Grocery Retail Media Spotlight: Kroger Precision Marketing

Retail media’s success over the last five years has changed how marketers think about advertising. What started as a way to reach shoppers at the point of sale has grown into commerce media—a broader opportunity that connects brands with consumers across the entire shopping journey. Among retail media networks (RMNs), grocery stands out as the one category nearly everyone interacts with, making it a critical touchpoint for both endemic and non-endemic brands.

For CPG brands, grocery RMNs have become essential for driving sales. But, as commerce media expands, grocery RMNs are becoming even more valuable—not just for CPGs, but for a wider range of advertisers looking to tap into everyday shopping habits.

Today, we take a closer look at Kroger Precision Marketing (KPM)—grocery RMN and pivotal advertising platform in the evolving commerce media space. As grocery RMNs play an increasing role in commerce media strategies, understanding how KPM leverages first-party data, advanced targeting, and omnichannel activation can help brands—both endemic and non-endemic—unlock new growth opportunities.

What is Kroger Precision Marketing

Kroger Precision Marketing is a strategic marketing initiative developed by Kroger, one of the largest grocery store chains in the United States. Its goal is to enhance consumer goods companies’ ability to connect with new and existing customer bases. KPM harnesses the wealth of customer data acquired through Kroger’s loyalty program to craft precision-targeted marketing campaigns that drive increased sales and market presence for its partnering brands.

KPM is rooted in data-driven marketing. In order to better inform the brand’s organic and sponsored search results, Kroger Precision Media relies on its robust loyalty program, which boasts an impressive tens of millions of active users. This data provides a trove of insights into customers’ shopping behaviors and preferences. KPM expertly leverages this data to pinpoint which customers are likely to purchase specific products and then customizes marketing strategies to engage these individuals. This approach not only optimizes marketing expenditures but also delivers enhanced returns on investment for both Kroger and its collaborative partners.

Moreover, KPM provides a diverse array of advertising options designed to engage shoppers at all stages of the buyer’s journey. Kroger’s new self-serve advertising platform offers opportunities ranging from digital advertisements on Kroger’s well-visited website and mobile app to in-store promotions targeting specific shoppers based on their past purchasing patterns. Partners can also create and implement coupon campaigns around featured items and promote products in mailers. 

What does KPM offer marketers?

Kroger Precision Marketing offers a data-driven approach to connecting with Kroger shoppers both online and in-store offering a variety of ad products:   

Onsite Search: These ads appear in carousels and in search results across Kroger properties alongside organic search results. They’re perfect for helping shoppers discover new products. 

Onsite Display: KPM also allows advertisers to offer targeted coupons on Kroger ecommerce sites. Onsite display ads are designed to capture the attention of in-market shoppers by catching their attention in a specific category or in complementary categories. 

Email/Direct: Advertisers can also reach out to Kroger shoppers more directly through email and push notifications. These types of ads are especially helpful during the consideration stage. 

Off-site: Ads for products can also appear outside Kroger’s ecommerce sites as display, audio, and video messaging using Kroger’s first-party data. 

TV: Kroger’s partnership with Roku integrates Kroger’s shopper data with Roku’s streaming platform, enabling advertisers to deliver targeted TV ads and directly measure their impact on in-store and online sales.

Social/Influencer: Advertisers can leverage the power of Kroger’s vast social media reach through sponsored posts on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.

Leveraging robust loyalty data

Many marketers struggle to ensure their products reach the right audience at the right time in the buying journey. Kroger Precision Marketing (KPM) continues to harness its extensive loyalty program data, encompassing purchase behaviors from tens of millions of households. This rich source of first-party insights enables brands to craft highly targeted campaigns that engage shoppers based on actual purchasing patterns, thereby enhancing the efficiency of advertising expenditures and driving superior performance across Kroger’s media platforms.

KPM’s data-driven approach goes beyond standard targeting by providing deep insights into shopper intent, preferences, and category trends. Whether advertisers are using Kroger’s self-serve platform or third-party tools, they can harness this data to refine their messaging and ensure relevance. For example, brands can target frequent buyers of a specific product category, re-engage lapsed customers with personalized offers, or reach new audiences who exhibit similar shopping behaviors. By integrating real-time transactional data with digital advertising, KPM enables brands to deliver ads that are not only timely but also more likely to convert into sales.

Beyond Kroger-owned properties, the power of this first-party data extends to offsite advertising, including social media, display networks, and even connected TV (CTV). As privacy regulations evolve and third-party cookie deprecation limits traditional tracking, access to robust first-party data like Kroger’s will become even more essential for driving measurable results.

What are the benefits of Kroger Precision Marketing?

It’s no secret that we are in the middle of a retail media boom, but as with any boom, this means that marketers are now beset by more advertising options than ever before. So, what makes Kroger’s advertising different from similar offerings from competitors? 

Here are a few of the biggest reasons to consider adding Kroger Precision Marketing to your retail media arsenal. 

Reach

Kroger is the third-largest grocery store chain in the United States, following Walmart and Costco. As of 2024, Kroger operates over 2,700 stores across 35 states. The company reported total sales of $147.1 billion for the fiscal year 2024, reflecting its substantial market presence. Additionally, Kroger’s digital sales have continued to grow, with the company being recognized for its effective targeting and measurement capabilities in retail media

Data

In the new era of consumer privacy, ad targeting and personalization have become a challenge for most marketers. Walled gardens, like Kroger Precision Marketing, offer advertisers an avenue for serving highly relevant ads to shoppers with high purchase intent while still respecting privacy regulations. However, one of the major complaints many advertisers have with walled garden media is the fact that, since publishers are historically cagey about sharing first-party data, it can be difficult to determine whether the right ad is reaching the right customer. 

