Kroger’s retail media network will bring in ads from Yahoo’s demand-side platform, Yahoo DSP, in a new collaboration announced May 1.

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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