the-moment trending song, sounds and hashtags, and received 300 views. This is compared with a video that took 10 seconds to shoot of him saying, “I think this is the best shirt I ever created,” and then a shot of the T-shirt, which received 500,000 views. His takeaway was to create content that is “genuinely him,” and the content will resonate with his audience.

“I don’t need to copy what other people are doing, I know how to go viral (in a way) that’s true to myself, my business and my brand,” Oppermann says.

Online sales increase anywhere from 200% to 2,000% for products that GotFunny features in TikTok posts that receive 500,000 views or more, Opperman says.

@brys.onlinePersonally, I still think it’s the Silly Goose University one but i get the hype ♬ Bejeweled – Taylor Swift

These videos are all organic posts, with no ad dollars behind them. Even though they are promoting products on his site, the goal is to not have them feel like an ad, he says.

TikTok works for young shoppers

He also started only posting once per day, instead of two or three times a day, like he did at the start. This way, he’s not just rushing to put something together just to have it, and he allows each post time to gain traction and live on its own.

“I wasn’t giving the other content time to breathe,” he says.

This new strategy has been easier for Oppermann. He can create content that he finds funny. At 26, Oppermann fits the target demographic for his product. 56% of GotFunny’s TikTok audience are consumers ages 15-24 and 37% are 25-34, for a total of 93% of the audience that is younger than 35 years old.

Social media influences those young shoppers. More than half of shoppers 18-39 say social media influences their online purchasing, according to a Digital Commerce 360 and Bizrate Insights survey of 1,070 online shoppers in April 2023.

Instagram compared with TikTok

But not all platforms are created equally for each brand. Oppermann posts his TikTok videos as Reels on Instagram, but he posts separate images to his Instagram page that are more selling-focused than what he would post on TikTok.

Instagram posts have to be more “aesthetically pleasing,” he says, and have high production value. The TikTok audience and platform is better for more behind-the-scene and casual videos, which are more on-brand for GotFunny, he says.

This difference in audience taste could be why GotFunny has far fewer followers on Instagram, at 45,500, than on TikTok. The age range, however, is similar on both platforms, in which 85% of GotFunny’s Instagram followers are younger than 35.

“Instagram compared to TikTok has a lot of features and ways to build a business account that people will still follow and engage with and not feel advertised to or feel out of place with it,” Oppermann says. “Whereas TikTok is different. It seems to be oriented to the individual or people who are on there to entertain themselves or laugh. They don’t want to be sold on stuff.”

This article is an excerpt from the free, members-only article Why Wacky ads work on TikTok while sober is better for Facebook. Read the article here and more in-depth articles related to digital marketing here.

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