Privacy

Kroger Precision Marketing has been called a “disruptor” in the media advertising space for its focus on remaining compliant with privacy regulations while also delivering the most hyper-targeted advertising possible. In 2023, the brand announced a partnership with 84.51°, a data science and media company, to leverage loyalty program data in order to serve shoppers the most relevant organic and paid search results possible, building what Pratt called a “trust-value” relationship in an interview with Progressive Grocer:

“We have created this trust-value equation for decades. Shoppers know that if they have the (loyalty) card, they get intelligent offers, fuel rewards, and other things that help make their shopping experience better,” Pratt said. “We’re lining up consumer expectations for seamless shopping and connectivity.” 

Performance

Kroger Precision Marketing (KPM) has established itself as a leader in the retail media space. In the 2024 Path to Purchase Institute Trends Study, KPM was ranked #1 for targeting effectiveness, traffic-driving, measurement capabilities, and data sharing. This recognition underscores KPM’s commitment to leveraging first-party data to deliver impactful advertising solutions for brands.

In addition, those impressions seem to be particularly impactful. KPM reports its ads boosted average sales 5.1 times higher per 1,000 households than third-party ads. Kroger also boasts a network of loyal shoppers. Insider Intelligence reports that “first-party households had a 40% higher lifetime value than those from third-party campaigns.”

Skai KPM Client success: Happy Egg

​Happy Egg, a premium organic egg brand, faced challenges in scaling its retail media advertising due to fragmented management across multiple networks. This approach led to inefficiencies, making it difficult to optimize return on ad spend (ROAS). ​

To address this, Happy Egg partnered with Vishvos, an independent ecommerce firm, to consolidate all retail media activities onto Skai’s platform. This integration allowed for standardized management across various retailers, including Kroger, Amazon, Walmart, Target, and Instacart. Utilizing Skai’s tools such as Dimensions, Categories, Dashboards, and Automated Actions, the team streamlined execution and gained granular insights into campaign performance

The results were significant: cost per acquisition (CPA) decreased by 5%, revenue increased by 30%, and ROAS improved by 10%. Additionally, operational efficiencies were achieved, with meeting times and reporting efforts reduced by more than half. Matt McClanahan, Founder of Vishvos, noted that Skai’s technology enabled consistent performance improvements, justifying increased investments with Kroger.

Tips to get your first KPM programs off on the right foot

Take advantage of early adoption 

Kroger retail media offers brands the chance to experiment with which items and categories work better on Kroger ads than on Amazon or other retailers. Early adoption also means that keyword bids are less expensive than they might be on more established channels. Early adoption could mean giving your brand the edge over competitors, according to Christine Vincent, VP of Global Expert Services at Skai: 

“This channel isn’t oversaturated at this point, so you can still have a first-mover’s advantage in many categories. This takes the pressure off a bit, which allows you to experiment, test, and learn.”

Define Your Goals

Kroger advertising offers a wide range of solutions, from digital ads on Kroger’s popular website and mobile app to in-store advertisements that target specific shoppers based on their purchase history. Before deciding which types of ads you’ll run and which products to feature, set clear goals for your campaign. 

For example, Kroger’s own Simple Truth brand used a combination of digital media and targeted direct mail to amplify its expansion into the baby and household needs categories. The combined effort boosted in-store sales by 103%. 

Focus on the big picture

Kroger Precision Marketing is an exciting new retail media network that can connect your brand with millions of new customers. However, Kroger advertising is only a piece of the retail media puzzle. According to Skai’s State of Retail Media report 90% of marketers are focused on connecting their retail media strategy with other channels.

Adopting the right omnichannel tools for connecting insights across retail media networks and incorporating those insights into other strategies, such as paid social and search, is crucial for creating a unified experience for shoppers no matter where they choose to connect. Look for a retail media solution that empowers your brand to plan, execute, and measure digital campaigns across platforms like Amazon, Walmart, and Kroger. 

FAQs

Here are some at-a-glance answers to all your Kroger Precision Marketing questions:

What is Kroger Precision Marketing?

Kroger Precision Marketing is a self-serve retail media platform that allows advertising partners to access the grocery chain’s first-party loyalty program data to create targeted messaging and glean valuable audience insights. Among the options, Kroger Precision Marketing offers are display and search ads, email, direct mail, in-store promotion, sponsored social media, and influencer marketing. A new partnership with Roku will also allow brands to access TV audiences.    

How does Kroger Precision Marketing work?

Kroger retail media allows advertisers to build search and display ads via its self-serve platform. However, current Kroger advertisers using third-party platforms, like Skai, may still manage Kroger ad inventory through their omnichannel networks, which integrate with Kroger’s new ad tools. 

Who can advertise with Kroger Precision Marketing?

​​Kroger Precision Marketing currently works with over 2,000 CPG brands, including Nestle, Procter & Gamble, and General Mills. CPG brands and other advertisers hoping to connect with Kroger’s audience should fill out a new client application and upload a W-9 form in order to speak with a sales representative about partnering with Kroger. 

Skai drives performance for your KPM program

Looking to make grocery retail media a key part of your commerce media strategy?

Skai’s Retail Media solution empowers marketers to plan, execute, and measure digital campaigns that meet consumers when and where they shop. As part of our omnichannel platform, connect the walled gardens and manage campaigns on 200+ retailers, including Kroger, Amazon, Walmart, Target, and Instacart, alongside major publishers across paid search, paid social, and apps.

Drive results using Skai—contact us to request a demo.