Ahead of Q4, Comparing Retail Media Networks Like Walmart, Target, Kroger and More

It’s been a year since the retail media explosion and marketers have more channels than ever to plan for. Because last year’s pandemic-inflated numbers are going to make this year more art than science, there will be some guesswork involved. To help make your planning process a little less painful, here’s a short and sweet scorecard for a high-level view of the pros and watchouts of key retail media players. Retailers Walmart Connect Intro: The largest online seller after Amazon and the largest retailer in the U.S. Despite some early challenges, Walmart Marketplace has made great strides in advertising growth. More big updates on the near horizon, like a Trade Desk partnership and expanded self-serve advertising offerings and placements. Pro: Walmart is truly making omnichannel happen, tying in-store and online. If you’re in-store, online or a 3P seller, the options to boost visibility are many and the barriers to entry (required budget and contracts) are low. Watchouts: A first-price bid auction for sponsored products and for display, inventory for holiday will sell out fast. Plan ahead. Thinking in months, not weeks. Takeaway: Table stakes. An emerging player in digital advertising and a viable channel for brands expanding beyond Amazon. Brands that replicate their Amazon efforts on Walmart see about 20% of their Amazon volume in sales on Walmart. Google’s First Permanent Retail Space Will Feature Sleek Demo Spaces and an Event Hub Target advertising (Roundel) Intro: A beloved brand with an army of loyal followers they refer to as guests, Target is extremely well-positioned on the new privacy-first web with formidable targeting options. Pro: Two always-on options with Criteo Sponsored Products and CitrusAd (see below). Roundel, Target’s internal media company, has multiple display targeting options. A strong retailer brand with options like Circle coupons, programmatic (self-service and managed), Google Shopping and social. Watchouts: Depending on the category, you may have lower competition onsite for sponsored products, which may mean paying for clicks you would have already gotten organically. If you’re not careful, you can find yourself paying more per click than any other platform also. Takeaway: Table stakes. The offering is smaller in volume, but what it may lack in impressions, it more than makes up for in quality and unique curation. Target is the next big thing in retail media because of its first-party data, flexible offerings and ability to close the loop with online and offline sales. Kroger advertising Intro: Key partnerships (Roku and PromoteIQ) and keen insights have Kroger sitting atop other ecommerce companies with a data insights team that’s been cooking up their secret sauce for years. Pro: Featured products and banners with PromoteIQ, a dedicated Kroger data team, make for frictionless entry. Advertising only displays when a user is signed in for a more relevant experience. Kroger Precision Marketing data science unit is building out 1P data as best-in-class with over 3,000 variables and machine learning to direct and identify audiences within Kroger households. Watchouts: The expansion of ship-to-home and delivery hasn’t been as loud in the market, but Kroger is just getting started. The array of onsite search-sponsored product options can get a little confusing with all the possible placements, but that can work to your benefit if you know where you want to be. Takeaway: If you have good distribution in the Kroger network (number of stores, SKUs) some really unique options exist beyond sponsored products including OTT, email, social media/influencer marketing and offsite. In either case, sponsored products are a great place to start. Specialty retailers It would be a mistake to focus on the big guys of brick-and-mortar and overlook specialty retailer media networks. That slight pre-qualification of a customer seeking out a niche retailer alone is well worth your trip down the funnel. In a year of multiple retail networks launching, three standouts deserve consideration due to their assortment, stickiness, ease of onboarding and outreach efforts to acquire new customers. Wayfair This online-only retailer has had a self-service advertising option in the Partner Portal before it was the cool thing to do, providing visibility into total catalog performance for what’s working or not with promoted products. Home Depot Have you ever left a Home Depot with a purchase of less than $50? Me neither. The DIY giant has myriad options in sponsored products through PromoteIQ, email, social media, Google Shopping and more. You can work directly with the retail media+ team to hammer out the best options. (Pun intended.) GoPuff Maybe you haven’t heard of them (just like you once never heard of TikTok), but you will. Valued at $8.9 billion and coming off a one-two punch acquisition of BevMo and Liquor Barn, this micro-fulfillment delivery service just released a self-service sponsored products option with CitrusAd. Watchouts: They’re all niche. Niche means small. In some cases, they’re also really new. So play the long game and accept you may not get all the metrics your heart desires. Takeaway: Don’t compare to Amazon or Google. If this is where your customer or demographic is, then meet them there. This is about diversification and unifying your brand where your customers live. Scale-fast platforms Whether it’s consumer-facing like Instacart, or ad tech like Criteo and CitrusAd, all these platforms help you scale by advertising across multiple platforms. One platform, one account team, multiple retailers, fast, efficient, big payoff. Instacart The same-day delivery and pickup is now the third-ranked destination for online grocery orders, but they go way beyond just grocery. Very competitive CPCs, great volume, insights and lower competition, especially in non-grocery. While you can’t see the breakout by retailer, Instacart is highly-recommended for any brand in retailers (400+) on their network, as their coverage coast-to-coast is outstanding. Criteo Retail Media One platform offering multiple retailers like Target, Best Buy, CVS and 40+ more extending out into Canada, the E.U. and beyond. Automated keyword mapping helps scale up fast, as product detail pages and affinities fuel what’s relevant and what’s not. While options will vary, you can work directly with them to find those gaps and win rates as well as share of voice with their retail analytics platform for Amazon and Target, Gradient. CitrusAd New to the U.S., this Australian ecommerce advertising platform has hit the retail media scene hard with direct integrations to Target, Petco and has a mile-long list of local grocery chains like Harris Teeter and ShopRite with reach in 22 countries. The speed of their platform and flexibility is impressive as they build out capabilities beyond sponsored products into banners and brand pages.